Tour de France Maps – Stage by Stage

We’re approaching the final countdown to July, now just over a week away. There seem to be many questions leading up to the 2011 tour: Who is the best American GC contender? Levi, Horner, TJ? What is going on with the Schleck brothers? They didn’t look anywhere close to top form at the Tour de Swiss. Where is Garmin-Cervelo? Thor, Heinrich, and Tyler have been pretty quiet all year. Can Cadel and BMC make a move? He was going strong in the 2010 Tour before that broken elbow. Will Cavendish see some legitimate challengers in Team Sky and Lampre? And then there’s perhaps the biggest question – Alberto Contador. Will he blow everyone out of the water? Should he even be permitted to ride with an ongoing investigation in progress? Whatever the answers turn out to be, you can be certain I won’t wait for second-hand news. It’s Tour de France time!

To supplement the all-consuming Tour de France experience, we have created some awesome, Strava-powered route maps for all 21 stages. Similar to our Tour of California route widgets, they show the route, the elevations, and all the major segments which promise to make the big selections.

Stage 14 looks like it will play a huge role in the GC results – 18,000ft of climbing!

We built these maps hoping to improve on the lack-luster, minimal maps available. Now you can see exactly how much the pros climb, how big the climbs are, and how steeply they rise. And if you do like our work, please help us to spread the word! Tweets, Facebook comments, blogs posts and links, etc. It’s very helpful for our business, and we’ll work that much harder knowing Strava is truly providing a valuable service!

Rêve – The Ultimate Grand Tour Experience (and Tracked by Strava!)

As Strava has developed and grown over the past couple years, we’ve found that it also serves as a great application for cycling camps, team training camps, and other destination cycling trips which appeal to the truly addicted (ya know, those of us who use a nice vacation as an excuse to ride even more instead of taking a break). Usually, organizations contact us and we work out a solution where Strava can help them log and generate official leaderboards for their routes through Italy, France, Colorado, Massachusetts, etc. And through this process we have found and partnered with some amazing programs! On rare occasions, however, we stumble upon something that is so ideal for Strava, and so epic, that we reach out and offer our services proactively. Such is the case with Rêve (which, fittingly, is French for “dream”).

Rêve Riders on Stage 10 of the Tour de France

The fundamental idea behind the Rêve Cycling Tour is not far from any other Tour de France cycling trip – you travel to France to ride your bike, and the Tour follows a day behind you. It’s truly the dream scenario. But where Michael Robertson, one of the main organizers behind Rêve, completely changes the game is in presenting the ultimate cycling challenge: riding the ENTIRE Tour de France. That means every km of every stage, every TT, and every meter of climbing that the professionals tackle the following day (and for the Tour we only use metrics). His banner pretty well sums up the premise: 3,471km, 21 stages, in 23 days! Logistics, trail cars, hotels, and amazing photo-documentation of the trip come with the deal (Michael is also a phenomenal cycling photographer, and runs a beautiful photo blog containing photos of Rêve 2010, among other cycling events).

Strava will be powering Rêve 2011, so riders can see their times up the famous cols in the Tour, and possibly compare them with professional riders the following day (hint hint, wink wink). The daunting task of riding a full Tour de France is certainly not for everyone. But for those cyclists who choose to take part in the challenge – the teamwork, the battle, and the profound sense of pride on the Champs-Elysees are experiences that can never be matched.

Classic Climbs of the Tour de France 2011 Edition – July 14: Luz-Ardiden

Photo Credit - Nicole Marcoe

Over the years, the high mountains of the Alpes and Pyrenees have produced plenty of drama, intrigue and displays of raw courage during the Tour de France, as strength and fitness are stretched to a breaking point. A single rider normally leaves everyone else in his wake as he crosses the finish line, showing a mixed expression of agony from the effort, but elation at the prize of claiming a classic climb for himself.

We will be profiling the classic climbs of the 2011 edition of the Tour de France in the order they will be ridden. In each profile, we will highlight battles that were waged on each climb through TDF history, as well as who and what to look out for when the riders hit the climb in 2011.

Luz-Ardiden is the first of the classic climbs in the 2011 race, so, we’ll begin here.

Introduced to the Tour de France in 1985, Luz-Ardiden, is 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mile) long with a 7.3% average grade, and is a relative newcomer when it comes to classic climbs in the Tour de France. However,  since it was introduced, it has provided plenty of drama for both riders and viewers. The climb traditionally begins near Luz-Saint-Sauveur and winds past Grust on the way to top via wild exposed switchbacks.

Photo Credit - Nicole Marcoe

The flat stages of 9 and 10 take the cyclists from the mid-section of France to the mountainous South West Pyrenean region. Starting with Stage 11, the riders will get their first taste of long steep climbs and thin air, which culminates atop Luz-Ardiden. See it on a map here.

