TdF 2012

AGuppy

Terrible route......especially after this years great race.

skavanagh.bikeradar

We will see, but as others have alluded to above the riders make the race not the route. I've always been a fan of tough mountain stages but they've become increasingly negative. Also it will force Andy bloody Schleck to ride to win in the mountains which must be good for the race.

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The ASO and RCS agreed to drop the Grand bit of their respective titles for 2012.
I blame the lympics.
Bradley's other golden opportunity.

I don't know. Everyone moaned about the insane difficulty of the Giro and it resulted in negative racing, so they've designed a more balanced course. ASO are trying to encourage attacking riding

I love mountain stages but a lot of summit finishes are a load of tosh

I don't disagree.
I'm not at all happy with the Giro back loading the race when they don't have too.
I'd rather see more stages with a short, testing climb before the finish.
However, who knew they had mountains around Boulogne, though?
4JdD route, I suspect.

Looking on the bright side, I won't be disappointed, come next season.

durhamwasp

Andy Schleck to aim for the Giro then! Esp as Conty, Evans, Wiggo will all go for Tour.

Looks made for Evans to me. Podium for WIggo, he certainly will never get a better chance.

dougzz

Cadel turned up as Mr Yellow

JohnnyAllez

dougzz wrote:

Cadel turned up as Mr Yellow

I see what you did there

BikingBernie

Pross wrote:

Cadel looks like some sort of movie bad guy there!

Paul Muni's 'Scarface' perhaps?



I hear that Evan's next film will be 'I am a fugitive from a [cycling] chain gang'.

pb21

Got to say this route sounds interesting and I reckon will be conducive to some exciting racing.

Why does the race have to follow the same formula all the time anyway?

iainf72

pb21 wrote:

Got to say this route sounds interesting and I reckon will be conducive to some exciting racing.

Why does the race have to follow the same formula all the time anyway?

It doesn't. But then, I think having a grand tour using exactly the same route for a couple of years could be interesting.

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

pb21 wrote:

Got to say this route sounds interesting and I reckon will be conducive to some exciting racing.

Why does the race have to follow the same formula all the time anyway?

It doesn't. But then, I think having a grand tour using exactly the same route for a couple of years could be interesting.

Like a classic?

verylonglegs

pb21 wrote:

Got to say this route sounds interesting and I reckon will be conducive to some exciting racing.

Why does the race have to follow the same formula all the time anyway?

I think it has to be relatively consistent so that the result is not seen as an anomaly, you already know if Wiggins were to win there would be people saying he only won because the route favoured him, especially if it reverts back to a more familiar format the year after and he doesn't perfrom as well.

pb21

verylonglegs wrote:

pb21 wrote:

Got to say this route sounds interesting and I reckon will be conducive to some exciting racing.

Why does the race have to follow the same formula all the time anyway?

I think it has to be relatively consistent so that the result is not seen as an anomaly, you already know if Wiggins were to win there would be people saying he only won because the route favoured him, especially if it reverts back to a more familiar format the year after and he doesn't perfrom as well.

Yeah I see what you mean but its not disimiar to it being a route packed with high mountains and short TTs and a pure climber winning, they would only have won because the course suited them that year. Whoever wins the course and the racing suited them best.

VeloPeloton

Regardless of the route it is the riders that make or break a Tour. This was a great tour because riders were prepared to have a go and not wait for the last 2km of a MTF. Don't get me wrong I love the mountains, but more MTF would not necessarily lead to more exciting racing. I love flat stages just as much, especially when Cav wins!!!!!!!

tripleo

Anyone know if there are to be any cobbles in the early stages? The route is certainly going near many of them.

Also I know the Dordogne reasonably and I was wondering if the detail on the stage to Brives is published anywhere - couldn't see it on the official web-site.

DavMartinR

Is the route been predicted due to the Olympics? (Or am I stating the bleeding obvious?)

Not the same but similar in Olympic years. 2008 .....

http://www.letour.fr/2008/TDF/COURSE/us ... _2008.html

And 2012....

http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/COURSE/us ... cours.html

Note: rest days not listed in the 2012 route.

LeicesterLad

There were 5 high mountain stages in '08, with 4 Mountain top finishes though?

FJS

tripleo wrote:

Anyone know if there are to be any cobbles in the early stages? The route is certainly going near many of them.

Also I know the Dordogne reasonably and I was wondering if the detail on the stage to Brives is published anywhere - couldn't see it on the official web-site.

The stage description of the stage to Boulogne vaguely suggests they could do some Paris-Roubaix sections in the first bit of the stage, but that won;t affect the race.
The stage to Tournai could have been a mini Ronde, but there's nothing to suggest that's the case.

Would be disappointing if they spend so much time in the Nord and don;t do any cobbles.

LeicesterLad

FJS wrote:

tripleo wrote:

Anyone know if there are to be any cobbles in the early stages? The route is certainly going near many of them.

Also I know the Dordogne reasonably and I was wondering if the detail on the stage to Brives is published anywhere - couldn't see it on the official web-site.

The stage description of the stage to Boulogne vaguely suggests they could do some Paris-Roubaix sections in the first bit of the stage, but that won;t affect the race.
The stage to Tournai could have been a mini Ronde, but there's nothing to suggest that's the case.

Would be disappointing if they spend so much time in the Nord and don;t do any cobbles.

If they have been told to Soften the route due to the Olympics, then there deffinately won't be any cobbles.

Turfle

I'm in favour of reverting back to a good chunk of TT kilmomteres, and in not having all mountain stages as MTFs. Will be interesting to see if the route does encourage the climbers to be more aggressive, especially on the early slopes.

Kléber

FJS wrote:

Would be disappointing if they spend so much time in the Nord and don;t do any cobbles.

I think they want to do the cobbles every few years. The stage to Boulogne will pass a lot of cobbles early on but there's less interest if they come early in the stage. They're going for the "monts" closer to the coast with the short steep hills in the final.

ddraver

+1 for cobbles, The last one was one of the best GT stages I ve watched in years!

lucan

Other than the start and finish locations, is there any detail available of the stage routes? I'm particularly looking for info on the Rouen-St. Quentin stage.

durhamwasp

Think the finer details arent being published until next year.

FJS

Kléber wrote:

FJS wrote:

Would be disappointing if they spend so much time in the Nord and don;t do any cobbles.

I think they want to do the cobbles every few years. The stage to Boulogne will pass a lot of cobbles early on but there's less interest if they come early in the stage. They're going for the "monts" closer to the coast with the short steep hills in the final.

Sure, and Mt Cassel could be one of those hills and is cobbled.

But small towns like St Quentin and Tournai are not going to fork out for a Tour finish every year, and they're among the relatively few towns close enough to the Paris-Roubaix cobbles for those to have an impact in a stage finale. Using those towns, especially St Quentin as stage finishes without cobbles seems like a missed opportunity.

tripleo

Thats my thinking - I stayed at St Quentin when I did PR a coupe of years ago - so it would be bizarre to go so close and not do some cobbles.

Just trying to find out ...thats the frustrating part.

amd-sco

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/extra/opvall ... bsurde_weg

Route goes over worst road in Wallonia.
Gonna be amazing amount of marshalls & yellow flags needed.

gsk82

amd-sco wrote:

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/extra/opvallend/111021_tour_absurde_weg

Route goes over worst road in Wallonia.
Gonna be amazing amount of marshalls & yellow flags needed.

what the f's that supposed to be? crazy beligians