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Tour de France 2009

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We're only 16 days away from the greatest race on earth - the grandest of grand tours. Saturday 4th of July. Mark it in your diaries folks. Independence Day in the US and the start of Le Tour. 21 stages. 3,500km's and plenty of twists and turns to keep even the passing interested television viewer intrigued.

The Grand Depart is in the grand old city of Monaco, Monte Carlo with a 15km Time trial to get riders on the road to Paris. A bit different from last years rolling start - but you can't go through Monaco without savouring the sights and sounds of the place: the Individual Time Trial is well suited to the city then.

We then move on for the next 20 days: 10 flat stages, 7 mountain stages, 1 medium mountain stage, 2 of the ITT's covering a total distance of 55km
and the return of the Team Time Trial absent from the scene for the last few years: it's made a return folks. The highlight of the race would have to be Stage 20: mark that one down folks. the not to miss files. Saturday 25th of July: from Montelimar all the way up the beast that is Mont Ventoux. The great mountain climb that claimed the life of Tom Simpson way back in 1967 is back in the race: warmed up now after the tortures of the Dauphine Libere, she'll be ready to bite on the penultimate day and then we'll be off to the Champs Elysees to say farewell for another 12 months.

We've got 8 new stop over towns: seeing the Tour for the first time ever:
Brignoles, Gérone (in Spain), Issoudun, Martigny (Switzerland), Saint-Fargeau, Tonnerre, Vatan and Verbier (Switzerland).

The 21 stages that make up the 2009 Edition of the Tour de France:

Stage 1: Monaco ITT 15.5km
Stage 2: Monaco to Brignoles 187km
Stage 3: Marseille to La Grande Motte 196.5km
Stage 4: Montpellier TTT 39km
Stage 5: Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan 196.5 km
Stage 6: Gerone to Barcelona, Spain 181.5km
Stage 7: Barcelona to Andorre Arcalis 224km
Stage 8: Anodorre-la-vielle to Saint Girons 176.5km
Stage 9: Saint Gaudens to Tarbes 160.5km
Rest Day Monday July 13
Stage 10: Limoges to Issoudun 194.5km
Stage 11: Vatan to Saint-Fargeau
Stage 12: Tonerre to Vitel 211.5km
Stage 13: Vittel to Colmar 200km
Stage 14: Colmar to Besancon 199km
Stage 15: Pontarlier to Verbier 207.5km
Rest Day Monday 20 July
Stage 16: Martigny to Bourg Saint-Maurice 159km
Stage 17: Bourg Saint-Maurice to Le Grand Bornand 159km
Stage 18: Annecy ITT 40.5km
Stage 19: Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas 178km
Stage 20: Montelimar to Mont Ventoux 167km
Stage 21: Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris-Champs Elysees 164km

Teams entered into the 2009 race:
AG2R-La Mondiale
Agritubel
Astana
Brox Bouygues Telecom
Caisse d'Epargne
Cervelo Test Team
Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Francaise Des Jeux
Garmin-Slipstream
Lampre N.G.C
Liquigas
Quick Step
Rabobank Cyclingteam
Silence-Lotto
Skil-Shimano
Team Columbia-High Road
Team Katusha
Team Milram
Team Saxo Bank

final riders to list to follow folks

SBS will again be showing the stages Live on SBS One or SBS Two (depending on the coverage of the Ashes test matches which begin on Wednesday July 8). Gabriel Gate will again be doing his Tastes of the Tour, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen will be doing the commentary, Mike Tomalaris will be there too.

I've taken my holidays for the race: i hope we'll all be up all night cheering on the Aussies.
 
Cofidis are the first to pick their Roster for 2009...

Team manager - Eric Boyer

Stéphane Augé
Samuel Dumoulin
Leonardo Duque
Bingen Fernandez
Christophe Kern
Sébastien Minard
Amaël Moinard
David Moncoutié
Rémi Pauriol

eurosport and cyclingnews are the best websites for the cycling!
 
roostersgal4eva said:
Cofidis are the first to pick their Roster for 2009...

Team manager - Eric Boyer

Stéphane Augé
Samuel Dumoulin
Leonardo Duque
Bingen Fernandez
Christophe Kern
Sébastien Minard
Amaël Moinard
David Moncoutié
Rémi Pauriol

eurosport and cyclingnews are the best websites for the cycling!
Click to expand...

Oh no another year of Ligget and Sherwen pointing out Moncoutie and explaining his fear of the peloton every time we see a shot of the back of the pack :eek:
 

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Anyone know why betting is suspended?

I think the obvious choice for the yellow is Contador, the most fluent climber, dances on the peddles, great turn of speed and has improved his time trial ability somewhat.

I'd love more than anyone for Cadel to win but i can't see it happening with the team he has, not enough supporter, will be a fantastic effort to get on the podium.

Dark horse is Menchov for mine, if you are looking for value, him at $15-20 is a good price IMO. Can climb, looked very very strong in the Giro, pretty effective TT rider and will have plenty of help from Gesink, who looked strong in the Dauphine himself. Not a strong team other than him though, they will be a bit split with Freire looking to win the green jersey.

