Cycling: The Tour de l'Avenir is considered the Tour de France for youth cyclists and starts today, August 18th in Brittany. The U23 riders have to master nine stages this year, three of which are difficult mountain stages in the Alps. Among others, Velomotion editor Florian Nowak will be there, who will occasionally provide us with information directly from France in the next few days.
Tour de l'Avenir 2017: who's going?
Originally started as an amateur race in the 60s, the Tour de l'Avenir (in English: Tour of the Future) has developed over the years into the most important U23 race of the season. The format, the route and the classification jerseys are intentionally based on the Tour de France - even if the ASO is no longer officially the organizer of the Tour de l'Avenir, they continue to support the organization and staging.
In contrast to the Tour de France, national teams start at the Tour de l'Avenir. The race is also part of the UCI U23 Nations Cup and is therefore also decisive for the allocation of starting places at the U23 World Championship.
The importance of the race can be seen from the names of the former winners alone: you stumble across names like Greg Lemond, Miguel Induráin or Olaf Ludwig. In the recent past, Nairo Quintana, Warren Barguil and Esteban Chaves, among others, celebrated at the end. John Degenkolb also won the points classification in 2010. This year the following drivers will be at the start for the BDR:
Konrad Gessner (Rad-Net ROSE)
Patrick Haller (Rad-Net ROSE)
Florian Nowak (Herrmann cycling team)
Leon Rohde (Team Sunweb)
Johannes Schinnagel (Team Felbermayr-Simplon Wels)
Georg Zimmermann (Team Felbermayr-Simplon Wels)
Of course, we keep our fingers crossed for our editor Florian Nowak, who is at the start of the Tour de l'Avenir for the first time.
Tour de l'Avenir 2017: The route
The route is unabashedly inspired by the great model, the Tour de France. A mix of flat and undulating profiles followed by three tough mountain stages this year as riders make their way east across France from Brittany. For the first time this year there will also be a day off to give the boys another opportunity to gather much-needed strength before the final Alpine trio.
In particular, the final stage from Bourg-St-Maurice to Albiez-Montrond, which is just over 100km long, is tough. Almost exactly in the middle of the kilometers to be completed, the notorious Col de la Madeleine, a climb of the highest category, awaits. After the descent, it goes straight back up towards the stage destination on the Col du Mollard (first category). At the end of this strenuous day, we have climbed over 3.500 meters in altitude.
If you want to take a closer look at the route and perhaps want to cycle one or the other stage of your next vacation in France, you will find the appropriate one Strava Club all .gpx data for each section.
Tour de l'Avenir 2017: broadcast live on Eurosport
The importance of the tour is also evident from the fact that Eurosport will report live from some of the stages. The transmission times of the Tour de l'Avenir on Eurosport at a glance:
Stage #1: Friday, August 18, 14:00 p.m. – 16:00 p.m
Stage #2: Saturday, August 19 14:00 p.m. – 16:00 p.m
Stage #8: Saturday, August 26 13:30 p.m. – 14:45 p.m
Stage #9: Sunday, August 27 12:15 – 13:45 p.m
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