This might be old news, but I couldn't find it anywhere else on here.
Alpe D'Huez time trial...YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From BBC sport...
Organisers spice up Tour
Lance Armstrong's bid for a record sixth Tour de France victory next year could be decided by a
gruelling time trial near the end of the race. This one should be highly interesting because upsets
will be possible until the very last day
Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc Check the full Tour itinerary
A solo climb up the Alpe d'Huez, which is normally part of a longer mountain stage, has been
included at the end of next year's anti-clockwise race as a gruelling 15km test against the watch.
It will be the first time trial of next year's Tour, apart from the short prologue, and race
organisers hope the idea will keep the race alive until the latest possible date.
The first individual time trial is normally held at the end of the first week, but next year the
climb to Alpe d'Huez will take place only four days before the finish in Paris.
The 13.5km time trial from Bourg d'Oisans to the Tour's most famous summit is likely to be the
highlight of the race. To make the finish even more exciting, another 56km individual time trial
will take place on the penultimate day, on a course around Besancon.
"On the evening at the end of this year's Tour, we asked ourselves what we could do to make the next
one as exciting," Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said.
"This one should be highly interesting but riders and team managers will have to be good tacticians
because upsets will be possible until the very last day."
The route will certainly make it challenging for Lance Armstrong, who is chasing a record sixth Tour
de France victory.
That [Alpe d'Huez] is where the Tour will be won and lost
Credit Agricole manager Roger Legeay
For the past five years, the American has beaten his rivals more often than not in the long
individual time trials.
But, with the solitary efforts happening so late in next year's event, he will have less chance to
make a decisive move early on.
Credit Agricole manager Roger Legeay said of the Alpe d'Huez stage: "It will be the day of reckoning
on next year's race. That is where the Tour will be won and lost."
But Armstrong was delighted with the schedule.
"It's funny; I was holding out hope for that," he said.
The strongest teams will also be less favoured in the team time trial held between Cambrai and
Arras along the First World War battlefields, since time differences will be limited to two minutes
and 30 seconds.
Overall, climbers should be have a better chance, even though the big mountain stages look less
demanding than in 2003.
Last year's centenary race involved all the big summits in Tour history but the Col de Galibier, Col
du Tourmalet and Col d'Isoard will not feature in the 2004 event.
Riders will first tackle the Pyrenees with a similar programme to 2002.
The first serious mountain stage will take the race to la Mongie via the Aspin pass on 16 July,
while the big stage in the Alps will be from Bourg d'Oisans to Le Grand Bornand, with the Madeleine
pass the highest summit at 2,000m.
The first half of the race will favour sprinters, although one stage will be familiar to fans of the
spring classics.
Riders will tackle the Mur de Grammont, as in the Tour of Flanders, and cobbled sections of
Paris-Roubaix.
--
Mark (MSA)
Bike shop assistant... "We couldn't repair your brakes, so we made your horn louder"!