2013 Tour de France

[toolonglegs]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report- ... -de-france
Yeah they are going to reseal the Col de Sarenne .... up Alpe D'huez and continue over the Sarenne and drop back down and back up D'huez.
One of my fav rides of all time is up D'huez and over Sarenne then up Galibier... but the road surface on Sarenne is pretty bad... not any more .

[Daccordi Rider]

I went down the Sareene last year, pretty dodgy. But resealed it will be awesome, steep and technical. The kind of desent for Nibbles to go away on and Frandy to fudge their dacks.

[toolonglegs]

Yeah the descent down to the Lac du Chambon is pretty damn hairy, but it is a long drag back to the bottom of Alpe D'huez at the bottom... will make a pretty interesting stage. I wonder where they will come from before they hit Alpe D'Huez the first time.
Hoping to get to nearly every stage again next year... getting to Corse is the number one goal though ... the riding over there looks amazing... and as the TDF never spends any time near the coast it will make a good change to go swimming after a big ride .

[hannos]

I'm hoping for a course that does not suit the snooze-fest of Sky

[m@]

I'm hoping for a course that does not suit the snooze-fest of Sky

Sounds like it will suit Froome to a tee...

[toolonglegs]

Personally I think they were purposefully missing a lot of the famous routes this year to make the 100th more special.
Ventoux usually sorts them out

[pauls51]

Now that the stages have been announced the wife and I are staying in France from 16th to 22nd. We are wanting to catch the final stage and the Alpe de Huez stage on the 18/7.. Obviously all areas in that vicinity are going to be booked solid, so we were thinking of staying in Grenoble and either riding to the climb on the early morning of the tour or driving to Le Bourg-d' Oisans, parking at the foot of the climb at 4am and then doing the climb with a hired bike. What do those that have followed the TdF think????

[sogood]

TdF needs a new hero and more exciting racing. Let's see what 2013 edition can produce.

[Philipthelam]

TdF needs a new hero and more exciting racing. Let's see what 2013 edition can produce.

Go Cadel!

[bella26]

I'm surprised at the stage they have chosen for next years etape. The area around Annecy will be awesome don't get me wrong but it is a short stage for the etape. Of course this does now mean I will have some chance of actually finishing it when I'm over there next year. 3 weeks of cycling in France - oh how I've dreamed about this!

[find_bruce]

Personally I think they were purposefully missing a lot of the famous routes this year to make the 100th more special.

Given there are now 7 years with no winner, wouldn't that make this the 93rd TdF

[toolonglegs]

Now that the stages have been announced the wife and I are staying in France from 16th to 22nd. We are wanting to catch the final stage and the Alpe de Huez stage on the 18/7.. Obviously all areas in that vicinity are going to be booked solid, so we were thinking of staying in Grenoble and either riding to the climb on the early morning of the tour or driving to Le Bourg-d' Oisans, parking at the foot of the climb at 4am and then doing the climb with a hired bike. What do those that have followed the TdF think????

are you fit?... The ride from Grenoble to bourg-d'oisans isn't difficult ( pretty sure I will be doing it that day )... It's about 50ks to base of alpe d'huez, getting out of grenoble is possible on cycle paths and then the road up the valley is ok for bikes, there will be a tonne of traffic but also a few 1000 bikes going the same way. Better than getting up super early...

[pauls51]

Now that the stages have been announced the wife and I are staying in France from 16th to 22nd. We are wanting to catch the final stage and the Alpe de Huez stage on the 18/7.. Obviously all areas in that vicinity are going to be booked solid, so we were thinking of staying in Grenoble and either riding to the climb on the early morning of the tour or driving to Le Bourg-d' Oisans, parking at the foot of the climb at 4am and then doing the climb with a hired bike. What do those that have followed the TdF think????

are you fit?... The ride from Grenoble to bourg-d'oisans isn't difficult ( pretty sure I will be doing it that day )... It's about 50ks to base of alpe d'huez, getting out of grenoble is possible on cycle paths and then the road up the valley is ok for bikes, there will be a tonne of traffic but also a few 1000 bikes going the same way. Better than getting up super early...

