Story going around the cycling websites that the 2012 Tour route was posted on the Tour website in error this Monday. The official launch of the route is next Tuesday (18th). Here is the route anyway:
P Prologue Sat 30 June Liège > Liège 6.1 km
1 Road stage Sun 1 July Liège > Seraing 198 km
2 Road stage Mon 2 July Visé > Tournai 207 km
3 Road stage Tues 3 July Orchies > Boulogne-sur-Mer 197 km
4 Road stage Weds 4 July Abbeville > Rouen 214 km
5 Road stage Thurs 5 July Rouen > Saint-Quentin 197 km
6 Road stage Fri 6 July Épernay > Metz 210 km
7 Road stage Sat 7 July Tomblaine > La Planche des Belles Filles 199 km
8 Road stage Sun 8 July Belfort > Porrentruy 154 km
9 Time trial Mon 9 July Arc-et-Senans > Besançon 38 km
10 Road stage Weds 11 July Mâcon > Bellegarde-sur-Valserine 194 km
11 Mountains Thurs 12 July Albertville > La Toussuire - Les Sybelles 140 km
12 Mountains Fri 13 July Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Annonay 220 km
13 Road stage Sat 14 July Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Le Cap d’Agde 215 km
14 Road stage Sun 15 July Limoux > Foix 192 km
15 Road stage Mon 16 July Samatan > Pau 160 km
16 Mountains Weds 18 July Pau > Bagnères-de-Luchon 197 km
17 Mountains Thurs 19 July Bagnères-de-Luchon > Peyragudes 144 km
18 Road stage Fri 20 July Blagnac > Brive-la-Gaillarde 215 km
19 Time trial Sat 21 July Bonneval > Chartres 52 km
20 Road stage Sun 22 July Rambouillet > Paris Champs-Élysées 130 km
There are a number of stage finish towns that I have never seen before so I wonder.
Nine flattish stages, 5 mountain stages including 2 summit finishes, a prologue and two individual TTs, I am guessing that the Besancon one will be hilly. The last TT will suit someone like Evans again.
Cap d’Agde has a fantastic nudist beach. [quote=“balbec, post: 627558”]
Story going around the cycling websites that the 2012 Tour route was posted on the Tour website in error this Monday. The official launch of the route is next Tuesday (18th). Here is the route anyway:
P Prologue Sat 30 June Liège > Liège 6.1 km
1 Road stage Sun 1 July Liège > Seraing 198 km
2 Road stage Mon 2 July Visé > Tournai 207 km
3 Road stage Tues 3 July Orchies > Boulogne-sur-Mer 197 km
4 Road stage Weds 4 July Abbeville > Rouen 214 km
5 Road stage Thurs 5 July Rouen > Saint-Quentin 197 km
6 Road stage Fri 6 July Épernay > Metz 210 km
7 Road stage Sat 7 July Tomblaine > La Planche des Belles Filles 199 km
8 Road stage Sun 8 July Belfort > Porrentruy 154 km
9 Time trial Mon 9 July Arc-et-Senans > Besançon 38 km
10 Road stage Weds 11 July Mâcon > Bellegarde-sur-Valserine 194 km
11 Mountains Thurs 12 July Albertville > La Toussuire - Les Sybelles 140 km
12 Mountains Fri 13 July Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Annonay 220 km
13 Road stage Sat 14 July Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Le Cap d’Agde 215 km
14 Road stage Sun 15 July Limoux > Foix 192 km
15 Road stage Mon 16 July Samatan > Pau 160 km
16 Mountains Weds 18 July Pau > Bagnères-de-Luchon 197 km
17 Mountains Thurs 19 July Bagnères-de-Luchon > Peyragudes 144 km
18 Road stage Fri 20 July Blagnac > Brive-la-Gaillarde 215 km
19 Time trial Sat 21 July Bonneval > Chartres 52 km
20 Road stage Sun 22 July Rambouillet > Paris Champs-Élysées 130 km
There are a number of stage finish towns that I have never seen before so I wonder.
Nine flattish stages, 5 mountain stages including 2 summit finishes, a prologue and two individual TTs, I am guessing that the Besancon one will be hilly. The last TT will suit someone like Evans again.
[/quote]
The route of the 2012 Tour de France[/url] has been officially presented in Paris today. The parcours, which had been [url=“http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2012-tour-de-france-route-revealed”]mistakenly published by race organiser ASO one week ago, has been confirmed and detailed. The 99th Tour de France has been elaborated to include two long time trials and ‘only’ three summit finishes, so next year’s winner will have to be an even more complete rider than in previous years.
The first week of racing, starting in Belgium, will have plenty of opportunity for the fast men to shine after the traditional prologue in Liège. But stage three to Boulogne-sur-Mer will also carry some challenging hills for opportunistic attackers to the liking of race director Christian Prudhomme. A first test day for the climbers and GC contenders will come on stage 7, when the Tour hits the medium mountain range of the Vosges in Eastern France and its ski station La Planche des Belles Filles at 1148m of altitude.
This first summit finish comes after a 5.5km climb at an average gradient of 9.5 percent, with some parts exceeding 15 percent - a short but steep climb that should reveal the state of the favourites’ legs.
After a tricky stage eight to Porrentruy, again perfect for breakaways, the next decisive day will be stage nine’s 38km time trial from Arc-et-Senans to Besançon, setting up the potential candidates for the overall victory on a hilly parcours.
