2012 Tour de France Review

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Biggest Dissapointment? everybody who shares my nationality and had a reasonable shot at either winning a stage or a decent GC spot crashed in one crash.
Biggest Surprise? TJVG actually turned out not to be overrated, Pinot youngest rider in the TDF at 10th, Menchov not even being able to top 10
Best Stage win? Thibaut, Luis, Alejandro. It's a shame there wern't any exciting wins from the GC contenders.
Positives? The breaks were more entertaining than usual; lots of big names losing time and then getting in breaks
Negatives? no HC mountain MTF. not one.
Funniest moment? Nibali randomly descending to the break on the last mountain stage, only to go back again after a chat with Valverde. Sagan outclimbing LLS, Kruijswijk, Gilbert etc. etc. to lose the stage to LLS because of an attack on the flat, Wiggo getting on the front to pul LLS back because of EBH
Improvements for 2013 and beyond? I actually like 100km of TT, keep that, only have a few HC. category MTF's so the GC contenders with a mediocre TT have a reasonable shot at earning those lost minutes back.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

2012 Tour de France Review


Biggest Dissapointment?
Menchov
Biggest Surprise?
Pinot
Best Stage win?
meh. Cavs last couple of sprint were pretty awesome
Positives?
Kessiakoff
Negatives?
Kiser breaking collarbone
Funniest moment?
those naked people in the mountains
Improvements for 2013 and beyond?
AC

pretty much...

 

[LaChouffe]

I voted 6/10.

Biggest Disappointment?
I have to go with Poels being caught up in that wreck. He's become one of my favorite riders and really wanted to see what he would do this year, even if just for stage hunting.

Biggest Surprise?
Tejay, I didn't think he could hang this early in his career after working for evans the first two weeks.

Positives?
New blood hopefully coming up.

Negatives?
Power meters dictating pace and preventing sustained attacks instead of trusting your body.

Funniest moment?
Gerrans, staring down his teammate after the musette he rode up to give him was waved away.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Biggest Dissapointment?
That nothing happened that even induced me to watch the highlights shows. That Izagirre was caught 150m from the line in stage 5. That Samuel Sánchez broke his collarbone. That some idiot threw tacks on the road and put Robert Kišerlovski in the hospital.

Biggest Surprise?
Just how one-sided it was. A Hog prediction actually coming true for once (interview meltdown). Rémy di Gregorio of all people.

Best Stage win?
In terms of most emphatic, Wiggins in the final TT. In terms of ones that I enjoyed and/or actually cared about, Pinot's.

Positives?
Thibaut Pinot. That's all, I think.

Negatives?
That the biggest race in the world was so poor that I didn't even watch half of it. Last year's race may have been terrible, but at least it wasn't a foregone conclusion, so each day you watched thinking, something might finally happen here. The control from Sky was so tight there was simply nothing anybody could have done about it. Chris fricking Froome.

Funniest moment?
Froome's first long ITT, and Mick Rogers riding back to the front group after peeling off on Planche des Belles Filles. I laughed out loud. And Stephen Roche's answer when asked how he would respond to people saying the race was dull - "I'd say they were right". Not the answer the Anglophone TV execs wanted to hear, I'm sure.

Improvements for 2013 and beyond?
If they're persisting with this much time trial mileage (which I don't have a problem with), they need to toughen up the mountain stages to match, because at the moment way more time can be gained in the chrono than on the climbs on the kind of stages they're putting out. I like a good descent finish, but a 'good descent finish' doesn't have more than 10-15km of flat at the base of said descent, and even then, that's presuming the descent is from a particularly tough mountain or set of mountains. The eastern and western Pyrenées, not just the same old middle ones. End this stupid "classic climb twice!!!" game. It's now becoming predictable. We've done Galibier, we've done Tourmalet, we've done Peyresourde, we're talking L'Alpe or Ventoux... what next, a double dose of Croix de Fer? There are so many great climbs that the Tour isn't even thinking about using that it's laughable that we have to use these predictable climbs multiple times in one route.

 

[42x16ss]

I gave it a 4/10

Biggest Disappointment:
The Parcours, GC contenders lost in crashes, Gilbert!

Biggest Surprise:
Some of the racing in the medium mountains was pretty good (even if only for the stage), Sagan.

Best Stage Win:
Voeckler, LLS, Pinot or Griepel's win where the Lotto train ambushed the bunch on the run in.

