How would you rate the first week of TDF 2017

[Valv.Piti]

Do we actually realise how ironic it is that Prudhomme has tried to tailor-make the route for pure sprinters to be able to contest the green jersey. Then Sagan was shown the door and its even more meaningless now. What a tool. Prudhomme, that is

2/10 at the very best. The 2 best riders in the world have been eliminated and the racing has been incredibly stale.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re:

The 2 best riders in the world have been eliminated and the racing has been incredibly stale.

Yes, Durbridge and Izaguirre will be missed.

 

[Jericho]

I wasn't going to give it an exact figure rating, but let's just say it has not gone well. We'll leave it at that. Like many, I found the route very underwhelming to begin with. Which doesn't mean the Tour itself has to be overwhelming, but we need things to happen to overcome the lackluster route. Unfortunately, virtually every major event that has happened went the other way. The rain on the first day seemed to do no more than serve as an excuse to neuter the stage and cause injuries. It seemed several top candidates went conservative (most notably Porte) and the end result was Chris Froome gaining at least a half minute on all major contenders. On a Tour designed to have such few stages to gain time, this was a huge blow towards a competitive yellow jersey. Not good if you were rooting for some drama in the GC or at least not a runaway. And we lost Alejando Valverde, one of the sport's most exciting riders, to injury. On the one "contenders" stage, we also saw Contador and Quintana lose time. Neither are exactly shocks. But I know some hoped that Contador had one last great ride in him or that Quintana could somehow be competitive for the overall win despite riding the Giro and having a route that really didn't suit him. Neither happened, which just further harms the chance of anyone threatening Froome.

The sprints have been dominated by Kittel. He won 3 and only lost the other one because he got held up in the crash. I suppose you could look at it as a positive or a negative. Some like to see domination. Others like to see variety. Personally, I prefer the latter, even though I respect the former.

And finally, I have not touched the huge news of week one. Which was the DQ of Peter Sagan. No matter what your opinion is on the matter, The Tour is without one of it's best riders. And this time is was by choice of UCI, not by a fall. The overwhelming opinion by those involved in the sport seems to be that the punishment is not proportional to the "crime" and on the whole the decision to disqualify him seems deeply flawed. In the end, it just seems to hurt the sport.

I'm stealing someone else's post on this, but it was said:

Froome is going to win yellow. Who cares about the Green it's tainted and undeserved no matter who wins it. White nobody ever really cares and the polka dot only Cannondale cares about and they won't get it anyway.

Which is super pessimistic, but probably true for the most part. Only a competitive GC will likely save this Tour from being extremely disappointing

 

[movingtarget]

I give it a 5 but the best is yet to come I hope.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

2/10

+1 for Demare
+1 for Aru

I won't bother with negative points as I'd end up with a negative double digit mark

I agree with this.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Re:

3/10

This:

.... Sky will dominate, put a noose around the race, lock down GC, have everyone else ride for their position in the top 10, and that's it.'

It has become a serious waste of time. There's much great about the season - none of it happens in July.

And this:

Froome is going to win yellow. Who cares about the Green it's tainted and undeserved no matter who wins it. White nobody ever really cares and the polka dot only Cannondale cares about and they won't get it anyway.

Which is super pessimistic, but probably true for the most part. Only a competitive GC will likely save this Tour from being extremely disappointing

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

1000/10 season of Richie.

 

[Robert5091]

Kirby's words of wisdom are reason enough to tune in ...

 

[Alexandre B.]

Much more eventful than Giro's first week. Without a doubt.

 

[joe_papp]

Re:

Do we actually realise how ironic it is that Prudhomme has tried to tailor-make the route for pure sprinters to be able to contest the green jersey. Then Sagan was shown the door and its even more meaningless now. What a tool. Prudhomme, that is

2/10 at the very best. The 2 best riders in the world have been eliminated and the racing has been incredibly stale.

Piti you know better than anyone how distraught I was after Bala's horrific crash. But going beyond that, as a fan, I just don't find the Tour de France as compelling and engaging as the Giro.

