TT in Alpe d'HUez

Who does a Tour favor with two individual time trials in four days - in the final five days of the race?

CTRDY01 said:

Nice surprise! The first time trial late in the Tour and going up the Alpe d'Huez!!!

How many "pure climbing" TT has there been. I mean, something like from Vaison la Romaine to the top
of Mont Ventoux?

Didier

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Quoted message said:

How many "pure climbing" TT has there been. I mean, something like from Vaison la Romaine to the
top of Mont Ventoux?

Didier

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Is this a question or are you trying to make a point?

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Didier A. Depireux said:

CTRDY01 said:

Nice surprise! The first time trial late in the Tour and going up the Alpe d'Huez!!!

How many "pure climbing" TT has there been. I mean, something like from Vaison la Romaine to the
top of Mont Ventoux?

Didier

Don't keep track and my Compendium of All Things Tour de France hasn't been delivered yet. Should be
a doozy, as Lance has indicated he'd like to win on Alpe d'Huez (pronounced: doo-AY) here's his big
chance, but it honestly probably suits Heras better. Will Johan tell Heras to 'cool it' or could
this be the teams chance to finally give him his stage win?

No Ventoux, so barring a 2005 go at the Tour Lance may be SOL on winning that.

Time Cop said:

Who does a Tour favor with two individual time trials in four days - in the final five days of
the race?

Viewers like you and me?

Quoted message said:

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Clovis Lark said:

Time Cop said:

Who does a Tour favor with two individual time trials in four days - in the final five days of
the race?

Viewers like you and me?

The Giro and Vuelta, by placing some difficulties early on, manage to make the race last longer,
usually. In recent years, the Giro has been much more fun to watch in the first week than the boring
pancake flat stages of the Tour.

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David N. Welton said:

Clovis Lark said:

Time Cop said:

Who does a Tour favor with two individual time trials in four days - in the final five days of
the race?

Viewers like you and me?

The Giro and Vuelta, by placing some difficulties early on, manage to make the race last longer,
usually. In recent years, the Giro has been much more fun to watch in the first week than the
boring pancake flat stages of the Tour.

Ah, you just need to be a Maillot à Poids freak for those few stages.

"Didier A. Depireux" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:bn8k5d$d31$1 @grapevine.wam.umd.edu:

Quoted message said:

How many "pure climbing" TT has there been. I mean, something like from Vaison la Romaine to the
top of Mont Ventoux?

Wasn't the last pure climbing ITT in the TdF back in 1996, up to Val d'Isere? It was won by Evgeni
Berzin and, ominously, it was the year that Indurain went for his sixth win and Riis upset him.

Second: This is going to a boring Tour, with most of the major difficulties toward the end. And at
the same time, it will be a dangerous Tour, with crowds at Alpe d'Huez ballooning beyond their
already race-altering numbers.

T.

TimBenz said:

"Didier A. Depireux" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:bn8k5d$d31$1 @grapevine.wam.umd.edu:

Quoted message said:

How many "pure climbing" TT has there been. I mean, something like from Vaison la Romaine to the
top of Mont Ventoux?

Wasn't the last pure climbing ITT in the TdF back in 1996, up to Val d'Isere? It was won by Evgeni
Berzin and, ominously, it was the year that Indurain went for his sixth win and Riis upset him.

2001, St. 11, Grenoble - Chamrousse, 32km from 209m to 1730m
cyclingnews.comstage 11.shtmlOpen ↗

Won by some guy from Texas.
cyclingnews.comresults stage 11.shtmlOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Second: This is going to a boring Tour, with most of the major difficulties toward the end. And at
the same time, it will be a dangerous Tour, with crowds at Alpe d'Huez ballooning beyond their
already race-altering numbers.

An earlier ITT would have been nice.

Quoted message said:

T.

There as 2001

TimBenz said:

"Didier A. Depireux" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:bn8k5d$d31$1 @grapevine.wam.umd.edu:

Quoted message said:

How many "pure climbing" TT has there been. I mean, something like from Vaison la Romaine to the
top of Mont Ventoux?

Wasn't the last pure climbing ITT in the TdF back in 1996, up to Val d'Isere? It was won by Evgeni
Berzin and, ominously, it was the year that Indurain went for his sixth win and Riis upset him.

2001, Grenoble to Chamrousse, which LANCE won, the day after Alpe du Huez. (IIRC)

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David N. Welton said:

Clovis Lark <[email hidden]> writes:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Time Cop said:

Who does a Tour favor with two individual time trials in four days - in the final five days of
the race?

Viewers like you and me?

Quoted message said:

The Giro and Vuelta, by placing some difficulties early on, manage to make the race last longer,
usually. In recent years, the Giro has been much more fun to watch in the first week than the
boring pancake flat stages of the Tour.

Each grand tour has its own identity forged by the terrain of the host nation.

Quoted message said:

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Clovis Lark said:

Quoted message said:

The Giro and Vuelta, by placing some difficulties early on, manage to make the race last longer,
usually. In recent years, the Giro has been much more fun to watch in the first week than the
boring pancake flat stages of the Tour.

Quoted message said:

Each grand tour has its own identity forged by the terrain of the host nation.

And each nation is varied enough, and covered by enough roads to have whatever kinds of stages they
want. It's up to the organizers to make it interesting - the riders are going hard even during the
flat stages, but nothing much usually happens because the terrain makes it difficult.

More stages like the one where Bruyneel won and Indurain gained time on his rivals would make the
earlier stages more exciting.

