|
|
Stage |
This stage preview is available in the following languages:
 |  |
(We are looking for translations in ALL other languages. Please submit your translation with the stage no. and language in the subject title. If you don't see your preview posted within 12 hours then please resend your preview as an attachment if you didn't already do so because we've had problems with some inline character sets like German.)
March 7 update: Stage 3 will feature the Burgundy region of France famous for you know what. The peloton will pass by some of the world's most famous vineyards on the run into Nuits-Saint-Georges. On a recreational ride, the straight last few kms to the finish would be good for gazing across the vineyards, but Stage 3 will finish with a nasty 90 degree left turn just 200m from the line.
In 1977, Freddy Maertens won a sprint finish in Nuits-Saint-Georges. I'm not sure what the rest of the course was like that year, but this year's course is lumpy with the cat 2 Cote de Becoup (5.3 km of 5%) cresting just 12 km from the finish.
This 203 km stage will start to the west in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire and there will once again be some squirreling roads, some obscured by thick foilage, that will play to a break. And again, there be a strong crosswind, this time from the SSW, under perfectly sunny skies. — Steve