Tour Stage 1 Preview: Monaco ITT
by crashdan on Jul 3, 2009 12:32 PM EDT
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Stage 1 :: Saturday July 4, 2009
15.5km :: Monaco
Well, that time is upon us, the first Stage Preview of the 2009 edition of Le Tour de France. We begin the July festivities in the Principality of Monaco, one of the few remaining City States left on the earth (can you name the others?) Monaco is the home of such natives as Boris Becker and Michael Rassmussen, bet you didn't know they were from Monaco!
Let's have a look at where we're goin and what we're gonna do...
Watch carefully now as I lean fully on Gavia for support.
The 2009 Tour begins in the principality of Monaco with a time trial. The course climbs into the foothills of the Alpes Maritimes just outside the city before descending to a flat finish between high-rise hotels and the sandy beaches of the Mediterranean. At 15.5 kilometers, the stage is too long to be a prologue, and will offer an early indication of who has brought race-winning legs to this year’s Tour de France. The course includes one category 4 climb, the Côte de Beausoleil, literally “beautiful sun,” which reaches a maximum elevation of 205 meters. The second half of the course descends to a flat finish along the beach on the Boulevard Louis II near Port Hercule.
Courtesy of Gavia's Stage 1 Preview at Steephill.tv
On with the pictorials... We start on the sunny coast of Monaco, that little sliver of tax haven on the shores of the Mediterranean. We also end there. In fact, we end basically on the southern leg of the same road as the start ramp.
Here we see the course from the southerly end, looking up.
Looking down the course from the north.
They ride around that little spit of yellow at the bottom and then head up the MASSIVE incline to the Cat.4 rated climb.
Wow... a whole 205m climb up to Beausoleil. Whew. I know, I scoff... I've still got Giro on the mind though. Add a few dozen more of those little 205m climbs in there and you'd have a nice Italian stage!
Back on down to the next little hairpin...
And then following the course of the Monaco Grand Prix...
Through the tunnel that goes under some fancy lookin' pools
... and ending right there where it started. 15.5km later.
That's all there is to it... Le Tour de France 2009 is now officially underway!
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I was at work where doing such things is risky.
I was also preoccupied with screaming things like “I didn’t get two degrees to do data entry all day!!!!!” Sorry. Rant over. I’ll go and get some Bailey’s. Oh, and Go Roger!
Adrenalina Italiana!
riding home from work
back towards Nice, must have seenat least 30 cyclists heading the other way towards Monaco.
Oh wish I was there!
On the plus side, it seems ITV4 is actually showing this weekend live! This is splendid news.
Adrenalina Italiana!
Beast, Accountant, Silent One, Boss, Wheelsucker 1, Wheelsucker 2 ...
who will get the yellow jersey?
Armstrong and Leipheimer among the early starters
L’Equipe reports that Armstrong will be the first Astana rider on the course tomorrow, with a start time of 16:17, and Leipheimer will go second for the team at 16:37.
There’s a suggestion in the article that the reason for this could be to take advantage of better weather conditions earlier in the evening.
Among the last starters will be Wiggins at 19:01, Cancellara at 19:04, Contador at 19:05:30, Evans at 19:07, and finally, Sastre, at 19:08:30.
30 to 40 percent chance of thunderstorms tomorrow during the race
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Out of topic
I know this is completly out of topic, but you have to have a look at this site: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/
It is a totally new site for Saxo Bank and there are a lot of videos and interviews and I think that it look really nice.
I know i shoud have posted it as a fanshot, but was afraíd that I could not find out how to do that, sorry.
Anyone know what time we can expect online coverage tomorrow?
ITV4 only turns up to the party at 4.30 (5.30 in France).
Adrenalina Italiana!
Eurosport starts at 1530 cest
There’s probably a live feed somewhere. The first rider takes off at 1600 or something like that.
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Jul 3, 2009 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions
France 2 has an hour of pre-tour coverage at 13:55
Then goes live at 14:55 (which probably means 5 minutes of hello then proper live stuff at 15:00) for 4 hours. I’d guess that that is the maximum available to other broadcasters.
