Tour de l’Ain and Critérium du Dauphiné 2020 *Spoilers*
Top Riders.
AG2R La Mondiale
Alexis Vuillermoz, Benoît Cosnefroy
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
Jesús Herrada, Guillaume Martin
Israel Start-Up Nation
Daniel Martin, André Greipel, Nils Politt
Jumbo – Visma
Primoz Roglic, Tom Dumoulin, Steven Kruijswijk, George Bennett, Robert Gesink, Tony Martin
Team Ineos
Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, Andrey Amador, Jonathan Castroviejo, Tao Geoghegan Hart
Trek – Segafredo
Bauke Mollema, Richie Porte
UAE-Team Emirates
Fabio Aru
Arkéa Samsic
Nairo Quintana, Winner Anacona
The race opens with a hilly stage before continuing with two tough days in the mountains. Three days of racing add up to 8,510 metres of climbing. The final stage offers the Grand Colombier as finish climb, thus serving the first taste of the upcoming Tour de France with the last 17.4 kilometres rising at 7.1%.
Stage 1: Montréal-la-Cluse - Ceyzériat
Friday 7 August - The opener of the Tour de l'Ain serves 1,789 metres of climbing, while the race totals 140 kilometres.
Stage 2: Lagnieu - Lélex Monts-Jura
Saturday 8 August - The 2nd stage of the Tour de l'Ain is a 141 kilometres race with an elevation gain of 3,159 metres.
Stage 3: Saint Vulbas - Grand Colombier
Sunday 9 August - The last stage of the Tour de l'Ain offers a first taste of the upcoming Tour de France. The 145 kilometres race with an elevation gain of 3,562 metres returns again in next September's showdown, also with the final haul up on the extremely demanding Grand Colombier.
The Montée de la Selle de Fromentel is a test of 11 kilometres with an average gradient of 8.5%. The last 3 kilometres are especially demanding, as they go up at 11.5%, 14.5% and 12.5% respectively.
Next up is the Col de la Biche. This 6.4 kilometres climb at 8.9% features two kilometres at over 10% in the middle section.
Eventually the route goes all way to the top of the Grand Colombier. The riders enter the climb in Culoz and on this side it adds up to 17.4 kilometres, while the average gradient sits at 7.1%. The Grand Colombier is hard and irregular with a number of double digit sections, including the last 400 metres before the finish line.
Favourites 2020 Tour de l’Ain
*** Primoz Roglic, Egan Bernal,
** Geraint Thomas, Tom Dumoulin, Nairo Quintana, Richie Porte
* Daniel Martin, Steven Kruijswijk, Chris Froome, Bauke Mollema, Fabio Aru
Comments
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Thanks. I'm all excited now. This could be a fascinating race.
Besides the hoped for drama at the front, I'm interested to see how young Thymen Arensman does. 2nd in the 2018 Tour de l'Avenir behind Pogacar when only 18 years old, I believe that his participation means that the entire top 10 from that year will have ridden for a WT team.0 -
Ain definitely on for Ineos-watch Thomas first race back? Froome to maybe show more than domestique talent? Bernal to repay the favour from Ocitaine?
Jumbo-Visma bringing the big guns as well.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
That final stage looks very interesting, first decent showdown between Ineos and Jumbo too. We know Bernal is firing, interested to see how Roglic, Dumoulin are going0
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It's been mentioned, but surprisingly little discussion about it.rick_chasey said:Am I the only one to have just noticed Amador, after 10 years at movistar, is now at Ineos?
Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
He was in a long protracted transfer for ages. Lots of contract issues so the move took months. Was spotted training with an Ineos top well before the transfer was finally confirmedrick_chasey said:Am I the only one to have just noticed Amador, after 10 years at movistar, is now at Ineos?
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The last 100km of the final stage (to Grand Colombier) are the same as the stage that will be in the Tour0
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Interested to see the form of riders on the Colombier.
Can I ask the cyclists here a question? I’ve watched the tour since 89 and Giro since mid 2000s but apart from some leisurely cycling/commuting I’m not really a cyclist. Always been a runner.
How much more form can riders find 3 weeks out from a grand tour? Or conversely how close to top form should they be? (Clearly timing things to peak for the 3rd week is key too) I guess this year is a bit different with the lack of racing. Just curious though I guess riders will be different.0 -
I think asking a hobby cyclist on here is probably not that meaningful since we probably don't have the physiology or time to train of a pro cyclist...
Form is basically a balance between your long term training and your short term training - if you've done too much close to the event you will be carrying a lot of fatigue, which means you won't have any form - this is what a lot of amateurs get wrong coming up to an event, thinking they can train a lot in the last week.
From my own understanding, 3 weeks out there's not all that much left that a pro can do with their fitness but what they can do is reduce your fatigue, which results in them coming into form (ideally).
