Most people who aren’t unfamiliar with bike racing probably don’t understand the amount of time and consideration that goes into planning the race routes. This is particularly true for those planning the Tour de France route. First of all, no two routes are ever the same. Great care also has to be taken when planning so as not to show favoritism to one team over another. Everyone’s strengths and weaknesses should be on equal ground. The fact that the race covers over 3000 kilometers and several countries makes it just that much more difficult. But every year they manage to come up with an exciting Tour de France route that seems to please all.
What did the route planners come up with for 2006, you ask? (Or maybe you didn’t but I’m going to tell you anyway.) First of all, they changed a long-standing rule. They did away with the Team Time Trials. This change has long been considered but has never actually been done before. For one thing, it’s impressive to watch. Nine men dressed alike racing like the wind along the French countryside. Now that’s entertaining television! Aside from this particular drawback, for the racers it is actually a good thing. Imagine being the only racer on your team with a chance at winning. The team time trials are only going to bring down your overall time and make it virtually impossible to win. That’s not really fair.
The beginning stages of the Tour de France route take place in Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland. At this particular time of the year, these areas get a lot of rain meaning slick roads, pounding rain and nasty crashes. For riders more used to riding in these types of conditions, this fact can actually be an advantage. For those who aren’t, oh well. Furthermore, there are only two days in the Pyrenees. These are tough mountain climbs and could help to distinguish the better riders from the pack. It does, however, take place after a day of rest, which could level the playing field more than usual.
Hot on the heels of the Pyrenees is the Alps mountain climbing stage of the Tour de France route. Again, this comes after a day of rest but it won’t necessarily have the same advantage as before. This is a series of tough climbs and any rider who struggles with climbing is going to have a difficult time of it. The riders will have to climb approximately 18,000 meters over three straight days and this is tough for anyone. Obviously, racers who are more accustomed to high altitudes and mountain climbing in general tend to do better on these stages of the race.
The final stages of the Tour de France route for 2006 should be a bit more interesting than they were last year. This is the part of the race where the final individual time trials take place and this year the course is considerably hillier than before. What this does accomplish though is the potential of keeping the race’s winner a mystery right until the very end. If you are a rider who does better on time trials and is a world-class sprinter, this could be the time to make up for time lost on the mountain climbs. If you did well on the mountain climbs but now have no energy for sprinting, it’s possible to lose ground. In reality, all the riders are going to be exhausted at this point and this could lead to an exciting, “anything is possible” kind of finish.
Related:
