The Spin: Stage 22

Liege Prologue

The next stage is a short time trial, just 6km and through the Belgium city of Liège, the largest city in the French-speaking half of the country. Once a boom town for steel and coal, today industry lives on but the place is far less prosperous and, well let’s just say other places in Belgium have their charms.

The city is often associated with the hilly Liège-Bastogne-Liège race but the route is flat, by my count there is a vertical gain of 12 metres across the whole course. There are just two sharp corners so this is a high speed course to suit the specialists.

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The Spin: Stage 21

Stage 21

Ah Paris! After three weeks of racing around rural France today’s stage is an urban criterium. The start is in Créteil, a boring suburb of Paris full of ugly tower blocks and a contrast to the elegant finishing circuit in Paris that borrows some of the most upmarket roads in the world, in particular the Champs Elysées and Rue de Rivoli.

Before the stage the riders get a transfer by plane thanks to a new sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways and they will be ferried from Paris’s Orly airport to the start zone by a fleet of coaches laid on by the organisers.

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Europcar says thanks

Europcar L'Equipe

That’s an advert in today’s L’Equipe newspaper, snapped by a twitter user. The wording below Pierre Rolland and Thomas Voeckler translates as “3450km full of courage” but “le plein” is also the term for a full tank of fuel so it also means “3450km on a full tank of courage” , an appropriate message for a car hire company.

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The Spin: Stage 20

Stage 20

After three weeks of uphill sprints and summit finishes this the only individual time trial with the start and finish in Grenoble. A student town with some high tech industries in the valleys near by it is surrounded by high mountains. There’s even a cable car from the town centre to the Bastille fort that sits high on the Chartreuse cliffs above. But the place has its ugly sides too, it’s quite the idyllic tourist destination and more a useful crossroads on the edge of the Alps.

If the 2011 Tour de France has the least amount amount of solo time trials for many years, the course today is a decisive test to settle the result of the race. The course is demanding and suits all-round riders. There’s no serious climb but it features gradients and descents, curves and a variety of roads.

If it’s familiar it’s because it was used in the Critérium du Dauphiné stage race in June. Also organised by ASO the Dauphiné was a dress rehearsal and also a clever move from the race organisers to attract some bigger name riders. Tony Martin won.

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Is Pierre Rolland the next big thing?

Pierre Rolland Alpe d'Huez

Aged 24, Pierre Rolland won the Tour de France stage on Alpe d’Huez today and took the White Jersey. Is he the next big thing in French cycling? No, Pierre Rolland was the next big thing three years ago.

It happened in 2008 when he was a second year pro on the Crédit Agricole team and took the mountains jersey in the Dauphiné stage race in June, aged just 21. Don’t take my word for it, back then cyclingnews.com asked aloud: is Pierre Rolland France’s next big thing?

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The Spin: Stage 19

Stage 19

Alpe d’Huez lies at 1860m and enjoys 300 days of sunshine a year, impressive for the Alps. On a good today there are stunning views of surrounding mountains but today every rider who reaches the resort can expect to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Race organiser Christian Prudhomme probably couldn’t imagine a scenario like this. A Frenchman in yellow, several contenders still able to win the race, all on the last mountain stage of the race.

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The Spin: Stage 18

Stage 18

Big, grande, enorme. Call it what you like, this is the biggest stage of the 2011 Tour de France. It might not settle the result, far from it, but three hors catégorie climbs including the finish in the Galibier mean it’s a massive day in the race. The French call it the Etape Reine, literally the “Queen Stage”.

Today’s stage from Pinerolo to the Galibier crosses back to France. Ignore the “Serre Chevalier” name since the ski resort is actually a good distance from the finish, it reminds me of the low-cost airlines in Europe that claim to fly to a capital city but land in a provincial airport far from the stated destination.

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Tour de France revenue sharing

Marie-Odile Amaury

The Tour de France is bigger than anything else in the sport, it’s the race everyone’s heard of. As such it’s in a monopoly position and able to dominate the sport.

At the same time others in the race are struggling. Garmin-Cervélo have taken four stages so far and held the yellow jersey but the team’s finances are always under review, the constant need to hunt for new sponsors whilst juggling a big wage will means a team manager’s job is often as much about fundraising as it is tactics.

The difference between a wealthy Tour de France and teams hunting for money is now leading squads to lobby for a share of the TV rights enjoyed by the Tour de France’s owners.

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The Spin: Stage 17

Stage 17

The only stage outside of France this year, the race takes a classic route from France to Italy. 150 years ago the region was as one as the Kingdom of Savoy, a mostly French speaking area where the finishing town was called Pignerol. Today the differences are still subtle as both sides of the border are dominated by the Alpine peaks, indeed the start and finish towns are twinned.

The first climb of the Côte de Sainte-Marguerite is more a ramp than a notable climb but 2.8km at 7.6% is a rude warm up for the upcoming intermediate sprint in Villar Sainte Pancrace, which is itself uphill too albeit at a milder gradient. Then the climb of La Chaussée which is another ramp, this time in the middle of Briançon.

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