2009 Tour de France

Moving on from the gravitas of my first Pedal Spanner blog, which was universally accepted with silence, a few more upbeat thoughts, about next years Tour.

The route was announced yesterday, and what a mouth-watering prospect it is.

Once I'd dusted down my anorak and digested the facts, it occurred to me that, given the whole of Europe to play with, why this sort of thing hasn't been tried more often.

As far as the route is concerned, these are the highlights:

• A 15km Grand Start time trial in Monaco, partially following the Grand Prix circuit. How good is that! Not a kilo or 3 for the pursuit guys, nor a full on time trial for the specialists, but a true spectacle and should be really special.
• A stage finish in Barcelona. Blimey. I've been following the Tour since I was 13 or so (thanks Alf)! and the one to win for the spinters was always Bordeaux. Think of it as the Wembley of the sprinter's world. But Barça! What a stage to win.
• The route is usually clockwise (Alps first, Pyrenees next) or anti-clockwise. Next year it is a sort of figure of eight. The usual final day procession into Paris, with the Malliot Jeune sipping Champagne within the peloton, is somewhat uncertain. Because on the penultimate day, the riders tackle the mighty Ventoux, absent from the calendar for a few years, and the site of Tommy Simpson's heroic/foolish death in 1967.
• The Team Time Trial returns - again, why has this been dropped for 5 years? So it may not have the spectacle of a Sprint Finish, but it's more interesting than a 200km slog through Flanders.

Add to that the potential return of Lance Armstrong, the subsequent question of who will lead the Astana team, and the report today from Mark Cavendish about winning the Green Jersey, and I must admit I'm quite looking forward to this!