Only a couple of weeks away, can't wait.
 
Not sure about why Cruiser?

Bit of action overnight

Rabobank named its team

Stef Clement (NED)
Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP)
Oscar Freire (ESP)
Juan Manuel Garate (ESP)
Robert Gesink (NED)
Denis Menchov (RUS) - [the non aussie l wouldnt mind see winning]
Grischa Niermann (GER)
Joost Posthuma (NED)
Laurens ten Dam (NED).

Tom Boonen is banned for the tour...
http://eurosport.yahoo.com/18062009/3/boonen-banned-tour-uci-action.html

And Cavendish is winning pretty much all the stages in Swizerland...
http://eurosport.yahoo.com/18062009/3/cavendish-warms-tour-de-france-stage-win.html
 
Can't wait. Nothing better than staying up to all hours of the morning listening to Sherwan and Ligget and admiring the French countryside while about 180 cyclists dominate the winding roads. Hopefully Christian (the wine dude) will be joining Gate. "Thank you, Christian." :D Go Cadel. I also liked Kohl last year, but he has since been found to be a drug cheat, so he can get stuffed.
 
The thing about drugs cheats is you can guess when they are doing it.

Like who really thought Stefan Schumacher won the TT fair? Not me that's for sure.

My fav is Soler. His dominant win on the alps a couple years back made me situp and take notice. He should win the polka dots again and hopefully some better teams start to look at him.

I'll have to have a look at the stages to get an idea of where the real time can be made by the power climbers. Can't see why Sastre shouldn't be a top chance again.

Good to see Verbier as a destination. I remember it as part of a top gear race.
 
Juggalo Balla said:
My fav is Soler. His dominant win on the alps a couple years back made me situp and take notice.
Click to expand...
Cadel could do with a bloke like him to go with him deep into the big stages.
He went out early last injured did he not?
And hasn't really shown the form this year.
Barlow-world had another young bloke that caught my eye last year - went down the side of a steep hill I think when leading a stage.
Is Barlow-world folding after this year? Might be a couple there for the likes of Lotto to scavange.
Although they seem to prefer the young Belgians.
 
Juggalo Balla said:
Can't see why Sastre shouldn't be a top chance again.
Click to expand...

He had one of the best teams world of cycling has seen to support him last year. Doesn't have it this year. He will be there though.

Contador and Menchov to battle it out. Will be interesting to see if Frank Schleck can do better than he did last year. Sanchez has also been riding quite well lately.
 
What happens if you get on Contador and 3 months later he's found to have cheated. Cos lets be honest. We all know he's a druggie.

Do you still win or what?
 

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Pawtucket Patriot said:
Can't wait. Nothing better than staying up to all hours of the morning listening to Sherwan and Ligget and admiring the French countryside while about 180 cyclists dominate the winding roads. Hopefully Christian (the wine dude) will be joining Gate. "Thank you, Christian." :D Go Cadel. I also liked Kohl last year, but he has since been found to be a drug cheat, so he can get stuffed.
Click to expand...

LOL, yes! :D

I'm looking forward to the race, going to be very tired at work come a couple of weeks time! :p
 
Pumped, cant wait. I usually take leave for that period but was not able to this year. Have Tivo now so that will help. Hopefully stages are not ruined by drug cheats, like Schumaker did last year. Hopefully Rogers has a bit of luck in the tour this year. Itll be interesting to see how Lance goes too.
 
Cruiser23 said:
Anyone know why betting is suspended?

I think the obvious choice for the yellow is Contador, the most fluent climber, dances on the peddles, great turn of speed and has improved his time trial ability somewhat.

I'd love more than anyone for Cadel to win but i can't see it happening with the team he has, not enough supporter, will be a fantastic effort to get on the podium.

Dark horse is Menchov for mine, if you are looking for value, him at $15-20 is a good price IMO. Can climb, looked very very strong in the Giro, pretty effective TT rider and will have plenty of help from Gesink, who looked strong in the Dauphine himself. Not a strong team other than him though, they will be a bit split with Freire looking to win the green jersey.

Only a couple of weeks away, can't wait.
Click to expand...

Might be because Valverde is appealing his Italian racing suspension? The Tour enters Italy a couple of times so technically he won't be able to race those stages.
 

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Cruiser23 said:
Dark horse is Menchov for mine, if you are looking for value, him at $15-20 is a good price IMO. Can climb, looked very very strong in the Giro, pretty effective TT rider and will have plenty of help from Gesink, who looked strong in the Dauphine himself. Not a strong team other than him though, they will be a bit split with Freire looking to win the green jersey.

Only a couple of weeks away, can't wait.
Click to expand...
Ten Dam is a good climber as well, rode very well in the Giro.

Great watching live cycling on the big tv, without having to watch it on internet streams. Menchov looked really good in the Giro but may have dug a little too deep. Contador the huge favourite but remains to be seen if the team will support him, but sucking up to Caisse in the Dauphine might help him. Sastre and Evans will be there or thereabouts again as the race goes upward. But apart from internal dramas the only person I can see really giving Contador a run for his money is A Shleck Has a very good team around him and is probably the only person who an match Contador in the mountains and could possibly ride away from him there, he looked so strong in Liege maybe too much TT for him however.

