Author Topic: Tour de France 2018  (Read 133773 times)

Tour de France 2018
« on: 17 October, 2017, 02:51:42 pm »
Featuring

- 8 member teams
- Possible echelon-inducing stages following a start in the Vendee and a couple of Brittany stages (starts in Brest and Fougeres) 
- 31km TTT on Stage 3
- Double Mur de Bretagne climb on the Brest stage
- Another unconscious PBP nod with a start at Dreux
- Cobbles Baby! - 21.7kms worth on stage 9 Amiens to Roubaix.
- A Col de la Madeleine/Croix de Fer/Alpe d’Huez stage
- a partly unpaved climb to the Plateau des Glières on the Le Grand Bornand
- a 65km-long mountain stage (ie the stage is that length, it's not a single mountain)
- a 31km hilly TT on the penultimate day

Can't wait.

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #1 on: 17 October, 2017, 03:05:23 pm »
Lot's of interesting features. Having seen the way shorter stages animate the racing in the Giro and Vuelta, I'll be looking forward to the 'extreme' version of a short stage at just 65km. It'll not be over that quickly, with 3 high mountains thrown into that distance.

Eddington: 133 miles    Max square: 43x43

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #2 on: 17 October, 2017, 03:52:05 pm »
Featuring

- 8 member teams
- Possible echelon-inducing stages following a start in the Vendee and a couple of Brittany stages (starts in Brest and Fougeres) 
- 31km TTT on Stage 3
- Double Mur de Bretagne climb on the Brest stage
- Another unconscious PBP nod with a start at Dreux
- Cobbles Baby! - 21.7kms worth on stage 9 Amiens to Roubaix.
- A Col de la Madeleine/Croix de Fer/Alpe d’Huez stage
- a partly unpaved climb to the Plateau des Glières on the Le Grand Bornand
- a 65km-long mountain stage (ie the stage is that length, it's not a single mountain)
- a 31km hilly TT on the penultimate day

Can't wait.

Predictions:

Geraint Thomas will fall off on the cobbles
Bardet will continue his plateau, and Pinot will continue to be a nearly-Bardet
Uran will miss out on the win due to team members leaving during their funding gap this autumn
Froome will feel a bit old, but so will Nibbles, so Froome will still beat him
Barguil, tomorrow's man, will do the Giro
Quintana, yesterday's man, will fail to feature

I predict a Froome/Dumoulin battle, based on how hilly it is - I haven't looked in detail yet.  TD may well overhaul CF on the final time trial.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #3 on: 17 October, 2017, 04:06:52 pm »
We @ P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM® sense an opportunity here, albeit 4 different reasons.  Though Bethany (8 ) is already on record as saying that if W Barguil knacks himself out from riding the Giro there will be Trouble.

Edit: I'm going to have to modify my table-generating SCIENCE to cope with Bethany (8 )'s advancing years, because smileys.
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Samuel D

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #4 on: 17 October, 2017, 04:23:35 pm »
Interesting and very hilly route. However, the stages are too short. As Michele Ferrari has often pointed out, Froome’s relative weakness is endurance. A difficult Tour for Froome would be one with many long climbing stages, taking the race away from aerobic fitness to endurance. It’s a pity the audience no longer has the attention span for that sort of thing.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #5 on: 17 October, 2017, 05:17:23 pm »
It's not about attention span per se, it's about making it more TV-friendly. And making the racing more aggressive from start to finish, getting rid of those ridiculous 250km transitional stages.

Stage 17 should be fantastic.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Samuel D

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #6 on: 17 October, 2017, 05:21:54 pm »
It's not about attention span per se, it's about making it more TV-friendly.

Same difference!

I’d like to see more long stages, but I know I’m unlikely to get my wish. Your view is shared by most.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #7 on: 17 October, 2017, 05:33:06 pm »
It's not 1903 any more. People want to be able to watch the race as it happens, not just read about it in the newspaper a day or two later.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #8 on: 17 October, 2017, 05:34:16 pm »
Interesting and very hilly route. However, the stages are too short. As Michele Ferrari has often pointed out, Froome’s relative weakness is endurance. A difficult Tour for Froome would be one with many long climbing stages, taking the race away from aerobic fitness to endurance. It’s a pity the audience no longer has the attention span for that sort of thing.

