Froome and Thomas React to 2019 Tour Route Here “The Highest Tour in History” Tour de France organizers threw down the gauntlet to the climbing specialists when they unveiled the “the highest Tour in history” for a 2019 edition featuring a record 30 mountain passes and five summit finishes. With a nod to Belgian legend Eddy Merckx, the 2019 Tour begins in Brussels on July 6 and ends 3,460 kilometers later on the Champs Elysees in Paris on July 28, the opening and closing stages about as flat as it gets on the 106th edition. After Belgium, the Tour heads into the hilly Massive Central region, then down to the Pyrenees before culminating with three consecutive days in the Alps between stages 18-20. Fans with a taste for classic climbs will not be disappointed, with the Tourmalet, La Planche des Belles Filles, the Col d’Izoard, the Col du Galibier and the Montee de Tignes all on a menu featuring a record 30 mountain passes and five summit finishes. “This is the highest Tour in history,” Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Thursday. Marketed as the Centenary of the official introduction of the yellow jersey, in 1919 — an innovation for roadside fans to identify the race leader — next year’s edition “is a way of paying hommage to the yellow jersey,” added Prudhomme. “Combining that with the ‘Grand Depart’ in Brussels is a wonderful way to honor the man who best represents the image of the yellow jersey, cycling’s greatest ever champion, Eddy Merckx,” Prudhomme said. Although featuring seven mountain and five hilly (or medium mountain) stages, there is also room for seven supposedly flat stages that are best suited to the sprinters. “We are virtually guaranteed wind on one of those and confident there will be wind on a second one too,” said Prudhomme. Asked where that left the sprinters, Prudhomme said cycling’s fast men were too proud to let a few hills stand in their way. “Mark Cavendish, the greatest sprinter in Tour history, showed last year the attitude our sprinters have,” he said. Cavendish last year was one of several sprinters to struggle through a difficult mountain stage only to be eliminated after missing the time cut, missing out on the chance to reach the final sprint stage in Paris. “The Champs Elysees is still the most mouth-watering sprint on the cycling calendar and they all want to get there,” he explained. “Only a Great Climber Can Win” With an abundance of potentially decisive mountain stages, the scope for stealing time from rivals during long time trials has been limited. Next year’s edition features a 27 kilometer-long team time-trial on stage two around the city center of Brussels and just one other, individual time trial over 27 kilometers on stage 13 on undulating terrain around Pau. “The planning here means it is impossible to win this Tour unless you are a great climber,” Prudhomme said. “There are also time bonuses at strategic climb points to encourage riders to attack at key moments, with the hope that someone will make a bid for a stage win and even the yellow jersey where you might not expect that,” he said. “Last year (Team Sky’s) Geraint Thomas was the one who went chasing after the bonus seconds the most and he won the Tour. This was no accident,” Prudhomme said. Route designer Thierry Gouvenou, however, said he felt Thomas’s teammate and four-time champion Chris Froome may be stronger next year. “Of the two of them I’d say Froome was better equipped on this type of route,” he said when pressed on the issue. “Froome remains an iconic leader for Sky, and Thomas has found his Holy Grail’.” Froome and Thomas React to 2019 Tour Route Here 2019 Stages July 6 Stage 1: Brussels – Brusels (192 km) July 7 Stage 2: Brussels – Brussels (27 km team time-trial) July 8 Stage 3: Binche – Epernay (214 km) July 9 Stage 4: Reims – Nancy (215 km) July 10 Stage 5: Saint-Die-des-Voges – Colmar (169 km) July 11 Stage 6: Mulhouse – Planche des Belles Filles (157 km) July 12 Stage 7: Belfort – Chalon-sur-Saone (230 km) July 13 Stage 8: Macon – Saint-Etienne (199 km) July 14 Stage 9: Saint-Etienne – Brioude (170 km) July 15 Stage 10: Saint-Flour – Albi (218 km) July 16 Rest Day July 17 Stage 11: Albi – Toulouse (167 km) July 18 Stage 12: Toulouse – Bagneres-de-Bigorre (202 km) July 19 Stage 13: Pau – Pau (27 km individual time-trial) July 20 Stage 14: Tarbes – Tourmalet (117 km) July 21 Stage 15: Limoux – Foix (185 km) July 22 Rest day July 23 Stage 16: Nimes – Nimes (177 km) July 24 Stage 17: Pont du Gard – Gap (206 km) July 25 Stage 18: Embrun – Valloire (207 km) July 26 Stage 19: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Tignes (123 km) July 27 Stage 20: Albertville – Val Thorens (131 