Maxiton said:
Exactly. It's the racers who make the race. That's the Alpha and Omega of cycling.
I think it depends. The racers can certainly make what is a good race on paper into a bad one, but their ability to make a bad race on paper good is limited. There often needs to be some kind of spark to create that, be it weather, a crash, an unusual GC situation (see stage 12 of the 2010 Giro), or something in the roadbook. But if those bits that are open to chance (wind, rain) don't arise, and the roadbook doesn't offer anything to be used as a spark, it's nigh on impossible for the riders to make the race unless they make up the majority, because the sprinters' teams have become too good at controlling.
I despise the UCI, but I've got to hand it to them for trying to ban team radios, for it's the radios that have really compromised this sport. Things will become more exciting once the radios are gone.
Does the OP really want the truth? The truth is (lean closer) . . . a lot of people, especially mainland Euros, are prejudiced against the Brits, and especially against our man from the Isle of Man . . . but they can't admit it to themselves . . . or not to us, at least, so they grouse about a flat course, and how it's unbecoming a World's race. Whatever.
Yea, that's right. It's all about nationality. Nothing to do with entertainment. It's all the mainland Euros hating the Brits.
This sounds awfully like the LA "French conspiracy". If there was a mainland European conspiracy against the Brits they would have changed the Worlds course to stop the most likely British winner from winning.
I don't like flat stages cos they're boring. I used to find the stages boring, but quite enjoy the sprint itself. But after long periods subjected to the HTC train of domination, be it leading the best sprinter in the world in the top races, or leading Greipel in races that his talent level had far outgrown because Cavendish was already racing the biggest events, it became predictable.
I quite enjoyed watching the sprints when Cavendish was off form or when his leadout train was non-existent. The races were still dull (Aubenas and San Remo excepted!) but the sprint was more fun. Cavendish often still wins, but it's much more exciting to watch riders fending for themselves).
I guess the thing is, the less organised a race is, the more likely the unexpected is to happen. And many people watch with the aim of being entertained, and watching the same thing happen over and over again stops being entertaining quicker than watching different things happen. Look at the hostility Gilbert has started to face for his domination of the hilly races. But at least those races give some different and sometimes unexpected routes to get to that predictable conclusion of Gilbert soloing away to the finish; all too often the bunch sprint stages run to an exact and repetitive formula before the predictable conclusion of Cavendish winning by a couple of lengths or more.
And when it all runs to the same formula, and the end result is the same, then it's only really fun if you like the guy who's winning. It's like all the people (including myself) who switched off from F1 when the sport basically consisted of "the lights go out, and everybody follows Michael Schumacher for two hours". Either you liked Schumacher or you got bored.
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