At what point do you turn off the TV and give up on the Tour?

[Geraint Too Fast]

What a depressing bunch you lot are.

 

[ElChingon]

Im in such suspense I have no idea what might happen next week. I mean can Sky hang on? Hope so. It's been such a battle up till now. Never know what's about to happen next. It's such an arm wrestle between the top guns. Wiggins has such panache in his victories and stage wins. He has certainly set this race on fire with his flamboyant attacks.

Something tells me if anything good or bad happens at le Tour you'll be starting a thread on it

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Yes, the race is very onesided. Sky is simply too strong. It has very little to do with the route, and much more to do with the competition: Evans is at -5%, the three headed Rabo monster crashed out, Samuel "the initiator" Sanchez was send home after 1 week and the climber duo of Andy and Contador are sidelined. We are left with a bunch of placement riders battling the Sky train led by Cavendish on the climbs. Still, this Tour has been better than the Giro this year and the TV stays tuned.

 

[blaxland]

Good Question?I dont think i will ever give up supporting cycling but watching it has become quite boring really.Lets hope next years route is more entertaining and difficult?More MTF's,less ITT kms and less numbers per team would be a good starting point.

 

[Blakeslee]

I'm holding out for an exciting rest day. Rumor has it the director of the Tour of Britain will be visiting Team Sky bringing along a special steak and kidney pie dinner!

 

[thehog]

I'm holding out for an exciting rest day. Rumor has it the director of the Tour of Britain will be visiting Team Sky bringing along a special steak and kidney pie dinner!

I can't wait for the highlight DVD to come out. This year apparently they're condensing it down to a 30second YouTube video.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Dude being a real fan means getting indignant over how they can dare hand us over this sh!t. It's like being taken for an a$$!

Real fans know when a course will be exciting and interesting to watch and when it will be an agonizing bore. I've watched for almost 30 years and the French race seems to get worse every year.

+10000000 Exactly.

Most of us have been able to predict exactly how most of the stages would play out. It doesn't take a rocket scientist. This race has been over for awhile.

Other than those spanking it in joy over a meaningless Sky victory, I'm not sure of any cycling fans who actually think this race has been anything other than a total joke.

 

[rata de sentina]

Interesting to see all these "juniors" come on and bash the hogs posting record. I would hazard a guess that the hog didn't have anything bad to say about the 2010 Giro which I am sure is still fresh in everyone's mind in comparison to the dull procession of the TdF.

Personally I will still be watching it everyday but I have noted that nearly every night I am falling asleep before the finish and that has seldom happened in the past, probably a pretty good indication of the excitement level.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I can't wait for the highlight DVD to come out. This year apparently they're condensing it down to a 30second YouTube video.

30 seconds? I count 20. Will the other 10 be an intro by Sherwen telling us about the quality of French cattle?

 

[thehog]

+10000000 Exactly.

Most of us have been able to predict exactly how most of the stages would play out. It doesn't take a rocket scientist. This race has been over for awhile.

Other than those spanking it in joy over a meaningless Sky victory, I'm not sure of any cycling fans who actually think this race has been anything other than a total joke.

The funniest thing I find is Wiggins talks like he's won the Tour. Which he has. But he's feeling absolutely zero pressure or he can't actually see where he could lose. That's how bad the course is. It's actually not possible to lose the race and that was evident from the first (crappy) mountain stage sometime last week.

Generally during the Tour there's other dramas the play out outside of GC. It this years Tour has been devoid of that. There's absolutely nothing going on day in, day out.

Today's stage was the bitter end. I turned away in absolute disgust.

 

[Polyarmour]

Your negativity is absolutely soul destroying. I feel sorry for your partners.

 

[knewcleardaze]

I like the scenery and mindless babbling of Phil and Paul.
Sometimes the racing is even exciting.
I wonder what day the Gendarmerie will swoop down on the entire race.
Oh, and this is far from being over. I like to think anything can happen at any time.

 

[palmerq]

Sagan made todays stage really good... and he didnt even win... a relly good stage today!

 

[montagna lunga]

pfft....leave the telly on it all day with the volume off, turn the stereo on, and listen to Grateful Dead tapes...

 

[BillytheKid]

There is a fundemental difference between watching a race on TV and being in it. That's why I put up the Horner Diaries, the guy makes it all exciting again even when things are going all wrong like today. It also make you realize television, as good as in gets, is only select point of view. Racing is still racing. Horner animates the human experience of racing a bike. He can laugh off the troubles of the day. Most importantly, none of it is boring to him.

http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/2012-tour-de-france-video

 

[Archibald]

30 seconds? I count 20. Will the other 10 be an intro by Sherwen telling us about the quality of French cattle?

don't forget the 16hr UK Special Edition, which will be nothing but highlights of Cavendish and Wiggins with special appearances by Millar and the rest of UK Postal. Notably brought to everyone by IG markets...

Conveniently forgetting that Froome is South African, except for when he dropped Wiggins

 

[ElChingon]

I can't wait for the highlight DVD to come out. This year apparently they're condensing it down to a 30second YouTube video.

Be sure to give us a review of it!

