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A light TdF?

Jun 1, 2010
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I´ve been taking a look at this year TdF stages and am shocked that the stages seem not as hard as they are used to be, despite several riders saying this year tour is much harder than last year.

Mean, just 3 mountain top finishes and still all short in length (under 200k). But lots of mountain stages with mountains far from the finish.

I´m guessing this year´s winner will win by a quite small advantage. No way Contador will win it by a four minute margin again. He should win it by one, maybe two minutes margin at most.

But still think it should be an exciting race, but thanks to the riders, not the route.
 
Last year only had 3 mountaintop finishes, two of which weren't particularly difficult and one of which everybody rode up to the top in formation, and Contador won by four minutes. Last year's route was much tamer and he still won by a clear distance, so I don't see why he won't again.
 

ttrider

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Apr 23, 2010
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this years route is tame but i think they have tried to put elements of the paris nice formula in ie classics style stages, mende, no insane mountain stages with climbs close to finish
 
Yea, last year's Tour was a snoozefest. The entire second week was tedious, with the radio ban, Astana either letting the break go or not letting anybody get more than a couple of minutes ahead, meaning you knew it would be a sprint, if it was a sprint you knew Cav would win, with the stage Haussler won the sole exception because you had the likes of Txurruka and Feillu attacking from the péloton, and Chavanel trying to hold on from his break. That was fun.

Then after Nocentini's week in yellow ended, you had a couple of stages where the entirely predictable happened, then the heads of state all rode in in formation on the 'big climax' on Ventoux.
 
For me the most exciting part of the 2009 tour was the annency tt. Thats right, a time trial. It had a nice little climb and the very top of that climb was the 3d time check. It proved to be the most important day in the gc with contador securing the yellow and frank being overtaken by la, wiggans and almost kloeden. Ignatiev set the fastest time on every time check but not at the end. Contador was 40 secs up on Cancellara 75% of the way but won by 3 seconds. In summary more excitment than i saw in the whole of the rest of the tour de france.
A f***ing time trial.
Says all you need to know about how boring the race was.
 
Jun 22, 2010
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well, last year's tour was lame because of the TTT. they should just leave that discipline out, because in the tour it usually means that the team that wins TTT will win the tour.
I think 3x mountaintop is more than enough. the tour would be more exciting without any mountaintop finishes or TT's, because those cause too big gaps and they are very unnatural stages. By this I mean: cycling is about going from city A to city B and see who is first in city B. no city is located on a mountaintop. and in a TT the guy that wins is usually one of the later guys to arrive. it's just my oppinion tho.
 
bicycles_rule said:
well, last year's tour was lame because of the TTT. they should just leave that discipline out, because in the tour it usually means that the team that wins TTT will win the tour.
I think 3x mountaintop is more than enough. the tour would be more exciting without any mountaintop finishes or TT's, because those cause too big gaps and they are very unnatural stages. By this I mean: cycling is about going from city A to city B and see who is first in city B. no city is located on a mountaintop. and in a TT the guy that wins is usually one of the later guys to arrive. it's just my oppinion tho.

They already have a race like that. Its called the tour down under and its not very exciting.;)
 
bicycles_rule said:
well, last year's tour was lame because of the TTT. they should just leave that discipline out, because in the tour it usually means that the team that wins TTT will win the tour.
Strangely, from 2006-2008 there was no TTT, but it came back in 2009. Perhaps this had something to do with ensuring that a certain returning rider who would guarantee major media involvement was at least competitive (bear in mind the route was designed when Armstrong's return was known but before anybody had any idea what kind of shape he'd be in)...
I think 3x mountaintop is more than enough. the tour would be more exciting without any mountaintop finishes or TT's, because those cause too big gaps and they are very unnatural stages. By this I mean: cycling is about going from city A to city B and see who is first in city B. no city is located on a mountaintop. and in a TT the guy that wins is usually one of the later guys to arrive. it's just my oppinion tho.

So you think 21 stages that pretty much all end in a sprint would be better? I think you and I will never see eye to eye on anything cycling related.
 
Libertine Seguros said:
Strangely, from 2006-2008 there was no TTT, but it came back in 2009. Perhaps this had something to do with ensuring that a certain returning rider who would guarantee major media involvement was at least competitive (bear in mind the route was designed when Armstrong's return was known but before anybody had any idea what kind of shape he'd be in)...
.

