Monday 18 October 2010 at 20h41
... and now also on the Etape du Tour MondoVélo!
first publication : 1st of September at 0.15AM ; updated on 1st of September at 11.55AM and at 10.29PM, on 3 September at 10.24PM, on 4 September at 11.13AM, on 6 September at 9.54PM, on 7 September at 8.46AM and at 10.12PM, on 8 September at 10.33PM, on 9 September at 8.43AM, on 14 September at 8.43AM, on 15 September at 8.52AM, on 17 September at 9.45PM, on 18 September at 10.54PM, addition of the map on 20 September at 10.52PM, on 22 September at 11.59AM, on 23 September at 10.42PM, on 25 September at 2.48PM, on 29 September at 9.10AM and at 11.11PM, on 30 September at 8.57PM, on 4 October at 2.28PM and 11.59PM, on 7 October at 10.35PM, on 12 October at 11.43PM, on 13 October at 11.16PM, on 16 October at 1.29PM, on 17 October at 12.43, on 18 October at 9.01AM, at 12.34 and at 8.41PM
As you know the Tour de France 2011 route has been presented in October; I'd thus recommend you to check out the Tour de France 2011 section of this blog for more detailed information about the 98th edition.Just like every year, I decided to again start looking for the rumours on the Tour de France race route for next year: the Tour de France 2011 which will take place from 2 till 24 July 2011.
Even though I don't know whether the result will be the same as last year (100% correct the day before the official presentation), I do know that many people were waiting for me to publish this since many of you already started discussing this in the article about the Grand Départ of the 2011 Tour de France!
What we already know for sure: the Grand Départ in the Vendée region
As announced on 26 January already, the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2011 will take place in Vendée and will not start with a prologue ... A short summary of the 3 first stages and the before-Tour programme:CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
Wednesday 29 June 2011
The permanence and the Press center will open their doors in the Complexe sportif de l'Etenduère in Les Herbiers.Thursday 30 June 2011
On Thursday the traditional official team presentation will take place on the Puy du Fou (close to the finish [!] of the first stage!).
1/ Saturday 2 July 2011 - Passage du Gois > Mont des Alouettes - 180 km
This stage will have a quite original start: the official ceremony for the start of the first stage will be held at about 8 kilometers from the unofficial start, at the entrance of quite a special road.
The riders will get together for the start in Fromentine (la Barre-de-Monts) and will than go to the island of Noirmoutier before they take the Passage du Gois. There, on that narrow road which gets under water two times a day and can only be used when the tide is out, the first stage will really start.
After that start, the riders will follow the Route du Gois over about 4.5 kilometers before they arrive on the mainland close to Bellevue.
Once the riders arrive at Bellevue, they will go to the south of the department while following quite flat routes and visiting, if the map is correct, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and La Roche-sur-Yon before going back to the north east of the Vendée over more hilly roads, a visit to Les Herbiers before the finish on top of the Mont des Alouettes (where the official presentation of the Grand Départ also took place today) at a 232 meter altitude. Right from the first day, the organiser of the Tour thus tries to bring in some suspense because where usually the sprinters have most chance of winning the first Tour stages, with this final climb they will have to battle for the first stage victory with the punchers!
2/ dimanche 3 juillet 2011 - Les Essarts > Les Essarts - team time trial - 23 km
After the team time trial in Montpellier during the Tour de France 2009 and its absence in the Tour de France 2010, the Tour de France 2011 again proposes a team time trial in this second stage which will take place around Les Essarts.
While visiting Boulogne and La Merlatière on the west side of Les Essarts, this stage will follow mostly flat and straight line routes over a distance of only 23 kilometers. In his presentation, Christian Prudhomme said the number of kilometers was chosen to be low: no more, no less to keep the race fluid.
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3/ Monday 4 July 2011 - Olonne-sur-Mer > Redon
The third stage will also start in Vendée, from Olonne-sur-Mer. Going north after the start, the riders will leave the Vendée after about 80 kilometers.The stage finish city is not officially announced yet, but the Ouest France newspaper was the first to announce on 6 August that this would most probably be in Redon and that information was confirmed by Jean-Louis Fougère, president of the Communauté de communes du Pays de Redon and by the mayor of Redon, Vincent Bourguet. If this gets confirmed ... it will be the first time Redon receives the Tour! (by the way, Ouest France published a few days later an article with reactions of some people living in Redon)
If you would like to read all information about the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2011, you can read my article The Grand Départ (start) of the 2011 Tour de France in the Vendée confirmed, without prologue.
After the Vendée, Brittany!
ASO uses the Application de Reconnaissance des Itinéraires (ARI) provided by its IT partner CSC (see this video) to set up the race route of the Tour de France 2011 but for the time being we have to rely on the rumours which can be found here and there to know the race route (parcours) before the official presentation in the Palais des Congrès in Paris on 19 October!For the time being these rumours are quite limited but it is however already worth mentioning them ... let's start with the visit of Brittany, the other cycling land!