km) July 28 Stage 21: Rambouillet – Paris (127 km) Froome and Thomas React to 2019 Tour Route Here<doc-sep>After a 2018 Tour de France that featured cobbles, the shortest road stage for decades and an F1-style start grid, the 2019 route unveiled by race director Christian Prudhomme in Paris’s Palais des Congrès has a more classical look, with the emphasis very much on high-altitude climbs. Among five summit finishes, two more than last year, no fewer than three will be above 2,000 metres, while there are another four ascents above that mark, including the 2,770-metre Col de l’Iseran, the highest paved pass in the Alps. >>> Tour de France 2019: Race director Christian Prudhomme wants to ban power meters Defending champion Geraint Thomas and his predecessor and team-mate Chris Froome both said they were pleased with their first look at the route. “The Tour’s always hard, but there’s a lot of climbing, a lot of altitude,” said Thomas. “There are lots of climbs over 2,000 metres. Generally, I really like them, so I’ll look forward to that.” The Welshman also picked out the time trial in Pau as another critical point and highlighted the difficulty of stages in the Vosges and Massif Central. “There are a lot of medium mountain stages, so it will need a well-rounded rider and team to win it,” said Thomas. “I wouldn’t say that any of the summit finishes worry me, but stages like the one to the summit of the Tourmalet and to Val Thorens will be exciting stages. That second one comes after 33 kilometres of climbing and follows what is another really challenging day. There’s certainly some big, big days where a lot can happen.” Thomas said it was still too early for him and Sky’s management to decide whether the Tour will be on his programme next year, but even before next week’s unveiling of the 2019 Giro d’Italia route he made it clear he would like to get the chance to defend his Tour crown. “Having won this year, I’d love to go back, and there’s no point in going back at anything less than 100 per cent, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said. With five summit finishes, the race appears to suit Chis Froome, and he admitted he is looking forward to preparing for it. “It’s a very different parcours. It’s very heavily weighted towards climbing and the mountains, and especially those over 2,000 metres, which will be a big factor,” said the four-time champion. “There’s comparatively fewer time trial kilometres compared to recent editions, so that’s quite different too. It would be the dream for me to go for the fifth Tour de France win.” Asked about the switch in focus to some of France’s highest passes, Froome said, “Every year I’ve had to adapt and this year is no different. I’ll do all I can to adapt to it and make sure I’m at my best in the mountains. In terms of the stages I like, I’ve always enjoyed racing up La Planche des Belles Filles, the first summit finish, and with an added kick at the end of over 20 per cent it will certainly be interesting and sort out the men from the boys.” He added that the route should suit riders born or living at altitude, picking out Movistar’s Nairo Quintana as one who should thrive. “Some riders deal with altitude better than others, especially those who were born and live at altitude like Nairo Quintana. Those climbs should really suit him. I think that spending a lot of time at altitude will be one of the main parts of preparing for this Tour,” said Froome, who looks set to spend even more time at Sky’s high-altitude training base on Mount Teide in Tenerife. Mark Cavendish on stage 11 of the 2018 Tour de France (Sunada) (Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada) Mark Cavendish wasn’t unhappy with the Tour’s lofty aspect either. “There’s more climbing and probably a greater combined altitude gain, but the 2018 race was near-on impossible for most sprinters to reach Paris – just with the position of the climbs and the lay-out of the stages,” said the Dimension Data sprinter. “Whereas on this route, although there’s more climbing, if we work hard we get to Paris. This year it didn’t matter how hard you worked physiologically, we’d never get to Paris. I was sick again but I don’t think I’d have reached it even if I was well. It’s quite nice next year, I’m looking forward to it.” Cavendish reckoned there were six or seven sprint opportunities, and hopes to be back to his best when they come around having spent the last year and more struggling with the debilitating Epstein-Barr virus. “I’m just back on my bike. I just have to monitor my health and hope that I stay OK really, and that’s it. I’m looking forward to next year, that’s for sure,” he said.