I thought so too, but then Armstrong was far more in need of a ttt this year, especially since contador is no longer on his team and they didnt give it to him. In fact, i felt the route was very much a f**k u to armstrong from the organisers.
 
Jun 20, 2010
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The Hitch said:
I thought so too, but then Armstrong was far more in need of a ttt this year, especially since contador is no longer on his team and they didnt give it to him. In fact, i felt the route was very much a f**k u to armstrong from the organisers.

sounds like it. While I would prefer to see the IT's go away as well. I don't care for so many sprint finishes as well. Kind of like watching NASCAR when everyone rides in formation til the last lap and then everyone wrecks. I like the mountains better then the flat stages but that's the masochist in me.
 
Apr 11, 2010
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The Hitch said:
For me the most exciting part of the 2009 tour was the annency tt. Thats right, a time trial. It had a nice little climb and the very top of that climb was the 3d time check. It proved to be the most important day in the gc with contador securing the yellow and frank being overtaken by la, wiggans and almost kloeden. Ignatiev set the fastest time on every time check but not at the end. Contador was 40 secs up on Cancellara 75% of the way but won by 3 seconds. In summary more excitment than i saw in the whole of the rest of the tour de france.
A f***ing time trial.
Says all you need to know about how boring the race was.

Too true.

Here's hoping that the climbs a distance from the finish show us some CRAZY decending, and make things a little interesting.
 
The Tour has had some pretty boring routes over the past decade. While the traditional format of having 10 flat stages before we get to the first mountain, is tough to get excited about. Even with a long time trial in there just before the mountains doesn't significantly mollify the monotony.

I've thought for years the the Giro and Vuelta routes offer simply more to get excited about. And it seems to me that ASO aparently finds itself to be too "superior" to have to take lessons from the Italian and Spanish routes, which is rather stupid. I think the Tour should really hit the first mountain finish no later than the 5th stage, before the first time trial, which should immediately follow. Be it the Alpes, Pyrennes or Massif Central it doesn't matter, but for the sake of the Almighty the French organization should save us all from this chronic boredom in the first week. Sure the countryside of the north of France is beautiful and all, but how many patches of green and yellow, big, often grey, sky can we put up with before the inevitable sprint, or, occasionally, the teary-eyed escapist who succeeded in holding the peleton off because the chase began too late according to the script? :(

I think Alberto will win again this year, if he's healthy. I have no idea by what margin, however. Having Basso back in the race could make for an interesting mix in the mountains. Andy Schleck hasn't impressed me leading up to the Tour. Armstrong will ride solid, but I don't hink he has the KO punch in the mountains nor in the race of truth any more to make the difference.
 
Jun 29, 2009
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Well the stages up to Arcalis and Mont Ventoux were affected by strong headwinds, which kept riders from attacking each other early.
This years course is really the lightest in a long time, only one longer TT and 2 of the 3 mountain top finishes are not that selective.
The stage over the cobbles and the short but nasty climb at the end of stage 12 are nice additions but i doubt that they are gonna shake up a lot.
I really wonder what the organisers were thinking...
 
The Tour has become too big for it's own good. It requires large areas to host a finish.
I assume the Tourmalet as an MTF will require La Mongie for the overspill.

What really frustrates me is that almost all the Tour climbing is long drags, rather than steep ramps. Tedium trains as opposed to mano-a-mano.
Look at how much more exciting the short climb to Verbier was, over Ventoux and Arcalis.

I therefore suspect Mende will effect the GC as much as Morzine Avoriaz, for instance, but even here, they have to use the aerodrome, as opposed to the top of the climb, a la Paris-Nice.

Hopefully, this year won't surpass last year, in terms of predictability.
 
I read somewhere that the champs elysee stage is in every tour de france the most watched one. This says a lot about what the average viewer of the tour (the one race watched by non cycling fans) is. Maybe these people find it exciting having sprint stages all the time?

Also on a related point, considering how succesful it was the last time the Champs Elysee stage was a time trial (winning the tour by 10 seconds and all that), why dont they throw that in once every few years?
 