Sure, TdF is global media circus and an event that transcends cycling, but maybe that's part of the problem for me - especially when the actual racing itself is compromised by boring, dull stage routes planned to maximize revenue for the organizer; terrible, biased officiating (made all the more blatant by the race promoter's collusion w/ the UCI and certain favored teams to eliminate a charismatic, iconoclastic rider who dominated one of the high-profile secondary jersey classifications for half a decade now); and crashes caused in part by disregard for rider safety that have eliminated some of the best contenders for GC and stage wins. So much hype and profit-seeking by the organizers that the actual sporting drama is smothered.

Honestly though, I haven't really enjoyed watching the Tour since 1989, although Vino's stage win to Revel in 2010 was a bright spot. But this is certainly one of the worst and least-inspiring opening weeks of a Grand Tour in the post-Fuentes era.

 

[TMP402]

A lot of effort spent for not much gain, typified by today, the gap between 1st and 2nd only changing by 6 seconds after such a monster stage.

 

[joe_papp]

Re:

Kirby's words of wisdom are reason enough to tune in ...

Like when he posited that Quintana would be "smiling" when he learned of his teammate's season-ending, knee-shattering crash in the opening TT?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

A lot of effort spent for not much gain, typified by today, the gap between 1st and 2nd only changing by 6 seconds after such a monster stage.

The reason for this is obvious. It was a stage about the last climb, because of how hard the MdC is, and because of all the flat afterward, no solo move was gonna make it.

 

[CatsNK]

So-so thus far. Even the scenery has been lacking - the Giro has far superior scenery, thus far anyway. The only drama in this TdF seems to be the soap opera stuff - Sagan, Aru. Too much inside baseball if you ask me. The bright spot for me is that on NBC Gold it's ad-free and I don't have to listen to Phil and Paul, which is heavenly.

 

[Mozart92]

6/10

Considering that the queen stage of this year's tour looks like a joke compared to the Giro's one, I must praise the riders for turning such a poorly designed GT into good entertainment.

http://cdn2.cyclist.co.uk/sites/cyclist/files/styles/gallery_adv/public/2017/05/giro_ditalia_2017_stage_16_1_profile.jpg?itok=dImNdtAI

http://src.media.cyclingnews.com/2016/10/18/1/tour_de_france_2017_stage_9.jpg

 

[BYOP88]

Wait they've had the first week already?


0/10.

 

[Tonton]

I'd gee tempted to give it a 8 and make Netserk nuts , but the way the design is, there wasn't much to expect until today, with PDBF as an appetizer. 4/10, not more. The confirmation that Demare is a top-tier sprinter was cool, Aru in PDBF was excellent, Calmejane was great, today was a little bit of a bummer if it wasn't for the Porte accident, which makes Dawg's stocks soar, Barguil's awesome performance, Bardet/AG2R fighting spirit...and the grim realization for Contador's fans that time has taken its toll. And the obvious: Giro+Tour= failure. Quintana and Pinot were ghosts...4 but it's backloaded, it could still be a great TdF. Without Bala, Porte, even with GT done, the winner today was Froome.

 

[portugal11]

I'd gee tempted to give it a 8 and make Netserk nuts , but the way the design is, there wasn't much to expect until today, with PDBF as an appetizer. 4/10, not more. The confirmation that Demare is a top-tier sprinter was cool, Aru in PDBF was excellent, Calmejane was great, today was a little bit of a bummer if it wasn't for the Porte accident, which makes Dawg's stocks soar, Barguil's awesome performance, Bardet/AG2R fighting spirit...and the grim realization for Contador's fans that time has taken its toll. And the obvious: Giro+Tour= failure. Quintana and Pinot were ghosts...4 but it's backloaded, it could still be a great TdF. Without Bala, Porte, even with GT done, the winner today was Froome.

The confirmation that demare is a top sprinter lmao ahahah
Greipel, kristoff and cav are nowhere near to be in top shape. His win is illegal, should be relegated. He is not a top sprinter, kittel beat him very easily 3 days ago