Best GT of the year (2014).

[Samson777]

Honestly all GT's kinda sucked but then again how long has it been since we had a great GT?

.

Must admit I really enjoyed last years Vuelta. Or the uphill action. At least it was entertaining in the crazy way

For this year none of the races have been very good. So Vino option.

But if next years Tour contain Quintana, Nibali, Froome and Contador in shape. Which it really should. It should be the best tour in this century.

 

[DFA123]

My favourite rider has won, that's true.

But Vuelta has been the best GT of the year. Maybe the level of Vuelta was not really big but come on", Giro and Tour have been really boring and Vuelta has had a few good moments. Tour had the pave stage (really good stage) but nothing else.

Agree with this. The Vuelta has had much more tension for the GC, there was some doubt as to whether Contador could maintain his form, and whether Froome would come back. Some were suggesting Valverde could even win due to bonus sections 5 stages ago. Also, IIRC, it's the only race where second place has dropped the eventual winner at some point - and Froome did it twice.

It's easy to say in hindsight that it was over from stage 10, but there always felt a bit of tension there.

Once Quintana and Nibali took the lead (and once Froome and Contador crashes out of the TdF) in their respective wins, it was obviously all over bar crashes.

 

[Arnout]

But people who liked the Vuelta, didn't you miss that there wasn't a single moment in which the top-5 of GC was not together before the last 10km? Not once has one of them had to make a choice to ride or not ride for a substantial distance or time. Not once was there a moment in which the battle started without the top 5 starting on position A together, with the sole objective to get to point B in a straight line.

This Vuelta could be summarized by the last 15 minutes of the Ancares stage in terms of GC action. Nothing else happened...

 

[hrotha]

The pave stage of the Tour gave us more racing time than all the Vuelta's superfluous muritos and MTFs put together*. The Vuelta has been raced in a ridiculously conservative manner, not just by the contenders but by the second-stringers and even many of the traditional stage-hunting teams. Today we saw both the attack (by a contender) from farther afar (9 km. NINE KILOMETERS) and probably the only time a contender's domestiques drilled it to some extent. The parcours was terrible, and the riders didn't show any inclination to race regardless. With 3 people within theoretical striking distance of the red jersey going into the final mountain stage, only Froome bothered going for it (Purito went for the podium, if anything), and that only with a move that didn't put his current position at risk.

And this was the greatest GT? Bah.

Cycling culture among fans has declined dramatically. You confuse a close race with an interesting race. No wonder the current model has triumphed.

*Hyperbole.

 

[contador977]

Froome isn't way off his form, you're deluded.

Froome had a better preparation for this Vuelta than Contador and still lost.

And yes, Contador can dominate Froome in the mountains if he is at 100%.

I dont think their is a proper reference point to claim this. Contador at the Tour in 2013 was lower level than he is now. Froome is lower level now so the timing has never been great to judge this. The 2014 Tour could have been a good reference point but that didnt happen. I hope both are healthy in the buildup to the Tour 2015. I think Froome is a slightly better Grand Tour rider than Contador right now, especially with 50km TT in them because in the mountains, I dont see big differences.

For me the best reference point is the 2014 Dauphine before Froome crashed. Froome almost un-hitched Alberto in Stage 2 I believe and although Alberto appeared like he wanted to pass Froome for the win, which didnt happen, to me Alberto was at his limit there. They appeared very similar in strength.

 

[hfer07]

I'm going to say that IL GIRO was the best of the 3 GT, because at some extend it was fought properly, on a tough course, and with less calamities, whereas the Tour was already won on the 2nd week & La Vuelta lacked the proper parcours to make it more interesting.

1. Il Giro
2. La Vuelta
3. Le Tour

 

[DFA123]

But people who liked the Vuelta, didn't you miss that there wasn't a single moment in which the top-5 of GC was not together before the last 10km? Not once has one of them had to make a choice to ride or not ride for a substantial distance or time. Not once was there a moment in which the battle started without the top 5 starting on position A together, with the sole objective to get to point B in a straight line.

This Vuelta could be summarized by the last 15 minutes of the Ancares stage in terms of GC action. Nothing else happened...

This is true and the lack of long range action certainly takes away from the Vuelta. I guess the counter point would be that, apart from the cobbled stage in the TdF and the Stelvio stage in the Giro, there wasn't much in the other two races either.

