the tour is coming to corsica
by ant1 on Dec 6, 2011 10:00 AM EST
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some details are coming out about the tour's trip south for the 2013 grand depart in corsica. velonation has an article with rough map of the three stages. what we know:
-3 stages
-no prologue
-1st stage is flattish
-2nd stage has 3 climbs
-3rd stage has 4 climbs
-the scenery will be top notch
the tour has never been to corsica. the two main reasons are logistics and the mob. corsica's a little different from the rest of france. corsicans are fiercely independent. the island is a region of france, but one with some special privileges. it's a little more autonomous. there are groups there fighting for independence. violence has been known to erupt. things seem quieter these days though, as far as i can tell from across the ocean. kind of like the vuelta coming to basque country this year, the tour's coming to corsica!
why am i excited about it? first, i'm like 3/8th corsican or something, one grandma being born there and the other part-corsican. second, corsica is beautiful and i've never been there. been wanting to for years, but never had the chance. it's tough visiting other parts of france when everytime i go there, i've got tons of family to see in a limited amount of time. third, it seems like kickass cycling is to be had down there.
so, i'll be heading to corsica in a year and a half to get check all that stuff out. i'm bringing the touring bike and camping gear. turns out grandma still owns a little plot of land over there, which i will turn into my tdfgd (tdf grand depart) headquarters. if you'd like to join me, we could make it a tdfgdpdc headquarters.
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You’re gonna go? Great.
I’ve never been to Corsica but I have some friends that have cycled there. It’s supposed to be stunning for cycling.
However, one must watch out for these (taken by a friend):
moo
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
works here
weird
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
from asterix en corse
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
At least they don't run directly into your path,
like dogs and horses.
All I've had today is, like, six gummy bears and some scotch.
Still in your browser's cache
Tripod disallows “remote linking” so even a direct link from an external page (here) doesn’t work. It does work if you copy the link and paste in a new tab/window.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
A friend met some of those while hiking alone in Corsica
A bunch of pigs blocked the path and would not shift. So he crawled up the side of the mountain to go around them. But the pigs followed, and surrounded him, freaking him out completely. He was just calling the emergency services (just imagine the conversation: -Help! Pigs! -wtf???) when a French couple appeared on the now empty path, and ‘rescued’ him. They told him to come down :)
Velowire
is always very good at route details, and usually in three languages as well (French, Dutch, English). The English version.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
Corsica
“You like my sister?” [very fierce look]
- “No no!”
“You don’t like my sister?!” [even fiercer look, switchblade click
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
I nearly went there on holiday couple years ago
after sifting through the brochure.
I’m not sure how it’s going to handle having the Tour descend there – it didn’t appear to have a vast number of lodging options, and travel around the island somewhat restricted.
I think it’ll be a case of needing to get out onto the route VERY early, as there’ll be no alternative route to get there later in the day.
I had considered going in 2012 and tying it in with the Crit Int – that’s a nice little race where you can see the riders 3 times, decent climb, and some of the riders I like often get a free pass that day (like Lagutin, and Fedrigo who won in 2010).
I must say this was my initial reaction
I really would love to visit ….. but during the Tour will be tricky.
But I assume Ant1 will have his own tent and his own keg.
moo
but i guess we can all bring our own tents and kegs
and camp out on his grandma’s land? Eat, drink, make friends with some pigs, have a few laughs, watch the tour whizz by for 5 seconds. Sounds good to me. I bet you’d need to get the ferry reservations months in advance though.
you'd think every american here had a yacht, but no,
sadly, i do not. But maybe we could “borrow” one. I’m sure some rich person wouldn’t miss their boat for a lousy little week. It’s not like they’re using them all the time and they can’t be that hard to drive. (i even have a boat driver’s license for france).
there'll be plenty of riding too
at least as far as i’m concerned. if grandma’s land is where i think it is, it’s on the route of stage 1. only some 25miles away from stage 2’s route, and maybe 60 miles from ajaccio, which is the stage 2 finish/stage 3 start.
getting on the island might be a little tougher. somebody’s got to know someone with a boat. otherwise, Gav, can i borrow a surfboard. a longboard preferably, as i need to put a bike on it.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
yeah, sounds great
i’d definitely be up for it. Getting there is easy but it will definitely take some advance planning and very early ferry reservations – i’m guessing anyway. Planning long in advance is not my strong point, but other than that, shouldn’t be a problem. I have an old peugeot 106 to put on the ferry with rack for two bikes on top, and 2 kegs in back seat.
let's say as soon as the 2012 tour is over
we start planning.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
well it's true that's a simple plan,
not too complex. Still, leave the keg’s life in will’s hands? I donno …
how about we bring 2 kegs
one of beer and one of poison, and we don’t tell him which one’s which? although then we might need to make sure Jens is there, as i’m not very experienced at making a body disappear.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
too simple
how about we build a keg trailer and make Will pull it around for us on our rides?
