Tour route 2018
Comments
-
I think it's outrageous that the Tour haven't produced a route that prevents the strongest GT rider on the strongest team from being the favourite.0
-
Pross wrote:kleinstroker wrote:
You have strong powers of premonition I see. This will almost certainly happenNo tA Doctor wrote:October: Cobbles! Yeah!
After stage 9: *surveys list of destroyed GC ambitions * So unless Froome loses a leg it's 5 Tours. Worst route ever.
Nah, he forgot the bit where the 'experts' go on about how cobbles have no place in a GT as they are dangerous for GC riders (see 2014).
It's a pretty full on cobbled route.
Much more than '14.0 -
inseine wrote:From Cycling News;
Back in 1972, the peloton peloton lined up for a 28-kilometre stage (21 kilometres of total climbing) from Aix-les-Bains to Le Revard, where Cyrille Guimard out-sprinted Eddy Merckx to take stage honours.
Not sure what was going on on that day, but they had some proper length stages either side of it
7 9 July Bayonne to Pau 220.5 km (137.0 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Yves Hézard (FRA)
8 10 July Pau to Luchon 163.5 km (101.6 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Eddy Merckx (BEL)
9 11 July Luchon to Colomiers 179.0 km (111.2 mi) Hilly stage Jos Huysmans (BEL)
10 12 July Castres to La Grande-Motte 210.0 km (130.5 mi) Plain stage Willy Teirlinck (BEL)
11 13 July Carnon-Plage to Mont Ventoux 207.0 km (128.6 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Bernard Thévenet (FRA)
12 14 July Carpentras to Orcières 192.0 km (119.3 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Lucien Van Impe (BEL)
15 July Orcières Rest day
13 16 July Orcières to Briançon 201.0 km (124.9 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Eddy Merckx (BEL)
14a 17 July Briançon to Valloire 51.0 km (31.7 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Eddy Merckx (BEL)
14b Valloire to Aix-les-Bains 151.0 km (93.8 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Cyrille Guimard (FRA)
15 18 July Aix-les-Bains to Le Revard 28.0 km (17.4 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Cyrille Guimard (FRA)
16 19 July Aix-les-Bains to Pontarlier 198.5 km (123.3 mi) Hilly stage Willy Teirlinck (BEL)
17 20 July Pontarlier to Ballon d’Alsace 213.0 km (132.4 mi) Hilly stage Bernard Thévenet (FRA)
18 21 July Vesoul to Auxerre 257.5 km (160.0 mi) Plain stage Marinus Wagtmans (NED)
19 22 July Auxerre to Versailles 230.0 km (142.9 mi) Plain stage Joseph Bruyère (BEL)0 -
Looking back at that 1972 Tour shows the myth of exciting Tours of old. There were only 12 teams with 11 riders each. Three of those teams won 18 of the 25 stages between them and provided 3 or the top 4 on GC and won all classifications. Merckx and Guimard were the only wearers of both the yellow and green jerseys. Only four riders finished within twenty minutes of Merckx (and three of them were Tour winners themselves - so not a low standard).
Imagine watching that live every day.Twitter: @RichN950 -
RichN95 wrote:Looking back at that 1972 Tour shows the myth of exciting Tours of old. There were only 12 teams with 11 riders each. Three of those teams won 18 of the 25 stages between them and provided 3 or the top 4 on GC and won all classifications. Merckx and Guimard were the only wearers of both the yellow and green jerseys. Only four riders finished within twenty minutes of Merckx (and three of them were Tour winners themselves - so not a low standard).
Imagine watching that live every day.
Top post. We do tend to be a cynical lot these days.0 -
RichN95 wrote:Looking back at that 1972 Tour shows the myth of exciting Tours of old. There were only 12 teams with 11 riders each. Three of those teams won 18 of the 25 stages between them and provided 3 or the top 4 on GC and won all classifications. Merckx and Guimard were the only wearers of both the yellow and green jerseys. Only four riders finished within twenty minutes of Merckx (and three of them were Tour winners themselves - so not a low standard).
