2016 Tour de France

[toolonglegs]

Looks like the route for 2016 may have been announced sort of...
http://morzinesourcemagazine.com/tour-d ... red-route/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
13 July looks good... especially the start town
Villars-les-Dombes ... population 4500 incl me

I think Andorra should be on there though ... suppose we will see.

[MichaelB]

So the week of 10th - 16th July - what are some of the passes that could be used if those routes were accurate in any way ?

[toolonglegs]

I think Morzine is accurate... But I don't actually think the start in my town is accurate.
I am 99% sure they are going to Andorra but that is not on there... So don't trust it too much.
One that is sure to be back next year is Galibier.

[MichaelB]

Okay, to all those francophiles out there ;

In doing the planning for the 2016 Alps/Dolomites trip, I noticed that some climbs are Col de I'Iseran and some are Col du Galibier, and then some are Col de la Croix de Fer

What is the difference between the de, du and de la ?

Tried google, but couldn't seem to get anywhere

[vbap_commuter]

http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/de ... -des_2.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Master that, and you'll be giving victory speeches on the Champs soon...

[toolonglegs]

So ,
Col de la Croix de Fer . "Croix" is féminin ... La Croix. De is a préposition ... A linking word, in these instances it's like "of the" .
Col du Galibier, "Galibier" is masculin, Le Galibier, but you don't say "Col de le Galibier", you shorten "de le" to "du".
Now Iseran is also masculin, but in Français you can't have a word finishing with a vowel followed by a word starting with a vowel. So as you can't write "Col du Iseran", you extend "du" back out to "de le"... But as you also can't write "Col de le Iseran" with two vowels it becomes "de l' "
Now the silly part is it doesn't really matter if the word masculin or féminin, if it starts with a vowel, "du" will become "de l' " and "de la" will also become "de l' " .
Now near me I have the "Col des Portes" ... "Portes" being plural you use "des". Not to be confused with " Col de Porte" near Grenoble.
But just to confuse the issue... "Porte" on this instance probably refers to a name instead of a door / entry or "porte" in French. As it is "la porte" for a door.
Of course there is also a "Col de la Porte" somewhere else

So why is it not Col du Porte?... Well as you can see it's complicated when it comes to names, there isn't really a rule. You would need to go back in history to find out what the Porte actually refers to... A family name ( they don't have masculin or féminin ) , a place or a thing .... Hehe

[MichaelB]

Almost sorry I asked. My head almost exploded

Thanks anyway. So it's like a him/her/it (der/die/das) is in German. Cool.

When is the next trivia night !!!!

[MichaelB]

Found this site with some interesting info and rumors .....

Velowire site

http://www.velowire.com/article/940/en/ ... ties-.html

Link to the image as it can change as more rumors surface and are filled in with detail

[PhilMailloux]

So ,
Col de la Croix de Fer . "Croix" is féminin ... La Croix. De is a préposition ... A linking word, in these instances it's like "of the" .
Col du Galibier, "Galibier" is masculin, Le Galibier, but you don't say "Col de le Galibier", you shorten "de le" to "du".
Now Iseran is also masculin, but in Français you can't have a word finishing with a vowel followed by a word starting with a vowel. So as you can't write "Col du Iseran", you extend "du" back out to "de le"... But as you also can't write "Col de le Iseran" with two vowels it becomes "de l' "
Now the silly part is it doesn't really matter if the word masculin or féminin, if it starts with a vowel, "du" will become "de l' " and "de la" will also become "de l' " .
Now near me I have the "Col des Portes" ... "Portes" being plural you use "des". Not to be confused with " Col de Porte" near Grenoble.
But just to confuse the issue... "Porte" on this instance probably refers to a name instead of a door / entry or "porte" in French. As it is "la porte" for a door.
Of course there is also a "Col de la Porte" somewhere else

So why is it not Col du Porte?... Well as you can see it's complicated when it comes to names, there isn't really a rule. You would need to go back in history to find out what the Porte actually refers to... A family name ( they don't have masculin or féminin ) , a place or a thing .... Hehe

You know my first language is French and there's no way I could have explained it as well as that. There's only one thing I'm missing from this post. The explanation of what "masculin" and feminin" means. Masculin = male, feminin=female. Yes, there's male and female versions of words in the french language which makes it a major pita to learn and to spell properly (I can't write it for sh** and spent 13 years in the french school system...)

[toolonglegs]

Hehe "the French school system" ... my kids are halfway through it now. They are 11 and it's like they are going to university. Some days they just go in for an hour or not at all, some days from 8.30 till 17.30!. Teacher sick? ... don't go to school for that class. It's a funny old place! .
My wife is very good in French ( she is a French / Spanish / English interpreter / translator at Interpol ) ... she says that most French people can't write French correctly. Probably explains why I can't understand half the emails I get from my club, everything is so chopped up and shortened. Don't even go there with txt's!!!. My French is OK if it is a subject I know well ( ie: cycling and nothing else! ). I went for a job as a chef d’atelier but my language skills aren't good enough to deal with the public.

[toolonglegs]

So above map was not right ... but still got a stage finish in my village

[MichaelB]

So above map was not right ... but still got a stage finish in my village

And you were right about Morzine.

Anyways, how long does it normally take before they release the detailed route (i.e. the actual route of the stages on the road) ?

Looks like the 2nd week of my trip might be around the shores of Lac Leman

[Calvin27]

Quintana - calling it now.

If you repeat this years tdf without porte, Quitana comes out on top imo.

[toolonglegs]

So above map was not right ... but still got a stage finish in my village

And you were right about Morzine.

Anyways, how long does it normally take before they release the detailed route (i.e. the actual route of the stages on the road) ?

Looks like the 2nd week of my trip might be around the shores of Lac Leman

The actual maps can be much closer to the actual race. But for the mountain stages you can usually work out where it is going by the profile maps which are released pretty early... there are not that many road choices.

[MichaelB]

So above map was not right ... but still got a stage finish in my village

Which stage ?

[toolonglegs]

Stage 14 on the 16th... Villars-les-Dombes. Definitely a sprint finish!.

[MichaelB]

Stage 14 on the 16th... Villars-les-Dombes. Definitely a sprint finish!.

Hmmm, might have to try and catch up, depending on where we are

[toolonglegs]

No idea what I will be doing next July... But I will be around.
If I am working the Saturday I will certainly try and get over to the Grand Colombier stage on the Sunday.

[MichaelB]

No idea what I will be doing next July... But I will be around.
If I am working the Saturday I will certainly try and get over to the Grand Colombier stage on the Sunday.

Sounds like a plan.

atm, it looks like we'll be spending the last week near Lake Geneva to catch the action, as I'll probably fly out of Geneva (best connections)

[jasonc]

how come this thread has no legs?

[Calvin27]

how come this thread has no legs?

They are all in whirlpool.

[warthog1]

Well I start hols on Monday
Should be able to watch the whole glorious race.
Hanging for it to start.
They haven't had good ads for a few years. I hope they aren't too lame this year as they play them over and over.
Other than that expecting few laughs out of the commentary.

[cerb]

Is there a BNA fantasy competition set up yet?

http://tdffantasy.sbs.com.au/default.aspx

[biker jk]

New Orica kit for TdF. Lookls like Movistar.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/orica-b ... l-new-kit/

[jasonc]

New Orica kit for TdF. Lookls like Movistar.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/orica-b ... l-new-kit/

and no longer called orica greenedge