Even the most experienced spokeheads may not have heard of some of the towns dotting the 2012 Tour de France route. Abbeville, Vise, La Planche des Belles Filles. Nine new towns will be featured in the 99th edition of the race.
But when Team Garmin-Cervelo CEO Jonathan Vaughters saw the route unveiled in Paris, he saw something pleasingly familiar: short, steep climbs and long time trials, perfect for his two Grand Tour contenders, Christian VandeVelde and Tom Danielson. Daniel Martin will also make his Tour debut.
“This is a good Tour for us,” Vaughters said Wednesday from Paris in a telephone interview. “We tend to be more ahead of teams from a technical standpoint in time trialing. Christian and Tom Danielson are excellent time trialists and good climbers as opposed to excellent climbers and good time trialists.”
The 2,087-mile race, beginning June 30 in Liege, Belgium, has its first time trial July 9, a 22.8-mile route from Arc-et-Senans to Besancon in the Jura region of eastern France.
The final time trial July 21 will likely determine the winner on the day before the ceremonial procession to Paris. The 31.2-mile time trial goes from Bonneval to Chartres just south of the capital.
Next year’s tour will have more climbs but will be shorter and steeper, such as Col de Mente, a 6 1/2-mile climb featuring a 10 1/2-percent grade on the last mountain stage on July 19 from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes.
“Christian is good with real speed climbs,” Vaughters said. “The Tour is not going up many traditional climbs. They’re unknown, smaller roads that are real steep but quite a bit shorter. That will be beneficial for us.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com,