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
planning
seriously on this now. ferries are VERY expensive so transit from mainland non starter. I think if you want to go, email hotels now and pay deposit (that’s my plan) and then get on web as soon as flight window opens.
judging by a map I’ve been looking at, it only looks 50-60km wide so it’s not impossible to get situated in say ajaccio and easily see stages 2 & 3. 1 would be tricky but not beyond the PDC crew!
The ferry is not necessarily a non-starter
I’ve just checked a random 2-week period for next July, just over 200 euro return for a car plus two. They forgot to ask how many bikes.
For ‘continental’ folk, this could be better than flying. If I can, I’d go for a two-week holiday with the Grand Depart in the middle, and this way perhaps avoid the travel madness.
ferry
sure if you take 2 weeks that works out better. but from northern europe I can’t imagine fuel, tolls and ferry is cheaper than a flight. let’s keep this in mind and see if we can get a PDC ride. that would be great!
maths
how is an internal european flight plus a ferry cheaper than a direct flight? having looked at the flight prices I think we’ll have to agree to disagree.
well
ok. Mostly meant that when i was talking about ferries, i was talking about ferries from Nice or Toulon or Marseilles – was surprised to see the idea of a ferry from northern europe. Yeah if you are in northern europe and only want to go to corsica and back, then a flight is probably the way to go. But for people in france or coming to france for more than just corsica, and will have a car here – then the ferry is a good option.
Might not be direct flights from anywhere to Corsica
but Nice is well covered. So once you have a lay-over at Nice anyway, you could choose to ride couple of laps around the block there. Pretty nice biking territory.
"Beer helps." -- Ant1.
well....................
let’s get there first. and we’ll add the costs up over a coffee somewhere – cheers!
Preparation is everything............
So for all you non euros, it’s important to get a feel for the southern european cycling vibe………. http://inrng.com/2011/12/getting-the-euro-look/
Latest rumors are TTT around Nice and then 5th stage from Nice to ?
Details to be announced this week. yeehoo, I wish you the best to prepare the PdC HQ. What can we do to help?
to help? show up i guess.
and help ant1 carry his keg over from Corse. i came across some recent newspaper articles in the Nice Matin on the tour being here. I’ll see if i can find them, if they haven’t been thrown out already – something about it being here a few days and the last time that happened was around ’81 when Hinault was “more cannibal than ever”, winning 2 of the 4 stages here (something like that). And then something about money and money and money and more money.
ok, here’s the better article online: linky
hotels
so far tried a few and they are not taking bookings pending more information from ASO. it looks like the ASO and local hotel board have blocked all bookings in Ajaccio until the details have been sorted and the teams and support have been accommodated first.
looks like stage 4 is a TTT in nice
yeehoo, i call your couch.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
ok, you got it.
although that might even warrant getting off the couch for – i’ve never seen a ttt in person. Who am i kidding, you can see the action so much better in the living room than on the road. (and by the way, my gf likes foot massages, so that might have to come with the couch deal – plus i think it is ancient pdc tradition to foot massage each other’s women – it would be really impolite to refuse)
You know, even better, i met a couple of new yorkers here on their cycling vacation last year. Their bro has a fancy apt on the prom where the ttt will finish – and they come to Nice most years during tour time and they were way fun to ride with. I hereby nominate their apt as pdc party center and I call their couch. I mean you can lean over their balcony and look straight down on the festivities. I need to get in touch with them to see if they’re coming back. Bro (not a cyclist) was thinking of selling the apt.
all those things sound good
i saw a TTT at the tour of georgia, held on a car racecourse. pretty awesome looking. dudes go fast.
balcony over the promenade sounds great. i’ll bring the beads.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
Nice
much better bet. easier, cheaper and way more places to stay. I’ve emailed loads of hotels in corsica and those who’ve replied have said they are waiting for the ASO to release rooms they’ve block booked.
still corsica would be both historic and unique………………………. I’ll persevere with hotels in corsica and post anything positive.
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