I thought Froome's weakness (at least against Contador of old) was the really steep inclines. This was where he faltered in the Vuelta before he starting having success in the TdF, and was again evident in the Vuelta just gone. The less steep climbs he just manages the power output fastidiously, as he does on the long stages.

Eddington: 133 miles    Max square: 43x43

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #9 on: 17 October, 2017, 07:18:05 pm »
We @ P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM® sense an opportunity here, albeit 4 different reasons.  Though Bethany (8 ) is already on record as saying that if W Barguil knacks himself out from riding the Giro there will be Trouble.

Edit: I'm going to have to modify my table-generating SCIENCE to cope with Bethany (8 )'s advancing years, because smileys.
Bethany(VIII)  Fixed. :)

...or Bethany(10002)
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #10 on: 17 October, 2017, 08:35:23 pm »
Shorter and hillier? Yes please! I found 200km of flat high speed racing crap.

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #11 on: 17 October, 2017, 10:25:10 pm »
It's not 1903 any more. People want to be able to watch the race as it happens, not just read about it in the newspaper a day or two later.

It might also be a tactic to reduce dependency on pharmaceuticals. 

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #12 on: 17 October, 2017, 10:51:53 pm »
It's not 1903 any more. People want to be able to watch the race as it happens, not just read about it in the newspaper a day or two later.

It might also be a tactic to reduce dependency on pharmaceuticals.

I watched (a stage) as it happened two years ago.

No idea what happened, but we had a metric shed load of tasty sugar treats and hats to remember the event by.

Some bloke in a yellow shirt sweated past pretty much as the other blokes did. Except he had his elbows out.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #13 on: 18 October, 2017, 09:01:36 am »
We @ P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM® sense an opportunity here, albeit 4 different reasons.  Though Bethany (8 ) is already on record as saying that if W Barguil knacks himself out from riding the Giro there will be Trouble.

Edit: I'm going to have to modify my table-generating SCIENCE to cope with Bethany (8 )'s advancing years, because smileys.

Bethany (8)

(Additional Options -> Don't use smileys.)
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #14 on: 18 October, 2017, 09:03:28 am »
Any links for a detailed route yet? The main TdF site only has the start/finish towns and a thick line on a map.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #15 on: 18 October, 2017, 09:38:18 am »
Any links for a detailed route yet? The main TdF site only has the start/finish towns and a thick line on a map.

Try Cycling Weekly website.

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #16 on: 18 October, 2017, 10:10:33 am »
Any links for a detailed route yet? The main TdF site only has the start/finish towns and a thick line on a map.
The details (road numbers etc) do not get released until quite late in the spring.

Wascally Weasel

  • Slayer of Dragons and killer of threads.
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #17 on: 18 October, 2017, 11:35:12 am »
We @ P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM® sense an opportunity here, albeit 4 different reasons.  Though Bethany (8 ) is already on record as saying that if W Barguil knacks himself out from riding the Giro there will be Trouble.

Edit: I'm going to have to modify my table-generating SCIENCE to cope with Bethany (8 )'s advancing years, because smileys.

We could always get rid of smileys?  I'm sure no one would object.

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #18 on: 18 October, 2017, 11:49:19 am »
I've been trying to get rid of Smiley for years.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #19 on: 18 October, 2017, 11:28:21 pm »
Trying to take a lighter tone in the conversation?
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #20 on: 18 October, 2017, 11:44:09 pm »
Don't get Carréd away.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #21 on: 18 October, 2017, 11:45:26 pm »
You'd feel a right charlie if you did, be left out in the cold.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

essexian

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #22 on: 19 October, 2017, 10:45:07 am »
Not sure if the organisation behind Ride London and the London/Surrey classic will be happy that their rides are on the same day as the final stage of the Tour.   

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #23 on: 19 October, 2017, 11:05:17 am »
Not sure if the organisation behind Ride London and the London/Surrey classic will be happy that their rides are on the same day as the final stage of the Tour.

Well they know the TdF has a traditional start and finish date and perhaps their interest in cycling is a tad limited.

Samuel D

Re: Tour de France 2018
« Reply #24 on: 19 October, 2017, 11:17:35 am »
The start and therefore finish dates are late this year because of the World Cup.