Tour de France 2010

Written by Debbie St. George

Tour de France 2010

The Tour de France 2010 race starts on Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th 2010, the 97th Tour de France will be made up of 1 prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,600 kilometres.

The wind could also play a decisive role in the following day’s Stage 1, which takes the peloton south-west out of Rotterdam across the polders of Zeeland before swinging back towards the south-west to cross the Belgian border and head for Brussels, passing close to Eddy Merckx’s house on the way.

Lance Armstrong, winner of this year's Tour Alberto Contador, said, “I think it’s an interesting course. It starts exciting. The first few days will provide a lot of drama for people between the crosswinds in Holland and  the hills in and around Brussels and Spa and then with of course the cobblestones when we first come into France.  The cobbles themselves are dangerous but what is even more dangerous is the run into the cobblestones. The kilometers before, the nerves, the anticipation before, the positioning, that is the most dangerous part. You need obviously an all rounded team but I think you have to take some big guys who can definitely support you in that first week because with the cobble sections you have to be in the front. I remember we did those sections in 2004 and I had great support from Ekimov and Hincapie. We came in the cobble zones first. It makes a big difference."

2010 Tour de France full route:

Prologue map
Saturday, July 3, Rotterdam > Rotterdam 8km

Stage 1 Flat
Sunday, July 4, Rotterdam > Brussels 224 km

Stage 2 Hilly
Monday, July 5, Brussels > Spa 192 km

Stage 3 Flat
Tuesday, July 6, Wanze > Arenberg Porte du Hainaut 207 km

Stage 4 Flat
Wednesday, July 7, Cambrai > Reims 150 km

Stage 5 Flat
Thursday, July 8, Epernay > Montargis 185 km

Stage 6 Flat
Friday, July 9, Montargis > Gueugnon 225 km

Stage 7 Med. mountain
Saturday, July 10, Tournus > Station des Rousses 161 km

Stage 8 High Mountain
Sunday, July 11, Station des Rousses > Morzine-Avoriaz 189 km

Monday, July 12, Rest Day in Morzine-Avoriaz

Stage 9 High Mountain
Tuesday, July 13, Morzine-Avoriaz> Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne 204km

Stage 10 Med. mountain
Wednesday, July 14 Chambéry > Gap 179 km

Stage 11 Flat
Thursday, July 15 Sisteron > Bourg-lès-Valence 180 km

Stage 12 Hilly
Friday, July 16 Bourg-de-Péage > Mende 210 km

Stage 13 Flat
Saturday, July 17, Rodez > Revel 195 km

Stage 14 High Mountain
Sunday, July18, Revel > Ax-3 Domaines 184 km

Stage 15 High Mountain
Monday, July 19, Pamiers > Bagnères-de-Luchon 187 km

Stage 16 High Mountain
Tuesday, July 20, Bagnères-de-Luchon > Pau 196 km

Wednesday July 21, Rest Day Pau

Stage 17 High Mountain
Thursday, July 22, Pau > Col du Tourmalet 174 km

Stage 18 Flat
Friday, July 23 Salies-de-Béarn > Bordeaux 190 km

Stage 19 ITT
Saturday, July 24, Bordeaux > Pauillac 51 km

Stage 20 Flat
Sunday, July 25 Longjumeau > Paris (Champs-Élysées) 105 km

Brussels, Belgium Bike Tours

It only takes 4 hours to bike through Brussels. Most find riding a bike a fun, relaxing way to view the city.
Others complain that more bike paths need to be available to avoid the automobile traffic. Brussels Airport also called Brussel Nationaal/Bruxelles-National (Brussels National) is an international airport located in Zaventem, 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) northeast of Brussels, Belgium. Brussels Airport that has a special separated road that provides access to the airport for bikers and pedestrians. There is also a special place to park bikes.

Charter of Brussels
In 2009, 27 cities plus the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee signed the Charter of Brussels. The Charter commits the cities to achieving a target of at least 15 per cent of all trips made in urban areas being made by bicycle. The Charter of Brussels was signed by representatives of several European cities (Brussels, Milan, Munich, Sevilla, Tartu, Reggio Emilia, Houten, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Helmond, Breda, Hertogenbosch, Tilburg, Eindhoven, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Timisoara, Gdansik, Izmit.), and the US city of Portland also signed up.

Contests and Biking
If you like contests and biking you will want to check out the Competition: Design your own Ridley - Win a unique Ridley Athena worth £4500 . To celebrate the launch of its Customizer, Ridley is challenging you to design the ultimate paint scheme for a Ridley Noah racing bike worth £4500. The best design will then be painted onto a Noah specced with Campagnolo’s 11-speed Athena groupset and presented to the winning designer!