Anyone else fall asleep watching the Tour yet?

[imp167]

Alternatively, ignore the road timings and just award fixed time bonuses based upon finish order in the TTT.

Like yetanothergreenworld I prefer arrangements like this year's Giro where the TTT is a short opening presentation stage.

Yet another snore-fest today.

 

[Parrot23]

maybe a short cat one climb with a wild descent into the flats TTT

LOL, with sprint points at the bottom of the hill. Then we'll see what kind speeds they can hit

 

[Parrot23]

in terms of exciting routes...

Vuelta > Giro (close call..) > > > > > Tour

Yes, agree.

Generally, we just can't go for a whole week in a GT where the GC is effectively frozen. If they wanna do that, they should hold some classics or associated races on the side, as in Tour de France 2 [substitute village name], Tour de France 3 [substitute another village name], etc., where the French riders can shine and other assorted guys, Brice Feillu excepted.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

If I were dictator of the Tour de France I would make today's riders re-do the 1987 course in 2010. Take a look at that last week: more climbing than the last two Tours combined! (Also several hundred more kilometers than today's writers are used to.)

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France_1987

 

[oronet commander]

This Tour is pathetic and boring as hell, up to the point of switching off the TV set and leave. Besides conservative SD with radio sets, this year's route is ludicrously easy and unattractive, and four of the possible contenders are in a single team, leaving the rest without leaders apt to fight GC.

Cycling appeal is based on epics and uncertainty, and this way of racing is slowly killing it. Smaller teams, no radios, longer and tougher routes are needed. Badly and now!

 

[Anonymous]

Even though I find today's stage amusing because of what happened to Columbia, I would much rather have real racing drama than the soap opera crap like this, LA vs Contador, who attacked into the wind or up a mountain and what it means, etc, etc etc.

They promise tomorrow...where have we heard that before?

 

[Milessio]

Stop whining - nobody's forcing you to watch.

This Tour is pathetic and boring as hell, up to the point of switching off the TV set and leave. Besides conservative SD with radio sets, this year's route is ludicrously easy and unattractive, and four of the possible contenders are in a single team, leaving the rest without leaders apt to fight GC.

Cycling appeal is based on epics and uncertainty, and this way of racing is slowly killing it. Smaller teams, no radios, longer and tougher routes are needed. Badly and now!

If the race is 'pathetic & boring as hell' why are you still interested?

The Green & Mountains classifications are not exactly certain, even if you think the Yellow is.

It's easy to say the stages are 'ludicrously easy', but how many stages have posters here ever ridden? at race pace?

Remember that shorter stages were introduced to reduce the likelihood of drug taking. So you're in favour of drug taking then?

 

[ilillillli]

george hincapie, 5 seconds off the lead after stage 14... all i gotta say.

 

[oronet commander]

Remember that shorter stages were introduced to reduce the likelihood of drug taking. So you're in favour of drug taking then?

Yeah, even in the Olympic Games the 100 m races are going to be reduced to 80 m because too many athletes still dope... That argument is just nonesense.

Poor riders, always having to pedal hard and ride fast for our enjoyment... how sad!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Agree with the majority here. Don't always agree with Robert, but he put it best on page 1 here.

It really comes down to the course design being poor. In an effort to insure that the race is close to the end, they made the first two weeks of the race uneventful and non-competitive for GC riders. But instead of doing what the Giro did, and put some stages in there likely to force the GC riders to compete, without creating potential for huge time gaps, they completely eliminated that factor.

The riders are also riding a very low-risk race as well. Partly in reaction to the course, partly because the TTT was twice as long as it needed to be and put too many riders from one team (Astana) up on GC, and with no climbs to break that up, we're two weeks in, and watching the most boring first two weeks I've ever seen.

I do think the race will get exciting. Stages 16 and 17 will see attacks.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Remember that shorter stages were introduced to reduce the likelihood of drug taking.

If that was a concern, they completely blew the solution.

They could still make stages shorter to "help stop doping", but add a sharp uphill finish here or there to bring out the GC contenders. Any short, steep hill would do that, as we saw in the Giro on Stage 14 there.

 

[Parrot23]

But instead of doing what the Giro did, and put some stages in there likely to force the GC riders to compete, without creating potential for huge time gaps, they completely eliminated that factor.

+1 That is a key point.

Aren't a lot of hills, though, in Italy also shorter and punchier (as well as having the big mountains)? I may be wrong, but watching the Giro, I was amazed at the constant rolling hills. But then again, maybe that's because the organizers chose them, LOL

NB: first Tour I've stopped watching, even the highlights.