At least in the Vuelta there were five relatively strong contenders to challenge each other in the mountains. Nibali and Quintana were in a league of their own during their wins.

 

[Netserk]

The pave stage of the Tour gave us more racing time than all the Vuelta's superfluous muritos and MTFs put together*. The Vuelta has been raced in a ridiculously conservative manner, not just by the contenders but by the second-stringers and even many of the traditional stage-hunting teams. Today we saw both the attack (by a contender) from farther afar (9 km. NINE KILOMETERS) and probably the only time a contender's domestiques drilled it to some extent. The parcours was terrible, and the riders didn't show any inclination to race regardless. With 3 people within theoretical striking distance of the red jersey going into the final mountain stage, only Froome bothered going for it (Purito went for the podium, if anything), and that only with a move that didn't put his current position at risk.

And this was the greatest GT? Bah.

Cycling culture among fans has declined dramatically. You confuse a close race with an interesting race. No wonder the current model has triumphed.

*Hyperbole.

Yep. As an example: Giro '12 was a close race, but really bad. Giro '11 was decided beforehand (or at least on Etna), but was a far better race. 1st place in GC action isn't everything.

 

[Flamin]

My favourite rider has won, that's true.

But Vuelta has been the best GT of the year. Maybe the level of Vuelta was not really big but come on", Giro and Tour have been really boring and Vuelta has had a few good moments. Tour had the pave stage (really good stage) but nothing else.

Every single stage of the Vuelta was bound to finish either in a bunch sprint, an uphill sprint or a power contest among the GC guys in the final kms of a MTF. It can't get any worse than that. Only thing that can kind of make up for it is a good battle between the gc guys, which we obviously didn't get.

Imo the only good stages were the echelons, Covadonga and Monte Castrove. (and Purito's attack today)

 

[Pricey_sky]

Without doubt the Vuelta, we've had some really great racing and plenty of stages produced some nice talking points and drama, although the pave stage of the Tour was without doubt the best GT stage of the year.

 

[Asturiano]

Every single stage of the Vuelta was bound to finish either in a bunch sprint, an uphill sprint or a power contest among the GC guys in the final kms of a MTF. It can't get any worse than that. Only thing that can kind of make up for it is a good battle between the gc guys, which we obviously didn't get.

Imo the only good stages were the echelons, Covadonga and Monte Castrove. (and Purito's attack today)

So Farrapona and Ancares were not.

There is something worse than an uphill sprint between the GC guys, a sprint between sprinters. I hate that, the first week of the Tour basically.

Tour was really boring this year and the winner is not the best cyclist of the world although he was better than his rivals by far. Meanwhile Vuelta had at least the best cyclist of the world.

 

[BlurryVII]

I dont think their is a proper reference point to claim this. Contador at the Tour in 2013 was lower level than he is now. Froome is lower level now so the timing has never been great to judge this. The 2014 Tour could have been a good reference point but that didnt happen. I hope both are healthy in the buildup to the Tour 2015. I think Froome is a slightly better Grand Tour rider than Contador right now, especially with 50km TT in them because in the mountains, I dont see big differences.

For me the best reference point is the 2014 Dauphine before Froome crashed. Froome almost un-hitched Alberto in Stage 2 I believe and although Alberto appeared like he wanted to pass Froome for the win, which didnt happen, to me Alberto was at his limit there. They appeared very similar in strength.

As I already said, for the Dauphiné, Froome had ridden Romandie, and Contador came back from 8 weeks without racing. Froome was most lilely in his best form, or very near.

Contador 2009 has higher numbers than Froome 13' and he didn't fade in the 3rd week. Froome's time on Ventoux 13' isn't even better than freewheeling AC & AS 09' (attacking & waiting) .

 

[Asturiano]

But people who liked the Vuelta, didn't you miss that there wasn't a single moment in which the top-5 of GC was not together before the last 10km? Not once has one of them had to make a choice to ride or not ride for a substantial distance or time. Not once was there a moment in which the battle started without the top 5 starting on position A together, with the sole objective to get to point B in a straight line.

This Vuelta could be summarized by the last 15 minutes of the Ancares stage in terms of GC action. Nothing else happened...

It happened in Colladona (Asturias) with Purito, it happened with Nairo on Echelons stage, Froome was dropped in one stage too, etc.

