October 21, 1999 - Le Tour heads back to '49Tour de France 2000 - 'balanced and fair'By Gerard Knapp and reported by cyclingnews.com's Tim Maloney at the presentation "IT seems like a balanced and fair tour," said Lance Armstrong via video link at the release today of the route for the Tour de France in 2000, the 87th edition of the world's largest bike race. "I don't want to single out any rivals," said this year's victor, "there's about 10 guys who could probably win. Ullrich, Pantani, Escartin, Olano ... the list is long." Whoever rides around Paris in the yellow jersey on July 23 next year will have conquered what veteran tour watcher Samuel Abt from the New York Times said "looks like a very tough course. Good for a lot of the climbers". Indeed, the defining section will be stages 14, 15 and 16, in the French Alps, with the killer stage likely to be stage 14, to be held on July 15. This 249 km nasty takes in three historic climbs on a route which has not been scaled since Fausto Coppi won it in 1949. Leaving Draguignan and finishing at Briancon, it covers the Cols du Allos, Vars and Izoard. It's then followed by another brute which finishes in Courchevel, with the riders facing 168 km of climbs including the Galibier and Telegraph. The peloton will then have a rest day in the mountains, before encountering a 196 km stage from Courchevel to Morzine, tackling the Cols du Columbier, Goux and Plane. But it's not all suffering for the riders. Armstrong said he was looking forward to the return of the Team Time Trial, which has not been a part of the Tour since 1995. "I used to really like those when I was in Motorola," he told reporters. This year's Tour also features an opening time trial stage of 16 km which could see the end for the prologue specialists and the emegence of a more complete time trialist leading the race. How long they remain in yellow will depend on how many bonus seconds the sprinters will earn in the first week. The time trialists will only have one further opportunity to assert themselves next year, as there is only one individual time trial coming at stage 19, making Tour 2000 a course which is certainly suited to the climbers and sets up a final showdown. Another distinguishing feature of next year's Tour is the final stage, which commences under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, skirts around the city for 55 km, then heads back for the traditional laps along the Champs-Elysées for the final 80 km. And in the morning before the riders head off on the final day, the organisers are planning to open the Parisian streets - turned into the race course - for the general punters. They expect some 10,000 riders will participate in the randonee. As reported in cyclingnews this Tuesday, the Tour par cours commences in Futuroscope and then heads north to Brittany, before returning back down the centre of France, south to the mountains which border with Spain. Stage 10 will see the peloton hit the Pyrenees for a 205 km stage that will scale the Col du Aubisque and finish at Hautecam, the scene of one of Miguel Indurain's most devastating displays which shattered the bunch, except for Luc LeBlanc, and virtually won him the tour. Another tough stage comes shortly after on stage 12 (July 13), with
the Tour leaving Carpentras on a 149 km stage which finishes on the
dreaded Mont Ventoux - with the ascent taking the steep route. Overall,
the Tour 2000 features the following: There are a total of 21 stages covering 3630 km, and the Tour will visit Lausanne in Switzerland (home of the UCI) and then into Germany, with a relatively flat individual time trial on stage 19 from Fribourg to Mulhouse. Given the proximity to his home, we can look forward to a showdown between Jan Ullrich, Armstrong and their key rivals. But there are nine months of training and racing beforehand, and as we saw this year, we should also expect the unexpected. Stages Tour 2000 1 July Stage 1, ITT Futuroscope, 16 km 2 July Stage 2, Futuroscope - Loudun, 191 km 3 July Stage 3, Loudun - Nantes, 170 km 4 July Stage 4, Team Time Trial Nantes - Saint-Nazaire, 69 km = team tt 5 July Stage 5, Vannes - Vitré, 198 km 6 July Stage 6, Vitré - Tours, 197 km 7 July Stage 7, Tours - Limoges, 192 km 8 July Stage 8, Limoges - Villeneuve-sur-Lot, 200 km 9 July Stage 9, Agen - Dax, 182 km 10 July Stage 10, Dax - Lourdes Hautacam, 205 km 11 July Stage 11, Bagnères-de-Bigorre - Revel, 219 km 12 July Restday 13 July 12 Stage 12, Carpentras - Mont Ventoux, 149 km 14 July 13 Stage 13, Avignon - Draguignan, 180 km 15 July 14 Stage 14, Draguignan - Briancon, 249 km 16 July 15 Stage 15, Briancon - Courchevel, 168 km 17 July Restday 18 July 16 Stage 16, Courchevel - Morzine, 196 km 19 July 17 Stage 17, Evian-les-Bains - Lausanne, 155 km 20 July 18 Stage 18, Lausanne - Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 252 km 21 July 19 Stage 19, ITT Fribourg-en-Brisgau - Mulhouse, 59 km 22 July 20 Stage, Belfort - Troyes, 248 km 23 July 21 Stage, Paris - Paris (Champs-Elysées), 135 km Major Climbs: 10th stage Marie-Blanque 1,035 m Aubisque 1,709 m Soulor 1,474 m Hautacam 1,560 m 12th stage Murs 627 m N-D-des-Abeilles 996 m Mont Ventoux 1,909 m 14th stage Canjuers 840 m Allos 2,250 m Vars 2,109 m Izoard 2,361 m 15th stage Lautaret 2,060 m Galibier 2,645 m Telegraphe 1,566 m Madeleine 2,000 m Courchevel 2,004 m 16th stage Saisies 1,650 m Aravis 1,498 m de la Colombiere 1,618 m Chatillon ,733 m Joux-Plane 1,700 m 17th stage Mosses 1,445 m |