English
philosopher Thomas Hobbes described human life in a state of nature as “nasty,
cruel, brutish, and short.” At 3,604 km, the 2005 Tour de France will be all of
these except short. The race will feature three mountaintop finishes, 74 km of
individual time trials, a 67.5-km team time trial, and 20 Category 2, Category
1, and Hors Categorie climbs. La Grande Boucle will not end soon enough for
those who start it.
The 2005
Tour de France will not begin with a prologue. Instead, the riders will tackle a
19-km individual time trial from Fromentine to Noirmoutier en l’Ile. Lance
Armstrong (Discovery Channel) and Bobby Julich and Ivan Basso (both from CSC)
should excel in the race of truth.
Bobby Julich (Team CSC). Photo copyright Roadcycling.com.
Stages 2
and 3 should end in sprints, with the second stage running from Challans to Les
Essarts and the third going from La Chataigneraie to Tours.Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) and Alessandro
Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) will not ride the Tour, but look for Robbie McEwen
(Davitamon), Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Tom Boonen (Quick Step), and Magnus
Backstedt (Alessio), among others, to battle for stage wins.
Stage 4
will be the race’s first test of strength for the teams. The stage will be a
67.5-km team time trial from Tours to
Blois. Expect
Discovery Channel, CSC, T-Mobile, and Phonak to end the day at the top of the
heap. Look out for Gerolsteiner as well – the team recently won the team time
trial in Eindhoven.
Team Phonak. Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.
Stages 5
to 8 will be stages for flatlanders. Stage 5 will go from
Chambord to
Montargis, and Stage 6 will take the riders from
Troyes to
Nancy. Stage 7
will begin in Luneville and will end in Karlsruhe,
Germany. Stage 8
will begin in Pforzheim and will
return the riders to France, ending
in Gerardmer. Expect bunch sprints to be fought out among McEwen, Boonen, Robert
Hunter (Phonak) et al.
In Stage
9, the Tour will enter the Vosges
mountains. The 170-km ride from Gerardmer to Mulhouse will
feature six climbs, including the Ballon d’Alsace, which was the first mountain
ridden in the Tour (in 1905). The Ballon, however, is the day’s last climb, and
the riders will breast it 55 km from the finish. Expect a break with riders such
as Axel Merckx (Davitamon) or Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) to stay away.
After the stage, the riders will transfer to Grenoble, where
they will spend their first rest day.
After the
rest day, the riders will take on the Alps. Stage
10, a 192-km ride from Grenoble to
Courchevel, will take the riders over the Cormet de Roseland en route to the
finishing ascent. This stage will shake up the standings. Stage 11, a 173-km
ride from Courchevel to Briancon, will take the riders over the Cols de la
Madeleine, de Telegraphe, and du Galibier. In Stage 10, expect the heads of
stage to overhaul a break containing riders such as Pietro Caucchioli (Credit
Agricole) or Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) on the finishing ascent. In Stage 11,
expect a break containing riders such as Jose Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears) or
Marcos Serrano (Liberty Seguros) to go over the Galibier with enough of an
advantage to hold off the groupe maillot
jaune.
Stages 12
and 13 will be transitional stages. The former will be hilly and will run 187 km
from Briancon to Digne-les-Bains. Expect Frenchmen such as David Moncoutie
(Cofidis) or Didier Rous (Bouygues Telecom) to try to escape for a win on
Bastille Day. The latter will be a 162-km run from Miramas to
Montpellier. The two
stages will be lead-ins for the Pyrenean stages, which could be
decisive.
Lance Armstrong - the Pyrenean stages could be decisive. Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.
Stage 14
will run 220 km from Agde to Ax-3 Domaines. The stage will feature two climbs,
the Port de Pailheres and the finishing ascent. Stage 15 will be the hardest
stage of the 2005 Tour. It will feature six categorized ascents, including a
finishing climb. Stages 14 and 15 will end in donnybrooks on the final climb. In
Stage 16, the final Pyrenean stage, the riders will breast four categorized
climbs within 70 km in midstage. Lance Armstrong, Ivan Basso, Levi Leipheimer
(Gerolsteiner), Iban Mayo (Euskaltel), and Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) will battle
for victory and the maillot jaune in
Stages 14 and 15, while a small group might battle for the day’s honors in Stage
16.
Stages 17
to 19 will be for the sprinters. Stage 17 will be a 239-km run from
Pau to
Revel, and Stage 18 will take the riders 189 km from Albi to Mende. Stage 19
will run 154 km from Issoire to Le Puy-en-Velay.
Stages 17 to 19 will be for the sprinters. Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.
Stage 20
will be a 55-km time trial at St. Etienne. Armstrong, Ullrich, Basso, and
Santiago Botero (Phonak) will fight for the stage win. It will be the final
chance to take the yellow jersey or to claim a higher spot in the general
classification. Stage 21, the final stage, will be a 169-km run from
Corbeil-Essonnes to the Champs
Elysees. The
stage will begin as a procession for the winner but will probably end as a
battle for the green jersey. Expect Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis), McEwen, and Tom
Boonen (Quick Step) to fight it out for the stage win and possibly the maillot vert.
