[Ready4Freddy]

[Ready4Freddy]

Running from Saturday June 30th to Sunday July 22th 2012, the 99th Tour de France will be made up of 1 prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,497 kilometres.

These stages have the following profiles:

9 flat stages
4 medium mountain stages - one with a summit finish
5 mountain stages - two with a summit finish
2 individual time-trial stages
1 prologue
2 rest days

Distinctive aspects of the race

The 2012 Tour de France will have 25 mountain level two, level one or highest level mountain passes or summit finishes.

They will be divided up geographically in the following way:

1 in the Vosges
3 in the Jura
4 in the Swiss Jura
6 in the Alps
11 in the Pyrenees

9 new stage towns

Abbeville, Annonay Davézieux, Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, La Planche des Belles Filles, Peyragudes, Porrentruy, Samatan, Tomblaine, Visé

[prisoner6]

If I’m not on already please add me to the ping list. I watch every year.

[OrangeHoof]

The Tour De Farce. So which doper is going to win it this year?

[Revolting cat!]

Tour de Juiced!

[nutmeg]

Looking forward to TdF 2012!

Please add me to your TdF ping list. Thanks. ;-)

[bigbob]

Rode a 105 mile century yesterday, can’t imaging how these guys do it every day!

[nutmeg]

ping

[miele man]

I’m already on your list, but just in case you cannot find your list, please add me to it. Merci!

[Berlin_Freeper]

france1

france2

[Cincinna]

H/T Ready4Freddy

This year will mark the 99th Tour de France. The Tour de France is one of the great cultural and sport events of the year. The race runs through a route that criss-crosses France. Thousands of people, young and old, line the route to cheer on the teams as they pass through the French countryside, every little town and hamlet turns out and there is a party atmosphere everywhere.

Fun to watch as each region the race passes through is shown and discussed, a real travelogue. Mountains, valleys, seacoast, farmland, wine regions, all part of the Hexagon.

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[Rum Tum Tugger]

Please add me to your ping list.

In addition to the race itself, I love watching the scenery — particularly, the chateaus and castles.

[aimee5291]

thanks for posting

wonder who will win???

[stayathomemom]

Please add me to your ping list. My husband loves to watch the Tour.

[Eric Roelfsema]

For everyone,

The Tour de France will be live each morning on the NBC Sports Network, formerly Versus, usually starting around 8am Eastern.

[Mom MD]

Please add me to the ping list as well. Should be an interesting year

[deport]

TV coverage dates/times, subject to change I'm sure

Also from the above link:
This year in addition to 14 hours of daily coverage on the NBC Sports Network, NBC Sports Group will air eight hours of live Tour de France coverage of two of the premier mountain stages on NBC during the weekend of July 7 and 8, the first time that the Tour de France will be broadcast live on network television in the U.S.

[concentric circles]

Thanks R4F, Cycling Fans.com posts links to live streaming sources before starting time each day, a great help for the office bound and those unable to be in front of the tv broadcast. It sometimes requires muting the sound of a European broadcast and opening a second stream of live BBC english language coverage.

I wonder if the race officials will be spreading motor oil on a stretch of road like last year.

[Ready4Freddy]

Here's a little TdF pr0n, pics of the summits:

[Ready4Freddy]

Tour de France 2012

Stage 01 - Liège > > > Seraing - 198.0km

Sunday, July 1, 2012

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Route

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Profile of the Stage

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Profile of Last Kilometers

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Mountain Passes & Hills

Km 42.0 - Côte de Cokaifagne2.9 kilometre-long climb at 5.1% - category 4
Km 49.0 - Côte de Francorchamps1.1 kilometre-long climb at 6.4% - category 4
Km 94.0 - Côte de Lierneux2.1 kilometre-long climb at 5.1% - category 4
Km 139.0 - Côte de Barvaux1.6 kilometre-long climb at 4.2% - category 4
Km 198.0 - Côte de Seraing2.4 kilometre-long climb at 4.7% - category 4

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(Graphics - letour.com)

[Cincinna]

H/T Ready4Freddy for the post

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