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TDF News Flash for October 25, 2007

Edited by Bjorn Haake

Time trialists cut short

Le Tour 2008
Photo: © ASO

In a change from last year's success story of the London prologue, the 2008 Tour will kick off without its usual short time trial to establish a first distinct general classification. Instead, the riders will head from Brest over 195 kilometres to Plumelec, in Brittany. Time trial specialists will be disappointed to find the first contre-la-montre very short, with only 29 kilometres. The second time trial, on the penultimate day of the race, is 53 kilometres long. No team time trial will be part of the route, but the monument of L’Alpe d’Huez is back in the mix. Climbers will be elated that four mountain top finishes are featuring in the 2008 version. A full preview can be found on Cyclingnews' Tour site.

Le Grand Départ returns to Brest after 34 years. Brittany will see an extended Tour this year, with several hundred kilometres spent in the Northwestern part of the country. After the time trial in Cholet on stage four it is off to the first mountain top in Super Besse, on stage six. After a few more southbound transitional stages the peloton will hit the mountains.

First the Pyrenees have to be tackled on the counter-clockwise route. The time spent in the mountain range between Spain and France has been reduced to two days. On stage nine the climbs that have featured many times, the Col de Peyresourde and the Col d'Aspin, will have to be tackled, while stage 10 promises to be the first real indicator of the final outcome in Paris. The stage will take the riders over the long and difficult Tourmalet, at 2,115 metres, before the day's uphill finish at Lourdes-Hautacam is reached.

This will earn the racers a first rest day, spent in the Pau area.

After that the riders will head out of the hills, east and towards the Mediterranean, via Narbonne to Nîmes. These stages will be giving some breakaways the chance for glory as the GC contenders will be watching each other more than the riders interested in stage wins and the sprinters likely having heaving legs after the first set of climbs.

Then stage 15 will be another mountain top finish, at Pratonevoso. Stage 16 sees some high altitude climbs (Col de la Lombarde 2351 meters and Col de la Bonnette-Restefonds at 2802m), before the race hits the popular L’Alpe d’Huez on stage 17.

Finally time trialest's will have their chance, but the 53 kilometres comes only one day before the final stage into Paris and the traditional lap on the Champs-Élysées. A modest route indeed, as indicated in the earlier Cyclingnews coverage.

The Stages

Stage 1, July 5: Brest-Plumelec, 195km
Stage 2, July 6: Auray-Vannes, 165km
Stage 3, July 7: Saint-Malo-Nantes, 195km
Stage 4, July 8: Cholet-Cholet, ITT, 29km
Stage 5, July 9: Cholet-Châteauroux, 230km
Stage 6, July 10: Aigurande-Super Besse, 195km
Stage 7, July 11: Brioudes-Aurillac, 158km
Stage 8, July 12: Figeac-Toulouse, 174km
Stage 9, July 13: Toulouse-Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 226km
Stage 10, July 14: Pau-Lourdes/Hautacam, 154km
July 15: rest day in Pau
Stage 11, July 16: Lannemezan-Foix, 166km
Stage 12, July 17: Lavelanet-Narbonne, 168km
Stage 13, July 18: Narbonne-Nîmes, 182km
Stage 14, July 19: Nîmes-Digne-les-Bains, 182km
Stage 15, July 20: Digne-les-Bains-Pratonevoso, 216km
July 21: rest day in Cuneo
Stage 16, July 22: Cuneo-Jauziers, 157km
Stage 17, July 23: Embrun-L’Alpe d’Huez, 210km
Stage 18, July 24: Bourg d’Oisans-Saint-Etienne, 197km
Stage 19, July 25: Roanne-Montluçon, 163km
Stage 20, July 26: Cérilly-Saint-Amand-Montrond, ITT, 53km
Stage 21, July 27: Etampes-Paris/Champs-Élysées, 143km
Total Length: 3554 km