4/ Tuesday 5 July 2011 - Lorient > Mûr-de-Bretagne
Still according to Ouest France on 6 August 2010 (or de façon plus complète au 7 août, également repris par Le Télégramme on 7 August), the stage of 5 July 2011 would start in Lorient at noon. Indeed, selon the local newspaper the riders would be transferred from Redon to Lorient to sleep there on Monday night and start on Tuesday. The newspaper reminds that the Tour de France last stopped there in 2002 and 2006. The Village would be built up on the esplanade de la cité de la voile.update 8 September 2010: As if it were a surprise, Ouest France announced today that the hotel rooms in Lorient have already been booked ...
If on 6 and 7 August Ouest France still mentioned a stage finish in Châteaulin in these articles, the article on 7 August already indicated Gaëlle Nicolas' fear (the mayor of Châteaulin): our first file has been proven impossible because the finish zone is a protected nature area. We therefore have to combine the administrative constraints with the interests from a sports point of view since the organisor of the Tour wants this stage to finish with a short climb. On 31 May 2010 the newspaper already published an article which mentioned these difficulties (just like Le Télégramme on 30 May, on 15 June and 8 July 2010): The DDASS and the Dreal (Direction régionale de l'environnement, de l'aménagement et du logement) have given a negative opinion on a stage finish on top of the Menez Quelc'h, the only place ASO was interested in (this climb is part of the circuit for the Boucles de l'Aulne).
Le Télégramme also already mentioned on 16 July the disappointment of Gaëlle Nicolas and Jacques Gouerou (the mayor of Cast, the place where the stage finish would be) after the Conseil national de la protection de la nature (CNPN) announced its opinion.
The story still goes on because Ouest France published on 19 August an article with the title Le Tour 2011 getting further away from Châteaulin. In this article Gaëlle Nicolas reminded the difficulties of the organisation of this stage finish: Châteaulin will not pay 80 000 € for a Tour stage finish and continued by saying that the mayor would like to buy a terrain on which ASO could install its technical zone (a more detailed description was given by Le Télégramme on 30 July and on 31 July) but that the owner of this terrain didn't want to sell but proposed to rent the terrain. Miss Nicolas answered by saying We will in no case invest public money in a private terrain ... even though this could determine whether or not the Tour will stop in Châteaulin!
On 12 January already, Ouest France indicated that Carhaix was a candidate to receive the Tour and on 20 August the newspaper thus presented this city as an alternative solution by saying that its mayor, Christian Troadec, would have declared that the city of Carhaix was ready to be a candidate « as a replacement, if and only if it won't work out for Chateaulin. ». Le Télégramme also published an article on this topic the same day, reminding that ASO would have said it's either Châteaulin or no visit of the Finistère. The other article of Le Télégramme, "Le Plan B compromis" also mentions this problem.
Le Télégramme comes back on this topic on 27 August with two articles with the titles Et si c'était le Ménez-Hom and Tour 2011 - Le Ménez-Hom fait partie des solutions in which Daniel Gilles, Vice President of the Conseil régional de Bretagne and Adjunct mayor of Lorient, apparently explained that the finish could well be organised on the Ménez-Hom, another climb (with an altitude of 330 meters) at about 10 kilometers from Châteaulin ... The ecological problems could be less important since the mountain top is bald and since several paths exist on the top, as we can see on the Google Maps satellite picture.
Jean-Louis Pagès, responsible for stage finishes for ASO, should visit Châteaulin again at the end of August.
update 1st of September 2010: and according Le Télégramme this visit indeed took place yesterday and the result was apparently quite disappointing ... Indeed, the newspaper provides the feedback of the different political figures of the area by saying that
- the Ménez-Hom had been visited but that a stage finish is impossible there: First of all because it's a protected area and also because it's a dead end road
- another placed has been visited, the Bois du Chap in Dinéault for a stage finish on top of a short steep climb starting in the city center of Châteaulin, but also gave a negative result: The road is not large enough and there are not enough escape routes
- a new visit of the Menez Quelec'h didn't change anything to the existing problem
- Carhaix is not being thought of according to Jean-Louis Pagès
- only two new places which have been visited yesterday remain possible: the côte de Stang ar Garron, where the Boucles (de l'Aulne), used to finish and (...) the current finish, in front of the lycée Saint-Louis, but the steepness of the final part doesn't seem to correspond to what the Tour is looking for in order to have a difficult stage finish or finally a complete other solution, outside the communauté de communes of Châteaulin
update 3 September 2010: today, the decision has finally been announced and the result is negative for Châteaulin: according to Le Télégramme, which published an article earlier today announcing that 66% of the people in Châteaulin would like to have the Tour next year, Gaëlle Nicolas (...) got this information from Jean-Louis Pagès. He also told here that the peloton will not be seen on any route in the Finistère departement in 2011.
This is also bad for L'Aber Wrac'h (see below), but Ouest France announces that Christian Calvez, the president of the communauté de communes du Pays des Abers, does not give up yet: This is horrible, I'm really disappointed for Châteaulin. Despite that, we still hope to have the Tour. And we're still ready to receive the Tour for a stage finish
update 4 September 2010: the next day, Le Télégramme came back on the canceled finish in Châteaulin and vaguely mentions a possible stage finish in Fréhél. This would mean that one complete stage will disappear because the stage start in Dinan, initially planned for Thursday 7 July (see below), would be too close ...