Tendentious, but also the "quality" of riders combined with the course could be contributing (one reason I think Lance came back). Tend to agree with Stephen Roche's comments on Colmar stage:

"I was very disappointed today, that should have been a good stage," Roche said of the rain-lashed race to Colmar. "There is no way at all it should have finished off like that. When you see the final climb, not even one leader had an attack on it. They all stayed wearing their [rain] capes…they should have at least taken them off and had a go. It's insulting not to do that, to not even lift their backsides off the saddle."

He feels that time is running out fast for those who would challenge Contador and Armstrong. "Every day they are saying wait for tomorrow, wait for the next day. So why not just give the jersey to Contador tomorrow and say, 'here you are, instead of racing to Paris we'll go on holidays?' It is bit harsh to say it, but that is how I feel."

At least Lance gets right to front at the summit, positions himself right, dominates. The others seems like sheep. Maybe Astana is just too scarey dominant.

 

[Boeing]

Well I am just going to wait till the evening to watch with a few pops and the headphones

I complain a bit but Istill watch. I like looking at the bikes regardless and the countryside is beautiful. Give us more bike shots so we can see the gear they run stage to stage. A lot of hand lased wheels on the climbs I see. Interesting

peace

 

[Darrylc]

I find it tough to watch this 3 week tempo ride to Ventoux.

Typically I like watching bikes go up hill as much as I like riding bikes up hill.

They over (or rather under) did it with this profile.

c-

Just a bit, I actually missed stage 13, I cannot remember the last time I missed a stage. But i did not think I would miss anything, and did not. Hopefully the Alps will help.

 

[Hotbrakes]

Have stayed awake only twice. This has been the most boring Tour by far. I wish Contador was on a different team to LA, that would have made it a bit more interesting. Oh by the way, get rid of that stupid TTT.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

You didn't miss anything Darryl.

Agree, this has become the most boring Tour I've ever seen. Granted, we should get some good days in the Alps here. But to be two weeks into the Tour and almost no mixing it up between the GC riders has been crushingly disappointing. I complained in the past that the 1994 Tour was the most dull. That year Indurain dominated after his chief rival, Tony Rominger crashed out very early. But while the suspense was over, at least there was more competitive racing to watch!

This Tour looks more like a UCI Continental race. A flat UCI Continental race. Actually, that may be insulting to those guys who actually try to go for it more often.

I have a real suspicion that tomorrow's stage to Verbier won't do much more than what we saw to Arcalis. It's too short and gradual. It's less steep than Arcalis, less long, and nearly 800m lower. And with the way they are riding, I have a feeling we'll see Astana pulling 50 riders behind them as they hit the climb, with few if any attacks that can stay away. I hope I'm wrong though.

"Every day they are saying wait for tomorrow, wait for the next day. So why not just give the jersey to Contador tomorrow and say, 'here you are, instead of racing to Paris we'll go on holidays?' It is bit harsh to say it, but that is how I feel."

He is saying the same thing as Hinault. And that's what makes those two champions, and great champions that they were.

I have to say though I can't fault Lance and Contador. The onus isn't on them to attack. Not even tomorrow, though I'm sure the will tussle at least some.

 

[Robert Merivel]

Let's face it, the Tour starts Sunday. Well, hopefully.

I think the designers of this years tour started out right with the ITT. But then it seemed to fizzle.

The TTT should be thrown out. Or limit the losses to no more than a minute.

All the Pyrenees stages (3) should have been mt top finishes. Or at least more stages there.

The sprinters stages seemed to become France's big opportunity to get some glory in a breakaway. Throw them a few scraps...it is their race.

The race thus far seems to lack pizzazz, flair, spirit!

First Alps stage not tough enough, say riders

BESANCON, France, July 19 (Reuters) - The Tour de France enters the Alps for the first time on Sunday with a stage which riders say is not tough enough to make a difference.

The 207-km stage to the Swiss resort of Verbier is only the second in the Tour with a mountaintop finish. In the first one in Arcalis nine days ago, 2007 champion Alberto Contador surged in the last climb to take 21 seconds off the other favourites including his Astana team mate Lance Armstrong.

But Contador did not think Sunday’s climb would be big enough to have a similar impact.

“It is only 8.5 km long, it is a very short climb,” Contador told reporters. “The gaps (at the summit) will not be big.”

The Spaniard also complained about this year’s Tour route, saying: “There should be more summit finishes.”

Brothers Frank and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, seen as Contador and Armstrong’s leading rivals, have also dismissed the Verbier finish as too easy.

“It’s not what I call a real mountain climb,” said Andy.

