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loony day in the mountains - make or breakStage 17, and the Tourmalet is at this moment covered in cloud. That means you can’t see your hand in front of your face. And it’s much colder than the previous 16 stages. After today, there are only three more stages. The Tour may well be decided today and there remain several riders capable of going postal and blowing the field away. The official page, with excruciating detailed stats and links to other pages, can be found here as usual. Click on the “follow the race live” box for running details. Unless the weather clears, there will be no helicopter pictures from the high Tourmalet, just those from the motor bikes! the end of a generationAge seems to be having a lot of effect. It has also been terrifyingly hot, 37°C and more, which must have a debilitating effect. It looks to me as if the resilience of youth is outweighing the experience of age. Armstrong [38 y.o.] crashed twice on the cobbles and three times on the eighth stage - he appears to have lost both his stamina and the quick reactions necessary to keep out of trouble. Cadel Evans [33 y.o.] burnt out badly on stage nine, on the first HC mountain stage. However, one needs to be aware that he was riding with a cracked left elbow - not at all easy, especially on big climbs. In faxt, the Tour seems already to have accumulated a small hospital’s worth of broken bones. Contador [27 y.o.] appears to be banking on the next against-the-clock to keep Andy Schleck [25 y.o.] away from the top of the final podium. Last year was a very badly planned Tour, lacking sufficient interest and perhaps on the easy side. This year, the organisers appear to overreacted to giving us a very challenging and almost too interesting programme. But the real terror of the Tour starts on Sunday the 18th, in the Pyrenees where the stages of four days move from ghastly to ghastlier. Glory knows how they will survive if this heat continues [today, the15th, there are reports of 46°C], though they do have a rest day on the Wednesday before being faced with the second, yes a second, ascent of the classic Tourmalet pyramid: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”. 2010 tour de france route
Watching Tour de France broadcasts The 2010 Tour de France will start at Rotterdam with a short individual against-the-clock through eight kilometres of the city home to the biggest port in Europe. The next day, the Tour races from the Netherlands to Belgium, then from Belgium to France; The third stage, from Belgium to France, Wanze-Arenberg to Porte du Hainaut, will have 13.2 km of cobbled (pavé) road, with three sections in Belgium (2.2km) and a further four in France (11km). Anyone who has watched the annual Paris-Roubaix race will appreciate what a bone-shaking experience it is. Mind you, for the Tour de France it should be somewhat easier, the race being in warm and probably dry summer, instead of the wet and wild Easter. The 2010 race will include nine stages on the flat, six mountain stages with three finishes on a summit and one individual against-the clock of 51 km. There will be two rest days and twenty-three climbs of either category 2, cat. 1 or hors catégorie (unclassifiable). The famous, and often dreaded, Col du Tourmalet will feature twice, once as the Tour goes over it, and the next day when the stage will end at its 2115 metre summit. It is clear that the global financial crisis has hit the Tour de France, with the number of expensive high mountain stages reduced, one even being used twice, and only one real against-the-clock stage, and no team time trial stage. Instead, the organisers are trying to offer other cycling excitement with seven sections of cobbled road and twice using the daunting Col de Tourmalet, including for a stage finish. A further novelty, unusually for the Tour de France, there will be more mountain stages in the Pyrénees than the Alps. the stages for 2010There will be a prologue [short opening stage] and 20 stages, with six mountain stages [Alps 2, Pyrenees 4], two medium mountain stages, and one individual against-the-clock [contre-le-montre] time trial. The first day’s prologue is also a short individual against-the-clock [contre-le-montre] time trial. There are 2 rest days. All other days are ‘on the plain’ - relatively flat days, almost touring through France. The total distance ridden will be about 3,600 kilometres, or roughly 2 237 miles.
the prizes
For more on the tactics of racing in the Tour de France. the teams for 2010
From 2011, under the agreement between the organisers of the Grand Tours and the Union Cycliste Internationale, the first 17 teams in the world rankings established in late 2010, according to the performance of sports teams, will be selected automatically. Other sports groups will receive wild cards issued by the organisers. |
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new! Cathedrale Saint-Gatien at Tours
the perpendicular or English style of cathedral the fire at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris Stone tracery in church and
cathedral construction stained glass and cathedrals in Normandy fortified churches, mostly in Les Landes cathedral labyrinths and mazes in France Germans in France on first arriving in France - driving
Transbordeur bridges in France and the world 2: focus on Portugalete, Chicago,
Rochefort-Martrou France’s western isles: Ile de Ré Ile de France, Paris: in the context of Abelard and of French cathedrals Marianne - a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps la Belle Epoque
Pic du Midi - observing stars clearly, A64 Futuroscope the French umbrella & Aurillac 50 years old:
Citroën DS the forest as seen by Francois Mauriac, and today bastide towns what a hair cut! m & french pop/rock
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this year’s top ten seeded riders [alphabetical list]
last year (2009): the first ten riders
the mountain stages This year, there will be 23 mountain
passes or summit finishes classified level one, level two and
highest level Jura and the Alps
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Cévennes and the Pyrenees
end notes
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