Thanks TLL... The two of us are bike fit and shouldn't have a problem completing the Grenoble -> Alpe d'heuz -> Grenoble ride... If there will be other cyclists heading that way then I would feel a little safer (I am a little apprehensive about riding on a road in a different country though). Only problem now would be finding a place that would hire a road bike in advance and not one of those city bikes

[pauls51]

Well the wife and I will definitely be staying in Grenoble. Was lucky enough to find some places with vaccancies in and around Alpe d'huez so after requesting more information, I received two quotes for a couple of nights in Alpe d'Huez and the cheapest of the two was 900 pounds!!!!! Don't get me wrong it would be nice to stay there and be able to wake up and go for a ride or go straight to the finish line but I don't think it's worth anywhere near that... Would be able to get away with a couple of nights in Grenoble plus bike hire and all meals for less than that!!!

[bella26]

Well the wife and I will definitely be staying in Grenoble. Was lucky enough to find some places with vaccancies in and around Alpe d'huez so after requesting more information, I received two quotes for a couple of nights in Alpe d'Huez and the cheapest of the two was 900 pounds!!!!! Don't get me wrong it would be nice to stay there and be able to wake up and go for a ride or go straight to the finish line but I don't think it's worth anywhere near that... Would be able to get away with a couple of nights in Grenoble plus bike hire and all meals for less than that!!!

Currently looking into this as well. Funny how the places I saw a few months ago for 300Euro a week have skyrocketed since the TDF route was announced. Still I can't blame them for cashing in.

TLL where would you recommend staying whilst the tour is in the Pyreness. We are planning to stay in Lourdes for a few days prior to them arriving there which should see us tackle the Tourmalet etc, but where to after that?

[toolonglegs]

Bella, I have only stayed in Lourdes as it is the only place with a lot of hotels for when the tour comes through. Lourdes has the 2nd biggest number of hotels in France, only Paris has more.
Personally I think it is a horrible place... But worth the experience I suppose. But the riding is stunning .
I know some others here have stayed in smaller places in the Pyrenees.
But when the tour goes over the Tourmalet Lourdes is the easiest... The loop up over the Tourmalet is 100 km from Lourdes and is a very nice ( a bit hard ) ride.

[roller]

TLL where would you recommend staying whilst the tour is in the Pyreness. We are planning to stay in Lourdes for a few days prior to them arriving there which should see us tackle the Tourmalet etc, but where to after that?

stay here, lovely place, fantastic location and great food

better get in early though:

http://www.pyractif.com/

[Robmandy]

Hi,
My wife and I will be staying in Grenoble from July 12 for the TDF. Is anyboby interested in going for some rides?
Reading on the forums, there might be some Aussies staying there as well!
Cheers,
Rob

[baghwan]

Cycle touring my way to Grenoble so will be around as well, only booked 2 nights in Grenoble but can camp wherever I can find as well, would be happy to connect with some Aussie.

One thing I was wondering about, what is the best way to get from Grenoble to Huez without the bike, does public transport go close by? Any shuttle services running on the day? Going to do some researching anyhow.

[RobertFrith]

As chance would have it we're holidaying in France in early July. My better half has suggested we might catch a spot of TdF and has given me the following options;
day 4 Nice team time trial
day 5 Cagnes-sur-Mer / Marseille
day 6 Aix-en-Provence / Montpellier
day 7 Montpellier / Albi
Montpellier looks good to me from the little analysis I've found; flat with a sprint finish on day 6, heading into hills day 7. I have no idea at all of the practicalities of seeing anything interesting though, any thoughts??

[find_bruce]

The 3 wildcard teams have been announced

The three wildcard invitations to the 2013 Tour de France have been awarded to French teams Cofidis, Sojasun and Team Europcar, ASO announced on Saturday morning.

With 19 teams in the WorldTour this season following the re-admission of Katusha by the Court of Arbitration for Sport following their initial exclusion from cycling’s top flight, ASO had just three wildcards to assign, rather than the usual four.

The Europcar squad of Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland was all but guaranteed a berth, as was Cofidis, which has never missed the race since it was founded in 1997. After losing Jerome Coppel during the off-season, Sojasun faced stiff competition from new Swiss squad IAM Cycling, but the French team eventually got the nod.