Contador is third overall, six seconds behind Italy’s Rinaldo Nocentini and one behind American George Hincapie. Armstrong is fourth, a further two seconds adrift.

Contador’s team director Alain Gallopin made it clear there would not be many opportunities for pure climbers to have their say but Verbier was one of them.

“It’s a climb we know well from the Tour de Romandie and Tour of Switzerland,” he said.

“It’s short but you must bear in mind the Tour de France is always decided in mountaintop finishes and we don’t have that many this year.”

 

[phillop]

a mountain ttt would be cool, but i think theyd have to give every one their own time rather than the 5th rider finished, so basically each team gets to deliver their gc man up the mountain. remember how us postal would swing off one by one untill it was just lance left, make each team ride like that. would be great to watch, there would be riders all over the mountain and encorage infighting. now that would make lance and contadoor attack each other

 

[Sewer Rat]

New guy in town, so go easy on me.

Yes, I've been racking up a few zzz's while sub consciously still taking in what P&P have been droning on about. Although it is hard for me to say if that is any worse than other years as it is situation normal when you live on the other side of the globe.
The problem I see with the tour is that it is hard to have a bike race that traverses France, that doesnt include a host of flat stages that don't add much to the race other than sell the country as a tourist destination.

I tend to view each version of the TDF like a new album from a classic rock band.
You love all the greatest hits and expect that each track on the new album will be as good as all those golden oldies, where in reality only 2-3 tracks will grab your attention and the others just fade into obscurity fairly quickly.
TDF stages tend to be like that, some good, some great, the rest ho-hum.
The Giro and Vuelta are more like the hip alternate albums, pushing the boundaries. Some of it works, some doesnt, but generally interesting.

TTT or not? I too like the Giro approach, include it, make it short and early, then give the GC contenders some mountain top finishes nice and early and then keep them coming throughout the race.

Funny how when the route is announced we hear a number of the potential contenders spruik that the amount of mountain top finishes / number of TT km etc is secondary and that the riders make the race, not the course.
After stages 16, 17 & 20 have been run and won is when the the conclusions can be drawn. At least I should be refreshed to watch those stages just in case someone actually backs their talk up on the bike.

Alternatively maybe the 'assisted' heroics of days gone by that we yearn for are a thing of the past with no one confident enough in their preparation to try a 'Reechard' or 'El Diablo' type oddessy.
If so, welcome to the future.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The giro this year s h i t s all over the tour this year. The organisers of the tour are not ambitious enough to make an interesting route across 3 weeks. The last week in the tour looked like a cracker but the ttt and the crappy pyrenean stages really wrecked all of what looked like to be some fierce racing. People say that the riders make the tour not the route but you need an interesting battle ground (route) for the riders to show their strength.

 

[Four Winds]

I feel sorry for the guy who works for World Cycling Productions who is gonna have to cobble together a 12-hour highlights DVD from this. So far he's got some nice scenic shots of Monaco, Columbias attack on stage 3 and Contador in Andorra. Add in the last km of the sprints etc and he must have a whole hour already.

I have my order in though. It could come in handy as a cure for insomnia.

 

[Darrylc]

You didn't miss anything Darryl.

Agree, this has become the most boring Tour I've ever seen. Granted, we should get some good days in the Alps here. But to be two weeks into the Tour and almost no mixing it up between the GC riders has been crushingly disappointing. I complained in the past that the 1994 Tour was the most dull. That year Indurain dominated after his chief rival, Tony Rominger crashed out very early. But while the suspense was over, at least there was more competitive racing to watch!

This Tour looks more like a UCI Continental race. A flat UCI Continental race. Actually, that may be insulting to those guys who actually try to go for it more often.

I have a real suspicion that tomorrow's stage to Verbier won't do much more than what we saw to Arcalis. It's too short and gradual. It's less steep than Arcalis, less long, and nearly 800m lower. And with the way they are riding, I have a feeling we'll see Astana pulling 50 riders behind them as they hit the climb, with few if any attacks that can stay away. I hope I'm wrong though.



He is saying the same thing as Hinault. And that's what makes those two champions, and great champions that they were.

I have to say though I can't fault Lance and Contador. The onus isn't on them to attack. Not even tomorrow, though I'm sure the will tussle at least some.

I think that we all had huge expectations. The LA/AC situation has been more talk than action, and it seems like there has only been 3 tiny hills.

Also one question, what is with all the name calling on here? Mark Cavendish, this or that. I thought this was a cycling forum as opposed to a football forum.

Anyway back to subject When i was a teenager, Indurain was my favourite cyclist, always will be, The races always seemed exciting then. This one definitely has been snoresville.

 

[Boeing]

I didnt today