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Tour de France 2010

Stage 9 - Morzine-Avoriaz > > > Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - 204.5 km

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Route

Profile of the Stage

Profile of Last Kilometers

Mountain Passes & Hills

Morzine-Avoriaz Saint > > > Jean-de-Maurienne - 204.5 km

•Km 18.5 - Côte de Châtillon - 2.1 km climb to 3.9 % - Category 4
•Km 46.0 - Col de la Colombière - 16.5 km climb to 6.7 % - Category 1
•Km 71.0 - Col des Aravis - 7.6 km climb to 5.9 % - Category 2
•Km 97.0 - Col des Saisies - 14.4 km climb to 5.1 % - Category 1
•Km 172.5 - Col de la Madeleine - 25.5 km climb to 6.2 % - Category HC

(Graphics - letour.com)

Tour de France 2010

Stage 9 - Morzine-Avoriaz > > > Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - 204.5 km

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Stage Previews

High Mountains - A sporting perspective

A final descent that can hurt

After the first rest day, which the riders will have to get out of their system, this is the main Alpine stage, with the Col de la Colombière pass via Le Reposoir, the Col des Aravis pass, Les Saisies and the Col de la Madeleine pass. If Contador has lost five minutes on the cobbles, it is not unimaginable that he will be clawing them back a little every day on this sort of terrain. However, there is no summit finish, because there would have been too many on this Tour. We preferred to diversify the route more to avoid riders waiting for the summit finishes to open up the gaps. The favourites might not want to attack to avoid finding themselves alone on the flat, which means a big battle is an unlikely scenario. That said, those who are not good downhill riders could lose Le Tour in the finish to this stage.

(letour.com)

July 12 post:

It has been an eventful first eight stages and there is much more too come. After the rest day, we'll have the big alpine stage of this year's Tour going from the stage 8 finish at the Morzine-Avoriaz ski resort to the Rhône-Alpes valley town, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne some 205 km to the south.

Naturally, with any big alpine stage you can expect equally spectacular scenery to go along with exciting race action. Remember the breathtaking helicopter shots of Linus Gerdemann soloing Col de la Colombière, the last climb before the descent into Le-Grand-Bornand on stage 7 in 2007? For this stage, Col de la Colombière will be featured in the first half at km 46. After the cat 1 Col de la Colombière, we'll have three more serious climbs climaxing with the massive Col de la Madeleine (26 km of 6.2%) before the long descent to the finish in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne which is hosting a stage finish for the first time. Col de la Madeleine is one of the more famous climbs in Tour history, first being used in 1969 and most recently in 2005 (I believe) for a total of 25 times.

A long descending finish is often more entertaining than a mountaintop finish because you get the battle going up before watching the GC contenders flirt with danger on a harrowing drop to the finish. For this stage, after the Col de la Madeleine descent, there is 13 km of mostly flat cycling to the finish where the weaker descenders will have a chance to catch back on.

Samuel Sanchez almost took the first mountain stage before the rest day so we know he's on good form and since he's one of the best descenders in the business, he would seem the logicial choice to win this stage if a break of non-GC contenders doesn't succeed. Rain and cooler temperatures are expected when the racing resumes on Tuesday which could make this stage even more treacherous. — Steve

The finish in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, a valley town in the Rhone-Alpes.

(steephill.tv)

Big stage today! BIG stage!!

TdF 2010 Stage 9 graphics and previews are up!

Click the 'To' option to go to the start of the Stage 9 posts.

The Stage starts at 11:35 local time CEST (6 hrs ahead of US EDT).

The first Hors catégorie climb of the 2010 Tour, and it's the tough Col de la Madeleine - 25.5 km climb to 6.2 %, one stretch reaches >11%. Followed by a fiendish descent!

And all this preceded by two Cat 1 hills.

velonews.com - "Covering 204.5km, with two Cat. 1 climbs and one Hors Categorie, it would seem that stage 9 should be the marquee stage of the Alps this year. However, the Cat. 1 Col de la Columbiere and Col des Saises are too far from the finish to be decisive. And the final climb of the day, the Col de la Madeleine (25.5km at 6.2 percent), tops out with more than 30km to go and does not suit the explosive climbing styles of Contador or the Schlecks.

A similar stage in 2005 — over the Madeleine and Galibier climbs before finishing in the valley at Briançon — was won by Vinokourov out of a long breakaway with Santiago Botero."

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