Although, GTs are weird and unnatural so everything is more or less guesswork on our part, since even riders who share data don't share their longer term training load charts etc.. Something I've heard a lot that riding into form is not really what happens, closer to the truth is that everyone is deteriorating over the 3 weeks, but some deteriorate faster than others. Although that doesn't fully explain e.g., Yates' collapse the other year (I think he came into that too close to the peak and without having tapered enough, myself, which is supported by what they've said since).
For me I would only do like a 1 week taper, I gather pros do quite a bit more, but their training load will be miles and miles higher than mine, obviously. I would be training hard on a progressive training plan where I would finish the last block roughly a week before the event, and then I would have a taper week where I dramatically cut the volume (but keep some of the intensity). But then, I only ever do one day events!2 -
I was always hopeless at the marathon taper 😂 I got down to 2.58 but nowhere near what I should’ve been able to do off my half time. Almost always felt better in training and I’d even say I probably did too little in a taper that was too long heading in the race itself.bobmcstuff said:I think asking a hobby cyclist on here is probably not that meaningful since we probably don't have the physiology or time to train of a pro cyclist...
Form is basically a balance between your long term training and your short term training - if you've done too much close to the event you will be carrying a lot of fatigue, which means you won't have any form - this is what a lot of amateurs get wrong coming up to an event, thinking they can train a lot in the last week.
From my own understanding, 3 weeks out there's not all that much left that a pro can do with their fitness but what they can do is reduce your fatigue, which results in them coming into form (ideally).
Although, GTs are weird and unnatural so everything is more or less guesswork on our part, since even riders who share data don't share their longer term training load charts etc.. Something I've heard a lot that riding into form is not really what happens, closer to the truth is that everyone is deteriorating over the 3 weeks, but some deteriorate faster than others. Although that doesn't fully explain e.g., Yates' collapse the other year (I think he came into that too close to the peak and without having tapered enough, myself, which is supported by what they've said since).
For me I would only do like a 1 week taper, I gather pros do quite a bit more, but their training load will be miles and miles higher than mine, obviously. I would be training hard on a progressive training plan where I would finish the last block roughly a week before the event, and then I would have a taper week where I dramatically cut the volume (but keep some of the intensity). But then, I only ever do one day events!
That’s interesting though thanks 👍0 -
Stage 1 was quite an eye opener.
Roglic attacking on the final lump and being lead out for the sprint, only for DQS to come up with another winner in Andra Bagioli.
For Ineos, Bernal and Geraint Thomas were right on Roglic's wheel, although it looked like the Colombian was suffering a bit."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
A very strange finish. Need to re-watch it to try and figure out what happened.blazing_saddles said:Stage 1 was quite an eye opener.
Roglic attacking on the final lump and being lead out for the sprint, only for DQS to come up with another winner in Andra Bagioli.
For Ineos, Bernal and Geraint Thomas were right on Roglic's wheel, although it looked like the Colombian was suffering a bit.0 -
Weird ramp right at the end and the line itself was on a funny angle. Don't really think anyone knew what to do with it.0
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Dunno.
Little Richie went in too hot yesterday.
99 Richie Porte Trek-Segafredo + 01:16
Better than Froome, mind. His must still be on domestique chores....
113 Chris Froome Team Ineos + 01:46"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Wasn't concentrating the first time I watched it as I had it pegged as a bog standard sprint stage. Doh!
Didn't see how much work Froome put in but in any event I am still convinced that he will be near to the pointy end in the Tour.
Roglic looked incredible but then he did for a spell last year. Hard to draw any conclusions from a short drag. Looking forward to the rest of the race.0 -
blazing_saddles said:
Better than Froome, mind. His must still be on domestique chores....
113 Chris Froome Team Ineos + 01:46
He had to change his bike quite late on. He got back to the peloton, but not back to the front (probably didn't bother) and got caught out by the splits. He wasn't at the front for any of the last 20km while his team was.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Yeah late bike change for Froome apparently.0
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Froome?DeadCalm said:Wasn't concentrating the first time I watched it as I had it pegged as a bog standard sprint stage. Doh!
Didn't see how much work Froome put in but in any event I am still convinced that he will be near to the pointy end in the Tour.
Roglic looked incredible but then he did for a spell last year. Hard to draw any conclusions from a short drag. Looking forward to the rest of the race.
I did have a bit of a siesta mid stage, but I only saw Castroviejo do a monster turn. holding the front for a lot of kms, right up until the pointy bit started."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Jumbo have exploded this. Cracking stage.0
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Missed the split but joined with the select group.
Roglic needs to practice pretending to look rubbish. Looks way too good. Level above everyone else.0 -
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Quality stage, Jumbo making a statement. Roglic does look very strong indeed0
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