Anyway, I see what you mean but it was much better than watching Niballi doing his job alone on Tour. He was so much better than the others that it was absolutely boring and we are comparing the GT you know.

There was a big battle between the best cyclist of the world in really hard climbs, it's much better than Tour and Giro of this year.

 

[hrotha]

Well, many people don't care all that much about the names involved in the GC as long as we get a good show, so you'll understand that "best cyclist in the world" argument doesn't necessarily carry that much weight.

Also, the first week of this year's Tour featured pretty interesting stages won by Nibali, Boom and Trentin.

 

[Flamin]

So Farrapona and Ancares were not.

There is something worse than an uphill sprint between the GC guys, a sprint between sprinters. I hate that, the first week of the Tour basically.

Tour was really boring this year and the winner is not the best cyclist of the world although he was better than his rivals by far. Meanwhile Vuelta had at least the best cyclist of the world.

Farrapona was a snoozefest, yeah. Ancares was okay until Purito was done. Best climbers in the world or not, I don't see the thrill in Froome towing Contador, then getting outsprinted in the final k.

And like hrotha said, the first week of the Tour was a lot more than a few sprints.

 

[DFA123]

Every single stage of the Vuelta was bound to finish either in a bunch sprint, an uphill sprint or a power contest among the GC guys in the final kms of a MTF. It can't get any worse than that. Only thing that can kind of make up for it is a good battle between the gc guys, which we obviously didn't get.

Imo the only good stages were the echelons, Covadonga and Monte Castrove. (and Purito's attack today)

Which category do the stages won by Hansen, Anacona, Hesjedal and De Marchi fit into?

It seems a pretty balanced race in terms of stages won by sprinters, breaks and climbers.

 

[Asturiano]

Farrapona was a snoozefest, yeah. Ancares was okay until Purito was done. Best climbers in the world or not, I don't see the thrill in Froome towing Contador, then getting outsprinted in the final k.

And like hrotha said, the first week of the Tour was a lot more than a few sprints.

If Froome couldn't make Contador drope that's because Contador is better but he tried to do it but he couldn't. That's all, anyway it was enjoyable. Do you really believe it was an easy stage for Contador?. I don't think so. In fact, I'm sure Contador had real problems to follow Froome today in Ancares but he showed why he is the best cyclist of the world.

Yes a bit of pave (Vuelta had echelons), apart from that what more?.

 

[Stromeon]

I feel like I'm rather parroting the commonly accepted opinion, but anyway:

- Giro had one truly epic stage, but there wasn't really a lot more to write home about apart from that (Aru at Montecampione perhaps excepted) and there were some truly dreadful stages (Zoncolan etc).

- Tour followed a similar pattern - had one awesome stage, but at least most of the mountain stages, barring Nibbles running away from everyone, were quite interesting. But when the GC winner is so clearly evident so early on in the race it devalues the spectacle rather, I feel.

- Vuelta has been OK, but nowhere near the hype that surrounded it before. Bad parcours really contributed to the overall 'meh-ness' and at the moment I just feel like I want a bit more... if only they could have put more mountains in some of the stages... if only Nairo hadn't crashed... and all those things... It could have been so much better than it was.

In conclusion, none of them were stellar, but look on the bright side of things, none of them sunk to the depths of the atrocities that were races like the Tour & Giro 2012.

But of course this year will be remembered as the year where 4 of the 5 best GT riders crashed out at some point in a GT - the two out of these five who managed not to crash in the race they were peaking for won. (Not to devalue Quintana, Nibali, or Contador's achievements).

So none of the races win.

 

[movingtarget]

Vuelta wins for the third year in a row and it just reminds me of what we missed in the Tour. Nibali and Contador in great form and Froome not far off his best. I am hoping for a mouth watering Tour 2015 with those latter three riders plus Quintana. Valverde and Rodriguez did remarkably well backing up from the Tour and Aru shows he is a future star plus solid performances from Martin and the veteran Sanchez. The simple fact is I want to see the best competing against each other and the Vuelta had that but this time Quintana was the unlucky one and Nibali was the missing rider.

The Tour was boring in the second half as the race was already over re who was going to win and the Giro had the same feeling albeit with a smaller winning margin. Crashes also effected the Giro and the Tour badly taking out quite a few GC riders. The Vuelta managed to miss that apart from Quintana. Each race is different in small ways and I found the coverage of the Vuelta superior to the Giro but for me, all things considered I enjoyed the Vuelta the most.

