TDF 2020 - Stage 11 Châtelaillon-Plage - Poitiers 167.5 km *Spoilers*
blazing_saddles
Posts: 21,604
in Pro race
Stage 11 Châtelaillon-Plage - Poitiers 167.5 km
The Tour bids farewell to the ocean. La Grande Boucle enters the heart of France through the marshlands of Poitou. At 167 kilometres, the stage runs from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers.
The riders set off from coastal town Châtelaillon-Plage to navigate the interior of western France, on flat to rolling roads
Fast finishers are likely to come to the fore in the race from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers. The course is predominantly flat, so the scenario is obvious: breakaway opens up a gap of several minutes before being brought back in the last kilometres.
The finale in Poitiers is a flat and 1.5 kilometres long straight.
Fast finishers are expected to battle it out at the end of the 11th stage. They don't get much opportunities to show themselves this Tour de France, but this is definitely one of them.
Favourites 11th stage 2020 Tour de France
*** Sam Bennett, Caleb Ewan, Cees Bol
** Elia Viviani, Peter Sagan, Wout van Aert
* Alexander Kristoff, Bryan Coquard, Niccolò Bonifazio
Châtelaillon-Plage
No previous stage
Population: 6,000
Châtelaillon-Plage is the story of a seaside resort born at the end of the 19th century. The taste for sea bathing and the development of the railroad were the announcement of its evolution. Located in front of the archipelago of the islands of Oléron, Aix, Ré, Fort Boyard and in the immediate vicinity of La Rochelle, Châtelaillon-Plage and its 2.5km long stretch of sand attract many visitors throughout the year.
And yet this beach was built from scratch! After intense seaside activity at the beginning of the century, it had gradually disappeared under the onslaught of gusts of wind and tides. It was in 1989 that the town, under the impetus of its mayor at the time Jean-Louis Léonard, decided to re-sand the beach.
Specialties: oysters, mussels, shell, grillon (pâté), gigourit (lard sauce), milas charentais (cake)
Poitiers
Eight previous stages
Population: 90,340
Poitiers received the Tour de France peloton 8 times, but the last 6 race visits in the prefecture of Vienne were starts. The city has therefore not held any finishes since 1978 and the victory of Sean Kelly.
While not finishing in the town itself, the Tour still came to the nearby Futuroscope the year of its opening in 1986.
The amusement park often hosted time trials, like the 87.5 km one dominated by Stephen Roche in 1987 (photo) or the one won by David Millar in 2000. In 1990, the park also hosted the Grand Départ, allowing Thierry Marie to win another prologue while Steve Bauer put on the yellow jersey.
Poitevin Farci
Terrine traditionally prepared with green vegetables (cabbage, sorrel, chard, spinach), finely chopped and mixed with a stuffing based on bacon, moist bread, whole eggs. The whole, tightly tied inside the cabbage leaves and covered with butter muslin, is slowly cooked in a Dutch oven with thyme and bay-leaf flavoured water. After cooking, the farci is sliced and eaten hot or cold.
The Tour bids farewell to the ocean. La Grande Boucle enters the heart of France through the marshlands of Poitou. At 167 kilometres, the stage runs from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers.
The riders set off from coastal town Châtelaillon-Plage to navigate the interior of western France, on flat to rolling roads
Fast finishers are likely to come to the fore in the race from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers. The course is predominantly flat, so the scenario is obvious: breakaway opens up a gap of several minutes before being brought back in the last kilometres.
The finale in Poitiers is a flat and 1.5 kilometres long straight.
Fast finishers are expected to battle it out at the end of the 11th stage. They don't get much opportunities to show themselves this Tour de France, but this is definitely one of them.
Favourites 11th stage 2020 Tour de France
*** Sam Bennett, Caleb Ewan, Cees Bol
** Elia Viviani, Peter Sagan, Wout van Aert
* Alexander Kristoff, Bryan Coquard, Niccolò Bonifazio
Châtelaillon-Plage
No previous stage
Population: 6,000
Châtelaillon-Plage is the story of a seaside resort born at the end of the 19th century. The taste for sea bathing and the development of the railroad were the announcement of its evolution. Located in front of the archipelago of the islands of Oléron, Aix, Ré, Fort Boyard and in the immediate vicinity of La Rochelle, Châtelaillon-Plage and its 2.5km long stretch of sand attract many visitors throughout the year.
And yet this beach was built from scratch! After intense seaside activity at the beginning of the century, it had gradually disappeared under the onslaught of gusts of wind and tides. It was in 1989 that the town, under the impetus of its mayor at the time Jean-Louis Léonard, decided to re-sand the beach.
Specialties: oysters, mussels, shell, grillon (pâté), gigourit (lard sauce), milas charentais (cake)
Poitiers
Eight previous stages
Population: 90,340
Poitiers received the Tour de France peloton 8 times, but the last 6 race visits in the prefecture of Vienne were starts. The city has therefore not held any finishes since 1978 and the victory of Sean Kelly.
While not finishing in the town itself, the Tour still came to the nearby Futuroscope the year of its opening in 1986.
The amusement park often hosted time trials, like the 87.5 km one dominated by Stephen Roche in 1987 (photo) or the one won by David Millar in 2000. In 1990, the park also hosted the Grand Départ, allowing Thierry Marie to win another prologue while Steve Bauer put on the yellow jersey.
Poitevin Farci
Terrine traditionally prepared with green vegetables (cabbage, sorrel, chard, spinach), finely chopped and mixed with a stuffing based on bacon, moist bread, whole eggs. The whole, tightly tied inside the cabbage leaves and covered with butter muslin, is slowly cooked in a Dutch oven with thyme and bay-leaf flavoured water. After cooking, the farci is sliced and eaten hot or cold.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
2
Posts
They should put the total altitude gain on the stage profile images...
/muses
- @ddraver
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
My blog and pod...
Beers of Belgium Cycling Club UK
Those official ratings quoted in OP - what has Cees Bol done to deserve equal star ranking with the other two?? Or was it done before the race...
Allegedly he much prefers an uphill sprint and given Sunweb have been producing by far the best lead out, but not necessarily at the right time.....
It would be nice if somebody posted their alternative list occasionally, if they have any particular thoughts.
Especially in the stages to follow, which are much more open.
I'm only guessing here.
Anyhow, Formolo DNS with fracture wrist.
Pogacar now without both him and Aru, so he's down to Polanc and de la Cruz in the hills.
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
"Simon says 'reset your power meter."
"Attack!"
"Ladagnous is out."
Trying to get DQS and Lotto to work?
meanies that they are, insisted that Ladagnous soldier on alone.
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet