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)
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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