Tour De France 2016

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Comments

  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    I hope the man with the stuffed boar is on Ventoux again

    :lol::lol::lol::lol:
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Wish I'd ridden Ramaz when I was there!! Least I did the Joux Plane.
  • cc78
    cc78 Posts: 599
    Bisanne... I've been dying to see this in a pro race, it's a brute

    Stage-1445341564.png
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,391
    Looks a lot more balanced to me. If I were a betting man I'd be putting my early money on Froome. Quintana will have to do some attacking before the last 2 days if he is serious about the win.

    (btw I agree with Doug about Nibali - top of the tier 2 GC riders, but definitely tier 2 (so far))
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,851
    Good work yet again from Velowire.

    Ventoux on Bastille day

    Stage 20 up the Ramaz and Joux Plane
    Did Ramaz and joux plane this summer, not on the same day mind.

    Ramaz has some stunning cliff edge parts and a spectator friendly viewing bowl near the summit.

    Hmmm...
    Half man, Half bike
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    Yes, not sure where to go to spectate, Joux Plane cos it's, well, the Joux Plane or Ramaz as it's very spectator friendly. You can go up high by the ski lifts and see the spectacle sweep across the valley, would be pretty amazing.
  • moonshine
    moonshine Posts: 1,021
    Bisanne... I've been dying to see this in a pro race, it's a brute

    Stage-1445341564.png
    excellent! I've got friends who live in Les saisies and we go each winter skiing and each summer in July to MTB, road bike and hillwalking and stay in their basement studio apartment. :) email sent to book the 2nd and 3rd week in July! :D
  • Stokes-esque from cycling news in their "lesser known cols" feature

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/five-lesser-known-climbs-of-the-2016-tour-de-france/

    They tell me that next years tour will go over Horquette from the reverse side to 2011 (north to south) and then describe the southern climb.

    Bravo.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    I hope the man with the stuffed boar is on Ventoux again

    the one with the gammy leg (the boar not the owner). I plan to be there this year, but how I do it.... gawd knows.
  • I hope the man with the stuffed boar is on Ventoux again

    :lol::lol::lol::lol:


    Avignon for 2 days before, then a pad in Besoin from Bastille Day onwards. Aye thank yew.

    And I WILL track down Boar Man if its humanly (porcinely??) possible
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    L'etape is using stage 20's route, Megeve to Morzine on 10th July.
  • forehead
    forehead Posts: 180
    Ventoux is ace. I drove it three years ago. Stopped in Beaune en route overnight for snails and Pommard, then nailed it down to Bedoin, and camped in a car park. Getting around Lyon is pr**k, avoid if possible.
    Cube - Peloton
    Cannondale - CAAD10
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,391
    Saw it on my phone and can't get the link but has anyone else seen the ES vid of the riders doing impressions of each other? Cheesy but worthy of a giggle...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,744
    Ventoux is a fantastic place if anyone is going there I recommend climbing it early evening if you get a nice day. If you have a cross or a mountain bike with you then trying one of the forest routes is fun too.

    I hope the racing up there isn't spoiled by the crowds - hopefully it being a bit harder to access on foot than Alpe D'Huez will keep things sane. I am assuming they are using the Bedoin climb again - must admit I'd like to see them climb up from Malaucene occasionally or even mix a couple of the ascents into the same stage - I wouldn't have minded them descending to a town too as apart from the road to Sault after Chalet Reynard the other two are fast.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • mr_goo
    mr_goo Posts: 3,770
    Really looking forward to seeing Stage 20. I rode the Joux Plain a couple of years ago, and like another post on here notes, the road will need resurfacing. However cannot understand why they are finishing in Morzine, why not a final climb up to Avoriaz.
    Better still ascend the Joux Plain from the Morzine side, descend into Samoens and then across the valley and finish at the ski station after a brutal climb up the Plateau des Saix/Samoens 1600 (never featured in any pro race to my knowledge). One kilometer of which has average gradient of 12.7%!
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • Ventoux is a fantastic place if anyone is going there I recommend climbing it early evening if you get a nice day. If you have a cross or a mountain bike with you then trying one of the forest routes is fun too.

    I hope the racing up there isn't spoiled by the crowds - hopefully it being a bit harder to access on foot than Alpe D'Huez will keep things sane. I am assuming they are using the Bedoin climb again - must admit I'd like to see them climb up from Malaucene occasionally or even mix a couple of the ascents into the same stage - I wouldn't have minded them descending to a town too as apart from the road to Sault after Chalet Reynard the other two are fast.



