Tour de France 2010 route

[Andrija]

The route will be revealed on Wednesday. After prologue in Rotterdam, peloton will return to France via Belgium.
Rumor mill says no Alpe d' Huez again (first time after many years it's missing two years in a row). It also says the race will go clockwise again. Before Alps, they'll visit some Jura mountains. To honor Tourmalet, cyclists will climb it twice next year, once in ITT and once in the 1910 stage replica (when it was introduced for the first time). And there will be one very long ITT before the end.
I think, besides Rotterdam, only replica of the 1910 stage is certain, everything else is speculation. Especially that uphill TT combined with very long (60k) TT. Also, I'd like to see them going anticlockwise (that should be the order), which would mean long trip before the Pyrenees and the Alps, and potentially very intense third week of racing.

 

[swampy1970]

The Tour has been missing a long, hard time trial and a couple of sucessive "attrition" stages in the mountains for years. Sure it's nice to see them blast upto a mountain top finish after only 4.5 hours at warp speed but bring back a few 6 to 7 hour long stages to help kill the legs and maybe help open up the time gaps in the last week...

 

[Andrija]

4 stages in the Pyrenees are predicted for 2010 edition. Peyresourde, Aspin, Aubisque and Tourmalet will all feature in one stage. So, that should be the stage you're looking for. Organizer want the race to be decided in the Pyrenees. Rumored selection of Alpine uphill finish(es) is harmonized with this intention. Toussuire isn't exactly the climb where even Contador could make huge advantage.

 

[guncha]

4 stages in the Pyrenees are predicted for 2010 edition. Peyresourde, Aspin, Aubisque and Tourmalet will all feature in one stage. So, that should be the stage you're looking for. Organizer want the race to be decided in the Pyrenees. Rumored selection of Alpine uphill finish(es) is harmonized with this intention. Toussuire isn't exactly the climb where even Contador could make huge advantage.

This source provides good overview of the stages. Last year it predicted the route quite well.
Tour de France 2010: first rumours about the stages and about the Etape du Tour Mondovelo! - L'éternelle quête des sommets :: Blog :: paris.thover.com :: (photos, videos + blog)

It predicts three high mountaintop finishes (La Toiussure, Ax-3 Domaines, Tourmalet). Each of those stages might provide other H.C. or 1st cat. climbs.
There might be three GC stages with decent (Morzine, Gap, Luchon).
One medium mountaintop finish might at Mende.
Only one senseless high mountain stage are expected (Pau).

 

[Andrija]

Like it was expected - the Pyrenees will decide the winner. Not many opportunities in the Alps, but the race could be lost there if someone has a bad day. Stage 3 could cause some problems and first time gaps among GC contenders. Classic entrance in the Pyrenees with summit finish and a climb just before it, then another one opportunity to lose the race (but not to win it), then stage where they tried to repeat history and give opportunity to escapees or riders who lost time in days before (but fans would like to see climbs closer to finish) and stage which will definitely decide the race. On penultimate day there's long TT, but I think it will just determine some placings behind the top spot, but if Andy Schleck takes the yellow jersey on Tourmalet, he could lose it in this TT.
As always, majority of fans will complain about stages with climbs far from the finish, but if there was more uphill finishes (especially in the Alps), the race would become boring very early. And that was organizers' intention I think - to keep it as much open as it's possible till the last day.

 

[swampy1970]

Stage 7 through the Jura could be a hard one. It'll be interesting to see the route and profile. The climbs aint huge but they're more than big enough to make the legs really hurt and there's lots of them.

Lack of total distance in TT's is cr@p.

Pyrenean stages look great on page but they'll probably get ridden at hard tempo with some mini-me desicion made on the last few km.

 

[poulidor]

Mountain stages profil:

Not found the Jura stage but there is 2 cols the last is 14km long.

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A though TDF.

 

[Yakko]

here's a good write-up with reactions:
All showing optimism about 2010 Tour de France route | VeloNation Cycling News and Reference

definitely a though tour poulidor...should be a tough one too!

