Airing of grievances for pro cycling

[Alpe d'Huez]

I'll start by saying that it is sad to have such an unworthy world champion.

Agree. Though it was the course more so than the rider.

The Tour's management has continued its pussification of the Tour by announcing a crap route with no queen stage.

Agree. I'll add a dearth of TT distances. Same with all GT's actually.

Pat McQuaid. Need I say more?

I'll add the TOC's stupidity in not having a stage 1 alternate last year causing the stage to be canceled. Plus their instance in keeping the race between Tahoe-Bay Area-San Diego. Basically only using about a third of the state. Oh, and the TOC should be in June. More fans likely to watch, better weather, more roads snow free, plus it would be opposite the Dauphine or Suisse, instead of the Giro.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Agree. Though it was the course more so than the rider.

Agree. I'll add a dearth of TT distances. Same with all GT's actually.

I'll add the TOC's stupidity in not having a stage 1 alternate last year causing the stage to be canceled. Plus their instance in keeping the race between Tahoe-Bay Area-San Diego. Basically only using about a third of the state. Oh, and the TOC should be in June. More fans likely to watch, better weather, more roads snow free, plus it would be opposite the Dauphine or Suisse, instead of the Giro.

Agree agree agree.
Especially this ToC stuff....makes me kinda pi**y at this race. I can't seem to buy into it.

 

[craig1985]

Agree. Though it was the course more so than the rider.

Agree. I'll add a dearth of TT distances. Same with all GT's actually.

I'll add the TOC's stupidity in not having a stage 1 alternate last year causing the stage to be canceled. Plus their instance in keeping the race between Tahoe-Bay Area-San Diego. Basically only using about a third of the state. Oh, and the TOC should be in June. More fans likely to watch, better weather, more roads snow free, plus it would be opposite the Dauphine or Suisse, instead of the Giro.

Wouldn't that put a real stretch on teams to attend?

 

[Rouetheday]

I'm not understanding why people are so keen to move the TOC from its May date. They could clear May of all races save the Giro and that still would not induce the Schlecks, Evans, Contador, Valverde, etc. to ride it.

 

[greenedge]

Is that really any less exciting than "it's flat: Cavendish wins. it's hilly: Gilbert wins. it's mountainous: Contador wins"?

I mean, 2011 was a pretty garbage year for top level racing if we're honest. Paris-Nice may as well have been the Tour of Beijing, and the Tour didn't even bother starting until after two weeks. Romandie provided a dull parcours and the Dauphiné then a bit of how's-your-father for the last couple of kilometres on the MTFs. California an unintentionally hilarious love-in.

Since races like Asturias can't really be considered 'top level', then really we only had a couple of great stages each in the GTs, Tirreno-Adriatico, Sanremo and the cobbled classics (Scheldeprijs excepted because that is a pathetic excuse for a race) to hold on to for good racing.

Vos does have a hold on female races though.
And sometimes Gilbert/ Cav can be beaten. Costa, Greipel and Farrar. Next year Valverde, Vanendert, Goss and Renshaw. And in case it completely skipped your attention Contador was beaten in his first GT since 2007. And that ( great ) man has a great chance of doing it again.
I hated the fact P-N was decided by the ITT but Gregorio, De Gendt, Voeckler and Goss made it good. The TDF started when Evans gained 11 seconds on Andy in just the first week. He was then consistent enough to keep on putting time into Andy throughout the TDF. Romandie was ok with a few hilly finishes and an ITT indicative of form. I liked how the Dauphinie previewed Grenoble, Kern won a stage and JROD won two epic stages. EBH dominated on the Allevard and JVDB finally got a pro win ( showing attacking flair ). California was not great in terms of competition but had good stages and showed Busche destroy Andy.

You missed out on GDL ( which was a war of attrition ) and the Tour of Switzerland ( most pointedly Sagans' stage win into Grindewald )

 

[Thomsena]

this is a bit unfair. i don't know what your highlights were for 2011, but for me they were few and far between. i watched all of the GTs and most of the classics and other monuments including the WCs (some of them a few times!) and remember very little. the only thing that really stands out is voeckler stupidly chasing after contador in the TdF and dooming any chance of a podium finish. this is the only time i got off the couch and screamed at the TV in excitement.

EDIT: i just remembered hoogerland getting run off the road. that had me hopping, too. not one of cycling's finer moments.

It's not unfair at all. I'd be gutted if my limitations before the races were: Flat stages are boring, no surprising winner is boring, stages without 10 legendary mountains are boring, TTT's are boring etc..

Don't know if you lack good commentators or whatever it is but I loved the Tour from start to end, brilliant classics with domination from Gilbert, best Flanders in years, Cancellara in a drama against all teams and riders - and beaten, WC (was on of the 250.000 spectators on the roads that day), Toughest Giro with Alberto humuliating every single opponant and giving away victories to whoever he wanted to and even Beijing was amazi... No, alright.. I'll give you that.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Those are 2 examples I was thinking of anyway. Dont know what the background is of all the others. Horner was he always a cyclist? Lance came from tri obviously.

Levi was a skier, and I think Mara Abbott was too.

It's not unfair at all. I'd be gutted if my limitations before the races were: Flat stages are boring, no surprising winner is boring, stages without 10 legendary mountains are boring, TTT's are boring etc..

Don't know if you lack good commentators or whatever it is but I loved the Tour from start to end, brilliant classics with domination from Gilbert, best Flanders in years, Cancellara in a drama against all teams and riders - and beaten, WC (was on of the 250.000 spectators on the roads that day), Toughest Giro with Alberto humuliating every single opponant and giving away victories to whoever he wanted to and even Beijing was amazi... No, alright.. I'll give you that.

