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It is time for the Sibiu Cycling Tour!
A crazy prologue, great landscape, long climbs, and a strong peloton come together for what we hope is another great edition of this race.

First, have a look back at the previous editions:
2016
2015
2014
2013[/u...

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Sporting aspects
The route

Running from Saturday July 1st to Sunday July 23rd 2017, the 104th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,540 kilometres.
- 9 flat stages
- 5 hilly stages
- 5 mountain stages including altitude finishes (L...

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A flat sprint stage - with some lumpiness to sap the legs. Another BOTD, finished off by the sprint trains.

With this sprint-train-heaven start week, I'm having a hard time seeing Sagan in the green jersey. He will have to go out for intermediate sprint points, and just try to finish consistently near the top. Of course, he does stand a chance against the sprinters, but I would think these stages will favor the big sprinters and their trains a bit more. These flat stages could be exc...

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Another sprint train day! Good roads, flat, with some minor hilliness to sap the legs. Outside of Vandeleville (166 k) there is a cat 4 uphill pull on good roads to the Col des Trois Fontaines (170.5 k). This is not likely to make a difference at the end but it could be a chance for an attack, with only 30 k remaining until the finish. More likely, this will be a BOTD day, with the peloton taking things a little easier behind, and the sprint trains taking over near the end.


[im...

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It's Monday - it must be Belgium! We will pass through Luxembourg on our way back to France. This is a lumpy day, but with the exception of the finish into Longwy, this looks very likely to be another day with no selections made. The route is on open and good roads. The uphill finish is short - but sharp - with a max gradient of 11%. This looks like a BOTD day, with the break getting caught at the end. It might be a day for Tommy Voelckler to get in the break and animate the race, hoping for a s...