<doc-sep>Team Sky have said they are confident of winning a seventh Tour de France in just eight years after a tough mountainous route for the 2019 race was announced in Paris on Thursday. The route, which race director Christian Prudhomme described as “the highest Tour in history”, features five mountain-top finishes with three going above 2,000 metres in altitude, along with a record number of 30 categorised climbs. With just 54km of time trials included – a 27km team time trial on the second day of the three-week race and the individual event, also 27km, in Pau on stage 13 – both of which come before the end of the second week, the route is one that is expected to suit the natural climbers. Indeed, following the announcement time trial specialist Tom Dumoulin, who may now opt to skip the race in favour of the Giro d'Italia once its route is revealed next week, admitted the course was 'not ideal' for him. However, four-time winner Chris Froome who next year will be hoping to clinch a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey – which will be celebrating its centenary after first being worn at the Tour in 1919 – sounded a little more sanguine when discussing the route.<doc-sep>
The route of the 2019 Tour de France was presented in Paris this morning. With a realtive lack of time trialling and an emphasis on lower-category climbs to encourage attacking, it promises to be a more open race than has typically been the case in recent years. The opening stage, starting and finishing in Brussels on 6 July, is expected to be one for the sprinters, but will take in the Muur van Gerardsbergen early on, as well as passing the Waterloo battlefield – “a sad plain for we French,” as race director Christian Prudhomme observed – with a 27-kilometre team time trial the following day finishing outside the Belgian capital’s Atomium. Once across the border in France and heading through the Champagne region, the first big standout day is Stage 6 which finishes on the Planche des Bellles Filles, an extra kilometre added to the climb including ramps of over 20 per cent and gravel roads. It’s the first big climbing day of an edition that will feature a record number of categorised climbs – 30 – although there will be fewer Hors-Categorie and more Category 2 climbs than in this year’s edition. There will also be five summit finishes. There are seven stages that on paper should be ones for the sprinters, although with expectations of the wind playing a role on two of those, they could also be fraught ones for the overall contenders due to the threat of echelons forming. There are just 54 kilometres of time trialling – besides that team time trial in Brussels, there is a 29 kilometre individual time trial on Stage 12, starting and finishing in Pau. That’s followed by a summit finish on the Tourmalet, then another climber’s stage in the Pyrenean foothills which includes the Mur de Peguere and ends at Prat d’Albis near Foix. The race will be decided in the Alps in the three stages preceding the finale in Paris on 28 July. The first, Stage 18, takes in the Col de Vars, the Col d’Izoard and the Galibier , while Stage 19 includes just the third time the race has gone over Europe’s highest paved mountain pass, the Col d’Iseran. The final chance for a reshuffle of the overall classification comes with the Stage 20 summit finish at Val Thorens. It’s a parcours on that Prudhomme believes will encourage breakaways and attacks, and one that given the relative lack of time trialling and focus on lower categorised climbs could see a more open contest than has typically been the case during the past seven editions, six of them won by Team Sky. Here's four-time champion Chris Froome's view. : « The number of altitude finishes makes it very difficult.» : « Le nombre d’arrivées en haute altitude rend ce parcours très difficile. » @chrisfroome #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/9lwcwXjPd6 — Tour de France (@LeTour) October 25, 2018 Jean Christophe Amaury, the head of race owners ASO, opened the presentation with a speech which began with the observation that next year marks the centenary of the yellow jersey, first sported by Eugene Christophe in 1919. He also acknowledged the presence in the auditorium of Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, the three surviving five-time winners. Eddy Merckx Bernard Hinault Miguel Indurain . pic.twitter.com/lKZkAOWM2L — Tour de France (@LeTour) October 25, 2018 Amaury then went on to highlight the role that the race can play in promoting everyday cycling, including a partnership with South African charity Qhubeka and the Atelier du Tour, which provides cycle training to children in cities across France.