How to make these long boring flat stages less boring?

[Ikbengodniet]

Get a frikkin life and a Job and stop watching 5 hours a day at afternoon on a work day. Tune in for the last 30km and enjoy the sprint. God guys whinning about this gotta be the biggest losers in life. Seriously this beyond pathetic.

Yeah because everybody works in the afternoon in this flexible 24 hour economy we are rocking nowadays.

 

[RedheadDane]

Get a frikkin life and a Job and stop watching 5 hours a day at afternoon on a work day. Tune in for the last 30km and enjoy the sprint. God guys whinning about this gotta be the biggest losers in life. Seriously this beyond pathetic.

After i read last post I assume the main idea for full live tv coverage is to entertain ninjas (no income, no job) stream watchers. Meh

You know it is the summer holiday in large parts of the world.
France too, if I'm not mistaken.

Though, the don't watch if you think it's so boring point still stands.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I like what ITV4 have done, get a guest on the show and switch direction for an hour rather than just focus on a long and flat stage, also get he public to send in questions.
Yesterday it was Mick Bennett who organisers the Tour of Britain, it was good to hear the different aspects that go into organising a race. Today and tomorrow it's Mick Rogers, who obviously has lots of fascinating stories from his time in the peloton.

 

[tobydawq]

I haven't read the thread but there is an obvious solution. Just set up a big line of enormous fans (not the person type fan, but the wind-blowing type fan) at the side of the road throughout each stage to guarantee cross-wind all the time.

Or maybe accept that it is what it is and maybe not watch the entire thing...

And maybe stop having nine flat stages in a Tour. That could also be an idea.

 

[Gigs_98]

What about more intermediate sprints on flat stages. The battle for points to get green is always one of the highlights on completely flat stages but there is only one per stage so imo more of them would make stages clearly more entertaining

 

[thehook]

Watch LA's Stages Podcast today. He touches on this subject. Great to hear.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

I haven't read the thread but there is an obvious solution. Just set up a big line of enormous fans (not the person type fan, but the wind-blowing type fan) at the side of the road throughout each stage to guarantee cross-wind all the time.

Glad you specified what type of fans you were talking about. I was really confused there for a moment. :lol:

In my excuse, it's kinda late...

 

[PlanZ]

Re:

I haven't read the thread but there is an obvious solution. Just set up a big line of enormous fans (not the person type fan, but the wind-blowing type fan) at the side of the road throughout each stage to guarantee cross-wind all the time.

Or maybe accept that it is what it is and maybe not watch the entire thing...

And maybe stop having nine flat stages in a Tour. That could also be an idea.

A purely financial decision; the more towns and villages they pass through, the greater the revenues.

 

[Akuryo]

Re:

I like what ITV4 have done, get a guest on the show and switch direction for an hour rather than just focus on a long and flat stage, also get he public to send in questions.
Yesterday it was Mick Bennett who organisers the Tour of Britain, it was good to hear the different aspects that go into organising a race. Today and tomorrow it's Mick Rogers, who obviously has lots of fascinating stories from his time in the peloton.

That is actually an easy but awesome idea. Just always different topics and opinions each day and not always the same casters who say the same stuff over and over.

 

[tobydawq]

What about more intermediate sprints on flat stages. The battle for points to get green is always one of the highlights on completely flat stages but there is only one per stage so imo more of them would make stages clearly more entertaining

Those golden kilometers they have in the Belgium Tour and the Eneco (sorry, Binckbank) Tour are quite fun. But the obvious problem with them is that the break of the day usually sweeps them up, which makes them much less interesting.

 

[DanielSong39]

- Eliminate the 3km rule
- Go back to the 1 second rule for packs and enforce the rule more consistently
- Create technical sections near the finish
- Remove circuits when possible

This would help create time gaps at the finish which might make the flat stages less boring.

 

[Netserk]

The last 500m should always be steep.

Downhill.

