Posted on 07/02/2010 11:30:15 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
I with you. Even if he doesn’t have a prayer of winning, I hope Lance comes out ahead of Contador because Alberto has earned a smackdown from the old man. :)
Bicycling.com website is keeping a running tab on the LA/AC matchup, I’ll find the link in a bit.
I’m pulling for Cadel if Lance can’t beat Contador....
Stage 8 - Station des Rousses > > > Morzine-Avoriaz - 189 km
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Station des Rousses > > > Morzine-Avoriaz - 189 km
•Km 24.0 - Côte de la Petite Joux - 2.3 km climb to 4.3 % - Category 4
•Km 73.0 - Côte de Grésin - 4.3 km climb to 3.9 % - Category 4
•Km 154.5 - Col de la Ramaz - 14.3 km climb to 6.8 % - Category 1
•Km 168.0 - LES GETS - 3.9 km climb to 4.8 % - Category 3
•Km 189.0 - MORZINE-AVORIAZ - 13.6 km climb to 6.1 % - Category 1
Stage 8 - Station des Rousses > > > Morzine-Avoriaz - 189 km
Sunday, July 11, 2010
High Mountains - A sporting perspective
Avoriaz back at the summit of the sport
This is where the mountains start. There will be a high altitude finishing line at Avoriaz and even if the gaps are not big, Contador should still go on the offensive. He could even get his hands on the Yellow Jersey, but will his team be able to defend it every day? In 2003, Richard Virenque attacked on the Col de la Ramaz pass to win the stage that finished in Morzine and pick up the Yellow Jersey. To find a stage with a finish at Avoriaz, you have to go back sixteen years to 1994. Latvian Piotr Ugrumov, who was the Tour’s runner-up that year, triumphed before winning the following day’s stage as well.
(letour.com)
July 9 post:
Stage 8 is the first mountain stage of this year's Tour with a mountaintop finish at Morzine-Avoriaz known to tourists as the gateway to the sun.
Starting from the stage 7 finish at Station des Rousses and descending out of the Jura, this stage will head south then east around Lac Léman (aka Lake Geneva) before continuing on to the difficult portion featuring two cat 1 climbs. The peloton will skirt the France-Switzerland border for the first 2/3 of the day.
Morzine has been a popular destination for the Tour de France over the years and this will be its 18th appearance. Six (now seven) of those times, the Tour has continued up to the Avoriaz resort at 1800m elevation, a 13.6 km long climb that averages 6.1% and gains 800m from Morzine at the base. It's been sixteen years since the Tour has finished at Avoriaz. This last climb is similar in difficulty to last year's stage 15 finish at Verbier where Alberto Contador put 43 seconds into his nearest competitor and confidently stood on the podium as the clear leader of his team having beaten Lance Armstrong by over one and half minutes. — Steve
The view of the Alps from Avoriaz, the mountaintop finish for Stage 8.
(steephill.tv)
Stage 8 - Station des Rousses > > > Morzine-Avoriaz - 189 km
Sunday, July 11, 2010
STATION DES ROUSSES
• Stage town for the first time
• Population: 6,286
• Winter / summer holiday resort in Jura (39)
The Faucille mountain pass, which sits above the resort of Les Rousses, was also one of the first passes to be included on the Tour, climbed as far back as 1911. From 1957, the Grand Prix de la Montagne often finished at the top of the climb to Les Rousses. Ottavio Bottecchia, Gino Bartali and Federico Bahamontes are legendary names eternally associated with this climb, scaled for the last time in 2004. One man has conquered the Faucille and the climb to Avoriaz: Lucien Van Impe.
