The route for the 2009 Tour de France has just been announced. On July 19th they will ride from Pontarlier (in the French Jura near Yverdon) to a mountain-top finish in Verbier, passing through a large section of canton Vaud (Wadt). The next day will be a rest day, then on July 21st they'll ride from Martigny over the Col du Grand St Bernard into Italy then over the Col du Petit St Bernard into France, and finish in Les Arcs (above Bourg-St-Maurice).

More complete route details don't seem to be availabe quite yet, what is known is at Wikipedia and will hopefully appear soon on letour.fr (but they are currently still showing details for 2008). Other highlights include a mountain-top finish on Mont Ventoux on the penultimate day (July 25th), a 15km prologue in Monaco (July 4th), visits to Barcelona and Andorra, a 38km individual time trial around Lake Annecy in the final week, and the return of the team time trial during the first week.

I'll certainly be planning to watch a couple of stages, hopefully we can organize an EF get-together for the Swiss stages.

http://www.steephill.tv/2009/tour-de-france

Here is a good site to get the details....They have been posting knowledgable updates based on leaked information for months.

I may have to plan a cycling adventure back to Switzerland in July.

Back to Switzerland

Are you leaving us?

Yes, unfortunately, well at least for my cycling, moving back to the US in mid January.

Looks like you missed this. Will you be joining us November 27th?

dakman, I hope you can make it!

2009 route details are on Le Tour website

thanks,,,,looks like Lance may be out for awhile, hopefully he is back and in form for the tour, but might be tough if he loses 6 weeks...or maybe it is not the collarbone?

Even if its the collarbone he'll still train, just no racing and an adapted training schedule. It's better happen now then in the 6 weeks running up the tour. I'm curious to find out the exact diagnosis though. I'm sure he'll twitter it at some point.

brutal sport... i crashed in my 2nd amateur race several years ago. fortunately didn't break anything, but once I realized how often people did break bones (in particular the collarbone) I decided it was better to not to race.

too bad -- this professional cycling season is suddenly looking less interesting. i don't see any way he can get back into his old form this year if he has to go on a trainer / special setup for 6 weeks.

At his level I wouldn't read anything into it. He will be on a trainer for a week, then he will be out on the road doing long distance rides. Once the bone has knitted enough he will be doing hill intervals. He won't be able to risk a fall so no races, but he can still get the training done. I reckon the press will make more of it then it really is. With the medical support and the training help an athlete like him will get hell barely miss a beat.... Except the racing km's.

What about Mark Cavendish's unbelievable sprint on Saturday, making him the first Brit to win the Milan - San Remo, since Tommy Simpson in 1964. Awesome power!!!!!! I am hoping that he has another spectacular TDF this year.

The points jersey will certainly be interesting in July. Cavendish is having quite a good run at the moment, makes you wonder how the usual suspects (sprinters) will be in the grand tours.

might be a dumb question, but does watch a couple stages mean on TV or going to the race in Martigny or Verbier?

I am sure Chris will be heading down to see a couple of stages live. A mate of mine is bringing his new bike over from London and we will be heading off to to stages 14, 15 & 16. Going to cheat and use the car to get closer for 14 & 16 as i am living near Lausanne. Would love to see the time trial but can only get so much time off work. Come on Cadel!

I will go to the col des Mosses when they pass there.
And I would really like to go to Annecy's TT stage. But have to find others who want to go. Have to get there early to find parking space.

End of August (28th) I will be doing Lausanne-Aoste with a bunch of Belgians who are riding Bruxelles-Aoste. The 27th, we'll doing a tour du Lac.

Unfortunately, we couldn't squeeze everything that we wanted to do into our summer. Watching the Tour was one of the things that lost out and so we'll be on vacation in Canada at the time and watching it on TV.

As for parking near Annecy, why would you need to? Just take the train to Geneva, then it's only a 40 km bike ride from Geneva with one 400 m climb en route.

TDF Challenge. I don't know much about it, so reserving my comments

Here are details of Le Tour in Switzerland. Even if you are not a keen cyclist Le Tour is quite a spectacle. The caravan of support vehicles go through about an hour and a half before the cyclists. There are lots of freebies up for grabs.

Sunday 19th July. Pontarlier to Verbier
The final climb from Le Chable to the finish in Verbier should be pretty exciting. There will be virtually no traffic access into Verbier on the day. Access will be via the cable car from Le Chable.

Monday 20th July. Rest day in Verbier.

Tuesday 21st July. Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice

Le Tour in Valais
The 'Information' tab has useful Transport information if you wish to see the race, or if you are in the area and need to avoid it.

Many thanks for all of the useful info Rod. My wife works for Nestle and I can get a place on the finishing line. Not so good on a mountain top as it would be better on a sprint finish when I might see Cav win. I'm going to watch them come by nearer to our house on the 3rd cat climb at Prevonloup and then go home and watch the rest of the big climbs on Eurosport. That way I get the atmosphere of the caravan and race and see all of the finish. Anyone thinking of going up to Verbier had better start early and be prepared for a very long day. Mountain top finishes can be wet and cold even in the summer. A few years back I watch the race on Alpe d' Huez it was brilliant. I went up and down on my Triumph motorcycle and overtook thousands of stationary cars on the 13km descent. Some took up to 12 hours to get off the mountain. Rod, did you watch the TDF go up Ditchling Beacon, near Brighton when our Sussex man Shaun Yates was in the Yellow Jersey? For anyone living nearer to Geneva, the time trial at Annecy would also be a really good day to see all of the riders. Especially now that the new motorway is open, I'm definitely going.

didnt see you i was there too- 'cept on a bike (with bike trailer & kid - so practically invisible )
it took us 3 hours to get up to the 6th switchback, and lance 58 minutes to do the whole 20 or so

i'll be there too!
this time with 3 kids in tow...
train them young, keep them hard