Tour de France Schedule

[PhiI C]

To give everyone the basic schedule of the Tour de France July 2 to July 9 which are Stages 1 - 8 and are basically 820 miles of Flat Land which favors the sprinters.
Stage 9 on July 10 is 106 Medium Mountains which starts to favor the main contenders for the overall win.
July 11 is kind of a rest day because the contestents are transported by plane to Grenoble.
Stage 10 - 12 on July 12 - 14 are 342.6 miles of Mountain
Stage 13 on July 15 is 107.6 miles of flat land
Stages 14 - 16 on July 16 -19 are 376 miles of mountain. July 18 is a rest day in Pau.
Stage 17 on July 20 is 148.5 miles of flat land.
Stages 18 and 19 on July 21 - 22 are 212.4 miles of medium mountain.
Stages 20 to 21 on July 23 and July 24 are 123.4 miles of flat land. Basically the race is over after Stage 20 by long time tradition and that race is not a long race. Stage 21 on Sunday is just a traditional ride to Paris for the contestents and is about 99 miles long.

[turbostud]

Here is a preview of the first mountain stage on the 10th.


Stage 9 - Sunday, July 10: Gérardmer - Mulhouse, 171 km
Although a shorter stage than the previous day, stage 9 will put the hurt on the riders, with four Cat 3 climbs, one Cat 2 and the Cat 1 Le Ballon d'Alsace to burn the legs - just over 9km at 6.8% - which is something to get a bit excited about. It was the first climb of the Tour in 1905, and as such represents the first real test of the climbers 100 years later. Without Virenque in '05, there may be a new mountain king looking to make his mark early on the big climbs, as this represents the first real mountainous stage and an opportunity for GC contenders to consolidate their position if they're feeling up to it. Whoever takes the stage will have to possess a decent sprint, as it's a good 60km from the summit of Ballon d'Alsace to the finish in Mulhouse, and those teams that can assemble any sort of order after the descent will be in with a real chance of the stage win.