The resort of Les Rousses consists of four villages, Bois d’Amont, Prémanon, Lamoura and Les Rousses. Located on the border with Switzerland, close to Geneva, the resort offers a wide range of activities in all seasons. Marvel at the expertise of our craftsmen, visit the resort’s museums (ski museum, bushel museum, Paul-Emile Victor Polar Centre, Lapidary Museum) and sample our cheese specialities (Comté, Morbier, bleu de Gex) accompanied by a yellow wine, the delicious nectar of the Jura vines. If you prefer water, you’ll be spoiled for choice: refreshing waterfalls, lakes or rivers for fishing, ice for skating and snow for winter sports. You can also visit the Les Rousses Fort which has the biggest Comté cheese maturing cellars in Europe. When it comes to entertainment, you can choose from a wide range of events all year round: hot air balloon flights, guided walks, Polar Film Festival, Christmas lights, the Transjurassienne cross-country ski event and much more.
MORZINE-AVORIAZ
• 17 times a stage town in Morzine
• 6 times a stage site in the resort of Avoriaz
• Population: 3,000
• Town in Haute-Savoie (74)
At the end of the 1970s, Avoriaz, the high-altitude ski resort that is part of the town of Morzine, specialised in hosting hill climb time-trials, in which Lucien Van Impe, the King of the Morzine climb, triumphed twice. Over longer distances Bernard Hinault, in 1979, and Piotr Ugrumov, in 1994, also dominated time-trials here at 1,800 metres altitude. In 1985 Lucho Herrera was the first to reach the “Gateway to the Sun” in a stage similar to the one planned for this year’s riders.
The resort of Avoriaz, perched at an altitude of 1,800 m on a sunny plateau, is part of the Morzine-Arvoriaz municipality. Dreamt up by Jean Vuarnet, downhill gold medal winner at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley in 1960 and a resident of Morzine, the construction of the resort started in the following years. The project was supervised by property developer Robert Brémond, who went on to become the founder of the Pierre & Vacances group, as well as the architects Jacques Labro and Jean-Jacques Orzoni. A pioneer in ecological terms, the car-free pedestrian only resort boasts surprising mimetic architecture. Buildings with innovative shapes covered in non-treated wood oriented towards the sun and designed to encourage energy saving make Avoriaz unique. The Fantasy Film Festival that took place here from 1973 to 1993 helped to build the resort’s reputation. Today, new events make sure that Avoriaz is a resort known throughout the world: the Grand Odyssey, The Avoriaz Jazz Up Festival, the International Extreme Sports Festival, to name but a few…
TdF 2010 Stage 8 graphics and previews are up!
Click the 'To' option to go to the start of the Stage 8 posts.
The Stage starts at 12:40 local time CEST (6 hrs ahead of US EDT).
velonews.com - "Stage 8 begins just east of Les Rousses, and is the transition into a string of stages through the Alps. The final 50km enter the high mountains, sending riders over the difficult Cat.1 Col de la Ramaz (14.3km at 6.8 percent) first, followed by a steep downhill and the Cat. 3 climb over Les Gets to Morzine. The stage finishes atop the Cat. 1 climb up to the ski station of Avoriaz (13.6km at 6.1 percent).
The last time the Tour finished at Avoriaz, in 1975, it was won in a long solo breakaway by Spaniard Vicente Lopez Carril. That same scenario is unlikely this year, as all the GC contenders will be keen to keep an eye on each other and battle it out on the final climb. "
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LES ROUSSES, France - Lance Armstrong is predicting a shakeout among the top Tour de France contenders with the race heading to the Alps for its first serious climbing.
The seven-time Tour champion and his main rivals struggled under hot and muggy conditions Saturday when French rider Sylvain Chavanel won a seventh stage that included six low- and midlevel climbs in the eastern Jura mountains.
It was a foretaste of the climbs to come: the pack embarks on serious Alpine punishment Sunday with a 117.4-mile jaunt that features two very difficult climbs in the run between the Les Rousses and Morzine-Avoriaz ski stations.
If the Texan wants an eighth Tour crown, he'll need to excel in the mountains. The stages in the Alps on Sunday and Tuesday are important, but four leg-straining days in the Pyrenees in the third week may be decisive.
While he "suffered" Saturday, "there will be selection tomorrow, it won't be like today," Armstrong said. Overall, he trails 2009 Tour champion Alberto Contador by 50 seconds and world champion and two-time runner-up Cadel Evans by 1 minute, 51 seconds.