The Tour was two weeks of "trying not to crash" and one week of "really good racing". It was perhaps the best one week race of the year, just ahead of Suisse and Asturias.

I did point out in my criticism that the cobbled classics were one of the few things we had to hold on to, because they were mostly really good this year. Sanremo was the most unexpectedly exciting race of the year, since it's usually the dullest of the monuments, but that prize goes to LBL in a landslide this year, since we only really got one key attack, and then the Schlecks just sat there, happy to have a podium and let Gilbert eat them alive in the sprint. Gilbert was impressive, but by the end of it boring. It killed races, because nobody wanted to take the risks, they just sat back and let Gilbert do his thing. Same as how flat stages are almost always more fun when Cavendish is not on form, because the sprint is more open and different people can win. It's not out of hating Cavendish, it's that the unpredictability is one of the few things we can hold on to in those endless TDF flat stages where HTC don't let the break get more than 3 minutes ahead.

What was boring about Gilbert's domination, the Worlds, and the Giro, was not that the winner wasn't a surprise, but that there was no fun of the chase. Watching a parade where somebody totally kills the field may be incredible to watch as an achievement, but it's no fun to watch as a spectacle, unless you're the kind of person that tuned in every week for Formula 1 from 2001-2004 when Michael Schumacher won every race.

 

[Thomsena]

That's your loss. I guess I should be privileged to have enjoyed those races then.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Take away all the people who are under 185cm (No one under that height has come close to winning a GS since Hewitt, who would have been a great had he been 5 cm taller, same for Nalbandien).

Then take away all the people who cant afford full time training throughout their childhood, and who cant afford to increase this funding as the child moves into his teenage years and needs to train in tennis centers in Spain/ Florida.

Then take away all the people who started playing when they were older than 5 years old. To start later than that is to start too late.


You are left with a LOT less than 10 million.

Take away all the people who aren't the best in the world at tennis and you're down to 1 in 1.


Wow, my argument is blown to pieces.

Come on now, that's pretty weak. The whole point about 1 in 10,000,000 is there are a load of hoops to jump through before you get there.

 

[The Hitch]

Come on now, that's pretty weak. The whole point about 1 in 10,000,000 is there are a load of hoops to jump through before you get there.

But only a very very select few are born with access to the hoops in the first place.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

But only a very very select few are born with access to the hoops in the first place.

Yes, but if you think that female cyclists jump through equally selective hoops (being as that is the topic of discussion), then you're on another planet.

 

[Wrecktangle]

No Lance to kick around...

...what's wrong with you people? I have to mention this on, what, 7th page?

 

[craig1985]

Probably so many lower tier races are either on life support or have have been canceled due to lack of sponsorship. I've lost count of the amount of quality Spanish and German races have gone the way of the dodo. If I was super rich I would spend my money donating it to race organizers to keep their races going for a year or two so things can turn around and get new sponsors, and even take their races to new parts (ie a new unused MTF, or a steep uphill finish) to make racing more exciting. I don't hate Armstrong the way others do, but I'm fuming that the Tour of Ireland would fork over so much money for His Holiness to turn up and DNF, and have to cut the race down to three days, and the next year the race is gone, and with Ireland's economy up the creek, I don't think it will be coming back anytime soon. Which is a shame, because the lack of any big MTF's, Ireland does appear to have a lot of challenging terrain, along with all the wind and rain that comes off the Atlantic Coast, along with St. Patrick's Hill, they had a good thing going.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

I mean, 2011 was a pretty garbage year for top level racing if we're honest. Paris-Nice may as well have been the Tour of Beijing, the hilly Classics were predictable and boring because Gilbert was so far ahead of everybody, the Worlds were farcically dull and were basically a Grand Tour flat stage in all but costume, the Giro, tragedy notwithstanding, was all over after one week, the Vuelta was all over after two, with all the biggest names underperforming, and the Tour didn't even bother starting until after two weeks. Romandie provided a dull parcours and the Dauphiné for the second year running was basically a time trial, then a bit of how's-your-father for the last couple of kilometres on the MTFs. País Vasco tried its hardest but came down to the TT because none of the final climbs were quite enough, and Catalunya was six sprints and an Andorra climb. Beijing was an embarrassment, California an unintentionally hilarious love-in.

Since races like Asturias can't really be considered 'top level', then really we only had a couple of great stages each in the GTs, Tirreno-Adriatico, Sanremo and the cobbled classics (Scheldeprijs excepted because that is a pathetic excuse for a race) to hold on to for good racing.

I really enjoyed 2011 as it happens. Maybe being British has a lot to do with it though.

I thought the Spring Classics were excellent, even all the ones that Gilbert won. PN wasn't great but the Dauphine kept us guessing until the top of the final climb. Heresy I know but I thought the ToC gave a few glimpses of a potentially great race.

In the Giro the battle for 2nd and potentially the victory in the record books was interesting. The Tour was marred by first week crashes but victory still was in the balance until the end. And the Vuelta, wow, great race, who would have predicted a Cobo-Froome showdown after week 1?

Tour of Britain was a bit crap, as it was the year before, and indeed any number of years before that. So no change there.

Then the Worlds. Great stuff. If you're British.


Only grievances are the wheels of justice. Are they turning at all?

 

[ElChingon]

... and the next year the race is gone, and with Ireland's economy up the creek, I don't think it will be coming back anytime soon. Which is a shame, because the lack of any big MTF's, Ireland does appear to have a lot of challenging terrain, along with all the wind and rain that comes off the Atlantic Coast, along with St. Patrick's Hill, they had a good thing going.

They could go down those cobbled roads along the coast where the wind could be the equivalent of an MTF