Tour route 2020

salsiccia1

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

We saw in this year's Vuelta what having selective mountain stages does to the race early on.

Do you mean a solo mountain raid on the final day of proper racing? Or teams having to force a selection in crosswinds to claw back time?

I mean the fact that the top 5 was almost fixed from early on, just the order to be sorted and the winner almost guaranteed by mid-race. Yes there was some good racing but virtually all the threat to Roglic came from Movistar shithousery.

blazing_saddles

thegreatdivide wrote:

Stage 18 looks good – Roseland from Meribel, Saisies, Aravis, Glieres

https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-18

Stage 17 finish going to make it even more selective. It's a killer.

amrushton

This is like a gift for the Froome/Bernal combo and Roglic with a strong Jumbo squad. Cant see Bardet coping - maybe Pinot. Dumoulin likes those TT miles so it would be a slog fest for him imo

takethehighroad

Salsiccia1 wrote:

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

We saw in this year's Vuelta what having selective mountain stages does to the race early on.

Do you mean a solo mountain raid on the final day of proper racing? Or teams having to force a selection in crosswinds to claw back time?

I mean the fact that the top 5 was almost fixed from early on, just the order to be sorted and the winner almost guaranteed by mid-race. Yes there was some good racing but virtually all the threat to Roglic came from Movistar shithousery.

That owed more to the poor selection of GC guys rather than the course though.

In the Tour, with about 14 teams having a GC guy and strong support, a selective course won't be as selective as at the Vuelta

rick_chasey

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

AndyRAC wrote:

With a massive 36km of ITT-ing and uphill, it will be interesting to see what Dumoulin decides; Tour or Giro/Vuelta double - and leave the Tour for Roglic?
As is the recent norm, a pretty poor amount of TT kilometres - the ASO are petrified certain teams/riders will dominate; so put as least in as possible.

Dumolin did not join Jumbo to do any other race than the Tour.

You must remember how big the Tour is in the Netherlands. Gigantic doesn't cover it.

The Dutch over on CN agree with Andy and don't think Dumoulin will be at all interested in tackling this route.

Nuts.

inseine

Term1te wrote:

inseine wrote:

Final stage starts a 15 min ride from my house They started Paris-Nice there a few years ago.

A rideable distance from my house too

I'll buy you coffee

DeVlaeminck

Salsiccia1 wrote:

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Salsiccia1 wrote:

We saw in this year's Vuelta what having selective mountain stages does to the race early on.

Do you mean a solo mountain raid on the final day of proper racing? Or teams having to force a selection in crosswinds to claw back time?

I mean the fact that the top 5 was almost fixed from early on, just the order to be sorted and the winner almost guaranteed by mid-race. Yes there was some good racing but virtually all the threat to Roglic came from Movistar shithousery.

Surely it was the TT that killed the GC - it was very close up until then. I said as much at the time and others argued opening up time gaps would force attacking racing. Not revisiting that debate but early mountains certainly didn't fix the GC for the duration.

Alejandrosdog

blimey I reckon that's going to be a seriously exhausting tour. looks good it gets my royal seal of approval.

Ed F

Blazing Saddles wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Stage 18 looks good – Roseland from Meribel, Saisies, Aravis, Glieres

https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-18

Stage 17 finish going to make it even more selective. It's a killer.

Yes, that last 5k is really tough. I did it in the summer after the road had just opened.

rick_chasey

Close racing isn't necessarily exciting.

What makes for exciting racing are changes in form over three weeks.

Dropping riders left and right in week one but getting dropped in week two is twice as exciting as hanging on in there within a few seconds for two weeks.

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

Close racing isn't necessarily exciting.

AMEN brother

Mad_Malx

Ed F wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Stage 18 looks good – Roseland from Meribel, Saisies, Aravis, Glieres

https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-18

Stage 17 finish going to make it even more selective. It's a killer.

Yes, that last 5k is really tough. I did it in the summer after the road had just opened.

Did you manage it after the 16km warm-up? I'm impressed regardless - I'm exhausted just looking at that profile.

mididoctors

Rick Chasey wrote:

Would like to see at least one big set piece climb.

this has alaphilpe podium written all over it.... frankly I think he hasn't got the ride in him again.

mididoctors

Blazing Saddles wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Stage 18 looks good – Roseland from Meribel, Saisies, Aravis, Glieres

https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-18

Stage 17 finish going to make it even more selective. It's a killer.

fffing aida that hasn't got alaphilpe written all over it

dodgy

Looking forward to this, also we have already booked our usual accommodation in Samoens next year, and it's a shortish flattish ride to watch the end of stage 18 in La Roche-sur-Foron.

I'm happy

m.r.m.

Pfff Alaphilippe! Clearly Richie Porte is the all out favorite for this! Will be ahead by 3 min and then fall off on stage 20.

blazing_saddles

Rick Chasey wrote:

Would like to see at least one big set piece climb.

How big is big?
What about the Grand Colombier?