The Mountains

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by AFP Photo

• Shake hands between the patrons of the 2007 Tour - will Alberto Contador (right) again take charge of the peloton while Tour director Christian Prudhomme takes care of the race organization?
• Four people were extremely focused during the presentation, from right to left Mauricio Soler (Barloworld), Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne), Alberto Contador (Astana) and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto)
• Jean-Yves Le Drian on the right is the president of the French region Bretagne that sees much of the first week played out on its roads.
• Contador and Pereiro shake hands but will battle each other fiercely next July.
• Christian Prudhomme wanted a humane route with less transfers, which he has achieved.
• Christian Prudhomme faces the media questions but was prepared to answer all questions.
• Alberto Contador is posing in front of the map for the 2008 Grande Boucle.
• Yep, this is where I am going to attack and drop everybody and seal my 2008 win. Alp d'Huez is back.
• Contador is young but already used to being the centre of attention.
• Prudhomme unveils the route and delivers his points to the riders and media in attendance.
• Patrice Clerc is the General Director ASO which is in charge of organizing France's biggest bike race.
• Prudhomme in front of the route.
• Le Tour de France mostly stays in France, with only a short escape into Italy.
• Prudhomme with his homework that he presented to the media.He'll get extra credit for cutting down the transfers.
• The north is spared this time as the race heads through Bretagne, Massif central, Pyrenees and Alps.

Images by John Pierce/Photosport International

• Alpe d'Huez is in the mix again making for an exciting showdown between the overall hopefuls towards the end of the race.
• Alberto Contador wants to defend his title and decided to not change winning ways, moving to Astana with Johan Bruyneel and some of his Discovery team-mates.
• Oscar Pereiro will be hoping to get his second Tour title in a more straightforward way than his 2006 win, which he received some 15 months after the finish in Paris.
• The Spaniards Contador and Pereiro are brothers in arms for now.
• Hans-Michael Holczer from Gerolsteiner welcomed the Tour route and stated that "The teams gave some input that was listened to."
• Jonathan Vaughters is heading the powerful Slipstream team, slated to be the next big American team after the folding of Discovery Channel.
• Johan Bruyneel with new team and old goals; another Tour triumph would be great for the Belgian.
• Christian Prudhomme was all smiles as he is now fully in charge of Le Tour. The first thing that went were the transfers. Nice!
• Erik Breukink is directeur sportif at Rabobank and is ok with the course, based on his smile.
• Jonathan Vaughters is looking for the time trial kilometres, but no matter how he adjusted his glasses, they didn't come full swing.
• Bernard Hinault, the five time winner who is now overseeing the race.
• Rolf Aldag of T-Mobile was present as well
• Aldag looks at the map. Italy – yes, but no Germany or any other countries in 2008; One may almost call it a true Tour de France.
• Aldag will head to Brest with a strong team if the current anti-doping investigations won't dismantle the team before July.
• Alberto Contador is already thinking about Alpe d'Huez.
• Cadel Evans is not quite sure what to think of the route. There aren't enough time trial kilometres for his liking.
• Evans may change his training but the Australian certainly has a shot at the Tour.
• Contador already shows the confident smile of a winner.
• Not only Contador was focused but 2007 runner-up Evans on the left and 2006 Pereiro as well.
• Contador, Pereiro and Evans will that be the podium in 2008?
• Cadel Evans is trying to get more time trial kilometres by intensely staring at the organizers.
• Evans in the media mass or was that mess?
• Alberto Contador is happy with the route and its lack of time trialing, though he preferred to "have the longer time trial first."
• Christian Prudhomme addresses the gathered folks to explain his thoughts on the route.
• Jonathan Vaughters is hoping for an invite of Slipstream to the 2008 Tour. He has gathered riders to make it a realistic goal.
• Le Grand Départ will be in the Bretagne/Brittany.
• Erik Breukink will hope to forget the 2007 Tour disaster with Rasmussen and make better headlines next year.
• Vaughters' team has a strong anti-doping program and this may play a decisive factor when it comes to the invitations for next year.
• Bernard Hinault smiles as he likes the route.
• The five-time winner will hope that Frenchmen can lighten it up, some 20 years after his last win.

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