By Chris Carmichael As soon as the Tour de France route is announced, riders and teams start plotting and planning. They examine the balance of the challenges – mountains vs. time trials vs. long windy stages, etc. – and that information sometimes influences the composition of their Tour squad. The yellow jersey contenders, sprinters, and …
Stage 16: Saint Paul Trois Chateaux – Gap (162.5km) Stages like this are often referred to as “transition” stages. They’re not easy, but they’re not terribly hard, and they move the peloton from one type of terrain to another – typically into the mountains. Stage 16 introduces the peloton to the Alps, and gradually …
By Chris Carmichael With a flat and windy race today and the Tour de France’s second rest day tomorrow, the majority of the peloton was probably hoping for a relatively easy day. And while in some ways it was easier than the previous three stages in the Pyrenees, the high speeds, high winds, and somewhat …
Stage 15: Limoux – Montpellier (193km) With the Pyrenees behind them and rest day immediately in front of them, there will be some riders who are happy to take it easy on Stage 15 and other riders who want to take advantage of tomorrow’s rest day by going full-gas today. And to make matters worse …
By Chris Carmichael The climb up to Plateau de Beille is really difficult. By itself it’s as hard or harder than Luz-Ardiden, and when it’s preceded by 5 other big climbs in the Pyrenees, it transforms into a brutal ascent. But today in Stage 14, Plateau de Beille didn’t break the stranglehold that the yellow …
Stage 14: Saint Gaudens – Plateau de Beille The Plateau de Beille climbs for nearly 16 kilometers at an average gradient of 7.9%. It’s steepest for the first six kilometers, and there are a few steep pitches further up, before the climb levels out to just 2.5 percent over the final kilometer (hence the plateau…). …
By Chris Carmichael Stage 13 of the 2011 Tour de France was the kind of stage that leaves some cycling fans scratching their heads. They understand that it was a mountain stage because of the climb of the Col d’Aubisque, but they question the rationale for putting the summit of the day’s major climb 40 …
Stage 13: Pau – Lourdes (152.5km) The Col d’ Aubisque is a massive and very difficult climb, but during Stage 13 it is unlikely to cause a shake-up in the overall race for the yellow jersey. The summit of the climb is more than 40 kilometers from the finish line, and it is likely that …
By Chris Carmichael After more than a week of stages better suited to the all-rounders and sprinters, the 2011 tour de France reached the big mountains today in Stage 12. This is the playground of the climbing specialists and the yellow jersey contenders; the place where they can separate themselves from the majority of the …
Stage 12: Cugnaux – Luz Ardiden (211 km) The first of three stages in the Pyrenees is guaranteed to be a very hard day. The stage is long (211km), the first 120 kilometers are gradually uphill before you even reach the base of the first major climb, and once you do there are three giants …