So this will be my first time in France; all kinds of things I could be missing. I'll be going from Paris to Barcelona by train and one of the stations along the way -- Montelimar -- is about an hour from the Chauvet Cave replica (by car, according to Google Maps).
I'd like to
- depart Paris late afternoon Day 1 (get into Montelimar station either ~7pm or 8:40pm)
- stay in a hotel in either Montelimar, or, perhaps even better, Vallon-Pont-d'Arc.
- See the cave and whatever else we can of the village on the morning of Day 2
- Get on the train in either Montelimar or Valence at about 12:30pm to get to Barcelona at 4:30p.
Some logistical issues/questions:
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These aren't large cities -- how likely is it I'll be able to get a cab from Valence or Montelimar to Vallon-Pont-d'Arc that time of night? I assume this is safe -- is that correct?
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what's an hour cab ride through rural-ish France likely to cost?
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any way -- or any need -- to book this in advance?
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it looks like there are car rental options. It seems like a bad idea to try to go this route -- driving in a foreign country starting in the middle of nowhere at night on what look like small roads by US standards, and I'd need to learn to drive manual in the meantime anyway. Any advice on this that's more specific than "don't"?
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how useless is English in this part of France? Working on my French, wondering how much safety margin I have on the language front.
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Hotels in Montelimar/Valence/Vallon-Pont-d'Arc: any suggestions? Red flags to look for I might not be thinking of? Any general tips for searching/screening/selecting a place to stay here?
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Realistically, how far before the train leaves do I need to get to the station? Is it like US airports where you really need to be there an hour or more before?
After Ventoux comes the next punch in the gut for the GC men, a 37.5km individual time trial. Not your classic pan flat test, this one rolls thorugh the Ardeche region, with two notable climbs, the Côte de Bourg-Saint-Andéol, 7km at 4.8% right from the gun, and the finisher, the climb to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc, which is 3.3km at an uneven 4.9%.
In between these two is both flat and descent, so an all round sort of test that you'd still favour the natural TT guys on given the gradients.
With that in mind, here are my top 5 predictions for tomorrow:
- Tom Dumoulin
- Vasil Kiryenka
- Tony Martin
- Fabian Cancellara
- Jerome Coppel
So two races really today. One for the stage win, and one for the GC guys. After the performance of Dumoulin on Arcalis it's hard to look past him, and everyone I've listed here will be looking to Rio and the Olympic time trial soon. Kiryenka is the world champion in the discipline, and won the Giro ITT last year. He is a strong climber as well as TTer to I would put him and Dumoulin right up there. Martin, Cancellara and Coppel are probably a little behind those two but not by much. Dennis for BMC is another one who hasn't done much this race aside from wait for his shot tomorrow. Ion Izaguirre recently killed the Tour de Suisse ITT (thanks /u/HERBSKIPHABS) plus won his national champs, so if he hasn't been flayed by Movistar on the flat he should be ripe for a good result tomorrow.
The GC guys then. Given they actually tried on Ventoux today they will be noticeably affected tomorrow, hence why none of them made the top 5 list. Froome is obviously the pick given his TT history, though he isn't the talent he once was in that discipline. Quintana is no slouch either, as well as Valverde for Movistar and van Garderen for BMC. Richie Porte is a national champion and former triathlete so should be very strong too.
Dan Martin historically has a slightly weaker TT, as well as Bardet and definitely Rodriguez, so those guys may lose out tomorrow. Mollema is pretty decent too if unspectacular, along with Yates.
Could be a big shake up of the overall come the finish.
That's it for me, but:
What's your opinion / prediction?
nb: I know madness happened today but I think it's best if we keep that in the results thread. Somehow.
Any predictions from other websites I'll slot in the bott
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I just watched 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' about the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave Site. In the film, the archeologists seem to declare that they haven't really found much for human artifacts on the floor. However, they don't seem to have done a proper excavation. Why wouldn't they do a dig and then attempt to restore it to it's original state afterwards?