As someone mentioned Solar, he looks like he needs training wheels on a bike, worst bike handler I've ever seen, needs to stop crashing if he wants to do well again.
 
Dees said:
Ten Dam is a good climber as well, rode very well in the Giro.

Great watching live cycling on the big tv, without having to watch it on internet streams. Menchov looked really good in the Giro but may have dug a little too deep. Contador the huge favourite but remains to be seen if the team will support him, but sucking up to Caisse in the Dauphine might help him. Sastre and Evans will be there or thereabouts again as the race goes upward. But apart from internal dramas the only person I can see really giving Contador a run for his money is A Shleck. Has a very good team around him and is probably the only person who an match Contador in the mountains and could possibly ride away from him there, he looked so strong in Liege maybe too much TT for him however.

As someone mentioned Solar, he looks like he needs training wheels on a bike, worst bike handler I've ever seen, needs to stop crashing if he wants to do well again.
Click to expand...

Schleck looked really good last year but will really need to improve his TT's. Will be interesting to see how he goes tonight in the 40km TT in the Tour of Suisse. Lost 30 seconds to Kreuziger and 28 seconds to Kloden in the first TT and that was only 8km long.
 
Fabulous Cancellara took out the Tour of Suisse. Very much a flat tour though with just a few bumps and his TT ability blew the competition away. Finished a minute and a half ahead of the 2nd place rider in the final stage, 38km long TT.

Thomas Dekker actually finished 3rd in that final TT. The final results hasn't appear yet so not sure how Andy Schleck.
 
http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/us/actus.html#zone130945

Robert Gesink (Rabobank – Netherlands): * * * * *

He says it himself; his dream is to win the Tour de France. The tall Dutchman (1m86) is already an outsider for the 2009 edition of the Tour. For his second season as a professional at only 22 years of age, the Rabobank rider had finished 4th of Paris-Nice after carrying the yellow jersey and finished his first major Tour, the Vuelta in 7th position.

Record

2007: 1st of the Settimana Lombarda ; 2008: 1 stage of the Tour of California, 4th of Paris-Nice, 7th of the Vuelta ; 2009: 3rd of the Amstel Gold race

Jacky Durand’s point of view: “He’s a potential winner. He’s capable of following the best in the mountains but has to improve on time-trials. If he remains in a big team such as Rabobank, well surrounded, he can one day win the Tour”.

Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence-Lotto - Belgium): * * * *

Jurgen Van Den Broeck’s career witnessed a new turn last season. After slowly maturing in the US Postal squad (then to be Discovery Channel), the 26-year-old rider impressed during the 2008 Giro d’Italia, keeping up with the best before eventually finishing 7th overall. But before having a leading role, the tall and thin Silence-Lotto rider will show up at the start of the Tour with one simple goal: to help his leader Cadel Evans. After all, the Australian was the one who wanted him at his side for this year’s Tour.

Record

2008: 7th of the Giro ; 2009: 15th of Paris-Nice

Jacky’s point of view: “A serious candidate... He showed that he was able to finish in the Top 15 of the Tour of Italy. The fact that Cadel Evans wanted Van den Broeck at his side for the Tour just shows his value. He’s a rider who can become a leader and one day win the Tour”.

Pierre Rolland (BBox - France): * * *

Just as difficult as it might be to find the rider who could do as well as Merckx, it isn’t easy either to find a successor to Bernard Hinault, last French rider to win the Tour (in 1986). Pierre Rolland could be that man. An all-round rider, the 22-year-old revealed himself last season in the Credit Agricole team when he remained with the best during Paris-Nice and then during the Dauphiné Libéré that he finished 13th with the best climber’s jersey on his shoulders.

Record

2008: 13th of Paris-Nice, 13th of the Dauphiné

Jacky’s point of view: “Waiting for confirmation. We discovered him during the 2008 Dauphiné. He can rapidly finish among the Top 10 of the Tour. We’ll have to wait a little more to see him finish in the top 5 or better. But he certainly is the best French chance”.

Daniel Martin (Garmin - Ireland): * * *

The whole of Ireland awaits the new Stephen Roche or Sean Kelly. Young Daniel Martin probably doesn’t have the legs of these two prestigious champions but could one day become a contender for a victory on the Tour de France. At 22 years of age, this pure climber has already made the headlines by becoming Irish national champion in his first pro season and also claimed the Route du Sud that same year. On the eve of a possible first Tour de France Martin finished 3rd of the last Tour Méditerranéen.

Record

2008: Irish national champion, Route du Sud ; 2009: 3rd of the Tour Méditerranéen

Jacky’s point of view: “He’s a pure climber. He can win a major mountain stage. But his main weakness is time-trials. He can lose up to a minute every 20 kilometres. He really is a feather weight”.
Click to expand...

Van den Broeck and Dekker, while they aren't household names Cadel may have a bit of help after all.
 

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Tour de France 2009

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