 

[guncha]

As always, majority of fans will complain about stages with climbs far from the finish, but if there was more uphill finishes (especially in the Alps), the race would become boring very early. And that was organizers' intention I think - to keep it as much open as it's possible till the last day.

There's almost nothing to complain about. New route looks much better than this year's. However, this year's route was the worst since early nineties and it was too hard to make a worse route.
I like the new route very much. I think organizers did their best to make exciting racing:
*Firstly, it is possible to steal seconds on the cobbles of stage 2.
*Secondly, something could be stolen in Jura mountains. Last climb is located just 4km from the finish and is 14km long.
*Only after those exams come the Alps. Ramaz + Avoriaz looks much better than small Spanish col + Arcalis. It is good that ascent to Avoriaz starts immediately after the end of the decent from Ramaz. Ramaz is very though climb indeed.
*The next stage to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne could be more selective than this year's stage to Bourg Saint Maurice. In both cases final climb is located 30km from finish. But Madeleine is much harder than Little Bernard. There is also a little uphill section shortly before finish. I think some of top10/top15 riders will be eliminated in this stage (it was impossible in this year's second and third Pyrenees stages).
*A stage to Mende in Massif Central might shake up GC (3,1km;10,1% Croix-Neuve climb is located 1,5km before the finish). My bet is that Contador will steal some 20 seconds from his rivals. Since there is so many potential GC stages until the Pyrenees I would disagree that the route is designed for the last week. Another thing I like is the absence of TTT (it will make the race more fair).

As usual last Massif is the hardest one. The only thing where this year's Alps can beat next year's Pyrenees is Grand Bornard stage (Aspet + Bales cannot beat three big climbs + chain of Romme and Colombiere). However, Bales should be able to make some time gaps and it could be possible to gain the time on decent. I hoped that Mente will be included in this stage.

Ax-3 Domaines and Tourmalet stages looks harder than Verbier and Ventoux stages:
*Pailhères is one of the hardest TDF climbs and it is different in category in comparison to Mosses climb of Verbier stage (Ax-3 Domaines is a little bit harder than Verbier as well). Another advantage of this stage is the absence flat section after Pailhères.
*While uphill finish to Tourmalet could be a little bit easier than Ventoux (18.3km;7.7% vs 21km;7.6%) small hills (3rd and 4th cat.) of Ventoux stage cannot compete with Marie Blanque and Soulur.

 

[Andrija]

Some complains could be sent to stage to Pau (since the last climb is 60k's from the finish line and there is 40 k's flat stretch), but I think intention is to give opportunity to make up some time in brave attack (maybe even a GC contender who lost some time or someone who wants to break through in top 10 GC) and honor Merckx (off course).

 

[gtm]

I like this route - 4 big mountain stages in the pyrenees, some cobbles, no team time trial. TBH I thought the 2010 edition would be more 'Lance' friendly............

 

[guncha]

TDF almost always have Pau type stage. It is ok when there is one stage like that. It is not ok when there is more than one stage like that.

 

[slovakguy]

celebrating the lack of a team time trial. just too much devastation to the chances of too many riders. found it interesting how contador and schleck focused on the mountains in their comments while armstrong looked to the last itt as the pivotal stage. hope this tour lives up to the promise.

 

[guncha]

celebrating the lack of a team time trial. just too much devastation to the chances of too many riders. found it interesting how contador and schleck focused on the mountains in their comments while armstrong looked to the last itt as the pivotal stage. hope this tour lives up to the promise.

They should be lucky because in reality this tour has 5 mountaintop finishes (Rousses and Mende could also be put in this category).

 

[limerickman]

I think 2010 TDF is going to be the toughest TDF in years.

A lot of time and attention has been devoted to the number of steep climbs.
That is fair enough.
In themselves they're absolute killers - taken together, it makes for a really really tough tour

The opening stages in Holland and Belgium are not to be sniffed at either.
Those stages are flat but tough too.
The 2010 TDf courses part of the Paris Roubaix route as well.
Throw in the possibility of a widswept course with the North Sea blowing in - the riders are going to be tired a lot earlier than normal.

I think this will all make for a stupendous 2010 TDF.

I think the ASO have taken their lead from the Giro organisers.