Tour de France 2023: The Route

davidof · October 2022

thegreatdivide said:

Hands down the best climb in that wee area is the Col de l'Arpettaz from Ugine, with its 30+ switchbacks, but I reckon it’s never been included because the descent down the other side to the Flumet road is just way too technical. A shame.

Too technical? It is just a normal alpine descent.

They probably don't include it because they don't want to make the race too interesting.

thegreatdivide · October 2022

davidof said:

thegreatdivide said:

Hands down the best climb in that wee area is the Col de l'Arpettaz from Ugine, with its 30+ switchbacks, but I reckon it’s never been included because the descent down the other side to the Flumet road is just way too technical. A shame.
Too technical? It is just a normal alpine descent.

They probably don't include it because they don't want to make the race too interesting.

Don't be a smart ar$e. It's way too technical for full-on race conditions. The section after Hauteville down to the D109 is practically driveways.

davidof · October 2022

thegreatdivide said:

davidof said:

thegreatdivide said:

Hands down the best climb in that wee area is the Col de l'Arpettaz from Ugine, with its 30+ switchbacks, but I reckon it’s never been included because the descent down the other side to the Flumet road is just way too technical. A shame.
Too technical? It is just a normal alpine descent.

They probably don't include it because they don't want to make the race too interesting.

Don't be a smart ar$e. It's way too technical for full-on race conditions. The section after Hauteville down to the D109 is practically driveways.

I don't know what "too technical" means in terms of pro racing but when I've ridden down I've never thought to myself "ooer, this is a bit technical". Just seemed likes normal alpine descents to me. I'm sure a pro would ride much quicker than me.

This was last autumn,

absolutely fine, are you sure you didn't get lost on the way down?

drhaggis · October 2022

Not quite OT: Looking at next year's route map, I love it how the basque country is depicted as 100% not Spain. The region is shown as yellow vs. white Spain, as opposed to the yellow-white gradient used this year in Denmark. However, and not fully appeasing the local politicians, the region of Navarre is not depicted as "Basque Country". And neither is the "french basque country". Of course.

norvernrob · October 2022

Shame they’re not going up the Forclaz from the south. It’s a much better, much harder climb that way with constant double digit gradients apart from a short downhill section.

DeVlaeminck · October 2022

I'd actually prefer technical descents to the wider, straighter ones where you can hit ridiculous speeds.

Dorset_Boy · October 2022

They're happy to use this descent from Notre Dame du Pre again in 2023 after it was used in 2019 (and in the 2019 Etape). It has twists and turns galore!
https://www.strava.com/segments/4122528