TdF 2012

knedlicky

Saw this predicted route for the 2012 TdF this morning …

Prologue: Liege, 6.2 km
St1: Liege - Seraing
St2: Vise - Tournai
St3: Orchies (in France at last) - Boulogne
St4: Abbeville - Rouen
St5: Rouen – St Quentin
St6: Reims (likely) or Sedan (less likely) - Metz
St7: Tomblaine – Planches des Belles Filles (likely), or Gerardmer or Belfort (less likely)
St8: Belfort – Porrentruy (in Switzerland)
St9: Besancon – Macon, or Arc-et-Senans – Besancon (TTT)
Rest Day

St10: Villars-les-Dombes – Bellegarde, via the Col du Grand Colombier
St11: Albertville – La Toussuire
St12: St Jean de Maurienne - Annonay
St13: Valence (???) – Cap d’Agde (???)
St14: Foix – Tolosa (in Spain)
St15: Samatan – St. Lary Soulan/Pla d’Adet (likely) or Peyragudes (less likely)
Rest Day

St16: ??? - La Pierre St Martin
St17: ??? – Brive
St18: Lac du Vassiviere (TT)
St19: Bonneval (likely) or Dreux (less likely) – Chartres
St20: Chartres – Paris

I’d like to see the Planches des Belles Filles in the Tour. Although short, it’s a pretty stiff climb and used as the finish to the ‘Les Trois Ballons’ cyclosportive. But unless they do some tree-clearing there’s not a lot of free space at the top for all the logistic requirements of the Tour organisation, so I’d be surprised if it is eventually included.
Here’s a link showing the profile:
http://tinyurl.com/belles-filles
If included, Peyragudes would be in the TdF for the first time. The (used before) TT circuit is bumpy, with over 200 m of climbing in the last 12 km.

phreak

It would be nice for them to mix things up a bit rather than go over the same old climbs all the time.

RichN95.

A TTT on stage 9 doesn't seem likely to me. Too far into the race for a TTT.

LeicesterLad

RichN95 wrote:

A TTT on stage 9 doesn't seem likely to me. Too far into the race for a TTT.

TTT on stage 1 would be too far into the race...

cogidubnus

Would be interesting if it was st9, though can't see it happening.

A prologue, TTT and TT would certainly add something to the GC contendors who can TT

LeicesterLad

Cogidubnus wrote:

Would be interesting if it was st9, though can't see it happening.

A prologue, TTT and TT would certainly add something to the GC contendors who can TT

Another year escapes Andy Schleck then.

pottssteve

First 3 days - get in!!!! Just up the road.

ddraver

Got back from the Pyrenees at the weekend - the amount of resurfacing on the Peyresourde suggests that that ll be in it next year.....

durhamwasp

ive seen a rumoured route on another site that differs a fair bit from that

andyp

ddraver wrote:

Got back from the Pyrenees at the weekend - the amount of resurfacing on the Peyresourde suggests that that ll be in it next year.....

Mountain roads have to be resurfaced regularly due to the damage down every winter by the cold weather. Any work being done at this time of year is more likely to aid the ski resorts than the Tour.

ddraver

^No ski resorts at the top of the Peyresourde

(I know it's not definitive, but the rest of the road looked in pretty decent knick and it's not like it's an uncommon stage. I was hoping for the classic Luchon, Peyresourde, Aspin, Tourmalet, Luz Ardiden stage for an etape - not that i'd ever actually get my ar*e into gear for that!)

andyp

There is a ski resort, there's a bleeding airport up there too!

But I agree, it's highly likely the Peyresourde will be on the route.

mouth

Stage 9 is quite late for a TTT IMO on the basis that half a team could have retired by then. Unless like the Vuelta its first 5 over the line.

Prologue of 6.2 kms? Yellow for Wiggins would be my tip.

pottssteve

ddraver wrote:

Got back from the Pyrenees at the weekend - the amount of resurfacing on the Peyresourde suggests that that ll be in it next year.....

If they aim to resurface before the Tour passes through they have their work cut out in Liege! Bits of it look like they were last done between the wars....

zippypablo

Mouth wrote:

Stage 9 is quite late for a TTT IMO on the basis that half a team could have retired by then. Unless like the Vuelta its first 5 over the line.

Prologue of 6.2 kms? Yellow for Wiggins would be my tip.

it is first 5 over the line in the Tour too.

durhamwasp

When does it get officially announced? some time in Oct?

term1te

They are resurfacing the bottom of my road, I won't hold my breath for the tour coming through anytime soon.

The suggested stage 8 will be a day of rolling hills, but it'll be a nice ride out to Porrentruy for me to watch them coming in.

sonny73

durhamwasp wrote:

When does it get officially announced? some time in Oct?

Tuesday October 18th.

FJS

knedlicky wrote:

St14: Foix – Tolosa (in Spain)
.