 

[orangey]

Vuelta for sure. No explanation needed since it's so fresh on everyone's mind.

Tour was overall not bad. The cobble stage was just epic stuff. It did dull down once the Shark had so much time but still not bad.

Giro had good hopes but became tainted after the Quintana taking advantage incident. After that I have to say I became very distasteful of watching the rest of the show.

 

[SKSemtex]

I go for Vino option 2. First 5 days of the TOUR, especially the stage no. 5.

 

[damian13ster]

I enjoyed Tour the most. Full of action.

Stage 2 and Nibali holding off entire peleton, obviously epic stage 5. Nice buildup for stage 10 before terrible Contador crash. Tony Martin's epic stage win as well as him dragging the breakaway on his own for 100km within 2 days. Majka holding the gap over GC riders after attacking at the foot of the climb, looking absolutely spent on the finish, and then epic ride from a breakaway showing new-found cockiness with winking and this time celebrating properly. Sagan's attempts at winning the stage. Nibali silencing the critics and showing his superiority by attacking from 8km out and winning by over a minute. Fight for KOM until the very last summit finish.

I think that was best GT by far, and I dont mind the fact that the gap between 1st and 2nd place was so big.

Also, I do prefer riders that go all out without hesitation. Nibali in Sheffield, and then him and Fuglsang doing an epic ride on cobbles, taking risks that others werent willing to take. Martin going absolutely all out on 2 stages in a row, doing a 100km TT through the mountains and then winning a stage. Nibali not caring about cracking or not, but just attacking on pretty much every MTF including epic ride up the last mountain in the race. Majka proving those saying that he won KOM just because of breakaways by staying with GC riders even though he needed to finish in top 6 and just dropping them all but Nibali at 7km mark, and all of that after being called up for the race a week before it started.


Much more exciting than Giro or Vuelta IMHO
Races arent only about a battle for 1st. In Tour pretty much each stage had a history of its own and tons of racing happening, lots of attacking, epic rides, etc. All of those were missing both from Vuelta and Giro

 

[SKSemtex]

Pretty much this.

Yes, Vuelta had 20 min. of the "mano a mano" fight of the two best GT climbers but this is hardly enough to be the best GT of the year.

 

[yespatterns]

I enjoyed Tour the most. Full of action.

Stage 2 and Nibali holding off entire peleton, obviously epic stage 5. Nice buildup for stage 10 before terrible Contador crash. Tony Martin's epic stage win as well as him dragging the breakaway on his own for 100km within 2 days. Majka holding the gap over GC riders after attacking at the foot of the climb, looking absolutely spent on the finish, and then epic ride from a breakaway showing new-found cockiness with winking and this time celebrating properly. Sagan's attempts at winning the stage. Nibali silencing the critics and showing his superiority by attacking from 8km out and winning by over a minute. Fight for KOM until the very last summit finish.

I think that was best GT by far, and I dont mind the fact that the gap between 1st and 2nd place was so big.

Also, I do prefer riders that go all out without hesitation. Nibali in Sheffield, and then him and Fuglsang doing an epic ride on cobbles, taking risks that others werent willing to take. Martin going absolutely all out on 2 stages in a row, doing a 100km TT through the mountains and then winning a stage. Nibali not caring about cracking or not, but just attacking on pretty much every MTF including epic ride up the last mountain in the race. Majka proving those saying that he won KOM just because of breakaways by staying with GC riders even though he needed to finish in top 6 and just dropping them all but Nibali at 7km mark, and all of that after being called up for the race a week before it started.


Much more exciting than Giro or Vuelta IMHO
Races arent only about a battle for 1st. In Tour pretty much each stage had a history of its own and tons of racing happening, lots of attacking, epic rides, etc. All of those were missing both from Vuelta and Giro

I agree to certain extent, stage 5 of the TDF has been the stage of the year for me without a doubt.

 

[greenedge]

I voted the Dauphinie.
I didn't mind each GT but all the favourites crashed
The Giro was good up until the Stelvio and Nairo's eventual domination.
TDF was a great display by Nibali and the cobbled stage was amazing.
Vuelta has been good but Contador has been stronger than the rest- even if Froome has come back.