Ouest France however mentions a stage finish « more east », and Mûr-de-Bretagne is mentioned as an option.
update 6 September 2010: finally both newspapers turned out to be right ... Yesterday, Ouest France confirmed that Mûr-de-Bretagne really was a candidat to receive the Tour de France 2011 and today the newspaper confirmed the stage finish for Tuesday 5 July 2011.
The distance between Lorient et Mûr-de-Bretagne is quite short and the riders will thus most probably do a detour on the roads of Brittany to make this a full stage. Apparently ASO's wish to have a hill-top finish, in this case on top of the côte du Ménéhiez, was the most important aspect of this stage's finish.
5/ Wednesday 6 July 2011 - L'Aber Wrac'h ??? > somewhere in Côtes d'Armor
On 9 July 2010 already, Ouest France announced that this stage would start from L'Aber Wrac'h (Le Télégramme already mentioned this on 8 December 2009).L'Agence Bretagne Presse summarises the information give by Ouest France and precises that this stage would probably have its *départ fictif* at L'Aber Wrac'h in Landeda and its *départ réel* in Lannilis. According to SportBreizh it would cross the pont de Paluden (from Lannilis to Plouguerneau).
update 3 September 2010: according to the information from Le Télégramme and Ouest France above, the stage start would finally not take place in L'Aber Wrac'h.
update 6 September 2010: Le Télégramme announced today (here as well) that this stage would finally start in Carhaix-Plouguer (despite what Jean-Louis Pagès would have said - maybe to add some confusion? - the candidature as a replacement for Châteaulin has been retained, but now for a stage start). This information has also been published in Ouest France.
In Le Télégramme's article we read that Christian Prudhomme, the manager of ASO, the company which organises the Tour, confirmed this to the mayor of Carhaix around noon today: the Tour will indeed start from his city on 6 July, going towards the Cap-Fréhel. The start will be at the espace Glemnor.
Concerning the stage finish of this 5th stage, Ouest France and the Agence Bretagne Presse agree on the fact that it should be in the Côtes d'Armor department, according to Ouest France at a representative location for the department. SportBreizh agrees on this and mentions Tréguier or Saint-Brieuc as examples.
update 6 September 2010: Finally, Le Télégramme (see above) and Ouest France announced that this stage will finish at the Cap Fréhel (city of Plévenon).
The information concernign the start and finish of this 5th stage has also been confirmed by L'Agence Bretagne Presse.
update 30 September 2010: apparently the webmaster of the city Carhaix-Plouguer is not aware of the fact that the confirmation of the Tour de France 2011 visit to his city should have remained secret until 19 October, because tonight the city published the article "Carhaix dans la course du Tour de France 2011 !". In this article we read a confirmation of the start and finish places of this stage (Carhaix and Cap Fréhel) just like the finish city for the previous stage (Mûr-de-Bretagne). Concerning the start location in Carhaix, the article says: In its proposal, the city suggested the Boulevard Jean-Moulin, in front of the Espace Glenmor, because there's enough space for the public, the parking spots and infrastructure of the Tour, for either a stage start or a finish. Apparently, in the end, we will have a stage start in the city center.6/ Thursday 7 July 2011 - Dinan > Lisieux
Ouest France loves to provide information on the Tour de France 2011 rumours in Brittany and on 13 August the newspaper thus published a new article announcing that Dinan will organise a stage start and even though Didier Lechien, adjunct mayor of Dinan, politically correctly says he has to wait for an official confirmation, he continues by saying that a dedicated project group will be set up to organise this stage start which thus seems to be confirmed.Since Ouest France likes this topic, the newspaper recently published an article which summarises in a few words the 2011 Tour de France visit to Brittany.
update 6 September 2010: based on the latest changes, Ouest France published a new summary of stages in Brittany and we clearly see that the different newspapers now agree upon a finish in Normandy for the stage which starts in Dinan. This thus excludes a possible stage finish in Saint-Georges-de-Reintembault.
According to CYRILLE93, who I particularly trust for those kind of questions, hotels have been booked in Alençon for the night of 7 on 8 July and it's thus very well possible that the stage will
update 7 September 2010: Ouest France indicated today that the name Alençon is coming back quite often before describing the answer of the mayor, Joaquim Pueyo: Of course you can't refuse that but I can hardly believe that the city would not be aware of it at only a few weeks of the official announcement. The mayor would also have indicated that the city is a candidate to receive the Tour but not in 2011: Our idea is that a Tour de France stage must fit in the dynamics of the city and that has to be prepared with the different partners.
Ouest France also mentioned another potential problem concerning this stage start: the city which receives a stage must pay 100 000€ and have a perfect infrastructure. This won't be the case in 2011, since the parc des Expositions of Alençon will not be available due to renovation works.
update 8 September 2010: Le Maine Libre announced today that the stage on 7 July 2011 will finish in Alençon.
