I haven't voted on this. I'm probably too biased. My favourite would be the Giro; due to Contador winning it. I think that all of the GT's had a lot going for them this season, though I'd still like to see more ITT kms.
Some observations. Some posters seem annoyed that too much happened on PSM, yet also annoyed that not enough happened on stages 14-16 in La Vuelta.
??
Although an Alberto fan, I thought that PSM was a pretty great stage. I mean it was super dramatic right? That moment when the defending champion was going off the back, so early on the climb, and clearly cooked, that was the first of a number of OMG moments.
Contador being dropped and then seeing the gap increase so consistently dramatically was also huge. And then to have Porte return to finish ahead of Quintana was dramatic as well as hilarious.
In most cases a drama filled stage will kill the suspence, but for continued suspence you have to do away with a lot of the drama (there are exceptions such as the Alps of '06, but generally big time gaps blow the race apart, not bring it back together). So what do you want? And it seems that either a) the riders were too weak (PSM) or b) the riders didn't attack enough (Vuelta).
Personally I'd much rather the Pyrenees of '15 then those of '11, for example.
I think that this years Tour possibly had more OMG moments than the Giro. Come on, who wasn't jumping out of their seat when Contador attacked over 100kms out and on the first mountain of the day on the third last stage? And was joined by the supposedly highly defensive Valverde, the cause of this all being the effect of dropping Thomas, who at that point was a threat to podium in Paris. How is that not good, attacking, exciting racing?
When Nibali attacked about 60kms from the finish and was clearly strong, wasn't that somewhat exciting? We had the hilarity too of him doing so when Froome had a puncture; a moment that didn't quite match the sticky bottle or wheelgate ones, but was nevertheless still amusing.
I loved the early stage of the Giro where Kreuziger got the huge lead in the breakaway, and normally I'd be annoyed that it was all totally neutralised, but the racing to bring that all back was so incredible that I couldn't be. Yep, Astana went full gas that day.
The ITT was great, as was the Mortirolo stage, and the one on stage 18 where Landa had to fight back when the situations were reversed. And Finestre. Now that was drama. I think that for one brief moment Contador looked like more of a chance to lose, than Froome ever did on Alp 'duez.
The Vuelta gave us the suspence, as it usually does. And - also - for a moment, it looked like Tom would get back on during that descent.
And the way that he held on during the earlier high mountains. That was great right, or would we have preferred that he cracked and lost five minutes, as he was 'meant' to? I'm just not sure if people know what they want around here. A remake of the Mel Gibson movie; "What do cycling fans want?"
?
Oh, and stage 16. That was something. Though I'm probably biased. I had a little wager. On a certain Frank Schleck.
But speaking of betting; don't mention the ninja. Just don't
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