2011 Paris-Nice Parcours
It's a departure from the norm. An opening day road race of 154.5km. No prologue. The time trial is 27.5km, and isn't until Stage 6.
March 6: Stage 1: Houdan – Houdan (154.5 km)
March 7: Stage 2: Montfort l’Amaury – Amilly (198.5 km)
March 8: Stage 3: Cosne-sur-Loire – Nuits-Saint-Georges (202.5 km)
March 9: Stage 4: Crêches-sur-Saône – Belleville (191 km)
March 10: Stage 5: Saint-Symphorien – Vernoux-en-Vivarais (194 km)
March 11: Stage 6: Rognes – Aix-en-Provence (27 km ITT)
March 12: Stage 7: Brignoles – Biot (215.5 km)
March 13: Stage 8: Nice – Nice (124 km)
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That TT could very well favour guys
such as Sanchez, Rogers, T Martin, Porte, Wiggins, Kreuziger and Brajkovic over the pure climbers.
Haussler appears on the startlist as well. Perhaps a hint as to what role he will have on the new team.
LL Sanchez?
But really it’s not flat. That climb could be about 5k at 5%. Could that make a difference? I sincerely hope it does help Tony Martin out, though.
"...and that's my two cents"
Just a list of solid TT'ers without any consideration to the individual riders overall
plans for the year and yes I should have spelled out Samuel. Sorry is on me.
Haussler usually does P-N, though--or at least he did when he was with Cervelo.
It definitely got played into the ground. Even I was flinching after a while--Tyler Farrar, on that Transitions ad.
i'm not a fan of prologues or TTs, but I always loved watching the PN prologue. I'll miss it.
"Thanks again, Floyd Landis, Yellow Jersey Wearer: Nuisance Category"
Belleville!
We should do a movie viewing that day…
If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH
by Chris Fontecchio on Feb 1, 2011 10:46 AM EST reply actions
one year i went to the finish
made it just in time to the line but was blocked by the crowds – heard this whooosh go by – yay! whoosh, someone won! that is my race report – works for every year.
I did see a guy in an all white garmin kit with world champ colors a couple weeks ago – might have been thor. At first i thought that couldn’t be a pro, a pro would never wear world champs colors unless they were really world champ. “heh heh, i’m so smart.” Then a minute later – oh yeah, thor is with garmin now, thor is world champ. Thor lives just up the road. That guy mighta kinda looked like thor. Doh! (that serves as my up close and personal, behind the scenes report).
I don’t see enough details of the course to see what’s interesting.
But they mention Col de la Croix de Chaubouret above St Etienne. The only time I was there was on a morning ride before a 2008 Paris-Nice stage …..
and It was decidedly icy/snowy. 1200 metres can be pretty high for March …. depending on the weather.
So there could be some fun:

moo
Whew
For a moment I thought maybe you plan your daily ride around what’s on the Cafe. I was hoping to test it with a story about riding Ventoux in winter…
If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH
by Chris Fontecchio on Feb 1, 2011 2:49 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah Will
we wanna see you do an uphill bunnyhop over some barriers on a snowy Ventoux. Don’t be such a wuss.
My bags are guaranteed sand-free.
The GC Podium will be though to decide
There’s no Contador and Valverde so one of his heirs to the Spanish cycling throne, Luis León Sánchez will be considered the favourite based on his third place finish last year.Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, Col de la Mure, combined with the 27KM ITT will prove a difficult ask for Porte and Wiggins this early in the year. However based on spy cameras at the various training camps etc I have concluded that there a group of 10 riders that are capable of challenging for the GC:
1. Rein Taaramäe
2. Joaquim Rodríguez
3. Ryder Hesjedal
4. Michael Rogers
5. Tiago Machado (his early season will be impecable)
6. Riccardo Riccò
7. Frank Schleck
8. Jean-Christophe Péraud (the French hope)
9. Xavier Tondó
10. Tejay Van Garderen (for my American friends)
You don’t put all your faith in heart rate or power outputs, however; what’s happening in an athlete’s head is the most important thing. Aldo Sassi
I even tapped a few phones at those shady Doctors Offices.
If anyone wants to know who’s calling which doctor or if these are authorised medical personnel, I have it all on tape!!!