Positives:
LLS, Voeckler, Rolland and Garmin manning up and going for stages even though they lost any GC hope. TJVG and Pinot showing class and stamina.

Negatives:
Sky simply sitting on a power figure and just mowing everyone down one by one in the mountains. Sky not letting Froome ride. Sky not letting EBH ride. Sky only taking one team car, thus stopping anyone not named Bradley Wiggins from being able to ride. Nobody being able to break the Sky strangehold.

Funniest Moment:
Nibali being caught in the convoy, half of Liguigas dropping back to help him get on, then Nibali chasing on like a lunatic and dropping the guys who came back to help him

Improvements:
Fire Prudhomme, hire Zomegnan. Maybe a petition to the ASO is in order.

 

[whittashau]

Funniest Moment:
Nibali being caught in the convoy, half of Liguigas dropping back to help him get on, then Nibali chasing on like a lunatic and dropping the guys who came back to help him

When did this happen?

 

[42x16ss]

Towards the end of the first week on one of the more rolling stages.

 

[bjaelkesex]

4/10

Biggest Dissapointment?
The lack of action in the mountains. Very few attacks were launches from the peleton and most of them came from riders with no chance at getting on the podium.
In terms of teams I'd have to go with Katusha and Green-Edge.

Biggest Surprise?
Voeckler being able to pick himself up after the first week. I thought for a moment that it was going to be yet another abysmal tour for French cycling.

Best Stage win?
Cavendish on stage 18. I'm all for a good breakaway but that sprint was just phenomenal. So much anger, so much willpower.

Positives?
Battle for KOM.

Negatives?
Sky's dominance. Having the Maillut Jaune leading out Cavendish on the final kilometer of Champs-Élysées says it all. No one even came close to threatening them except for themselves.

Funniest moment?
The three donkeys dressed up in yellow, green and polka dot respectively.

Improvements for 2013 and beyond?
Keep 2 ITTs but convert one into a mountain stage. Add 1-2 stages with MTFs on HC climbs. Consider more barriers on the climbs - it's too dangerous when spectator run along on the climbs even though it's part of the charm.

 

[guncha]

2/10

Biggest Dissapointment
The route
Biggest Surprise
TJVG
Best Stage win
Voeckler's stage wins
Positives
Nibali
Negatives
Expected more from Cadel
Funniest moment
This post

Breaking News: there has a been a minor change in the race-design
in response to the "boringness" accusations:
a new spike just before the end...

Improvements for 2013 and beyond
Sack CP, have at least 5 multiple climb stages for GC in high mountains, no 25km+ downhill finishes (after HC or 1st cat. climbs). If there are two ITT then one hilly with 2nd or 3rd cat climb, one flat.

 

[airstream]

Disappointment
. All, but Sky. All that was rather about the rest's weakness than sky strength
Surprise
Zubeldia
Best Stage win Froome
Positives
-
Negatives Cobo
Funniest moment

Improvements
Only Andy in yellow in Paris can salvage this race.

 

[Capablanca and me]

Biggest Dissapointment?

Rabobonak
Saur Sojasun (again, and again, and again....)
Argos Shimano

Biggest Surprise?

Pinot in the top 10


Best Stage win?

Voeckler Pau-Luchon
Sagan do a Balotteli


Positives?

no Wiggins yellow, from the prolog to the end
Froome a true champion, a true domestique, a great sportsman


Negatives?

Frank Schleck and Remy di Gregorio
only 2 rider in yellow


Funniest moment?

Cavendish as a mountain domestique


Improvements for 2013 and beyond?

time bonus,
time bonus on HC mountains
a more balanced route

 

[Jalina]

Biggest Disappointment - Green-Edge not getting a stage win. Sammy Sanchez injury.

Biggest Surprise - The French. How easily Sagan won green.

Best Stage win - LL Sanchez. Sagan's second.

Positives - The emergence of young riders. Nibali.

Negatives - Tack incident. Sky dominance.

Funniest Moment - Sagan in interviews, asking for footage of the boob sign to be emailed to him and the "ding, ding, ding" about his bell. Froome being called back. Wiggins... sort of. Can't decide if he's funny or a c***.

Improvements for 2013 and Beyond? - Make it very clear that any spectator whose dog interfers with riders will be heavily fined, and then follow through if it happens.
Cav not being at Sky and the battle for the green jersey being a red hot contest.
The return of Contador.