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[ASTANA]

Tour de France 2008

Running from Saturday July 5^th to Sunday July 27^th 2008, the 95^th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

• 10 flat stages,
  
• 5 mountain stages,
  
• 4 medium mountain stages,
  
• 2 individual time-trial stages.

Distinctive aspects of the race

• 4 mountain finishes,
  
• 2 rest days,
  
• 82 kilometres of individual time-trials,
  
• 19 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed.

Lets hope this is a clean / good one this year!!! Some of the Fav were left out, but still enough action...

 

Post ALL your comments and extra info here.

Enjoy the Tour starting in a few days (15).

 

[ASTANA]

The stages

Print-->

Stage	Type	Date	Start and Finish	Distance	Details
1	Plain	Saturday 5 July	Brest > Plumelec	197.5 km
2	Plain	Sunday 6 July	Auray > Saint-Brieuc	164.5 km
3	Plain	Monday 7 July	Saint-Malo > Nantes	208 km
4	Individual time-trial	Tuesday 8 July	Cholet > Cholet	29.5 km
5	Plain	Wednesday 9 July	Cholet > Ch�teauroux	232 km
6	Medium mountains	Thursday 10 July	Aigurande > Super-Besse	195.5 km
7	Medium mountains	Friday 11 July	Brioude > Aurillac	159 km
8	Plain	Saturday 12 July	Figeac > Toulouse	172.5 km
9	High Mountains	Sunday 13 July	Toulouse > Bagn�res-de-Bigorre	224 km
10	High Mountains	Monday 14 July	Pau > Hautacam	156 km
R	Rest Day	Tuesday 15 July	Pau
11	Medium mountains	Wednesday 16 July	Lannemezan > Foix	167.5 km
12	Plain	Thursday 17 July	Lavelanet > Narbonne	168.5 km
13	Plain	Friday 18 July	Narbonne > N�mes	182 km
14	Plain	Saturday 19 July	N�mes > Digne-les-Bains	194.5 km
15	High Mountains	Sunday 20 July	Embrun > Prato Nevoso	183 km
R	Rest Day	Monday 21 July	Cuneo
16	High Mountains	Tuesday 22 July	Cuneo > Jausiers	157 km
17	High Mountains	Wednesday 23 July	Embrun > L�Alpe-d�Huez	210.5 km
18	Medium mountains	Thursday 24 July	Bourg-d�Oisans > Saint-�tienne	196.5 km
19	Plain	Friday 25 July	Roanne > Montlu�on	165.5 km
20	Individual time-trial	Saturday 26 July	C�rilly > Saint-Amand-Montrond	53 km
21	Plain	Sunday 27 July	�tampes > Paris Champs-�lys�es	143 km

http://www.letourdefrance.com/2008/TDF/COURSE/us/le_parcours.html

[Oiltrash]

So when are we going to start the competition?????  

 

MWN HELP????

 

 I am on leave for the duration of the TDF.. fireplace going, blanky, TDF, cant think of anything better for my vacation..

[Witrot]

Quote

So when are we going to start the competition?????  

 

MWN HELP????

 

 I am on leave for the duration of the TDF.. fireplace going, blanky, TDF, cant think of anything better for my vacation..

 

Was about to ask the same question.....come on MWNN??? Last year i missed it, this year i have some time available to play along.

[Falcon]

Hi Guys,

Please tell me more about this competition.

I am a Tour fan who runs a sports website and will be doing full outright and daily previews on the tour.

If the comp looks good it would make a nice addition to my previews.

 

[ASTANA]

What is this comp you huys are talking about? This post was for tour info and comments...

[Wheelers]

I agree with Astana I really hope this year's Tour de France will be cleaner than last year's edition. I can't wait to watch it and hopefully Robbie Hunter will win the Green Jersey with a stage win.

[ORCA]

*hj - on*

 

Quote

Quote

So when are we going to start the competition?????  

 

MWN HELP????

 

 I am on leave for the duration of the TDF.. fireplace going, blanky, TDF, cant think of anything better for my vacation..