You don’t put all your faith in heart rate or power outputs, however; what’s happening in an athlete’s head is the most important thing. Aldo Sassi
Tondo is actually a really good time trialist
well “really good” for a Spanish climber.
He was only 9th or 10th last year though, even with winning the queen stage.
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
Well that was his first prpoer big race outside of Iberia I believe to its still a good job.
Look at his results from ’09…if he gets a medium length TT, he can go almost as strong as a guy like Valverde. Its those long. So he should be in the drivers seat for a podium this year.
Will have more riding in the legs than some others, too...
after leading and then cracking in San Luis.
"...and that's my two cents"
One more thing
Rogers has given up on Grand Tours and his goals are week long stage races. This is a great example of a race he can win and that he is probably taking way more seriously than the other competitors.
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
These guys were selected based on evidence from:
Dyno Tests, Wind Tunnel Tests, Shrinks (Physicology) Reports, Toxicoligy Reports, VO2 Max Tests and such results at the end of January 2011. I even spoke to coaches and Director Sportifs.
You don’t put all your faith in heart rate or power outputs, however; what’s happening in an athlete’s head is the most important thing. Aldo Sassi
I am pretty sure Machado is targeting Tirreno-Adriatico with Leipheimer & Brajkovic doing P-N
At least that’s what the man’s personal blog and the preliminary list of participants on P-N website seem to indicate.
I really hope Brajkovic will have free reins at the Shack this year
I think his Dauphiné last year was a glimpse at to what he is capable of. Don’t tell anybody else, but he could be a wise VDS investment :)
by FrenchKheldar on Feb 1, 2011 8:27 PM EST up reply actions
Isn't he one of those "always has a bad day" grand tour riders?
He’s been a pro with Bruyneel for 5 years without any GT ride of note. But he’s had many good week long rides.
I know he may finally get a crack at being a leader and I think he changed his training last year (added weight, added recovery time). But I am not yet convinced he can score substantial VDS points in Grand Tours.
(And 10 is hard to justify with week long stage race results only)
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
How is 10 points with Jani not justifiable?
Say he gets a first and a second overall. That’s 450 points even without stage placings. So if he gets at least tenth in a GT then, he should be at 600 points. Not hard to justify in my eyes though I took him off my team all ready ;)
by Vlaanderen90 on Feb 1, 2011 10:25 PM EST up reply actions
600 is average for a 10 pointer though
But you’re kind of talking me into him. I just fired Visconti, I have points to work with
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
I kind of like Jani...
and I certainly think he could be a good VDS value without doing anything much in a GT… unless he spends all his time riding GTs. Michael Rogers racked up bunches of points last year, nearly all of it in short stage races, and I think Jani is similar—good climber (I’m impressed but not super-impressed by his Dauphine) and excellent TTer.
With Lance gone, there will be considerably less chance of him being forced to use his energies in a GT support role.
What else can I say? I'm really happy. --Vincenzo Nibali
I'm not saying he will be on a GT podium
But if you look at the Dauphiné profile from last year, I don’t think Brajkovic is scared by the PN route, and like Rogers, I can see him do very well on 1-week races all year long, especially when the mountains are not too tough (PN this year, Suisse most of the years, California last year, etc…). Looking at the Giro and Tour routes this year, I doubt he has a chance to make it to the top 10 there though…
by FrenchKheldar on Feb 2, 2011 12:03 PM EST up reply actions
just a note, early buzz from versus is daily highlights at 4pm. also, live streaming for qatar. could be expanded further.
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
Paris Nice climbs in the alps of the 2011 route
Hi everybody,
Cycling the Alps is now presenting Paris Nice 2011.
All the 10 climbs of the Paris Nice 2011 tour can now be explored in http://www.cyclingthealps.com.
Just click the Paris Nice Icon’s to get a dialog with a lot of options.
Here are some examples.
Cote du Duranus (0522m) 3D tour.
http://www.cyclingthealps.com/?locale=en#cote-de-duranus-tour
Or what about the Col d’Eze (0507m) streetview tour. Hit the play button to start the streetview tour.
http://www.cyclingthealps.com/?locale=en#col-d-eze-streetview
Or a profile of each pass like the profile of Cote de Cabris (0683m).
http://www.cyclingthealps.com/?locale=en#cote-de-cabris-profile
Have fun exploring the passes of the Paris Nice 2011 tour.
Dennis

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