Mellow Velo said:
.

Hopefully, this year won't surpass last year, in terms of predictability.

At least from the top 5 in 08 only Frank Schleck was in the top 5 again in 2009. This year the opposite might well be true, with contador, andy, frank and armstrong all likely to regain their places. In a few years, no one will be able to differentiate 09 from 10
 
Mellow Velo said:
The Tour has become too big for it's own good. It requires large areas to host a finish.
I assume the Tourmalet as an MTF will require La Mongie for the overspill.

What really frustrates me is that almost all the Tour climbing is long drags, rather than steep ramps. Tedium trains as opposed to mano-a-mano.
Look at how much more exciting the short climb to Verbier was, over Ventoux and Arcalis.

I therefore suspect Mende will effect the GC as much as Morzine Avoriaz, for instance, but even here, they have to use the aerodrome, as opposed to the top of the climb, a la Paris-Nice.

Hopefully, this year won't surpass last year, in terms of predictability.

Well they arrive on Mt. Ventoux and there isn't much space up there.
:rolleyes:

I'm not disagreeing with you that the Tour has outgrown itself, however, that is no excuse (or shouldn't be) to not plan more exciting routes for the fans.
 
May 6, 2009
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So if you guys could design the Tour de France route for this year, what would you do? If you have to start in Rotterdam (and the prolouge) and end in Paris, how would you go about it?

It's one to be critical, another to put your money where your mouth is and come up with something better. If I can mapmyride sorted, I will come up with something.
 
craig1985 said:
So if you guys could design the Tour de France route for this year, what would you do? If you have to start in Rotterdam (and the prolouge) and end in Paris, how would you go about it?

It's one to be critical, another to put your money where your mouth is and come up with something better. If I can mapmyride sorted, I will come up with something.

Anything but the first ten days in northern France!

Since my voice counts for zero, though, it would be useless to "plan" a Tour. But have fun with it.
 
May 6, 2009
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rhubroma said:
Anything but the first ten days in northern France!

Since my voice counts for zero, though, it would be useless to "plan" a Tour. But have fun with it.

You probably do know the area better then I do, in Italy they have long steep mountain passes and MTF's that they use, are there any sort of mountains in France that ASO could use, but for one reason or another won't (sorry that probably sounds all wrong)? But they certainly dropped the ball on the Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau stage, it would of been perfect if they chomped the last 50km with the downhill run into Pau.
 
Mellow Velo said:
The Tour has become too big for it's own good. It requires large areas to host a finish.
I assume the Tourmalet as an MTF will require La Mongie for the overspill.

What really frustrates me is that almost all the Tour climbing is long drags, rather than steep ramps. Tedium trains as opposed to mano-a-mano.
Look at how much more exciting the short climb to Verbier was, over Ventoux and Arcalis.

I therefore suspect Mende will effect the GC as much as Morzine Avoriaz, for instance, but even here, they have to use the aerodrome, as opposed to the top of the climb, a la Paris-Nice.

Hopefully, this year won't surpass last year, in terms of predictability.

I am not so sure that what makes the TDF boring has anything to do with the route alone. I agree with those who said part of the problem is the size of the organization and what they represent. Compared to the Giro , the tour remains a giant, the racing is faster, the stages are longer, the competition stacked with the best riders and yet the commercial pull seems to skew everything to collectively calculated mode that spoil the excitement.
The tour also reflects the mentality of the french public. They have become more detached. Since no french cyclists since their darling Virenque has been a challenger, they practically don't know who is riding now. The doping stories have not helped either. I have tried to do a few stages each year and I see more and more that the people who are lining the roads are tourists form other countries than France. When i asked questions to the few french people I encountered , they were more concerned with the "bibelots" the commercial sponsors are throwing to the crowds than they were about the racers. ( i know i am exaggerating here ). The formula for winning created by LA/JB has been imitated by the others teams and the whole things is raced defensively. It is such a shame.
 
i am still hoping against hope that the stage to pau will be at least half as good as this one 11 years ago on the same roads minus peyresourde as the stage is late enough in the race

i15899_16a.JPG


http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1999/tour99/stage16.html

but then again the teams are too strong now so it will be impossible to get the first selection already on the tourmalet like in 1999 :(