Wouldn't that just be Toulouse? ('Tolosa' in Spanish). A Spanish finish there doesn;t make any sense with the departure stage the day after.

That route above would contain some interesting elements like Planche de Belles Filles and Grand Colobier, but would on the whole be pretty lame - just three proper mountain stages in Alps and Pyrenees combined (11, 15, 16)

knedlicky

FJS wrote:

knedlicky wrote:

St14: Foix – Tolosa (in Spain)
.

Wouldn't that just be Toulouse? ('Tolosa' in Spanish). A Spanish finish there doesn;t make any sense with the departure stage the day after.

I think you're right, my apologies for any misleading! I never thought that Tolosa might be another language's name for Toulouse, so looked Tolosa up and found a town with that name in NE Spain, without thinking it was ridiculously far from the stage start next day when there are no big motorways or high-speed train lines from there into France.

I admit I might have also got it wrong that stage 9 is a TTT but I hope not as I fancy the idea of a TTT a bit more into the Tour rather than in the first few days - few teams are so depleted to not manage 5 riders, even if it will then be hard work for depleted teams. If not a TTT, I expect it will be a TT.

FJS wrote:

That route above would contain some interesting elements like Planche de Belles Filles and Grand Colobier, but would on the whole be pretty lame - just three proper mountain stages in Alps and Pyrenees combined (11, 15, 16)

They could make a stage through the Vosges, with the Belles Filles as finish, as difficult as many a proper mountain stage.
The Grand Colombier stage has a long downhill to the finish which seems to be a route type which is in favour with the organisers the last few years and there is a rumour stage 14 will be similar, i.e. up and down a few Pyrenee cols, then a long downhill to the finish (apparently the stage could also change to be Carcassonne-Foix, in which case the downhill to the finish would likely be short, like into Morzine in 2003)

cogidubnus

LeicesterLad wrote:

Cogidubnus wrote:

Would be interesting if it was st9, though can't see it happening.

A prologue, TTT and TT would certainly add something to the GC contendors who can TT

Another year escapes Andy Schleck then.

I don't think Andy will ever win the Tour. This was his year, but he blew it in the first mountains. Dirty Bertie will be back in future years as well as some good talent coming through the ranks

VeloPeloton

http://www.velopeloton.com/tour-de-france-2012/

Yorkman

fits in with the Peyresourde being resurfaced as well - Peyragudes is the ski area around Peyresourde isn't it?

It's not far from Bagneres du luchon though so it'll be a wandering route.

inkyfingers

If that's real then Bradley Wiggins will have just come in his pants and Andy Schleck will be changing his plans to focus on the Giro.

LeicesterLad

I know it makes a change, and its good news for Wiggo, but i can't help feeling like its lacking mountain stages.

LeicesterLad

And theres deffinately 3 days there that i won't be arsed to watch on telly...namely the TT's

avoidingmyphd

it is probably real. it ties in with the rumours (best ones are at velowire) and that graphic is a screen grab from a page on the tdf website that was mysteriously published earlier today but has gone now.

if thomas at velowire updates his site in line with it later today, i'd be positive that it's true.

(one change to come I think: a few of the stages will be reclassified as "accidentee" rather than "en ligne")

big question: what happened to the much publicised MTF at Pierre St Martin? its cancellation was rumoured last week, but it's a bit of a mystery.

inkyfingers

On paper it looks dissapointing (unless you are Bradley Wiggins), but thinking a bit more about it it could work. This year we only saw serious GC action on 3 of the mountain stages, having fewer mountain stage might result it the climbers really going for it knowing that they have fewer opportunities to make time. It will also depend on whether some of those "en-ligne" stages are really flat or whether they are more like some of the stages we saw in the first week this year (hilly or uphill finishes).

emadden

5 mountain stages... of which only two are mountain-top finishes!!! Come on ffs.... If that route is true, then Im looking forward to the Giro instead.

VeloPeloton

avoidingmyphd wrote:

it is probably real. it ties in with the rumours (best ones are at velowire) and that graphic is a screen grab from a page on the tdf website that was mysteriously published earlier today but has gone now.

if thomas at velowire updates his site in line with it later today, i'd be positive that it's true.

(one change to come I think: a few of the stages will be reclassified as "accidentee" rather than "en ligne")

big question: what happened to the much publicised MTF at Pierre St Martin? its cancellation was rumoured last week, but it's a bit of a mystery.

It's real! I screen grabbed it off the Le Tour website. It has now been removed.
I was looking at the 2011 site and wondered what I would see if I changed the url from 2011 to 2012. Non of the links worked so no details of the route. I think there must be a lot of shouting and swearing going on in Paris right now.

LeicesterLad

emadden wrote:

5 mountain stages... of which only two are mountain-top finishes!!! Come on ffs.... If that route is true, then Im looking forward to the Giro instead.

I only see 4 :shock: