2005 TdeF route

Miguel_garcia83

giro discovers every year new passos, last year was vivione and presolana, the year before zoncolan, sempeyre, mortirolo, stelvio, fauniera.. and colle delle finestre in 2005
i could say the same about la vuelta
the mountains i mentioned are perfectly accesible, larrau was climbed in 96, la bonnette in 93, granon in 86, els cortals de encamp, agnello normally climbed in giro...

musette

Bruyneel and George Hincapie provide further observations:

"Q: It looks like the Tour this year is even more dependent on the team vs. the individual - isn’t that an advantage to Team Discovery?
GHincpaie: Our team next year is going to be very complete and no matter who does it, we should be one of the best teams in the race . But yes, if you want to win the race you have to have a great team.
Johan Bruyneel: I think it's a pretty normal Tour de France. The only surprise is the long Prologue to start with, similar to 2000 when Millar won in front of Lance. I think it doesn't necessarily favor the team. For me, it's a well balanced Tour and it's still the riders who make the race, not the course.

Q: Even though there is always the chance for unknown “Tour drama”, the race seems to be focused on 3 areas: The Team Time Trial, Stages 14 and 15 (Ax-3 Domaines and Pla d’Atet), and the final Time Trial. Is this how you see it as well?
Johan Bruyneel: The key stages will be: the Prologue, the TTT, the stage to Briancon and the one to Courchevel, stages 14 and 15 as you noted, the stage to Mende and the last TT in St Ettienne."

As noted by Chris Brewer, the Prologue is important for at least two reasons. First, because it results in the rider gaining the time resulting from the Prologue itself. Second, because there will be only two relatively flat stages for each team to obtain differences in the team classification that will determine the TTT ordering for Stage 4. Discovery Channel needs to be last (i.e., best team time) in order to maximize the chances of winning the TTT and knowing everybody else's split times. That's why Padrnos will stay on the Tour 05 team, and why it may be Noval (of the seven domestiques who return) who is most vulnerable to replacement if both Popovych and Salvodelli get onto the Tour 05 team.

I think Bruyneel is not going to be comfortable with leaving things vulnerable until the last ITT. In addition to the above obvious stages, he will have the whole DC team try for a long breakaway with LA, with the "core group" of mountain-capable domestiques going for it mid-way through a stage with a downhill finish. LA could easily form a group of: LA, Ace, Chechu, Beltran, Salvodelli, Hincapie (and maybe Popovych, if he is included) and try and shed all but a few riders. They will have some climbing specialists from other teams with them in this little group, and likely JU and Basso, but at least they will gain more time relative to the ITT specialists. To this end, DC will be practicing higher speed descents than those to which they have been accustomed, with practices led by Salvodelli.

musette

More observations on descents. Having descending capabilities and great descent domestiques is going to help LA in a third way -- to conserve his energy for future mountains in the same stage, if the descent is not the final portion of the stage.

Chris Carmichael notes: "Descending is also very tough mentally. The climbs are exhausting, but relatively slow. Correcting for a poor line through a turn is pretty easy when riding uphill, but extremely difficult when flying downhill. ... Descending 5200 feet from the top of a mountain on steep switchbacks is not relaxing. The riders' heart rates will stay high all the way down the mountain. Even though they will reach speeds in excess of 50 mph, every rider will also have to brake hard into the switchbacks. **Accelerating out of those downhill turns takes a lot of power, and doing it repeatedly for 20 kilometers can be very fatiguing.**"

http://www.lancearmstrong.com/tdf2001/chrisst9.htm

In other words, good descent skills/domestiques can reduce the power required to accelerate out of downhill switchbacks, thereby conserving power overall.

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Also, do members know why Bruyneel identified the stage 18, from Albi to Mende as being important as well?

musette

This is the type of situation JU should avoid. In a recent article reported on the T-Mobile website: "It was equally difficult for [Ludwig] to speculate at this point in time, who from Jan Ullrich, Andreas Klöden and Alexander Vinokourov will assume the captain's role in France. 'We have three riders, who have made the podium in the last few years. They all know that podium finishes could not be possible without full support from the whole team. The best rider will get the support.'"

Slightly more positive: "Ludwig was unable to say whether or not Zabel would figure in next year's Tour roster; that won't be made known until next June."

sportzgurl

Thats actually shocking!! So they have no idea who will be the leader in the TdF 05. I think they have the best rider in the world and they are tossing up who to have as leader. It makes me wonder what the hell JU is still doing there. Mind you, he shouldn't have put himself in a position where there are riders in better form than himself. What are T-Mobile playing at??? I still think they will give it to JU. Even if he is not the best rider at the moment in their team, the management must want him to win another TdF and the only way he can do that is being leader and with a strong team behind him. Theres not much hope he can win unless he is team leader right?? Unless JU can get in a better position in the GC and make them work for him?? Like Klodi last time.

musette

I have been giving some thought to why Bruyneel mentioned the stage to Mende as being important.

In 1995, Mende was the stage in which Jalabert went on a long breakaway on Bastille Day, in a Tour won by Indurain. The breakaway from the early part of the stage involved only 6 riders, not all of whom were in full cooperation. LA, Ace, Rubiera, Beltran, Salvodelli and Hincapie (if he improves his climbing) is already a group of six. They would obviously be followed by the other contenders, in a way that Jalabert wouldn't be. But a group around the size of six is not impotent.

Dimos

Is Savoldelli going to ride this year or he will be spending time in hospitals again? Practicing higher speed descents is very difficult and extremely dangerous. I don' t think that this kind of risk is necessary for any team, how about a very experienced team like Discovery.

keydates

Lance seems to be hinting more that he will skip the '05 Tour.

sportzgurl

Yeah I saw that too. He says its time for something new. Whatever that might be!!

donhix1

He said today he was going to do the TOur of Flanders. Something about him being a classics specialist before cancer.

__________________
Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.

keydates

Guess he wants to prove that he can still do/win single day races.

sportzgurl

Hehe yeah I guess. All the better for Jan I say!! lol

Dimos

And what about the classic specialists that are continouing to be classic specialists. Lance just plays angain with the mind of his rivals. I don' t mind. He just hasn't a chance to win a classic (especially RvV, Liege-Bastogne-Liege is more to his qualities) and he just hasn't the guts to do the Giro-Tour double.

SportsTrails

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