Stage 10 in the Alps will feature the difficult Col du Colombier, located 40 kilometres from the finish. Then, the second of the three summit finishes will take the riders to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles on July 12 via the mythical Cols de la Madeleine et de la Croix de Fer.
Coming down the Alps, the bunch will cross Southern France via another certain bunch sprint finish in the Mediteranean seaside resort Cap d’Agde on Bastille Day before entering the Pyrenees. There, the Cols of Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde on stage 18 could shake up the classification even one day before the third and final mountain top finish in the ski station of Peyragudes on stage 19.
Moving up north again, the Grande Boucle will stage a second time trial, this time covering 52km, in Chartres on the penultimate day.
This parcours should see even more fireworks from the climbers on the mountaintop finishes to gather a maximum advantage over the better time triallists on GC. A total of 25 climbs will count for Cat 2, Cat 1 or HC points for the mountains classification. Again, Prudhomme has elaborated a route which he hopes will “expand the riders’ possibilities and give more importance to the medium mountain ranges.”
There will be nine flat stages, four medium mountain stages (including one summit finish), five mountain stages including two summit finishes (one on stage 11 in the Alpine La Toussuire, and one on stage 17 in Peyragudes in the Pyrenees), two individual time trials and one prologue.
2012 Tour de France stages:
P Prologue Sat 30 June Liège > Liège 6.1 km
1 Road stage Sun 1 July Liège > Seraing 198 km
2 Road stage Mon 2 July Visé > Tournai 207 km
3 Road stage Tues 3 July Orchies > Boulogne-sur-Mer 197 km
4 Road stage Weds 4 July Abbeville > Rouen 214 km
5 Road stage Thurs 5 July Rouen > Saint-Quentin 197 km
6 Road stage Fri 6 July Épernay > Metz 210 km
7 Road stage Sat 7 July Tomblaine > La Planche des Belles Filles 199 km
8 Road stage Sun 8 July Belfort > Porrentruy 154 km
9 Time trial Mon 9 July Arc-et-Senans > Besançon 38 km
10 Road stage Weds 11 July Mâcon > Bellegarde-sur-Valserine 194 km
11 Mountains Thurs 12 July Albertville > La Toussuire - Les Sybelles 140 km
12 Mountains Fri 13 July Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Annonay 220 km
13 Road stage Sat 14 July Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Le Cap d’Agde 215 km
14 Road stage Sun 15 July Limoux > Foix 192 km
15 Road stage Mon 16 July Samatan > Pau 160 km
16 Mountains Weds 18 July Pau > Bagnères-de-Luchon 197 km
17 Mountains Thurs 19 July Bagnères-de-Luchon > Peyragudes 144 km
18 Road stage Fri 20 July Blagnac > Brive-la-Gaillarde 215 km
19 Time trial Sat 21 July Bonneval > Chartres 52 km
20 Road stage Sun 22 July Rambouillet > Paris Champs-Élysées 130 km
Not hilly enough for Schleck too many TT kms for him. Will suit Evans and Contador.
Bradley Wiggins will have half a chance is he stays on and the team isn’t split supporting Cav for thr sprints. Flattest tour for a bit. Only two high mountain finishes. Arse. Giro looks way better. No point in cycling on the flat IMO. Two too many time trials as well.
Yeah little disappointed with the route. Balance this year and last was certainly swung towards moutain goats so this is probably redressing balance a little ahead of 2013’s 100th edition. I hope Roche spends all winter in the wind tunnel. His timetrialing regressed very badly this year.
Roche could do OK. Mightn’t suit Dan Martin though as much. Still a good chance but imo it’s too skewed to the TT’s. It might make one of the goats launch an attack like schleck did this year, but that is only one stage. I only find myself getting really interested when there are good mountain finishes. I would have one more short but brutal stage, and one fewer TT ideally. Giro looks nashty agin.
100km is too much for TT’s but at least there is no one like Indurain around who can kill the race stone dead with a TT. The first week of this years tour was very good and the top men had to be well up every day. The Tour is more than the mountain stages though, it is the whole “process” of the three weeks that I find great.
Agreed with that but it’s sometimes the timing of the mountains that’s so important because you find the race can be waiting for them a bit if there are defined days of carnage.
Sky hyping the Olympics up to be in anyway comparable with the Tour is bit similar to way their tv channel operate with some of the events they have rights to. Fact that Olympics comes so close after finish of tour means you can easily do both. I cannot think of many riders from other teams who have targeted the Olympics above it. An afterthought with most.
Olympics roadrace means jackshit in long-term cycling lore. None of the tifosi will remember who won medals after a few years. I suppose the medal winner might get some kind of documentary about them in years to come on their home TV station or whatever but I don’t think many others will give a fuck about it, after the event and hype has died down. I’d rather win the Tour of Lombardy than that.
The Olympics are becoming more and more prestigious. Not only for a British team like Sky. Thomas would get more publicity for winning the gold in Britain than Wiggins would get if the won the tour. But it’s interesting to see people like Boonen and Hushovd swerving the tour and riding the Tour of Poland instead to prepare themselves better for the Olympics.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Cavendish abandon before the Pyrennes to give himself a few extra days preparation.
Would Nicolas Roche be worth a bet at 800/1 for this years tour, I backed him last year for at top 10 at 6s, he’s 20’s this year, has he regressed or is his team one of the weaker ones?