Imagine watching that live every day.
2/10. Would not watch.0 -
Lance discusses the 2018 Tour de France route - http://stages.libsyn.com/2018-tdf-route-preview0
-
RichN95 wrote:Looking back at that 1972 Tour shows the myth of exciting Tours of old. There were only 12 teams with 11 riders each. Three of those teams won 18 of the 25 stages between them and provided 3 or the top 4 on GC and won all classifications. Merckx and Guimard were the only wearers of both the yellow and green jerseys. Only four riders finished within twenty minutes of Merckx (and three of them were Tour winners themselves - so not a low standard).
Imagine watching that live every day.
References to exciting racing in the past are usually about the 80s. Someone winning everything is always going to be dull.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:Pross wrote:kleinstroker wrote:
You have strong powers of premonition I see. This will almost certainly happenNo tA Doctor wrote:October: Cobbles! Yeah!
After stage 9: *surveys list of destroyed GC ambitions * So unless Froome loses a leg it's 5 Tours. Worst route ever.
Nah, he forgot the bit where the 'experts' go on about how cobbles have no place in a GT as they are dangerous for GC riders (see 2014).
It's a pretty full on cobbled route.
Much more than '14.
Yep.
And yeah, I love cobbled classics, but if we don't recognise that there's a hell of a lot of luck involved in riding pave (as well as technique, power etc)... I'm still not convinced they have a real place in a GT.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
So to make the Tour exciting what we actually have to nothing to with radios or powermeters or teams. What we need to do is shoot the dominant rider of the time.TheBigBean wrote:RichN95 wrote:Looking back at that 1972 Tour shows the myth of exciting Tours of old. There were only 12 teams with 11 riders each. Three of those teams won 18 of the 25 stages between them and provided 3 or the top 4 on GC and won all classifications. Merckx and Guimard were the only wearers of both the yellow and green jerseys. Only four riders finished within twenty minutes of Merckx (and three of them were Tour winners themselves - so not a low standard).
Imagine watching that live every day.
References to exciting racing in the past are usually about the 80s. Someone winning everything is always going to be dull.
80s cycling was good at times but it was like McDonalds. I got to see it maybe once or twice a year and I was a kid. Now we're in the cycling equivalent of Supersize Me and a Big Mac is less alluring even though it's the same as it's always been.Twitter: @RichN950 -
-
Rick Chasey wrote:Lance banging on abut passage du gois. Seems to think it'll be carnage.
Isn't that the bit they aren't doing now because of the tides?0 -
It won't be. It's right at the beginning of the stage (as it was in 2011). They'll take it easy. In 1999, when there was carnage, it was in the middle of the stage.Rick Chasey wrote:Lance banging on abut passage du gois. Seems to think it'll be carnage.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Odds on a France v Belgium final that day?Rick Chasey wrote:Cobble stage same day as football world cup final.0 -
RichN95 wrote:
It won't be. It's right at the beginning of the stage (as it was in 2011). They'll take it easy. In 1999, when there was carnage, it was in the middle of the stage.Rick Chasey wrote:Lance banging on abut passage du gois. Seems to think it'll be carnage.
And they're going over the bridge.0 -
It's Putin's World Cup. It'll be Russia v Russia B (formerly Ukraine)orraloon wrote:
Odds on a France v Belgium final that day?Rick Chasey wrote:Cobble stage same day as football world cup final.Twitter: @RichN950 -
what i'd really love to see in a GT would be one with no high moutains. Imagine a route a rider like Sagan \ Cancellara could win. Why not have more riders in contention by avoiding the high passes altogether. In my head it seems like a great idea but cant ever see the organisers doing it.0
-
sherer wrote:what i'd really love to see in a GT would be one with no high moutains. Imagine a route a rider like Sagan \ Cancellara could win. Why not have more riders in contention by avoiding the high passes altogether. In my head it seems like a great idea but cant ever see the organisers doing it.
