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2013 Tour de France Route revealed
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 28-10-2012 17:54
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Managers and riders were today invited to Paris to find out the race route to be officially revealed for the 2013 Management Game season. Come July, 20 ProTour and 1 ProContinental teams will ride out in the battle for the Maillot Jaune, and this is the terrain that they will do so on.
5 teams are already known to be making their debuts in the race: Aker-Mot, Lotto - Cervélo, Pokerstars.com, Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi and Team Puma - SAP, while for veterans Vesuvio-Accumalux and Festina-Canal+ this will be their 7th time of riding the Tour. The first time that Festina have done so under a French license though!
Defending champion - currently without a team - Damiano Cunego was in attendance, alongside the rest of the 2012 podium Angel Madrazo and Aleksandr Pluchkin, and previous winners Simon Spilak, Markus Fothen and Frank Schleck. Plus former Green jersey winners Danniele Bennati, Tom Boonen and Filippo Pozzato.
But onto that route.
The race will begin in Britanny - with a 24.7km Team Time Trial. I believe this is the first TTT in the Tour de France since 2008, so the return of it is long overdue. The strongest team against the clock will take control of the Maillot Jaune, and have the opportunity to keep it, since 3 sprint stages follow.
The lead could change with two hilly stages though, before the first weeks is rounded out by the first Individual Time Trial. It is then into the Mountains though, with the first two summit finishes of the race.
Two more flat stages follow before the race enters Spain. A Clasica San Sebastian stage is followed by the entry into the Pyrenees and a summit finish in Larrau - a town that lies on the French-Spanish border. The Aspin and the Tourmalet are then climbed on the final Pyreneean stage which summits at the Col de Tentes.
The sprinters and breakaway hopefuls get their turn with 2 stages before the final individual time trial of the tour in Nice. The Alps provide a spectacular finale with 3 monster stages.
Two HC climbs on Stage 18: Col de la Bonnette and Col du Parpaillon. Damiano Cunego took a stage win on Parpaillon in 2012, but this year the finish is after a descent in Embrun.
Stage 19 is surely the Queen stage. Col du Lautaret, Col du Galibier, Col du Telegraphe, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col de la Madeleine, Col du Pradier and then finally La Plagne.
And if that wasnt enough, theres 5 more climbs on Stage 20. Cormet de Roseland, Col des Saises, Col de l'Aravis, Col del a Colombiere and Col de la Pierre Carree.
Any sprinters that are left then have the Champs Elysses stage to enjoy.
In summary:
- 8 flat stages
- 7 mountain stages with 6 summit finishes
- 3 hilly stages
- 1 team time trial
- 2 individual time trials
- A total of 106.4 time trial kilometres.
- 20 stages taken from Erol's variant, 1 from Roturn's 2008 route.
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| Vien |
Posted on 28-10-2012 17:56
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The spoiler does nothing on IE, but works on Chrome. Just sayin'
Looks brutal 
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| niconico |
Posted on 28-10-2012 17:58
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I like it. The introduction of the TTT should suit my team and Pluchkin very well.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:02
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Vien wrote:
The spoiler does nothing on IE, but works on Chrome. Just sayin'
Looks brutal
IE sucks, shouldnt be using it for anything! Just sayin' 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:10
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World Champion
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The TTT should have been brought back last year. I won't be going after TTTs this year
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| jph27 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:13
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Hmm, to save for a wildcard or not? I like the TTT being in there. |
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:14
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Like there are a couple of hilly stages before the mountains proper begins.
Hope whoever signs Cunego sends him to have another crack - though he would undoubtedly get more points out of the Giro. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 14:10
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| cio93 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:14
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Daniele Bennati spoke to the media after attending the presentation and stated he was “very pleased about the amount of sprint stages as well as the demanding profile some of their final km have“.
His addition that he would be thrilled to add another green jersey to his palmares in Paris was interrupted by his team manager who said it is yet to be decided which races Bennati will attend.
“We would love to bring our superstar to at least one GT, maybe even both the Giro and the Tour.
But we have to await what transfer season brings us and how we will be able to allocate Daniele's race days, because after all, we want to be a Pro Tour team next season as well.“
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| ANFreeman |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:14
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Will be a surprise if any sprinters finish after the three alpine stages
[url=https://pcmdaily.com/messages.php?msg_send=19438]-Requests for Man-Game 2014 jerseys are OPEN!
Click to request!-[/url] |
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:16
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I strongly dislike the look of that TTT. Wiggle's leader (whoever that will be) is gunna lose time in all those time trials.
[url=cleavercycling.co.uk]  [/url] |
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| dev4ever |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:19
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 crazyy!! But i like it. 
Spoiler This is how the real tour de france route should have been 
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| Firefly21 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:33
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Domestique
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Awesome TDF route, I'll definitely have fun watching the 8000 mountain stages .
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:35
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Not the easiest TdF route ever Maybe MTN will be there one day!
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:36
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Nice! Predictions:
1st) Andrei Amador
2nd) Damiano Cunego
3rd) Angel Madrazo
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| Heine |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:44
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I like this route I also like that the start can give the yellow jersey to so many different riders, my guess though is that Coppel will wear it when going into the mountains (imo that should be "realistic" as organizers historically try to "fix" the races for the home riders ) and that Plushkin will take it this year, in front of Madrazo and Spilak
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| ember |
Posted on 28-10-2012 18:49
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A very interesting Tour, and it will be a tough one for our team, with that team time trial. I can imagine us loosing several minutes there. But I guess the transfer season will show whether that will mean anything or not to us, if we don't have any GC rider, it isn't really a problem |
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 28-10-2012 19:02
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Very GC-heavy stage-wise. A few too many full-on mountain stages for me but they are at least good mountain stages. Doubt I'll be able to snaffle a rider with the ability to win it anyway. |
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| Rin |
Posted on 28-10-2012 19:30
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I think this Tour de France will be really exciting but I think Madrazo will win it because he is so strong.
I had for the Transfers definetly a stage racer in my mind I guess I would be very happy if my team could be a bit aggressive at the Tour as I think a stage win or a Top 10 GC place will be very very hard as it's our first Tour de France. The Giro and Vuelta before will be very good for us as we haven't raced at any 3 week grand tour.
 Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 28-10-2012 19:41
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What a beast of a race. I think I'll try to catch a GT wildcard this year but looking at this profile I'm probably going to keep myself away from the Tour.
Good luck everyone. I can see mb rubbing his hands. You guys better buy Cunego or you'll have a bad time facing Madrazo.
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| SotD |
Posted on 28-10-2012 19:59
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Team Festina-CANAL+ comments on the Tour de France route
Sporting directeur Andreas Jøhnke took a bit of time to answer the press after the announcing of the route.
It's looking very interesting this route. And tough! I can see a lot of very good sprinters not making it into that second run of flat stages, which could potentially be interesting in terms of attacks, but also it might be intruiging for some of the one day specialists, who might take something from this.
As for who wins this, it is a wide open question. Obviously it will be looking good for a rider such as Madrazo, but I would never underestimate last years winner Cunego either. Andy Schleck should be very eager to get back into the mix, while Pliuchkin is another top top name, having progressed positively every year so far. But for now it's just namedropping as I can see atleast 10 riders developping into a Tour de France winner.
Our objective this season will depend on how the transfer period goes, but this is our main focus of the year, and as such we will be interested in making a standout performance, where people singleout Festina-CANAL+ as one of the strongest teams of the race. We will see how that goes.
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