Ouest France also published an interview with Claudy Lebreton, the president of the Conseil Général des Côtes d'Armor talking about the three festive days with the Tour in the Côtes d'Armor and especially the initial financial blocking point: Last week it was still completely blocked. We couldn't imagine being able to support the cost of two stage finishes in the Côtes-d'Armor. Jean-Yves Le Drian and the Region Bretagne provided the solution. They accepted to help us financially by paying the costs for the stage finish in Cap Fréhel on 5 July.
update 7 September 2010: today, Le Télégramme also summarises the stages in Brittany while mentioning the incompatibility between the protected nature area and the finish in Châteaulin and the financial problems solved by the region. In this article the new information is that the finish at Cap Fréhel will be more precisely at the camping de Pléhérel-Plage, also known as camping du Vieux-Bourg, with -if possible- a detour towards the Trégor-Goëlo coast. As a reminder for Le Télégramme: Mister Pagès first name is Jean-Louis ;-).
update 18 September 2010: finally Lisieux seems to be the winner of the two cities in Normandy anyway! We'll only have to wait for the confirmation from the local news papers ...
update 23 September 2010: and this confirmation came from Ouest France today with an article which announced the finish of this stage in Lisieux passing in front of the cathedral, all the way up the Avenue Jean XXIII. According to the news paper, Bernard Aubril, the mayor of Lisieux, would have declared All lights are green. I'm confident. However, Christian Prudhomme decides and I thus have to wait his confirmation letter. I hope to receive it next week.
update 4 October 2010: in case we really needed yet another confirmation, it comes from Ouest France today (here as well) and the newspaper indicates that the mayor Bernard Aubril received the confirmation letter from Christian Prudhomme, of Amaury-sport organisation, this Monday morning and also that the riders will most probably visit the south part of the pays d'Auge.The other rumours on the 2011 Tour de France parcours
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7/ Friday 8 July 2011 - Le Mans > Châteauroux
update 8 September 2010: Le Maine Libre published an article this morning announcing that Le Mans had been asked as the start city for the stage on 8 July 2011. Even though the city didn't answer positively yet at that time, the same newspaper announced at the end of the afternoon that the city had accepted the proposal, saying that the responsible for sports François Edom, who manages this event declared (...) that this is « a good opportunity to shown our willingness to work with the Tour. We'll now be in a better position to ask for the individual time trial we would like to have for another edition ».Concerning the place where this stage will start, the newspaper indicated that the Pole d'Excellence Sportive, between MMArena and Antarès, seems to have the best chances.
update 14 September 2010: Le Mans TV published an interview with Jean-Claude Boulard, the mayor of Le Mans, on 9 September in which he indicated he would like the Tour to use the hotel rooms of the city for this stage start.
On Wednesday 15 September Ouest France announced that ASO would come visit the potential start location Antarès the next day.
If this information is correct and after having had a look at the distances, this should thus be in a city at the north of the department. When looking at a map of the department we could thus think of Valençay or Châtillon-sur-Indre for example (I don't know if these cities are candidates to receive the Tour) (finally, with the start in Le Mans, this could be a bit more south).
update 1st September 2010: apparently I found a new way to communicate with Yves Fouquet, the vice-president of the Conseil Général de l'Indre responsible for sports because according to BerrySports he answered less than 13 hours after the first publication of this article and denied this information. Where on earth did they find Valençay or Châtillon for a stage finish?
Monsieur Fouquet doesn't however deny that the Tour will have a stage finish in the Indre ... based on that information we could also imagine a stage start from the same department the next day. This could for example be in La Châtre? Will we have the answer tomorrow on BerrySports?
update 7 September 2010: yesterday, BerrySports again mentioned a potential visit of the Tour in the Indre department at the occasion of the Tour de l'Avenir, while also mentioning the Cher department and a possible visit of Vierzon. This time Yves Fouquet told BerrySports: the Indre department is a candidate every year. We're regularly in touch with ASO and a visit of the department is indeed being discussed for 2011. However, it's still very unsure whether this will become truth!
update 15 September 2010: La Nouvelle République today announced that a stage finish is planned in Buzançais where Jean-Patrick Nazon won the first stage of Paris-Nice 2007 or in Châteauroux (finish of the 5th stage of Tour de France 1998 and finish of the 5th stage of the Tour de France 2008).
update 17 September 2010: tonight, BerrySports announced that it will finally indeed be Châteauroux which organises this stage finish (and the next day with a more complete article and a video interview with Yves Fouquet).
Yesterday, La Nouvelle République came back again on its announcement the day before, indicating that Yves Fouquet declared: I promised to tell you as soon as I was sure ... for now, I'm not 100% sure yet and the mayor of Châteauroux, Jean-François Mayet : I haven't been contacted by ASO to receive the Tour in Châteauroux. Régis Blanchet, mayor of Buzançais, indicated that ASO came to visit the city but that it couldn't offer a long enough straight road to the finish to receive the sprinters of the Tour.
8/ Saturday 9 July 2011 - Aigurande > Super Besse
Today however, La Nouvelle République seems more pessimistic; after having asked the question to the mayor the newspaper writes: He answers vaguely. We know he's not allowed to talk about it. The chances for the Tour in 2011 do however seem to get a bit smaller. The newspaper however also says that it's rumoured in Vierzon that Vierzon will take anything ASO will propose. To be continued!
update 15 September 2010: Today La Nouvelle République indicates that Aigurande would organise a stage start. This would mean that we'll have a remake of the 6th stage of the Tour de France 2008 ...
update 8 September 2010: the La Montagne newspaper, often well informed, announced today a stage finish in Super Besse for 9 July 2011.
update 9 September 2010: in the paper version of the La Montagne newspaper we can read today that André Gay, the mayor of Besse, didn't want to comment at all and didn't deny nor confirm this news.
In any case, the start and finish cities
update 17 September 2010: tonight, BerrySports confirmed the stage start from Aigurande and mentioned a possible stage finish in Super-Lioran (hardly possible since there are rumours about a stage start in Issoire, since the rest day which might be in Le Lioran can't be in the weekend and since the hotels have been booked in Clermont-Ferrand which is 122 kilometers north) or in Cusset ...
The Tour de France in the Cantal
The La Montagne newspaper published on 10 August an article mentioning the come back of the Tour de France in Auvergne and more precisely in the Cantal in 2011. During his holidays in the area, Christian Prudhomme would have said The roads in the Cantal are perfect for cycling. The last kilometers of the puy Mary, for example, are very difficult. I really like the intermediate mountain areas. It's true that we've b built up a certain relationship with the Cantal... just like with other departments.The Cantal proposes a complete menu of 3 days including a rest day in Lioran where the Merrell Oxygen Challenge takes place since last year. The newspaper mentioned a stage finish in Saint-Flour for a stage coming from the Limousin or the north of the Auvergne if the peloton comes from the Centre and a stage start from Aurillac.
9/ Sunday 10 July 2011 - Issoire > Saint-Flour
update 8 September 2010: the same newspaper, La Montagne, now comes back on what it announced earlier by saying that there will be stage from Issoire to Saint-Flour on 10 July 2011.
update 9 September 2010: La Montagne, in its paper version, today notes what Nicolas Mallet, the president of the Union Sportive Pédale Issoirienne, at the origin of Issoire's candidature says: We've been trying to get the Tour to Issoire since three years now. This would thus be a big satisfaction before indicating that he'll meet with Christian Prudhomme in Ambert, at the occasion of the Tour de l'Avenir.
We could thus imagine the following configuration:
> 9/ Sunday 10 July 2011 - Issoire > Saint-Flour
> R/ Monday 11 July 2011 - Lioran
update 9 September 2010: That's also what France 3 Languedoc-Roussillon announced on 9 September.
update 17 September 2010: in the La Montagne newspaper, Vincent Descoeur, president of the Conseil Général du Cantal, presented his plan for the Cantal this morning and indicated he would like people to continue to talk about the Cantal in 2011. Concerning a possible visit of the Tour he declared: That's making good progress, I'm very optimistic. The project with a rest day in Le Lioran really brings an added value and we'll make sure to have a nice stage finish and the next day a good visibility on the station and the department. For a relatively small investment and this is possible partly thanks to the Oxygen challenge.
update 29 September 2010: L'Union du Cantal informs us today of what the mayor of Saint-Flour, Pierre Jarlier, declared at the end of the city counsil meeting: The numerous contacts with the organisation of the Tour, especially this summer, make us believe that we have good chances to receive the Tour de France again and based on this vague declaration the budget which is necessary to receive the Tour has been approved.CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
10/ Tuesday 12 July 2010 - Aurillac > Carmaux
11/ Wednesday 13 July 2010 - Blaye-les-Mines > Lavaur
The La Dépêche newspaper published several articles concerning Lavaur in the Tarn where the mayor would like the Tour de France to come back for a stage finish, 10 years after the previous finish in 2001 (he apparently announced this during the Grand Prix de Lavaur organised by the Lavaur Vélo Club, and already on 14 July and the newspaper also already mentioned this on 9 June). Since there's about 200 kilometers between Aurillac and Lavaur, this could well end up as a nice stage between Aurillac and Lavaur.update 29 September 2010: in a new article, the same newspaper today again mentions a stage finish in Lavaur. La Dépêche reminds at the same time that the Tour hasn't visited this city in the Tarn since 10 years, while indicating that an association Lavaur Tour de France 2011 has already been created. The date mentioned for the stage finish in the city center is the 13th of July and according to La Dépêche the stage would start in Blaye-les-Mines.The mayor of the city, André Fabre, indicates to the newspaper: We are indeed a candidate to receive the Tour, together with the city of Carmaux. But I'm sincere when I tell you that I don't have any news yet. We're thus waiting for a confirmation. The newspaper finally indicates that the start will not take place at Cap Découverte, where the time trial finished in 2003 in the heat (almost unbearable, and that's by experience!), citing the mayor: We have proposed several possible start locations to the organisors.