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"David N. Welton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Clovis Lark said:

Quoted message said:

The Giro and Vuelta, by placing some difficulties early on, manage to make the race last
longer, usually. In recent years, the Giro has been much more fun to watch in the first week
than the boring pancake flat stages of the Tour.

Quoted message said:

Each grand tour has its own identity forged by the terrain of the host nation.

And each nation is varied enough, and covered by enough roads to have whatever kinds of stages
they want. It's up to the organizers to make it interesting - the riders are going hard even
during the flat stages, but nothing much usually happens because the terrain makes it difficult.

More stages like the one where Bruyneel won and Indurain gained time on his rivals would make the
earlier stages more exciting.

Dumbass -

Ya, because that stage was in Belgium.

The TdF has a tendency to have flat stages simply because much of the country is that way and if
they do the traditional counterclockwise-or-clockwise Tour, that's what we get. They're not going to
change the tradition. Don't like it? Watch the Vuelta or Giro instead.

David N. Welton said:

Clovis Lark <[email hidden]> writes:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The Giro and Vuelta, by placing some difficulties early on, manage to make the race last
longer, usually. In recent years, the Giro has been much more fun to watch in the first week
than the boring pancake flat stages of the Tour.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Each grand tour has its own identity forged by the terrain of the host nation.

Quoted message said:

And each nation is varied enough, and covered by enough roads to have whatever kinds of stages
they want. It's up to the organizers to make it interesting - the riders are going hard even
during the flat stages, but nothing much usually happens because the terrain makes it difficult.

Quoted message said:

More stages like the one where Bruyneel won and Indurain gained time on his rivals would make the
earlier stages more exciting.

How about some of those Walloon murs? They are starting up in LIege. You think it's nothing but flat
up there? And the Massif Central? That's flat? I'll bet the road into St.-Brieuc isn't going to be a
cake walk, either.

Furthermore, there will be a certain tension over dethroning Armstrong on possibly his final tour
which may cause a number of heated attacks aimed at weakening him prior to the Pyrenees. The
organizers have a certain obligation, which they have now filled. At this point, it is up to the
team directors and the team leaders to "fill in the gaps" as far as exciting racing is concerned.

Quoted message said:

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OK, maybe its just me, but after the initial rumors of a Dijon stage I'm disappointed that they're
bypassing it entirely.

Can anyone with their head in the culinary world give me an idea of which stages will be better
"food" stages? Especially to the south and the Alps because ideally I would like to combine a good
food stage with one or more of the good pain stages in the mountains.

Nimes?

Bob Schwartz [email hidden]

Richard Adams said:

Alpe d'Huez (pronounced: doo-AY)

By whom?

Richard Adams said:

Don't keep track and my Compendium of All Things Tour de France hasn't been delivered yet. Should
be a doozy, as Lance has indicated he'd like to win on Alpe d'Huez (pronounced: doo-AY) here's his
big chance, but it honestly probably suits Heras better. Will Johan tell Heras to 'cool it' or
could this be the teams chance to finally give him his stage win?

Heras throttled back at the Chamrousse stage in 2001 and if a possibility exists that winding it up
at Alpe d'Huez would make him less effective for LANCE on the following stage (which is not a piece
of cake) then I doubt you'll see him ride hard. Gotta keep track of all the goals.

From a fan's perspective I think the biggest change will be in the day of race logistics. The road
will be closed all day instead of just two hours before arrival. The alternate driving routes are
not meant for a lot of traffic. As I ponder this I think there are opportunities here. The idea of
arriving via telepherique from Vaujany or Oz Station is beginning to sound really cool. Or even
better, a combination of telepherique and mountain bike. Hmmmm. But that's not a high traffic volume
method either. The end result might be that the roadside camping spots will be in higher demand even
earlier than ever.

Bob Schwartz [email hidden]

Robert Chung said:

Richard Adams said:

Alpe d'Huez (pronounced: doo-AY)

By whom?

People who live there, as quoted to me by someone who lived there.

Bob Schwartz said:

Richard Adams said:

Don't keep track and my Compendium of All Things Tour de France hasn't been delivered yet. Should
be a doozy, as Lance has indicated he'd like to win on Alpe d'Huez (pronounced: doo-AY) here's his
big chance, but it honestly probably suits Heras better. Will Johan tell Heras to 'cool it' or
could this be the teams chance to finally give him his stage win?

Heras throttled back at the Chamrousse stage in 2001 and if a possibility exists that winding it
up at Alpe d'Huez would make him less effective for LANCE on the following stage (which is not a
piece of cake) then I doubt you'll see him ride hard. Gotta keep track of all the goals.

From a fan's perspective I think the biggest change will be in the day of race logistics. The road
will be closed all day instead of just two hours before arrival. The alternate driving routes are
not meant for a lot of traffic. As I ponder this I think there are opportunities here. The idea of
arriving via telepherique from Vaujany or Oz Station is beginning to sound really cool. Or even
better, a combination of telepherique and mountain bike. Hmmmm. But that's not a high traffic
volume method either. The end result might be that the roadside camping spots will be in higher
demand even earlier than ever.

Bob Schwartz [email hidden]

Absolutely! Usually it's sit around all day watching it on the telly (if you have a small battery
powered one) or listening to radio, or if you travel light like me, you pester people around you to
find what's happening, and zip, they all go past, followed by the 'autobus' 40 minutes later. For an
ITT it's all day of watching them zip by. Better get a good shady spot.