 

Was about to ask the same question.....come on MWNN??? Last year i missed it, this year i have some time available to play along.

 

 

You guys going for my yellow jersey. 

 

Looks like I must defend my title

*hj-off*

[porky]

Quote

What is this comp you huys are talking about? This post was for tour info and comments...

 

Fair enough, but what should we comment on.?

 

Who is going to win? - theres a few posts on that.

 

Who will get the green jersey? - a few on that too.

 

The exclusion of Astana? - discussed to death.

 

The exclusion of Boonen? - as above.

 

The route? - its boring as usual, a few posts on that as well.

 

The possible doping scandels? - I think its a possibility, but hope not - lots on that too.

 

The weather? - hot some days, cool on others as usual.

 

Hunters chance at green? - a couple of pages on that too.

 

Solers chance? - minimal, but its also here somewhere.

 

The ugliest kit? - okay well that would be new, my guess is "Astana" but they aint riding so "Saunier Duvall"

 

The Mavic bike? - even been some discussion on that. 

 

Lance Armstrongs past wins? -

 

I think we are all chatted out on this until it starts - no hard feelings though.

 

  

[ASTANA]

Porky, fair enough, but then again, everything anyone has to say has been talked about...

This is the TOUR DE FRANCE, so there has to be something to talk about or maby later on when it actually start.

 

Sure the route is n't that hard but still, this is not the GIRO. All the other aspects you mentioned were talked about, but you tired of the tour already?

 

Here is SOMETHING........

 

Just think, this years Tour winner will always be known as the winner who didn't have to compete with the likes of ASTANA, and so not a great win for a newcommer...

Whether you like astana or not, they are the strongest grand tour team out there.

 

No hard feelings either....

[Witrot]

I think its crap comment in general to say...ya astana wasn't there. If they were then this "dude" wouldn't have won.

Same when Robbie won the stage laste year. He was there in the 1st bunch and most sprinters in the 2nd bunch after astana pulled the race apart. But who's fault was it the guys sit so far back and was sleeping. Robbie beat them all fair and square, even if he dropped them half way thru the race!

For me, that guy that will win here, won against the best there is! If you are not there, will, you snooze you loose hey!

[AndreZA]

Hey, I've been to St Etiene. But jis it's a small village.

 

 

 

[widget]

Hmm, Astana has some excellant riders but I dont know if we can say they are the "strongest" out there - maybe "one" of the strongest.?

 

Its also about consistancy Astana, a team can be good for a season and lousy for the next three, I think at this really top level, there is very little between individual riders, its the team combinations that make the differance (ala US POSTAL who were unbeatable as a team, but individually the riders were as any other) - BUT, if I had to look at the teams and pick a consistantly strong one it would have to be CSC.

    

[Tumbleweed]

two titbits:

 

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain has given cycling rival Cadel Evans a pre-race boost by predicting the Australian will win this year's July 5-27 race. "My favourite for the Tour is Cadel Evans, he's a solid rider who can really make time differences count in the time trials," Contador told reporters here Tuesday.

 

Italian Ricardo Ricco will take part in the Tour de France as a replacement for the ill Jose Angel Gomez Marchante, his Saunier-Duval team said on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Ricco finished second in the Giro d'Italia last month and will be one of the favourites for the polka dot jersey awarded to the best climber of the world's greatest stage race.

[E1A104]

Support Astana, Investigate contador properly....

[widget]

Quote

 

Italian Ricardo Ricco will take part in the Tour de France as a replacement for the ill Jose Angel Gomez Marchante, his Saunier-Duval team said on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Ricco finished second in the Giro d'Italia last month and will be one of the favourites for the polka dot jersey awarded to the best climber of the world's greatest stage race.

 

Thats great, I hadnt seen that before. I think he is a very talented rider, not everybodies cup of tea sure, but talented none the less.

 

He should put the cat amongst the pigeons for sure, hopefully we can expect some drama, some words and some post race tantrums.All makes for interesting viewing.

 

At least we wont see any "Banana issues".