Tour 2008: Let the speculation begin.......

i imagine that alpe d'huez will feature. im hopeing for more than the normal 3 mountain top finishes, nd maybe a mountain time trial. theres rumours that mont ventoux will be in the route every year, unfortanuately it never happens.

ack, please no more ttt's. I love them as stand-alone races, but they have far too disproportional an impact on GT's.

Thanks for the word on the street. Interesting that they're bringing back the TTT. Even though its affected by other team members, a lot of the individual climbs, for the GC contenders, are aided by their team members as well. The strategy for the organizers I assume is to balance time trialling with climbing so one discipline doesn't dominate the other.

cyclingheroes said:

The 2008 TdF route will be announced on October 25.

The rumour mill says the TTT will make a comeback..

The TdF starts at July 5 (Brest) and ends on July 27 in a city called Paris.

Officially announced is:

1 samedi 5 juillet 2008 Brest - Plumelec
2 dimanche 6 juillet 2008 Auray - St Brieuc
3 lundi 7 juillet 2008 St Malo - Nantes

No prologue but a pretty heavy stage which probebly won't end with a bunchg sprint (hills in the final part of the opening stage).

Rumour mill says that stage 4 will be a Team Time Trail around Cholet.

The Pyrenees will be in the second week. The rumour mill says: Toulouse to Bagnères-de-Bigorre (col de Peyresourde and the col d'Aspin).
After a restday the next stage will be from Pau to Hautacam (col du Tourmalet). Than a stage from Lannemezan to Foix. The following day will start in Lavelanet.

The Alpes: According to the French newspaper Dauphiné Libéré thet Tour will go to Italy, to Cuneo (Piemonte). After the Alpes the Tour will go to the Central massive mountainbs. Some rumours say, the Tour will be in the Central Massive before the Pyrenees, in the first week.

Rumours at France 2 (French TV) speak about the Mont Ventoux...

Crankyfeet said:

The strategy for the organizers I assume is to balance time trialling with climbing so one discipline doesn't dominate the other.

They haven't done a very good job. The Tour is consistently the worst of the three GTs, although they have lucked out this and last year.

Bro Deal said:

They haven't done a very good job. The Tour is consistently the worst of the three GTs, although they have lucked out this and last year.

Worse than this year's Vuelta? I thought the TdF route was pretty good. You are just talking about routes right?

Bro Deal said:

They haven't done a very good job. The Tour is consistently the worst of the three GTs, although they have lucked out this and last year.

I think this years route was better than the Vuelta. To open with a hilly stage next year is pretty interesting as well.

Agreed.

For the first time since the start of this decade the 2007 Vuelta route was not as interesting as LeTour 2007.

The re-introduction of the TTT isn't a good idea, I think.
I always felt that the TTT was weighted toward the stronger teams who contained only the few riders capable of winning overall (think Fignon and Renault, Armstrong USPS/DC).

TTT...breakup the field.....good for GT's 😄

Crankyfeet said:

Worse than this year's Vuelta? I thought the TdF route was pretty good. You are just talking about routes right?

I was thinking about routes and racing.

As far as routes go, the Tour is usually the worst. This year's Vuelta was obviously a stinker, the most boring route of any GT in recent memory, even worse than the worst Tour route. The Tour routes are formulaic and boring. It reminds me of watching all the "by the numbers" James Bond movies. They get some new blood in there, switch things around, and end up with Casino Royale, the best Bond film since On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I wish the TdF could do a similar about face.

The route is not soley, or even largely, to blame for the boring GC racing that usually takes place at the Tour, but it certainly doesn't help.

[censored] it, I'm full of cold, its freezing, wet, dark and miserable.
I say anything that makes me think of next summer and a bit of excitement is cool.

aaaatishoooo !
sniff.

Bro Deal said:

I was thinking about routes and racing.

As far as routes go, the Tour is usually the worst.

Agreed. A few more stages with run ins similar to the stage Pozzato won this year, or the stage into Valkenburg in 06 won by the massively drug fuelled but still impressive Kessler wouldn't go astray.

Just a couple of hills inside the last 30km on a couple of days to break it up.

theres speculation of a mountain top finish in italy, possibly prato nevoso, followed by a rest day in cuneo. there has been confirmation of a stage finish at the alpe d'huez, embruns mayor has said they will host a stage start on 23 of july so this may mean embrun - le alpe d'huez.

limerickman said:

Agreed.

For the first time since the start of this decade the 2007 Vuelta route was not as interesting as LeTour 2007.

The re-introduction of the TTT isn't a good idea, I think.
I always felt that the TTT was weighted toward the stronger teams who contained only the few riders capable of winning overall (think Fignon and Renault, Armstrong USPS/DC).

c'mon, lim. give the vuelta a break. the organisers were very above board in announcing that they were experimenting with the elements this year to get away from the first stages flat, then mountains, then flat, then mountains, then victory parade formulae the gt's have fallen for.

phillop said:

theres speculation of a mountain top finish in italy, possibly prato nevoso, followed by a rest day in cuneo. there has been confirmation of a stage finish at the alpe d'huez, embruns mayor has said they will host a stage start on 23 of july so this may mean embrun - le alpe d'huez.

I also heard about a mountain top finish in Italy and Alpe d'Huez.

Start with an individual TT. Everybody is fresh and we'll see who is really the fastest pure timetriallist. More importantly, it should really break up the field and make it less formulaic. Anything that changes the usual pattern is worth a shot. If it is flawed, try something else next year.

Gregers said:

Start with an individual TT. Everybody is fresh and we'll see who is really the fastest pure timetriallist. More importantly, it should really break up the field and make it less formulaic. Anything that changes the usual pattern is worth a shot. If it is flawed, try something else next year.

nah, wont show who is the fastest pure tter, it will show who is the fastest doped ttist, and most doped ttist.

A TTT to start with would be good.

I think that no teams have real advantages in the TTT now, so feel free to bring a team chrono back in the route.

Tmobile would be strong, CSC would always be strong, Slipstream may be the strongest. If you start with a TTT, and have it only 50 kms, there will be max 3 minutes separating the teams. I think even the current incarnation of EE will come in about 180 seconds down. Astarloza, Sanchez, and Zubeldia would keep it to that.

Astana and the new Predictor would be strong also.

paris.thover.comstory.phpOpen ↗

thunder said:

nah, wont show who is the fastest pure tter, it will show who is the fastest doped ttist, and most doped ttist.

That is just so yesterday. The unending vigilance of the UCI has put a stop to all that horrible druggie stuff. Hadn't you heard?

I posted this in another thread so please forgive me if you are reading it for the second time. I think it is a good idea (pat on my own back) and would be much more interesting than starting with a TTT, TT or prologue:

I never liked the team time trial (or any time trial for that matter). Its just boring to watch and only serves to eliminate good riders from contention way too early.

I think they should try something new. Instead of a TTT or a prologue, they should start with a 20 k stage. The stage would be run in 9 waves with each team having a single rider in each wave. The strategy would be wild. Generally, a team would want its GC contender to be in the fastest wave to gain as much time on the rest of the field. This would mean that most of the GC guys would probably end up in the same wave together with some sprinters mixed in. The GC guys would have to cooperate with each other to avoid loosing time to riders in other waves. Everybody would be looking for the leader's jersey so you would see people sitting in for the win. If too many people sat in, the entire waive would loose time on GC. So, there would probably be alot of attacking, etc. It poses a real conundrum. The type of tactical problems that make bike racing great.

From a fan's perspective, it would be wild with nine different races, each one playing out differntly and each having a potential impact on GC.