Data from Strava.com

Adding to the drama of the 2011 edition of this climb is the fact that the stage takes place on Bastille Day, which is an important holiday in France, celebrating the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Typically Bastille Day is a day when a French cyclist goes on the attack in attempt to win the day. Thomas Voeckler could take it — his style is to go early in the stage to build up enough lead that the pure climbers can not reach him by the finish. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see one of the GC (general classification) or Polkadot (climbers competition) attempt to draw first blood and stamp his authority on the race. Of course the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank should be in the mix, as well as Alberto Contador (assuming he’s in the race — though that’s another story). We’ll know more regarding who to look out for when the full team rosters are in.

A historical Perspective on Luz-Ardiden:

Many will remember the role Luz-Ardiden played during the 2003 Tour when Lance Armstrong, then riding for US Postal, started the day only seconds ahead of Jan Ullrich, a German riding for Team Bianchi. Most saw this day as the “make or break” day for Armstrong, as Ullrich had taken chunks of time from him during previous climbs and the individual time trial. Many observers believed Ullrich to be stronger than Armstrong that year.

There are a few times in sport when one can witness pure and sheer determination to win, with such singular focus it can be read it in the eyes of the athlete. Lance Armstrong mustered such determination and courage on July 21, 2003 as he climbed Luz-Ardiden and secured his overall lead in the race. Watch the following clip:

Armstrong on Luz-Ardiden – 2003

Back in 1985, the year Luz-Ardiden was introduced to the Tour, this climb saw a battle equally dramatic. But this time drama ensued not because someone attacked, but because someone didn’t, and was told not to. The directors of his La Vie Claire team ordered Greg Lemond, who was in position to attack and win the tour on the slopes of Luz-Ardiden, to sit up and wait for his ailing French teammate and current leader of the race, Bernard Hinault, whom they said was very close behind. Lemond soft pedaled and waited, and waited, and watched his dream of winning the tour disappear.  It turns out that Hinault was more than 3 minutes behind Lemond. Lemond was enraged, because he was clearly stronger than Hinault that year and could have easily won the tour to become the first American ever to win the race. After that stage, a deal was made that that if Lemond continued to help Hinault win one more time in ’85 (his fifth victory), the Frenchman would help Lemond win the following year in 1986. Hinault did not live up to his word and attacked Lemond in the ’86 tour on the road to Pau (also in the Pyrenees). Lemond was forced to counter attack and Hinault had no answer. Lemond finally won his first Tour de France as the first American victor in 1986. Watch the following video showing Lemond and Hinault on Luz-Ardiden in 1985, which pitted the teammates against each other as adversaries.

Lemond on Luz-Ardiden – 1985

July 14, 2011 is not a day to be missed!

Tour de France stage finishes atop Luz-Ardiden

Tour de France Stage 19 Challenge Question

UPDATE:  Results are posted below – DON’T READ if you don’t want to know the outcome of the stage 19 TT

Today’s Tour de France Challenge Question is:

In today’s last real contest between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck, will Contador take time from Schleck or visa versa?  How much time?  Answers must be in before Andy leaves the start house.

• Tweet your answer to @stravaHQ
• We’ll post the winner on our blog

Closest answer wins.

What’s the Tour de France Challenge? We’re running a daily challenge for each remaining day of the Tour de France. Here’s how it works:

• Subscribe to our blog RSS feed, so that you can get notified as soon as a new challenge is posted.
• We’ll post a new challenge question daily with various prizes ranging from Strava t-shirts to Garmin Edge 500s!
• Once a new challenge is posted, follow the instructions on how to participate — we’re running some of the challenges on Twitter and some on Facebook.
• Send us your answer to the challenge question.
• We’ll post the winner on our blog.

Congratulations @olaf242 for picking Contador by 45 seconds – only 14 seconds off.
An aside – Contador is looking to win by exactly the margin he took from Schleck on stage 15 when Schleck dropped his chain and Contador attacked.!

Tour de France Stage 18 Challenge Question

Today’s Tour de France Challenge Question is:

What is the greatest finish line time gap recorded by a successful solo break in Tour de France history, by whom, and what stage of what year?

• Tweet your answer to @stravaHQ
• We’ll post the winner on our blog

First correct answer wins.

What’s the Tour de France Challenge? We’re running a daily challenge for each remaining day of the Tour de France. Here’s how it works:

• Subscribe to our blog RSS feed, so that you can get notified as soon as a new challenge is posted.
• We’ll post a new challenge question daily with various prizes ranging from Strava t-shirts to Garmin Edge 500s!
• Once a new challenge is posted, follow the instructions on how to participate — we’re running some of the challenges on Twitter and some on Facebook.
• Send us your answer to the challenge question.
• We’ll post the winner on our blog.

Congratulations @ozchrisb for being the first to tweet the answer I was looking for.
Answer:  ”José-Luis Viejo, who beat the peloton by 22 m 50s in the 1976 stage Montgenèvre-Manosque.”

This is the widely accepted answer; however, I feel more research is warranted as there may be some harder to find data in the early tours which surpass that.  I’ll hit the books and report back here what I find.  - feel free to post comments with answers and sources.

Thanks for all your answers.