ooo la la
If the gentle accordion tinkling out Kraftwerk’s Tour de France is your mobile ringtone then you, like me, are going to be all excited as next year’s premier worldwide event looks like being a belter! Notwithstanding the retirement and absence of its largest star and an outstanding clenbuterol doping case against the current holder of le maillot jaune, the 2011 Tour de France route really has something special for every participant, either on a cycle or in the armchair.
A completely new route, new rules and a slew of super-human challenges have ensured this tour’s going to be hard, really hard. By backing the tougher Alpine climbs into the final week it’s also clear we’re in for another nail-biting finale. The Pyrenees perhaps, offer a lighter challenge than last year when the mountain range that separates France and Spain was climbed twice but this is more than compensated by the climbing of the feared Galibier twice, Alpe D’Huez, Col d’Izoard and the tortutous Col Angel.
If the climbers don’t find their legs quickly, the early Pyrenees stages will find them wanting and they could easily lose the tour there and then but the key will undoubtedly be the long hard days in the Alps. Bradley’s going to have to have his thinking-cap on from the onset me-thinks. Stage 18 is not only going to be a corker but also a fantastic prologue to the shorter but tougher Stage 19, where getting over the Telegraphe, Galibier or Alpe d’Huez is going to be explosive. And what viewing for those either lucky enough to be there or those of us sat at home daily tuned into Channel 4’s excellent coverage.
In a stat attack here’s the Tour in numbers:
3,471 kilometres will be ridden over three weeks.
2,744 metres marks the highest point of the 2011 Tour.
2,050 journalists covered last year’s event.
1975 was the first year that the tour climaxed on the Champs-Elysees.
226 kilometres is the longest day’s race, stage 6 Dinan – Lisieaux.
101 years ago The Tourmalet first featured in the race and it was climbed twice last year.
64 kilometres will be raced against the clock this year in two time trials. Watch Cancellara go!
3 jerseys to be won – yellow for the winner, green for the sprinter and polka-dot for the king of the hills.
1 that matters, le maillot jaune.