Or then there is this finish on stage 6:



Heck, they are climbing the Col de la Madeleine from a new direction to get to that monster the Col de la Loze finish on stage 17.
Which probably means it will be this:



If these don't define big, I don't know what else France has to offer that can top them.

greasedscotsman

Anyone familiar with the Montee de la Selle de Fromentel on the Grand Colombier stage? Trying to work out the route of the stage so I can book some accommodation, but can't find where it is.

blazing_saddles

greasedscotsman wrote:

Anyone familiar with the Montee de la Selle de Fromentel on the Grand Colombier stage? Trying to work out the route of the stage so I can book some accommodation, but can't find where it is.

Seems I was reading the Tour site wrong, or rather their description is wrong.

Here is the profile with the Montee de la Selle de Fromentel. It is a steep one.

rick_chasey

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Would like to see at least one big set piece climb.

How big is big?
What about the Grand Colombier?
Unless I am reading the site wrong, they are climbing it 3 times from 3 different directions.
We only know that the last ascent is this one and it is probably the easiest:



Or then there is this finish on stage 6:



Heck, they are climbing the Col de la Madeleine from a new direction to get to that monster the Col de la Loze finish on stage 17.
Which probably means it will be this:



If these don't define big, I don't know what else France has to offer that can top them.

I guess I mean more old fashioned MTFs

RichN95.

On this course Alaphilippe has a good shot at the Green Jersey

greasedscotsman

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Seems I was reading the Tour site wrong, or rather their description is wrong.

Here is the profile with the Montee de la Selle de Fromentel. It is a steep one.

Thanks Blazing, just what I was looking for. Went for a place in Aix les Bains, think that will be perfect.

cal_stewart

Could see a non sprinter win in Paris

mididoctors

Cal_Stewart wrote:

Could see a non sprinter win in Paris

Sagan has to fancy it

davidof

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Here is the profile with the Montee de la Selle de Fromentel. It is a steep one.

I've ridden that, it is like life in the middle ages: nasty, short and brutish.

You come around a left hand bend in the woods and then suddenly the road is like "whoa nelly" - several hundred meters of uber steep climbing, so steep you get wheelspins if you stand or have trouble keeping the front wheel down.

awavey

so its the hardest tour route ever...but no mention of La Course ? tucked away in the presentation, again :roll: and missed by most of the assembled press it seems, the ASO in their infinite munificence have taken the 2020 La Course back to Paris...on July 10th when the men will be riding around the Massif Central instead. though the ASO have said they might move it to the same day as the final stage, but arent sure.

at least Annemiek van Vleuten has called it out as a glorified crit race which she says she really has no interest in competing in and that shouldnt be on the world tour calendar, as neither should the Ride London classique fwiw imo for the same reason.

blazing_saddles

awavey wrote:

so its the hardest tour route ever...but no mention of La Course ? tucked away in the presentation, again :roll: and missed by most of the assembled press it seems, the ASO in their infinite munificence have taken the 2020 La Course back to Paris...on July 10th when the men will be riding around the Massif Central instead. though the ASO have said they might move it to the same day as the final stage, but arent sure.

at least Annemiek van Vleuten has called it out as a glorified crit race which she says she really has no interest in competing in and that shouldnt be on the world tour calendar, as neither should the Ride London classique fwiw imo for the same reason.

Annemiek van Vleuten is part of the problem.
She's simply several classes apart for any race she really targets.
But yeah, the ASO and the UCI boss cut from the same cloth when it comes to the development and promotion of women's cycling.

gsk82

The ASO don't care about women's cycling and that's their prerogative. They aren't going to put on a 3 week women's tour, so can't win.

davidof

gsk82 wrote:

The ASO don't care about women's cycling and that's their prerogative. They aren't going to put on a 3 week women's tour, so can't win.

Unfortunately la Course caused calendar conflicts in 2017 with the Route de France feminine (yes there already was a ladies' Tour de France). In 2018 the race had virtually no interest and the organizers have given up. No point in forcing ASO to do the same, if they could make money on it, I'm sure they would. Maybe they lack vision.

It is a shame but it needs someone to find a market for it, as it is supposed to be professional sport.

awavey

davidof wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

The ASO don't care about women's cycling and that's their prerogative. They aren't going to put on a 3 week women's tour, so can't win.

Unfortunately la Course caused calendar conflicts in 2017 with the Route de France feminine (yes there already was a ladies' Tour de France). In 2018 the race had virtually no interest and the organizers have given up. No point in forcing ASO to do the same, if they could make money on it, I'm sure they would. Maybe they lack vision.

It is a shame but it needs someone to find a market for it, as it is supposed to be professional sport.

but it doesnt have to be a 3 week race, or a 2 week race or anything complicated like that to begin with,it just needs to be something that makes it not feel like youve been given just the paddling pool to play in, whilst the grown ups are off swimming in the olympic size competition pool.

the ASO dropped Flèche-Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège out of Women’s World Tour in 2020 because they wouldnt provide the UCI required 45 minutes of live TV coverage from the two events to qualify, yet are prepared to set that up to run in Paris whilst running their biggest event of the year at the same time in a different location !?! and which channel is going to show the coverage at the same time as theres a live TdF stage in progress.