Tour 2008: Let the speculation begin.......
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Super Besse in the first week would be great, there was quite an interesting fight during this years Tour de l'Avenir on the mountain top finish of Super Besse.phillop said:
The ttt makes the race less exciting especially if there is a dominant team, look at this years first ITT where astana smashed the field. A guy like cadel evans could lose up to 3 minutes in a team time trial whereas in an individual time trial its fair game.
Whoever suggested an uphill TT and and a TTT is completely nuts, you may aswell tell the time triallists of the cycling world not to bother rocking up. 50km of undulating but mostly flat terrain in an individual time trial is always good viewing and gives a fair indicator of who deserves to win the race.
who is going to have the most impressive team next year? salvodelli, leipheimer, contador, kloden, mazzoleni is a pretty scary looking team. Then there is CSC who always send a good team, Cadel and Popo will be interesting aswell i think.
The race heading into Italy also sounds quite interesting. My opinion- Make some of the flatter stages into more "classic" routes with a few hills thrown in to create carnage with the sprinters and GC riders. More uphill finishes, no uphill or TTT just two long ITT's.
Whoever suggested an uphill TT and and a TTT is completely nuts, you may aswell tell the time triallists of the cycling world not to bother rocking up. 50km of undulating but mostly flat terrain in an individual time trial is always good viewing and gives a fair indicator of who deserves to win the race.
who is going to have the most impressive team next year? salvodelli, leipheimer, contador, kloden, mazzoleni is a pretty scary looking team. Then there is CSC who always send a good team, Cadel and Popo will be interesting aswell i think.
The race heading into Italy also sounds quite interesting. My opinion- Make some of the flatter stages into more "classic" routes with a few hills thrown in to create carnage with the sprinters and GC riders. More uphill finishes, no uphill or TTT just two long ITT's.
I am hoping the spend a hell of alot of time in the massif central this year. Thise intermediate stages have a potential to wreak havic on te GC.
Looks like the doping controls at the Tour 2008 will fall under the AFLD, not under the UCI anymore...
http://www.telesport.nl/wielersport/2338876/Frans_antidopingbureau_meldt_zich_voor_Tour.html
http://www.telesport.nl/wielersport/2338876/Frans_antidopingbureau_meldt_zich_voor_Tour.html
French forum suggests following route...
1 samedi 5 juillet 2008 Brest - Plumelec
2 dimanche 6 juillet 2008 Auray - St Brieuc
3 lundi 7 juillet 2008 St Malo - Nantes
4 mardi 8 juillet 2008 C.L.M par équipes Cholet - Cholet
5 mercredi 9 juillet 2008 Cholet - Châteauroux
6 jeudi 10 juillet 2008 La Châtre - Super-Besse
7 vendredi 11 juillet 2008 Besse - Aurillac
8 samedi 12 juillet 2008 Figéac - Toulouse
9 dimanche 13 juillet 2008 Toulouse - Bagnères de Bigorre
10 lundi 14 juillet 2008 Pau - Hautacam
mardi 15 juillet 2008 Repos
11 mercredi 16 juillet 2008 Lannemezan - Foix
12 jeudi 17 juillet 2008 Lavelanet - ?
13 vendredi 18 juillet 2008 ? - Nîmes
14 samedi 19 juillet 2008 Nîmes - Dignes
15 dimanche 20 juillet 2008 Embrun - Prato Nevoso ?
lundi 21 juillet 2008 Repos
16 mardi 22 juillet 2008 Cunéo - Jausiers
17 mercredi 23 juillet 2008 Embrun - L'Alpe d'Huez
18 jeudi 24 juillet 2008 ? - Roanne
19 vendredi 25 juillet 2008 Roanne - Montluçon
20 samedi 26 juillet 2008 C.L.M St Amand-Montrond - Cérilly
21 dimanche 27 juillet 2008 ? - Paris
It looks nice I think. 3 hard mountaintop finishes, Bonette 25km to go. I would also like to see details of stages to Bagnères de Bigorre and Foix. Also stages in Massif Central should be nice. But we'll see the real route tomorrow...
1 samedi 5 juillet 2008 Brest - Plumelec
2 dimanche 6 juillet 2008 Auray - St Brieuc
3 lundi 7 juillet 2008 St Malo - Nantes
4 mardi 8 juillet 2008 C.L.M par équipes Cholet - Cholet
5 mercredi 9 juillet 2008 Cholet - Châteauroux
6 jeudi 10 juillet 2008 La Châtre - Super-Besse
7 vendredi 11 juillet 2008 Besse - Aurillac
8 samedi 12 juillet 2008 Figéac - Toulouse
9 dimanche 13 juillet 2008 Toulouse - Bagnères de Bigorre
10 lundi 14 juillet 2008 Pau - Hautacam
mardi 15 juillet 2008 Repos
11 mercredi 16 juillet 2008 Lannemezan - Foix
12 jeudi 17 juillet 2008 Lavelanet - ?
13 vendredi 18 juillet 2008 ? - Nîmes
14 samedi 19 juillet 2008 Nîmes - Dignes
15 dimanche 20 juillet 2008 Embrun - Prato Nevoso ?
lundi 21 juillet 2008 Repos
16 mardi 22 juillet 2008 Cunéo - Jausiers
17 mercredi 23 juillet 2008 Embrun - L'Alpe d'Huez
18 jeudi 24 juillet 2008 ? - Roanne
19 vendredi 25 juillet 2008 Roanne - Montluçon
20 samedi 26 juillet 2008 C.L.M St Amand-Montrond - Cérilly
21 dimanche 27 juillet 2008 ? - Paris
It looks nice I think. 3 hard mountaintop finishes, Bonette 25km to go. I would also like to see details of stages to Bagnères de Bigorre and Foix. Also stages in Massif Central should be nice. But we'll see the real route tomorrow...
So... TTT, an individual TT and two real mountain-top finishes plus Super Besse (not really the climb which can shake the GC).
I think there's going to be one more uphill finish, maybe even uphill TT... But I don't have a clue where could they fit it in in rumoured route. Let's wait and see... This is too little for a GT.
Maybe Puy de Dome instead of Super Besse as an uphill finish in Massif Central... That would be proper weight. But hard to believe... Too narrow and too steep for huge caravan Tour brings these days.
I think there's going to be one more uphill finish, maybe even uphill TT... But I don't have a clue where could they fit it in in rumoured route. Let's wait and see... This is too little for a GT.
Maybe Puy de Dome instead of Super Besse as an uphill finish in Massif Central... That would be proper weight. But hard to believe... Too narrow and too steep for huge caravan Tour brings these days.
theres ment to be a mountain top finish at prato nevoso the day be fore the rest day in cuneo. 2 stages in the massif central, super besse and aurillac. 3 stages in the pyrenees, including hautacam, prato nevoso, alpe d'huez and a stage going over the col de la lombarde and col de restefonde. if these pan out its gunna be on hell of a interesting route for once!
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