2027 Tour de France doesn’t come past my house thread

[Pross]

Looking at the Welsh stage in a bit more detail it feels a bit like some of the Britanny / Normandy coastal stages with lots of short, sharp climbs. I was surprised they didn't take them of The Keepers (Tumble) and a bit disappointed as I always wanted to know when I was younger what the climbs I trained on would be categorised as. I'm assuming this stage will be a mixture of 3rd and 4th category. It's likely to see a bit of a battle between those hoping to get the spotty jumper and hold it for a few days before the big mountains. I'm hoping I can watch it on Epynt as, if the weather is good, it will be spectacular up there and then get to Caerphilly or the finish but I suspect that will be a challenge. Not sure what the Cote de Bannau Brycheiniog is (looking forward to Hatch doing that in a faux Welsh accent!) but I assume it's the A470 to Storey Arms which isn't particularly inspiring (I've done it on the big ring in the dim and distant past). Rhigos is a nice climb and quite alpine with the views down into the valley and the hairpins.

Other than Caerphilly Mountain I don't know the other climbs, I'm surprised they've decided to go for those urban Valleys roads as you'd think it would be more disruptive but maybe a deliberate 'celebration' of the industrial past of the area after the rural first part of the stage.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

Comes close to my house in Chester at the end of Stage 2 and the start of Stage 3

 

[Pross]

I'm looking forward to all the complaints about disruption, it's bad enough when the ToB comes through with a rolling closure and the complete closure of the road up The Tumble for a day this year (that requires a diversion of maybe 5 miles) really got the anti-cycling crowd raging.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

Looking at the Welsh stage in a bit more detail it feels a bit like some of the Britanny / Normandy coastal stages with lots of short, sharp climbs. I was surprised they didn't take them of The Keepers (Tumble) and a bit disappointed as I always wanted to know when I was younger what the climbs I trained on would be categorised as. I'm assuming this stage will be a mixture of 3rd and 4th category. It's likely to see a bit of a battle between those hoping to get the spotty jumper and hold it for a few days before the big mountains. I'm hoping I can watch it on Epynt as, if the weather is good, it will be spectacular up there and then get to Caerphilly or the finish but I suspect that will be a challenge. Not sure what the Cote de Bannau Brycheiniog is (looking forward to Hatch doing that in a faux Welsh accent!) but I assume it's the A470 to Storey Arms which isn't particularly inspiring (I've done it on the big ring in the dim and distant past). Rhigos is a nice climb and quite alpine with the views down into the valley and the hairpins.

Other than Caerphilly Mountain I don't know the other climbs, I'm surprised they've decided to go for those urban Valleys roads as you'd think it would be more disruptive but maybe a deliberate 'celebration' of the industrial past of the area after the rural first part of the stage.

Re the last paragraph: probably as much to do with the publicity caravan as anything else.
As for the stage, as you and I know, it’s very similar to a ToB stage with a couple of extra categorized climbs thrown in. It was never going to include the Tumble, given old faithful Caerphilly mountain is positioned where it is.
Odds on Pogačar or a reduced bunch sprint.

So those watching breakfast tv will think there’s some woman in Wales called Cycling Royalty.
Ffion did a better job answering than he did asking the questions.

 

[Pross]

Re the last paragraph: probably as much to do with the publicity caravan as anything else.
As for the stage, as you and I know, it’s very similar to a ToB stage with a couple of extra categorized climbs thrown in. It was never going to include the Tumble, given old faithful Caerphilly mountain is positioned where it is.
Odds on Pogačar or a reduced bunch sprint.

So those watching breakfast tv will think there’s some woman in Wales called Cycling Royalty.
Ffion did a better job answering than he did asking the questions.

The reporter was embarassing to watch

 

[Pross]

They could have done Llangynidr Mountain then The Tumble before heading across to the Western, Sirhowy or Rhymney valleys to get down to Caerphilly if they really wanted to stick that over-rated lump in the mix. Still, shouldn't complain as it will be great seeing the race come through localish roads.

 

[hobo]

3000m+ of climbing- that is a lot. 8 categorised climbs. Plus fairly early the horrible climb out of Newtown which is uncategorized.

Average tdf hilly stage, big ones are 5000m +

 

[annedonnelly]

It'll pass the end of my road. I may have to offer space in the garden for CycleChatters to camp

 

[steveindenmark]

It came past our house in Denmark, so we decorated it, had games and a BBQ. We suppied bystanders with shade and water. The peleton takes 20 seconds to pass. The entertainment is what you do with the rest of the time.

 

[MasterDabber]

Free to Stand by the Roadside in the Fresh Air

I've done that a couple of times both in France and the UK. It would be rather nice have have what was "business as usual" and be able to watch the whole race without being scalped by TNT/Discovery.

 

[T4tomo]

I've done that a couple of times both in France and the UK. It would be rather nice have have what was "business as usual" and be able to watch the whole race without being scalped by TNT/Discovery.

I whole-heartedly agree. I've ridden the first part stage 1 in reverse, it a shame when you cant watch it on familiar roads, and the meagre free highlights package that Quest will show won't be anything beyond the flag drop, then skipping to the first intermediate sprint of KOM summit

 

[Pross]

3000m+ of climbing- that is a lot. 8 categorised climbs. Plus fairly early the horrible climb out of Newtown which is uncategorized.

It's one of those Ardennes like stages where the amount of climbing adds up within anything particularly impressive individually. The main issue is that there is too much distance for regrouping after Caerphilly (as in the ToB last year). I'm surprised that climb out of Newtown isn't categorised, it's a lovely climb and probably tougher than some of those that are categorised. It's a shame they couldn't have made use of the roads around the Elan Valley, I always think that is some of the most under-rated cycling territory in the UK but I guess it's difficult with the size of the caravan and race convoy.

I'm not aware of the climb from Garth onto Epynt being used before (maybe back in the old Milk Race days), I assumed they were going straight up from Builth. I'm guessing there won't be any live firing in the area of the day - I did an ultra around there last summer and we had the constant sound of artillery and machine gun fire plus a section of forestry where we had to run through an ambush exercise with barricades and dummy land mines!

 

[Aravis]

The climb to the Storey Arms offers some photographic possibilities, cloud permitting:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/B...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDExMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

I'll have to get up there to test the angles. I can see I might have to buy myself a new lens

 

[Pross]

The climb to the Storey Arms offers some photographic possibilities, cloud permitting:

View attachment 797858

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Brecon/@51.8746954,-3.4961977,2a,75y,52.89h,73.99t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sC7CWV9sorTzrF7ee_vmMYg!2e0!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=16.00962980315741&panoid=C7CWV9sorTzrF7ee_vmMYg&yaw=52.89317739906892!7i13312!8i6656!4m6!3m5!1s0x486e295269352fb7:0x9a709ed66f96fdd9!8m2!3d51.9489469!4d-3.391463!16zL20vMDFsNXFj?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDExMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

I'll have to get up there to test the angles. I can see I might have to buy myself a new lens

You'll have to fight for parking space with all those people thinking they're epic by climbing the last couple of hundred metres of Pen-y-fan on a gravel path though. Of all the climbs in that area that has to be about the most boring one they could have taken but I can understand why they've gone with it.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

It came past our house in Denmark, so we decorated it, had games and a BBQ. We suppied bystanders with shade and water. The peleton takes 20 seconds to pass. The entertainment is what you do with the rest of the time.

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Top work! I remember seeing that and thinking someone had made a bit of an effort 🙂 Definitely got picked out by the commentary team on TV2 as well (not that there was all that much to talk about in those stages....)