 

[HelloDolly]

Get a frikkin life and a Job and stop watching 5 hours a day at afternoon on a work day. Tune in for the last 30km and enjoy the sprint. God guys whinning about this gotta be the biggest losers in life. Seriously this beyond pathetic.

Gawd what an angry person you are ....must really hate your job, your life and everything

Maybe , just maybe this is a debate about improving what is full race coverage of very long boring stages ..whoever is watching and for however long

And which some people like to watch on their holidays , on their day off, before going to work or after coming home in Australia or US or UK

Maybe its about how the best race in the world should be just that
That people have a right to complain , debate , suggest , surmise without such ridiculous attacks

But you get back to reading the Daily Mail

 

[Breh]

Get a frikkin life and a Job and stop watching 5 hours a day at afternoon on a work day. Tune in for the last 30km and enjoy the sprint. God guys whinning about this gotta be the biggest losers in life. Seriously this beyond pathetic.

Gawd what an angry person you are ....must really hate your job, your life and everything

Maybe , just maybe this is a debate about improving what is full race coverage of very long boring stages ..whoever is watching and for however long

And which some people like to watch on their holidays , on their day off, before going to work or after coming home in Australia or US or UK

Maybe its about how the best race in the world should be just that
That people have a right to complain , debate , suggest , surmise without such ridiculous attacks

But you get back to reading the Daily Mail

I see what you did there.

 

[Lequack]

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re:

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

Nope, still incredibly boring.

They should just get rid of them, together with the Ardennes classics.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

Nope, still incredibly boring.

They should just get rid of them, together with the Ardennes classics.

Or you can stop watching them

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

Nope, still incredibly boring.

They should just get rid of them, together with the Ardennes classics.

I think that three week GT's need them, though it's a question of how many is too many?

People have short memories. The first week of the Tour 10-20 years ago was always more boring than today (even than this year). In some ways we should be grateful that we got such a good finish on stage 5.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

Nope, still incredibly boring.

They should just get rid of them, together with the Ardennes classics.

If you don't like the Ardennes, every soccer league in Europe is reaching its conclusion around that time of year.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

Nope, still incredibly boring.

They should just get rid of them, together with the Ardennes classics.

I think that three week GT's need them, though it's a question of how many is too many?

People have short memories. The first week of the Tour 10-20 years ago was always more boring than today (even than this year). In some ways we should be grateful that we got such a good finish on stage 5.

I agree it was worse in the past but that does not excuse ASO. The reason the Tour has boring first weeks is the Tour's appeal extends beyond the cycling community. The French scenery sells more TV rights than exciting racing. But there can be good TV pics in areas of France that aren't as flat as a pancake. That Kittel has won three stages already is an indictment.

 

[MightyWheelSucker]

It is hard to believe that Tour is watched by wider audience only if there is a few hours of views per day. Rio race had comparatevily huge audience in my country and many were surpriced that cycling can be such exciting. I suppose that Tour is watched rather by sports fans than random spectator. And sports fans are looking for competition after all. Figure skating is always lower audience than football.

 

[ihosama]

Re:

... sports fans are looking for competition after all. ...

This :exclaim:

 

[Lequack]

Introduce some other factors into the race. Like shooting in the biathlon, something similar that would change the course of the race in an instant. Or maybe the disallow drafting for certain parts of the course like in triathlon. Something like that could make even the flattest stages exciting.

 

[IndianCyclist]

cobbles wind

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

I have an idea. Just do the live coverage of the last 10km. There, instantly less boring stages. Works for any flat stage.

Nope, still incredibly boring.

They should just get rid of them, together with the Ardennes classics.

I think that three week GT's need them, though it's a question of how many is too many?

People have short memories. The first week of the Tour 10-20 years ago was always more boring than today (even than this year). In some ways we should be grateful that we got such a good finish on stage 5.

In the 80's was extremely boring first 9-10 days almost every time.

However things have changed and we have to change with them. Television, internet, coverage, HD. So now you cannot expect to broadcast 5 hours of a flat stage. It is just bad marketing. You can make it interesting and at the same time show the landscaping. Nothing wrong with that.