Impressions of TDF 2011

Samu and Igor Galdeano both seemed happy and content with the parcours for the Tour 2011 unveiled yesterday in Paris. Speaking afterwards, Galdeano told the team's website that "it's very mountainous. In addition, most of the hard stages come in the last week. I think the Alps in 2011 will be more decisive for the GC than the Pyrenees was this year. The new features are the absence of a prologue and the inclusion of a team time trial, although counting just 23km it'll hardly create big gaps. On paper it looks like a good route for Contador." Samu echoed Igor's sentiments, saying: "It's hard and complicated. It's a very demanding route. There's no prologue, some short stages, the climbs are packed together, a good number of summit finishes and just the one individual time trial. You can say it's a Tour for climbers. It will be a very exciting race. The short stages tend to be very nervous... I won't emphasize any single day. If you're feeling good any stage can be decisive. The Tour always requires you to be very consistent."