If that becomes truth it's well possible that the stage finish on the previous day would be in Carmaux and since there are rumours about a possible start in Aurillac, the stage on 12 July could well be between these two cities.
update 18 October 2010 : La Dépêche confirmed today the finish in Carmaux but puts a doubt on the stage type between Blaye-les-Mines and Lavaur, too long (67 km) according to La Dépêche for a time trial ...The Pyrenees, from 14 till 17 July
There are very few rumours on the programme for the Pyrenees so far. We can thus only try to guess based on the hotel reservations provided by CYRILLE93:> Lourdes for the nights of 14 and 15 July
> Carcassonne, Narbonne and Foix for the night of 16 July
> Digne and Manosque for the night of 18 July
12/ Thursday 14 July 2011 - Cugnaux > Luz Ardiden
update 17 October 2010: several web sites mentioned this the past few days, Pierre Lacoue (see comment #894) asked the Office du Tourisme which simply answered that the stage on 14 July 2011 will have its finish at Luz Ardiden. update 18 October 2010 : concerning the start city of this stage, La Dépêche suggests today that this could well be called Cugnaux, just outside Toulouse.CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
13/ Friday 15 July 2011 - Pau > Lourdes
update 8 September 2010: the La Dépêche newspaper published an article this morning announcing that the stage on 15 July of the Tour de France 2011 will finish in Lourdes before a stage start the next day from the Ariège department. In another article the newspaper linked this to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the football club FCL XV, indicating that the mayor would have said: The future Tour route could include a finish in Lourdes in July 2011, we're working on it and we'll know it for sure very soon. This information should however be seen as very conditional when we read what the website Lourdes-Infos.com published the day before yesterday: we've been asking around and on that day the Tour de France will not stop in Lourdes. Only one finish is planned in the department. We'll get the confirmation in October (as a reminder, the same website did mention a possible stage finish on September 2nd).update 16 October 2010: yesterday lourdes-actu.fr announced it learned from a trustful source that there would be a stage finish in Lourdes and in Luz.For this stage lourdes-actu.fr mentions a stage start in Pau for a stage in reverse order of the usual route of the previous years.
According to lourdes-info.com tonight, it would be because a city in the Massif Central abandoned that Lourdes will receive the Tour and this site also mentions Pau for the start of this stage.
update 18 October 2010 : La Dépêche today mentions the possibility that this stage will take place as an individual time trial and also suggests a finish in the Avenue du Paradis in the center of Lourdes. In any case, this won't be a time trial ...14/ Saturday 16 July 2011 - Saint-Gaudens > Plateau de Beille
update 14 September 2010: the day before yesterday, La Dépêche announced in a short article that a stage finish would be planned at Plateau de Beille where Alberto Contador won the stage which started in the birth city of Laurent Jalabert (Mazamet) in 2007. The newspaper however doesn't announce the date, start city or start city for the next stage ...update 22 September 2010: La Dépêche indicates today that the start of this stage will take place in Saint-Gaudens and that it will finish at Plateau de Beille. According to the newspaper this stage would be the only big Pyrenean stage of this 98th edition of the Grande Boucle. La Dépêche also once again confirms the stage finish in Lourdes the day before and indicates that the hotels have been booked in Saint-Gaudens.
15/ Sunday 17 July 2011 - Limoux > Montpellier
Adding the information provided by La Dépêche and in a shorter way by L'Indépendant concerning Limoux willingness to receive the Tour which apparently well seems to be possible. Apparently the city requested a stage finish and start. Putting this information together with the hotel reservations, the conclusion could be that theupdate 1st of September 2010: this information seems to be confirmed by La Dépêche today. However, the newspaper mentions a stage finish on Saturday 16 but also says that The caravan will build up its start village in Limoux on Friday. This contradictory information is followed by the main contents of this article: does Limoux have enough hotel capacity for the Tour!
update 6 September 2010: on September 4th Midi Libre published an article with the title Le Tour courtise Montpellier indicating that Christian Prudhomme would have said to Hélène Madroux, mayor of Montpellier, that the Tour would like to come to her city. The article doesn't contain much further information but ends with: The mayor has shown her interest. A date has even already been chosen: 17th of July.
16/ Tuesday 19 July 2011 - Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Gap
The Le Dauphiné newspaper indicated in an article on 25 August that the hotels in and around Gap would have been booked for 19 July and thus mentions a stage finish, start or even both for Gap at this date, while indicating that hotels have been booked up until Briançon, including Embrun. The same day La Provence thus guesses the Tour will stop in Embrun.After the second rest day on Monday 18 July 2011 and a transfer towards the Alps, the next stage could
update 25 September 2010: yesterday, the local radio Alpes 1 confirmed the stage finish in Gap, just like later that day the Le Dauphiné newspaper.
While Alpes 1 doesn't give any information on where this stage would start, Le Dauphiné indicates that this will be in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux.
update 12 October 2010: today Alpes 1 gave some further information about this stage, indicating that the riders will arrive from the south side of Gap and climb the Col Bayard, before continuing in the Champsaur valley. They'll than climb the Col de Manse and will take the famous descent of La Rochette. The riders will cross the finish line in front of the museum on the Avenue Émile-Didier.CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
17/ Wednesday 20 July 2011 - Gap or Embrun > Pinerolo
Mentioned in the rumours concerning the Tour 2009, Pinerolo is back among the rumours for next year's Tour de France. Indeed, according to l'eco del chisone and La Stampa at the end of July, hotel rooms would have been booked for 20 July 2011, which would thus point out a stage finish in Pinerolo on the 20th and a stage start the next day from a city not for away ... Turin for example!For the start city of the stage towards Pinerolo we could thus think of Embrun or Gap.