The morning show, Village Depart, is at 11:50 on France 3, but that is more often about food and local specialities than cycling. “Here in Monaco the big sellers are caviar and champagne. Washed down with that Columbian condiment, what’s it called again? Tommy? No, Charlie.”
Important riders start time:
16:00 Van Hummel
16:17 Armstrong
16:34 Farrar
16:35 Posthuma
16:36 Larsson
16:37 Leipheimer
16:52 Grabsch
16:54 Millar
16:55 Freire
17:38 Zubeldia
17:46 Bruseghin
17:52 Cavendish
17:55 Gesink
17:56 F. Schleck
18:04 Devolder
18:08 Pereiro
18:14 Zabriskie
18:17 Kloden
18:24 Boonen
18:28 Iván Gutiérrez
18:30 Nibali
18:32 Rogers
18:34 Vande Velde
18:35 Clement
18:36 A. Schleck
18:39 Hushovd
18:41:30 Gerdemann
18:43 Moreau
18:44:30 Karpets
18:46 Chavanel
18:52 Luis León Sánchez
18:55 Pellizotti
18:56:30 Efimkin
18:58 Kirchen
18:59:30 Astarloza
19:01 Wiggins
19:02:30 Menchov
19:04 Cancellara
19:05:30 Contador
19:07 Evans
19:08:30 Sastre
Local time?
… you mean, I’m gonna be up until about 4am? Ouch.
Yes indeedy!
It’s Saturday! Waahooo! And I’m home from work now… ready and waiting. I reckon that they ought to start NOW… 8hrs is gonna kill me. Although… in a way, even the waiting is kinda pleasurable right now. Hey, it’s gonna be a three week party :-). Still… 8 hours…
OK, I think I might go and make a batch of pasta sauce. That’ll kill an hour or so (plus there’ll be a dinner option in the freezer ready to go, for when the fatigue makes cooking ‘too hard’ in the coming weeks, LOL).
Holy Shit, it's Tour time already?
Man did June go by in an eye blink. Hi Everybody!
I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.
go away again...
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
How's that for a Welcome?
"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that? How good is that?
I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, that's good." Jens!
The response I was looking for was
“Hi Dr. Nick!”
Very disappointed in all of you.
I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.
great... Lance is already acting like he didnt know or
understand why Berto was selected as leader. Astana is gonna implode. Lance and Berto are going to try to destroy each other in a supid pissing contest before the 3rd week. I got Sastre winning from the darkhorse position.
i like conta's response
Contador, who knows how important the stage will be for his overall objectives, however refused to draw any conclusions from it. “Tomorrow is a day where you can already make a difference on GC, so it’s definitely an opportunity worth taking, also for the stage win,” he said when asked if he thought the day would finally set up Astana’s pecking order. “But it’s also a stage where you’d have to take certain risks – and I have nothing to prove to anyone.”
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
I'd like to think that the bidding for Contador's services next year will begin as soon as the racing starts.
As soon as there is a hint of trouble for Contador some other team will likely step in and help him out.
If Jens! Voigt was a planet, he' be the "World of Hurt"
For the curious - The Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco
According to the official Tour site J Sports has ex-f1 Driver Ukyo Katayama commentating on the Monaco stage. I wonder if Red Bull’s Mark Webber has made any comments to the Australian media (couldn’t find any on google), he is known to be a cycling enthusiast
here’s a youtube vid from onboard the Ferrari of Felipe Massa taking his pole lap showing the inside of the tunnel.
3 time F1 world champ Nelson Piquet has said racing at Monaco was “like trying to cycle round your living room”
Dude, I can see my house from here
In the future, please set the link to open in a new window. :(
Wonderful idea for a prologue, it had me pop in Gran Turismo 4 to get a hang of the stage with its steep hill and technical corners.
If wonder if they’ll use the massive cranes to move crashed riders too. :D
myself, I'm waiting for GTA: San Monica
Race the circuit AND pick up the Russian hookers. What’s not to like?
There are some great photos from the fifties and sixties
showing them racing right alongside the water, with the only protection against drowning a line of cast iron bollards.
Totally O/T
But how was the assault on the Grand?
When I'm on the mic, I'm like global warming, you can't ignore me.
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