    Its no more difficult to access on foot than the Alpe. You just start from Bedoin (and the route will go up from Bedoin) and walk on up
  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,851

    $$$[/quote]

    ...or a third climb in the day might neutralise the previous two and make it one of those great on paper, rubbish on the day, type stage.
    Half man, Half bike
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    Better still ascend the Joux Plain from the Morzine side, descend into Samoens and then across the valley and finish at the ski station after a brutal climb up the Plateau des Saix/Samoens 1600 (never featured in any pro race to my knowledge). One kilometer of which has average gradient of 12.7%!

    Plateau des Saix is reputably one of the hardest climbs in the alps, most locals rate it harder than the Joux Plane. I rode up it year before last and it's a b*****d, there is plenty of space at the summit (being a ski station), so perhaps they could do it there.
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,744
    Ventoux is a fantastic place if anyone is going there I recommend climbing it early evening if you get a nice day. If you have a cross or a mountain bike with you then trying one of the forest routes is fun too.

    I hope the racing up there isn't spoiled by the crowds - hopefully it being a bit harder to access on foot than Alpe D'Huez will keep things sane. I am assuming they are using the Bedoin climb again - must admit I'd like to see them climb up from Malaucene occasionally or even mix a couple of the ascents into the same stage - I wouldn't have minded them descending to a town too as apart from the road to Sault after Chalet Reynard the other two are fast.


    Its no more difficult to access on foot than the Alpe. You just start from Bedoin (and the route will go up from Bedoin) and walk on up

    Hmmm, not quite following the logic that a 22km climb with no accommodation on top is as accessible as a 13km climb with a town at the top and a couple of villages on the way up is.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • Ventoux is a fantastic place if anyone is going there I recommend climbing it early evening if you get a nice day. If you have a cross or a mountain bike with you then trying one of the forest routes is fun too.

    I hope the racing up there isn't spoiled by the crowds - hopefully it being a bit harder to access on foot than Alpe D'Huez will keep things sane. I am assuming they are using the Bedoin climb again - must admit I'd like to see them climb up from Malaucene occasionally or even mix a couple of the ascents into the same stage - I wouldn't have minded them descending to a town too as apart from the road to Sault after Chalet Reynard the other two are fast.


    Its no more difficult to access on foot than the Alpe. You just start from Bedoin (and the route will go up from Bedoin) and walk on up

    Hmmm, not quite following the logic that a 22km climb with no accommodation on top is as accessible as a 13km climb with a town at the top and a couple of villages on the way up is.


    Well, it depends. A lot of foot spectators on climbs dont go up to the summit, but take up position at various points on the way.

    If its a bloody hot day on Ventoux - which is usually is - the forest acts as a decent refuge from the sun.

    Re the Alpe, most of the foot spectators on the Alpe walk up it to a certain bend, and then down again after the race has gone through.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Well done Velowire again, pretty much spot on.

    Quite an unusual route, with a couple of real changes.
    More new, narrow steep climbs, and very few of the big traditional climbs. Could make the race more unpredictable, more critical descents, and perhaps more difficult to control.
    The TTs are very hilly, still very much a climbers' tour.

    Like last few years a good number of 'flat' stages have an uphill finish, and a limited amount of opportunities for the pure sprinters
  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,851
    Really looking forward to seeing Stage 20. I rode the Joux Plain a couple of years ago, and like another post on here notes, the road will need resurfacing. /quote]

    A chunk of the road near the summit, along with a couple of hundred metres of hillside below it washed away over the winter so I think the term resurfacing had a touch of British understatement to it. At least the tour coming has released some funding for the repair.
    Half man, Half bike
  • Part of winning a GT is finishing it - there's luck involved but being able to stay on your bike and having the constitution to get through 3 weeks plays a big part too - Nibali beat everyone who lined up at the start not just those who finished.
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________
    polipropileno para todos.
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    Now hang on a just a minute. I set off this morning to sit a practical exam at College, and I could have sworn it was only December. Was I actually in there for over half a year?
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • Now hang on a just a minute. I set off this morning to sit a practical exam at College, and I could have sworn it was only December. Was I actually in there for over half a year?


    :)

    Nibz nudged Aru into a ditch on a training camp 'tween the Giro & Tour, and went into the Tour as the undisputed leader of Nastana
  • dish_dash
    dish_dash Posts: 5,562
    :lol:

    Nibs on himself
    I've got a strange character in some ways, which doesn't allow people to really understand me. I can seem closed sometimes, while I think I'm actually pretty friendly, I like to be happy in life and be happy when I'm racing. I'm perhaps somewhat introverted because I don't express my emotions, I keep them inside me. But I always remember the good moments, the special moments of my career. Perhaps I don't seem especially friendly and I can be a little jealous sometimes but I never forget my real friendships.