Tour de France 2006

[profàvélo]

The route has just been announced today.

http://www.letour.fr/

Try 'Le parcours en flash.'

And just for fun, try this quiz on the Tour de France.

[bikerchick68]

OK... I can't read french so could'nt figure out where the route is...

BUT I got 8 out of 10 right... missed the caffeine question and the Bday question!

[DeniseGoldberg]

OK... I can't read french so could'nt figure out where the route is...

There's a link on the bottom right of the page (well on the part of the page with stuff on it) that allows you to switch to
English version
or back to
Version Francais

[bikerchick68]

Denise thank you! I didn't see that... sure simplified finding the route! LOL... my French is deplorable!

[MightyMitre]

Cool quiz profavelo - I always like a quiz, but had to pick it on the caffine question.

There was indeed a restiction on the amount of caffine a rider could take, but they lifted the limit on it last year ( which raised a few objections from some quarters as I s'pose you could call it performance enhancing, if tempory) but now riders can take as much as they like.

Bring on the double espressos!

- MM after a double

[Adventure Girl]

I'm disappointed that there will not be a team time trial this year. I LOVE to watch the TTT. I like to see nine riders work together as one. And it allows a tiny amount of focus to the support riders all of whom are so important to an individual's overall success.

[emily_in_nc]

I haven't heard why the decision was made to eliminate the team time trial. Anyone know? I'll miss it.

Emily

[bluerider]

I'm not sure why either but I read on active.com that it was because of "geographical constraints" of the route. It's a shame because it's a beautiful site to see a team riding in unison. Discovery was super organized and it was art to watch them ride. Dare I ask...who will be the successor?!?! It's going to be an amazing TdF. I love Lance and his 7 victories are simply amazing but I am very very very excited to see the tactics of the peleton as they vie for a new patron.

[SadieKate]

I wasn't paying much attention, but the TTT thing caught my eye. What? It's blasphemy! The TTT is the best action! All those sexy legs and, erm, posteriors strung out in a row, smoking down the road!

[bikerchick68]

yep that's a shame. I personally always thought it was a beautiful sight to see teams riding in unison like that...

I, too, am excited about this year... I would SO love to see Hincapie win a Tour...

if not him then Floyd or Levi... I think Floyd might have a better shot...

but beating Basso and Vino could be hard...

what do you think... will Jan train and come back hard too? The man seems to be the epitome of class to me... crud, I have too many favorites... sigh...

[RoadRaven]

DAYAM!!!!!

Haven't been able to hunt down an explaination either!

TTT is and awesome thing to watch...

^%#$#&$*%$*$!!!!!
Why didn't they consult the thousands and thousands and thousands of avid fans of Le Tour???

Grrrrr....

[MightyMitre]

The TTT is a reletively new thing in the TdF, they've had it the last few years but didn't tend to do it much BL ( Before Lance! )

I agree - it's a shame because it's an awesome site. The TT is always the ultimate test for an individual but when they up the pressure even more and ask a whole team to perform it must be a pretty tense day in the team bus.

Despite it looking really cool though, it has tended to mess up the overall results. For example you might have a guy who is topping the GC but is a climber, like Pantani was, can't TT to save his life and doesn't have a team geared up for TTing. Even though he might be doing v.well in the overall, he could loose loads of time just because his team isn't very good at TTing.

I think it'll put the pressure back on the individual race leader contenders and take away the safety net of hoping for good TTT to try and boost a lead. After all, the TdF has always been about 2 or 3 riders battling head to head to win that lovely yellow jersey.

[Trek420]

Lance is on Larry King live right now.

[veloputt]

My bets are on Paolo Salvadeli (forgive any misspelling, please!) for Team D's leader next year! I was able to get a Team Discovery jersey w/ pink in honor of Paolo's Giro d'Italia win. Hincapie is great, but not sure if he has the agression to pull off a tour win--I'll be cheering for him to win P-R, though!

It is a shame to see the TTT out this year--but my big fear is the TV coverage will dry up to weekends and late night highlights only since there isn't Lance to draw the big non-cycling audience. Being able to watch the coverage live w/ Paul and Phil was THE BEST... 2006 should be a great race, too!

And I intend to see at least one stage of Tour de Langkawi next month--an "off season" race, but many big teams show up to Malaysia. Will plan my business trip around it!

[Aint Doody]

Which network is carrying that race that you mentioned? OLN? Of course, I still have Dish and have let them know about my displeasure of taking off OLN.