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Tour de France 2020
All the Big Climbs
Topbike TDF Tour | July 10-20 2020
Toulouse - Grenoble
With this year’s TDF Tour we are taking a different strategy, and placing the focus on riding the best parts of France.
Topbike’s TDF tour will feature just ONE day of race viewing, in the Alps. We’ll be starting in the Pyrenees, have an alpine finish, and keep tabs on the race each day, via television in real time. We’ll have the opportunity to climb the famed Cols of Tourmalet, Peyresourde, Aspin, Alpe d’Huez, Glandon and Galibier amongst many others. With a mix of luxury accommodation and traditional hotels, haute and provincial cuisine. We’ll be finishing our tour this year in Grenoble.
Enjoy the thrill of climbing the celebrated TDF climbs of the Pyrenees & the French Alps and enjoy the French countryside and culture along the way…
The 2020 Tour de France will be the 107th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling’s three Grand Tours.
From our start in Toulouse we’ll be riding every day and aiming to ride between accommodations, whenever possible. We’ll cover up to 1,000k and 15,000m vertical, in total for the complete tour. In the Pyrenees we’ll start in Arreau before moving to Camon. From here it’s a big jump up to Le Bourg d’Oisans in the French Alps.
With a group limited to 13 places only, this will be a tour for riding and relaxing and following Le Grand Boucle in real-time on the local tele without spending hours every day waiting for, and chasing the race. With a small group you’ll receive personal and attentive care for the length of the tour.
2020 Tour Price: $7290 (AUD) per person
[Places are limited to 13 clients in total (with 3 staff).]
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Destination
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Tour Start / Finish
Toulouse to Grenoble -
Pick Up
July 10 - Pickup Toulouse Railway Station: 10:00am -
Drop Off
July 20 - Drop off Grenoble Railway Station: 10:00am -
Cycling Fitness/Experience
Any + E-Bikes Available
Friday, July 10: Day 1
Stage 13 | Châtel-Guyon → Puy Mary Cantal - 191 km, Mountain
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: The journey through the Massif Central will, for the first time, finish at the Puy Mary and will feature the biggest elevation gain of the 2020 Tour with a total of 4,400 metres of climbing. Before taking on the final climb, the riders will have to deal with the Col de Ceyssat and the Col de Neronne. The favourites will need to be at their very best.
Saturday, July 11: Day 2
Stage 14 | Clermont-Ferrand → Lyon - 197 km - Flat
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: As required in the tradition of the “bouchons lyonnais” (typical Lyon restaurants), the menu will be dense and promises a battle between the breakaway specialists, the climbers and the sprinters. First on the Monts du Forez where the riders will have to go up to the Col du Béal, and then mainly on the urban course of close to 15 kilometres in Lyon including three climbs: the Côte de la Duchère, followed by the Montée de l’Observance and finally the Côte de la Croix-Rousse just five kilometres before reaching the finish line.
Sunday, July 12: Day 3
Stage 15 | Lyon → Grand Colombier 07/12/2020 - Stage 15 - 175 km – Mountain
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: “At last” might say the relieved enthusiasts of what is also known as the “Bugey pyramid” who had been requiring a summit finish there for quite some time. And it’ll almost be an entire climb of the Grand Colombier that will be organised for this 15th stage with indeed three of the four access roads covered. The final climb of the mountain, the one where it won’t be possible to hide will start in Culoz. The battle promises to be intense on the eve of the second rest day!
Monday, July 13: Day 4 ('Rest Day' - Le Tour)
Tuesday, July 14: Day 5
In 2010 Christophe Riblon won stage 14, this from letour.com: The first stage in the Pyrenees did provide a showdown with the overall favourites as expected but there was only a little reshuffle of the top 10 of the general classification after the stage from Revel to Ax-3 Domaines. The story of the day was that an opportunist transformed himself into a winner. In 2008, Christophe Riblon’s best result was a silver medal in the points race of the track world championships, two years later he’s claimed a stage win in the world’s biggest road race. He escaped in the first 20km and held off the charge of the GC Brigade on the two huge mountains of stage 14.
Wednesday, July 15 Day 6
Stage 17 | Grenoble → Méribel Col de la Loze - 168 km – Mountain
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: Only a great champion will be able to win at the Col de la Loze! The stage profile invites the favourites of the Tour to be audacious. They don’t yet know the road that will take them on that day to the Col de la Madeleine and have no idea of what to expect once in the resort of Méribel. They’ll still have an extra 7 irregular kilometres to climb with several passages at over 20%.
Thursday, July 16 Day 7
Stage 18 | Méribel → La Roche-sur-Foron - 168 km – Mountain
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: The course of the day is made for the most enduring climbers. Indeed over 4,000m of climbing will be on the menu. In the following order, the peloton will head up to the Cormet de Roselend, then the Col des Saisies followed by Les Aravis and finally the Plateau des Glières, a key location of the French Resistance, before continuing towards La Roche-sur-Foron.
Friday, July 17: Day 8
Stage 19 | Bourg-en-Bresse → Champagnole, 160 km – Flat
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: Two days before the end of the race, the title and podium contenders might have the freedom to start focusing on the challenge that awaits the following day. It’ll therefore be up to the sprinters having survived the Alps to seize this opportunity to shine. The finish is really made for strong men.
Saturday, July 18: Day 9
Stage 20 | Lure → La Planche des Belles Filles, 36 km - Individual time-trial
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: The end of Tour time-trials are the less predictable of the discipline. They’re even less when the course on the menu is an uphill climb like the one to La Planche-des-Belles-Filles, 5.9kms long at an average of 8.5%. If the gaps are small, the positions on the podium could dramatically change.
Sunday, July 19: Day 10
Stage 21 | Mantes-la-Jolie → Paris Champs-Élysées, 122 km – Flat
Christian Prudhomme’s comment: Emotions run high on the final stage of the Tour. Light hearted in the first part of the race when time has come to celebrate and congratulate one another with sometimes a sip of champagne. Then comes the pleasure of re-discovering every year the Île-de-France area and Paris of course. Finally there are the shivers, the flower bouquet on the Champs-Ẻlysées indeed remains one of the most coveted on the sprinting planet. Unless…
Monday, July 20: Day 11 | "Au Revoir!"
If we do everything planned, there’ll have been:
Included in your tour is:
- 11 days, 10 nights: all breakfast, dinners and accommodation.
- All transport from Toulouse to Grenoble for you, your bike and one bag.
- Bars and drink supplements
- Full 5 Piece Topbike Cycling kit
- Topbike’s experienced guides and mechanical support.
- Topbike poetry and great dinner conversation
- (See Topbike Tours Inclusions)