Races: Tour de France 2007 Key Dates

With the Tour de France stretching out over a period of 21 days, you may be asking which days are the ones to watch. Of course, some of this depends on how the race shapes up, but there are a couple of days that are always fun: the mountain stages and the time trials.

Mountain stages often shape the race, because the leaders (or others) can break-away or simply excel and put time up on their rivals. Also, with the narrow, winding, roads and hundreds of thousdands of spectators, they are great spectacles to watch. Riders with great climbing ability earn points toward the Polka-dot Jersey - the “King of the Mountains” competition.

The individual time trials pit the riders against the clock to ride alone and flex their muscles. These days can be crucial if the Tour comes down to a very close race as it has in the past few years. Lance Armstrong used his time-trialing prowess in conjunction with his climbing abilities to seal many of his Tour wins.

The other stages in the race are typically long days in the saddle, where a small group of riders will break away and then the main group (the Peleton) will chase them down. These “flat” or “transitional” stages are typically won by teams with strong sprinters, attempting to amass points in the sprinter’s championship competition - the Green Jersey competition.

So which days should you try to watch? Here is a stage-by-stage listing of this year’s Tour de France:

Prolouge - (7-7) Individual time-trial (7.9K sprint)
Stages 1-6 - (7-8 to 7-13) - Mostly flat stages. Stage 5 could be good day for a break-away.
Stage 7 (7-14) - Mountain stage 1 (Alps)
Stage 8 (7-15) - Mountain stage 2 with three long tough climbs (Alps)
Rest day (7-16)
Stage 9 - (7-17) Mountain stage 3 (Alps)
Stage 10-12 - (7-18 to 7-20) - Mostly flat stages. Stage 10 could be key.
Stage 13 - (7-21) - First time-trial (54KM)
Stage 14 - (7-22) - Mountain stage 4 (Pyrenees)
Stage 15 - (7-23) - Mountain stage 5 (Pyrenees)
Rest day (7-24)
Stage 16 - (7-25) Mountain stage 6 (Pyrenees) - could be the decisive stage of the tour
Stages 17-18 - (7-26 & 27) Mostly fat and rolling stages
Stage 19 - (7-2 - Second time-trial (55KM)
Stage 20 - (7-29) - Final stage with multiple circuits on the Champs Elysees

For the complete TV schedule, see my other post on the topic by clicking here.

Enjoy the Tour!

Coach Joe

Running Wild with Coach Joe – a blog focused on marathon, triathlon and ultra-endurance racing, training and motivation. Bookmark us at http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com or use your favorite RSS feed reader to get the latest news and articles. Running Wild is also available on Yahoo! 360 and My Space.