Tour de France 2017

We stayed in a Gite (a group of nice enough chalets) in Le Bourg D'Oisans before heading off the the Etap a couple of weeks ago. The owner said he was expecting a TT up The Alp in the 2018 Tour.
As the owner a local business who would probably be expected to contribute financially to the bid I suspect he is close to the mark since negotiations must be pretty adavanced by this stage. It would be a fantastic spectacle...

Yeah, lots of short stages, harder to control in theory.

Sky probably have more of an advantage next year though; reducing the teams to 8 riders means they'll have less of the chaff in other team to dispose of in the mountains, no?

Love a good mountain tt. #britishhillclimbseason

I did think it was a bit odd myself that they'd put stages 1-3 details out then part of stage 4, the rest TBC. I wonder if it was because some of the route leaked - if you look at what @hms posted it got stages 1-3 right, and the partial stage 4 that has been released looks like it fits in with the stage 4 on his map ending in Sarzeau.

It would then be rude not to head up to Lorient, as there's such a strong road cycling scene around there. I'm just hoping the next few stages after that turn out to be right as that part of Britanny is great. I rode Roscoff - La Rochelle with @spotter and @Hulsroy in late October last year and would be very tempted to go back for some tour watching.

Depends who is best placed to beat Froome doesn't it? For Dumoulin, something like the 2011 tour, maybe with some cobbles thrown in as well?

Given the strengths of the current crop of French riders, a Tour light on time trials is inevitable isn't it?

Good point. To that end, both Bardet and Barguil may prefer more mountain top finishes?

Would love to see a proper hardcore mountain itt in there, preferably with a trial suspension of the minimum weight limit for proper HC points.

A Tour that doesn't suit Sky..

• No TT's - Individual or Team.
  
• Previous winners to start with a handicap of 1 minute per win
  
• Exemption for French registered teams from all Combine/Assistance/Feeding rules.
  
• Compulsory requirement for Valverde to retire on the day before Paris to avoid leadership conflict with Quintana
  
• Team Sky to be always assigned to Formule 1 hotels
  
• First two weeks: 14 flat/rolling stages - with half a dozen on pavé, ribinu or similar.
  
• Third week - 2 Short Medium Mountain stages for Movistar/AG2R/Contador ambushes followed 3 longer summit finishes for Quintana to belatedly to come into form for.
  
• Pinot to be allowed to swap his descending times with a teammate.
  
  

etc

a tough 800m climb will certainly become a nightmare for squads that might not have a solid enough rooster

Team Sky to ditch Castelli for Le Coq Sportif?

Presumably Le Coq Sportif will continue to supply the official leaders' jerseys, so I'm guessing a 'solid rooster' is a prolonged period in a leader's jersey. Makes sense really.

Else it is simply a typo of 'roster' which makes sense given this relates to the TTT.

Well, that was my first explanation, but it seemed a bit boring and obvious, so I came up with a more interesting one.

a bit boring and obvious

Oi, I resemble that remark.

So do I, that's why I have to try so hard.

Dunno why Let Coq Sportif sponsors the tour since literally the only think I know about them as a result is that they make badly fitting, slow, TT suits.