Despite Sunday's uphill finish into Morzine-Avoriaz, Armstrong believes the day's first big climb - the 8.9-mile Ramaz pass - will be the key. It has patches where the gradient rises to nearly 10 percent.
"It's super hard if we have temperatures like this, people will just be stuck on the road," he said.
The forecast was for temperatures up to 91 degrees in the plains, and the 38-year-old Texan, who is competing in his 13th Tour, noted that roads can melt under the heat and cause havoc for riders.
"If you hit it just right (your tire) will slip for a while and then it will grab, and you'll just high-side (topple off) immediately," he said.
On Saturday, Armstrong and other leading contenders finished 1:47 behind Chavanel, the Quick Step rider who won his second Tour stage this year in the 101-mile trek from Tournus to Station des Rousses.
The Frenchman is known more for riding strong in breakaways than scaling high mountains and the pre-race favorites don't see him as a threat to their title hopes.
...more...
14:02 - Roche’s Thoughts On Today’s Stage Winner...
Nicolas Roche is the leader of the AG2R team for the Tour. He is currently ranked 8th overall, 2’28” off the lead. He shares the same time as Jurgen van den Broeck (OLO) and Roche believes that the Belgian could be a surprise winner today. “Of course I think Armstrong, Contador or Schleck are going to be the big contenders as well. But one of the surprises could be van den Broeck. He seemed very comfortable yesterday on the bike.”
13:59 - Roche Impressed With Evans
“Today I hope that I’m good enough,” ’Nico’ Roche told LeTour.fr earlier today. “I’d like to be around the top 15. I’ll be satisfied if I can achieve that. Today is a lot steeper but yesterday’s finale was a good climb for me. I could put it in a big gear but my speed was okay as well. Today will be another climb at the finish but I’m pretty confident. “Cadel seems very strong. The way he’s racing is impressive – he spends all the day in the top 10.”
14:15 - Kroon With Orange Bar Tape Today
One of the Dutch riders in the peloton, Karsten Kroon (BMC), has orange bar tape on his bike today. “I’m showing my support for the Dutch team on the day of the World Cup final,” he told Sebastien Piquet of Radio Tour earlier today, “but no matter what the result - even if the Dutch win - I’m taking it off tomorrow... because it looks terrible...”
Good morning, deport! The gaps link is great.
Same commentary in text:
http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/800/journal_etape.html
Interesting, the ‘Tourist Guide’ from letour for the 8th Stage. Hadb’t run across these before.
http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/COURSE/us/GuideTouristique/etape8.html?d=3&v=1
14:30 - Quickstep At Front Since Escape Formed
The escape formed at the 28km mark. Once it was established the Quickstep team moved to the front of the peloton and no other team has led the bunch since that time. The peloton is now 4’30” behind the group of Aerts, Riblon, Moinard, Minard, Vaugrenard, Erviti and Moerenhout.
Withdrawals thus far - 11 teams have lost at least one rider, Euskaltel has lost 2.
Biggest names are Frank Schleck (SAXO) and Christian VandeVeld (Garmin).
2 of the 3 USA-based teams have lost a rider, RSH is the exception.
AG2R LA MONDIALE 1
BMC RACING TEAM 1
CERVELO TEST TEAM 1
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 2
FOOTON-SERVETTO 1
GARMIN - TRANSITIONS 1
KATUSHA TEAM 1
OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 1
TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA 1
TEAM MILRAM 1
TEAM SAXO BANK 1
That leaves 11 teams still with a full complement of 11.
Full complement is 9, of course. Ooops.
Km's 8 & 9 are very steep:
Hi Vision!
3 RSH riders, incl Armstrong, involved in crash. All OK apparently, but bad bad timing!
Popo leading LA back now. ‘Wasted energy’...
Two comparable Cat 1 climbs, but this is probably the one you're referring to, the first Hors catégorie climb this year:
Km 172.5 - Col de la Madeleine - 25.5 km climb to 6.2 % - Category H
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