 

[bangnz]

Boring in terms of the GC.. Even some Sky supporters must see that its a boring way to win a race.. If you take out the Sky train things would be alot more interesting with the likes of Nibali/Evans/Froome/ attacking eachother Leaving Wiggins 2 mins behind..

Small things can add excitement Such as Cancellara almost winning stage 1 or watching P Roland and Voecklers wins or watching Sagans success in his 1st TDF

Looking forward to seeing Contador on his return to the Vuelta next month and seeing Cav not win the Olympic RR

 

[CobbleStoner]

About now methinks. Doesn't matter who you support in this race it's just plain boring.

I honestly can't think of more than 3 highlights the entire race.

Sad really.

Probably doesn't help having a super powerful team but the leaders are fairly beige.

I gave up on Friday but turned off the TV today before the stage completed.

you really should not be a cycling fan, especially with that avatar pic.
it's the Tour de France, there has been epic stages already, a dramatic green jersey battle, Cuddles attacked! what more can you ask for?
great tour so far. TJVG, Sagan, Europecar, Cav freelancing, Lotto tacticly taking advantage of Sky, new climb, sunday stage with great parcourse start to finish tv coverage, prologue in Liege, stages in the Ardennes and Flanders.
good job ASO
oh, and f McQuaid & Bono

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

rogers domination.

 

[hiero2]

By arrogance you mean an approach going like: We're the TdF, we're the best whatever we do, we don't care about any competition, we could design all stages flat had we wanted to as long as the towns with finish line pay the money?

Oh, but they don't, do they! You have to admit the TdF, and the other tours, do a good job year after year of providing an excellent sporting venue. Some mountains, some flats - give every type of rider a chance! The Giro if you like it a bit heavier on the mountains. No problem!

Compare this to the typical American stage race - where it is much more difficult to take time in the mountains - since there are rarely mountaintop finishes. The Tour of CA is doing a pretty good job of mixing it up. That thing in CO last year reminded me of the typical American stage races back in the day of the Zinger (later the Coors). The only reason I found them interesting was because I had some racer(s) I knew whom I cared how well they did! Otherwise? Boring, afaic.

 

[rhubroma]

you really should not be a cycling fan, especially with that avatar pic.
it's the Tour de France, there has been epic stages already, a dramatic green jersey battle, Cuddles attacked! what more can you ask for?
great tour so far. TJVG, Sagan, Europecar, Cav freelancing, Lotto tacticly taking advantage of Sky, new climb, sunday stage with great parcourse start to finish tv coverage, prologue in Liege, stages in the Ardennes and Flanders.
good job ASO
oh, and f McQuaid & Bono

 

[Angliru]

Absent the crashes on the sprint stages I think this been the best Tour since 2006 or the 2007 Tour won by Rasmussen. While the course is not set up for climbers or attacking I love the attitude of Lotto, Liquisgas and BMC. They have not stopped attacking. We have not seen such fearless attacks like this in many years.

For me, the Tour to me is not about attacks, not about mountain top finishes but the interaction of the riders and the teams. Who controls the race and the decisions they make. For the most part Mountain stages are pretty boring in comparison to sprint stages. I find sprint stages much more exciting. Unfortunately Garmin and the crashes they caused has has hurt the sprint stages quite a bit this year.

The biggest loss in this years Tour is absence of HTC. HTC never would have allowed a stage like stage 12 to happen. There is no way a break would have succeeded with HTC in control. I found that stage to be the most disappointing in the Tour where Sprinter teams simply did not care enough to force a sprint.

The biggest gain this year has been the exclusion of Contador and all the drama he brings. It has been a pleasure not having to hear his daily press rants and whines all followed by accusations the next day that he or his his crazy brother has been misquoted once again. But its just no the drama he brings but that the racing is much better without him. Riders seem much more willing to attack without him. His exclusion has been a huge boon for the Tour this year. Hopefully ASO will ban him next year as well. The Tour and cycling certainly has been better off without him. To a lesser extent and for some of the same reasons as Contador of bringing drama and poor attitude I am also happy not to see Andy at the Tour as well.

The excitment in a sprint stage lasts all of about 3 minutes. The excitment in a mountain top finishes is drawn out to last sometimes up to an entire half hour or more with gc hopefuls sometimes hanging on for dear life, getting dropped or initiating attacks that cause a selection. The sprinters sit in waiting to dropped off within 200 meters of the finish and take it from there.
That brief moment of action is exciting but for me it doesn't compare to the battles in the mountains. For me that is what makes the grand tours.

 

[Angliru]

LOL @ the bolded.

I think he might be joking. I certainly hope he is.

He sounds pretty serious to me. Of course I could later be proven wrong but I guess we'll see.

 

[Angliru]

Nope we just expect that the second Sunday of the f-ing race has a par cours worth watching. And no it isn't more than just racing for those who really care to watch bike racing. In any case if you want a piece of theater on the grandest and most beautiful scale than go to Italy.

I was quite surprised that there was no mtf this weekend. That is what most people watching grand tours anticipate the most especially on weekends, at least having one mtf. Seems to be a major error in the planning of this year's parcours (one of many).