What, a three week Eneco Tour?
Shudder...It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.0 -
Timoid. wrote:sherer wrote:what i'd really love to see in a GT would be one with no high moutains. Imagine a route a rider like Sagan \ Cancellara could win. Why not have more riders in contention by avoiding the high passes altogether. In my head it seems like a great idea but cant ever see the organisers doing it.
What, a three week Eneco Tour?
Shudder...
was thinking a few LBL like stages, hilly stages and but no high mountains. Something to drop the pack but a route that would keep the classics men still in contention. If such a route as possible. Canc has won TdS, Sagan has won ToC both of which have a lot of climbing but no high passes.0 -
The Eneco Tour, the Tour of Britain and the Tour of Poland back to backTimoid. wrote:sherer wrote:what i'd really love to see in a GT would be one with no high moutains. Imagine a route a rider like Sagan \ Cancellara could win. Why not have more riders in contention by avoiding the high passes altogether. In my head it seems like a great idea but cant ever see the organisers doing it.
What, a three week Eneco Tour?
Shudder...Twitter: @RichN950 -
sherer wrote:Timoid. wrote:sherer wrote:what i'd really love to see in a GT would be one with no high moutains. Imagine a route a rider like Sagan \ Cancellara could win. Why not have more riders in contention by avoiding the high passes altogether. In my head it seems like a great idea but cant ever see the organisers doing it.
What, a three week Eneco Tour?
Shudder...
was thinking a few LBL like stages, hilly stages and but no high mountains. Something to drop the pack but a route that would keep the classics men still in contention. If such a route as possible. Canc has won TdS, Sagan has won ToC both of which have a lot of climbing but no high passes.
They do have stages like that. But they're not ridden hard like single day races because there's no incentive to. Its also a lit warmer and most of the riders are fitter than in April."Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago0 -
gsk82 wrote:sherer wrote:Timoid. wrote:sherer wrote:what i'd really love to see in a GT would be one with no high moutains. Imagine a route a rider like Sagan \ Cancellara could win. Why not have more riders in contention by avoiding the high passes altogether. In my head it seems like a great idea but cant ever see the organisers doing it.
What, a three week Eneco Tour?
Shudder...
was thinking a few LBL like stages, hilly stages and but no high mountains. Something to drop the pack but a route that would keep the classics men still in contention. If such a route as possible. Canc has won TdS, Sagan has won ToC both of which have a lot of climbing but no high passes.
They do have stages like that. But they're not ridden hard like single day races because there's no incentive to. Its also a lit warmer and most of the riders are fitter than in April.
That's because all the action happens in the high mountains so everyone waits for those days. What is there were no high mountains, then how would those stages be raced ?0 -
I once designed a one week route on procycling manager 2008 which was the following:
Stage 1: MSR
Stage 2: Roubaix
Stage 3: LBL
Stage 4: classic Alp D'Huez stage (here: https://thebrandbuilder.files.wordpress ... file17.gif)
Stage 5: 55km flat TT.
Stijn Devolder crushed everyone, every time.
I'd back Valverde on that course this year.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:I once designed a one week route on procycling manager 2008 which was the following:
Stage 1: MSR
Stage 2: Roubaix
Stage 3: LBL
Stage 4: classic Alp D'Huez stage (here: https://thebrandbuilder.files.wordpress ... file17.gif)
Stage 5: 55km flat TT.
Stijn Devolder crushed everyone, every time.
I'd back Valverde on that course this year.
I'd take NibsIt's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.0 -
-
-
You and your tank obsession againRick Chasey wrote:Importantly, they were all full length, so they covered 800km in the first 3 days....Twitter: @RichN950 -
-
I’m not saying you’re wrongRick Chasey wrote:Guilty.
You’ll know what I mean more if you ride more
Twitter: @RichN950