update 25 September 2010: yesterday morning Alpes 1 also confirmed this stage, with the stage start in Gap. According to Alpes 1, the Col d'Izoard, the Col de Montgenèvre and the Colle Sestriere will be on the race route, before the finish in Pinerolo. This would thus give a 200 km long stage.
update 7 October 2010: L'Eco del Chisone indicated yesterday that the stage between Gap and Pinerolo has now been confirmed with a stage start the next day also from Pinerolo and going towards the Col du Galibier.18/ Thursday 21 July 2011 - Pinerolo > Col du Galibier
If this stage will indeed start in Turin or Pinerolo, it's finish should be close to the stage start of the next day.update 25 September 2010: still in the same article Alpes 1 indeed mentions a stage start in Italy, indicating that this might be in Turin while Le Dauphiné mentions a stage start from Pinerolo.
update 18 September 2010: according to the latest information, there would be a stage finish on top of the Col du Galibier to celebrate the first afin de célébrer le centenaire du premier passage au sommet de ce col. It is thus well possible that this finish would take place on 21 July.
- The 100th anniversary of the first climb of the Galibier and the Télégraphe
In 1911 the climb of the Col du Galibier and the Col du Télégraphe was done for the very first time, during the stage Chamonix > Grenoble on 10 July.
In his editorial dedicated to the Galibier and titled « Act of Adoration », Henri Desgrange wrote: « Ô, col Bayard, Ô, Tourmalet (...) next to the Galibier you completely fade away ».
With its 2,645 meters altitude, this stage finish in 2011 would make the Galibier the highest mountain top finish in the history of the Tour de France (so far this was the Col du Granon with its 2,413 meters).
source de ces informations : l'édition 2010 du Guide Historique du Tour de France
update 15 September 2010: apparently several hotels have been booked by A.S.O. in Serre-Chevalier and Briançon for the night of 21 July.
Answering questions from Le Dauphiné, the mayor of Risoul and the director of the tourist office of Serre Chevalier indicate that they don't have any information yet about a possible visit of the Tour de France but that they're very much willing to receive it ...
On 25 August, Le Dauphiné published a new article, Le Tour de France de retour en 2011 ?, in which it reminded of the fact that the Tour de France 2011 will celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first climb in the Alps and more specifically the famous col du Galibier and that the Tour thus definitely visits the Savoie and more precisely Maurienne.
The newspaper than presents the different cities which are still in the race for the Tour de France 2011: Modane for a stage start, Valloire and Tignes. The climb of the Galibier will thus definitely be part of the programme because of the 100th anniversary of its first ascension but Le Dauphiné doesn't have any precise information about from which side the riders will climb this mountain.
update 25 September 2010: according to Alpes 1, this stage finish will be called « Galibier - Serre-Chevallier », at a 2641 m altitude which would mean the Galibier would be climbed on the south side.
update 18 October 2010 : according to my information, the finish line will finally be drawn at 2,645 meters altitude, the highest in the history of the Tour de France!19/ Friday 22 July 2011 - Modane > L'Alpe d'Huez
After a 2 year long absence the Alpe d'Huez should make its come back in 2011. Even though this information has been repeated by many sources, the date was not known yet ... until Le Dauphiné announced that this would be on Friday 22 July 2011. Among the cities mentioned by Le Dauphiné, Modane seems to be the best option for the start of this stage.update 25 September 2010: yesterday night Le Dauphiné confirmed this information, while Alpes 1 doesn't specifically mention the city at the entrance of the Tunnel du Fréjus but mentions a stage start from Maurienne. The local radio however gives more details about the route of this stage: another climb of the Galibier, this time on the Savoie side (34 km with an average steepness of 6.6%). The riders will get back to the Hautes-Alpes department with the Lautaret and La Grave, and the finish on top of the Alpe d'Huez. This would thus give a stage of ... only 111 kilometers! We have to go back to 1991 and the stage Lyon > Lyon for such a short distance for a stage in line (except for the last stages of the Tour de France going towards the Champs-Elysées and without taking into account the shortened stage Le Monetier-les-Bains > Sestrières which should have started in Val d'Isère in 1996). The same year there was a similar stage to the one which seems to be programmed for 2011; that year the stage was Gap > Alpe d'Huez over 125 kilometers.
update 13 October 2010: in the yearly article on VeloNews, which is basically simply a summary of the article you're currently reading without clearly saying it (you'll note that I didn't put up a link to this article as I do for all the others, simply because they don't do that either!), John Wilcockson suggested this morning that the Alpe d'Huez would be climbed twice during this stage (just like, according to him, the final climb towards Mûr-de-Bretagne during the stage which will finish there): the riders would continue on a 48 km long loop climbing the Col du Sarenne, followed by a descent to the foot of the Lautaret before climbing the Alpe d'Huez again. Rumour or concoction?! => CONCOCTION!!update 18 oktober 2010: this stage will finally be 109 kilometers long with the climb of the Galibier and of course only once the Alpe d'Huez. Too bad for John Wilcockson whose only non educated guess is invalidated by this information ... ;-)L'Etape du Tour Mondovélo 2011: Modane > Alpe d'Huez on
Sunday 17Monday 11 July 2011
update 25 September 2010: in its article Les Hautes-Alpes accueilleront l'étape du Tour Vélo Magazine, Le Dauphiné explains that the Etape du Tour Mondovélo 2011 will take place in the Hautes-Alpes department and while the newspaper mentions either (...) the stage from Pinerolo to the top of the Col du Galibier or (...) the stage from Modane to the Alpe d'Huez, which also comprises the Col du Galibier, I really think it'll be the second one because I can't really believe the 19th édition of this amateur version of the Tour de France stage will start outside of France. If it were only because it would be much more difficult to set up the Village Accueil with the different sponsors and exhibitors (as a reminder: this is the place where all 9500 participating riders have to come pick up their number but which is also open to the public and thus receives about 25,000 visitors in two days).
Concerning the date, Le Dauphiné says it will be either on Saturday 16 or on Sunday 17 July 2011. Looking at the dates of the previous editions, it would most logically be on Sunday 17 July 2011 ...
20/ Saturday 23 July 2011 - Grenoble > Grenoble - individual time trial
If we take into account the hotel reservations in Grenoble, announced by CYRILLE93, and the willingness announced by Le Dauphiné for Chamrousse to receive the Tour and more precisely to repeat the time trial connecting Grenoble to the ski station (We would like to have this time trial again. The road going to Chamrousse is perfect for such a time trial.), we could imagine the final time trial of the Tour de France 2011 to be Grenoble > Chamrousse on 23 July before the transfer to to Paris the next day.update 12 October 2010: according to the most recent indications I had about this stage, this time trial would more probably be a loop around Grenoble.This will be the only individual time trial in this Tour de France!
CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
21/ Sunday 24 July 2011 - Créteil > Paris
Even though I heard some rumours about Rambouillet, Le Parisien and L'Est-éclair announced early July 2010 that Provins, in the Seine-et-Marne, would receive the start of the stage during which the riders get to drink some champagne while riding towards Paris and its famous rounds on the Champs-Elysées!update 16 October 2010: the start city of the last stage is usually the most difficult to find and it was thus quite surprising that we knew the name of Provins since so long already. Recently somebody tipped me about this and according to him this stage would most probably start in Créteil, which would mean that the stage would be quite short.The summary of the stages of the 2011 Tour de France
If we summarise all this in a table with all stages this would look like ... as you can see there's still a big gap in the Pyrenees:| # | date | start | finish | comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sa. 2 July 2011 | Passage du Gois | Mont des Alouettes | official, 180 km |
| 2 | Su. 3 July 2011 | Les Essarts | Les Essarts | Team Time Trial official, 23 km |
| 3 | Mo. 4 July 2011 | Olonne-sur-Mer | Redon | start is official |
| 4 | Tu. 5 July 2011 | Lorient | Mûr-de-Bretagne | finish confirmed! |
| 5 | We. 6 July 2011 | Carhaix-Plouguer | Cap Fréhel | confirmed! |
| 6 | Th. 7 July 2011 | Dinan | Lisieux | |
| 7 | Fr. 8 July 2011 | Le Mans | Châteauroux | |
| 8 | Sa. 9 July 2011 | Aigurande | Super Besse | |
| 9 | Su. 10 July 2011 | Issoire | Saint-Flour | |
| R1 | Mo. 11 July 2011 | Lioran | ||
| 10 | Tu. 12 July 2011 | Aurillac | Carmaux | |
| 11 | We. 13 July 2011 | Blaye-les-Mines | Lavaur | |
| 12 | Th. 14 July 2011 | Cugnaux | Luz Ardiden | |
| 13 | Fr. 15 July 2011 | Pau | Lourdes | |
| 14 | Sa. 16 July 2011 | Saint-Gaudens | Plateau de Beille | |
| 15 | Su. 17 July 2011 | Limoux | Montpellier | |
| R2 | lu. 18 July 2011 | transfer | ||
| 16 | Tu. 19 July 2011 | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux | Gap | |
| 17 | We. 20 July 2011 | Gap | Pinerolo (IT) | |
| 18 | Th. 21 July 2011 | Pinerolo (IT) | Galibier - Serre Chevalier | |
| 19 | Fr. 22 July 2011 | Modane | L'Alpe d'Huez | |
| 20 | Sa. 23 July 2011 | Grenoble | Grenoble | ITT |
| 21 | Su. 24 July 2011 | Créteil | Paris Champs-Elysées | |
The map of the 2011 Tour de France stage route based on these rumours
Based on these rumours I created the preliminary map of the Tour de France 2011 route you see below. Of course, this map will be regularly updated based on new rumours!
Click on the map to zoom in and than on the arrows in the bottom right corner to see the original size
As usual, please don't hesitate to publish any rumours you might have heard of here. In that case, please indicate your source as precisely as possible ... discussions on fictive stage routes or the quality of the parcours don't really have their place here ... door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Tour de France | Tour de France 2011
by Galinier over
L'Etape du Tour Mondovélo 2011 : Issoire > Saint-Flour on Sunday 17 July 2011
Which would, together with the rumours about the Etape du Tour between Modane and the Alpe d'Huez, mean that there would be two Etapes du Tour this year!? Would this mean with different participation rules and especially with a limited participation in the one going towards the Alpe d'Huez ? Difficult to know for sure for the time being!