Is this year's Tour exciting enough?

[ZebuDogFish]

I only ask because despite the cobbles, ASO don't seem to have been as adventurous as they were in 2008, according to this article.

I think we need the lava stage and candy store stage back.

 

[hiero2]

huh?

Huh? This is the wildest Tour I've seen since that Voeckler took the yellow on a daring break! I've watched every Tour televised since we started getting them - and I've still got Greg's Tours on video tape somewhere - but they've been sitting around for so many years, the tapes are probably bad. Except I didn't watch Big Mig's tours - I think only the first of those got tv coverage over here, and I was busy with other things - like life, and career - for those years.

 

[David Suro]

This TdF has been an exciting race. There are several reasons:

The overall GC is a heated battle between two great riders on two great teams. Schleck's attacking style on the important climbs and Contador's resistance to them has been fun to watch.

The green jersey competition has seen the resurgence of a surprising Pettachi, the consistency of Thor, and the lack of dominance of Cavendish (though he has looked dominant in his two stage wins).

The cobbles brought about the sad collapse of Frank Schleck and the surprising form of his brother, Andy.

Armstrong has been a fallable and unlucky competitor.

Vino has returned as the unpredictable attacker that he is.

Evans has been a proud carrier of the Rainbow Jersey, even with a fractured arm.

The only part that has sucked is the rash of crashes on the stage with the oil slick that saw Cancellara call for a neutralization. I have deep sympathy for all of the riders who fell in such unprecendented conditions.

Even the race for third is exciting. Menchov vs. the Basques. Classic racing.

 

[180mmCrank]

It's been great. Some proper racing and more to come! It's all still in the balance...

 

[pedaling squares]

David and 180mm summed it up perfectly. This has been a very entertaining tour thus far and there is promise of much more to come. Too bad about Frank Schleck's injury, he may have injected another exciting element into the race. Then again, maybe his absence will help Andy focus only on himself instead of joint accomplishments. This reminds me a little of the excitement of the '03 tour, although the favourite is a little behind instead of a little ahead. There is a line between designing an exciting and challenging course and making this a circus, and I think they have done a fine job on this one. I thought that stage 9 would be a wash due to the distance between the mountain top and the finish line. Wasn't I wrong? My only complaint to date is the decision to neutralize the finish to stage 2. I thought the sprinters who were at the front and avoided the mass pileup had earned their place and deserved to fight for points.

EDIT: Cafe section?

 

[usedtobefast]

i am sad that Lance is out of the picture for gc. he was going well and it would have been fun to watch the battle. still lot's of racing left and nothing is decided. and go Alejet!

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Moving to the appropriate sub-forum.

Susan

 

[offbyone]

The first week was great, but now we have a 2 man race for the next 10 days. I wouldn't exactly call that result exciting. Sure the final ITT will most likely still be decisive, but considering the number of serious GC contenders that started the race it isn't the result I would have liked.

 

[ZebuDogFish]

Check the link!

I only ask because of a story on The Onion website I linked to in my post which talks about an exciting underwater stage they held a few years back. It included 'electric seaweed, underwater volcanoes, cyclist-trapping bubble fountains, carnivorous plants, man-eating fish, and electric eels', from which the older Schleck emerged in a soaked Maillot Jaune. Sounds pretty cool no?

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think giro 2010 is still better. It is going to be very hard to top that imo.

 

[Mellow Velo]

This TDF has had two very good stages, two pretty decent stages and six snoozefests.
Yesterday, a rough calculation of the peloton average stage speed is 32.8kph.
Yeah, thrilling stuff.

No, when the dust has settled and folks calm down, they will realise that this Tour is little better than average.

Doesn't hold a candle to the 2010 Giro.

 

[eljimberino]

Even this forum had more life in it during the Giro.

 

[top_tenz_finish]

Hahaha top stuff from the Onion as usual, well done to all those who didn't click the link and/or missed the point...!

 

[ingsve]

I only ask because despite the cobbles, ASO don't seem to have been as adventurous as they were in 2008, according to this article.

I think we need the lava stage and candy store stage back.

The underwater stage in the Tour will be back in 2011 though I'm not sure how much electric seaweed there is at Passage de Gois...

 

[movingtarget]

So far, better than last year except for the neutralised stage nonsense. The main negative for me would be the disappearance of and injuries to, re the lost chances of so many of the good riders so early in the race. You expect some and not this many.

Best stages so far have been the cobbles and the Madeleine stage. Still think the Giro was better up to the same stage. Strangely the Giro had been all rain and cold while the Tour has been all heat. Energy sapping both ways.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Hahaha top stuff from the Onion as usual, well done to all those who didn't click the link and/or missed the point...!

.....and well done to you, for not reading that Susan had merged two threads.
Some off us were replying to that, not the Onion piece, which wasn't there to read.
Having now read it, yes haha.

 

[kurtinsc]

This TDF has had two very good stages, two pretty decent stages and six snoozefests.
Yesterday, a rough calculation of the peloton average stage speed is 32.8kph.
Yeah, thrilling stuff.

No, when the dust has settled and folks calm down, they will realise that this Tour is little better than average.

Doesn't hold a candle to the 2010 Giro.

This year's Giro was one of the best grand tours I've ever seen. Comparing the tour to that is a bit unfair. Overall I think it's been pretty solid this year. Stages 3, 8 and 9 were very entertaining. The prologe was a TT.. it is what it is. Stage 2 looked like it could have been fun but the peloton sat up. The sprint stages (1, 4, 5, 6) were sprint stages... you got exactly what is expected... group sprints with a possibility of crashes. The letdowns have been 7 (very little agression in a mountain stage) and 10 (rolling rest day).

 

[Mellow Velo]

This year's Giro was one of the best grand tours I've ever seen. Comparing the tour to that is a bit unfair. Overall I think it's been pretty solid this year. Stages 3, 8 and 9 were very entertaining. The prologe was a TT.. it is what it is. Stage 2 looked like it could have been fun but the peloton sat up. The sprint stages (1, 4, 5, 6) were sprint stages... you got exactly what is expected... group sprints with a possibility of crashes. The letdowns have been 7 (very little agression in a mountain stage) and 10 (rolling rest day).

I'm not saying it's a bad edition, but a little better than average.
As you say, for the most part, we have got excatly what we were expecting.
I'm hoping for a bit of the unexpected, tomorrow, as the peloton trudge across the melting tar (40C possible forecast) of the heavy, Tarn roads and the Mende ramp finish.

 

[ErmOkk]

I'm not saying it's a bad edition, but a little better than average.
As you say, for the most part, we have got excatly what we were expecting.
I'm hoping for a bit of the unexpected, tomorrow, as the peloton trudge across the melting tar (40C possible forecast) of the heavy, Tarn roads and the Mende ramp finish.

I look forward to tommorow too, lets hope AC puts up a dance on the wall and makes the peloton break apart into a man to man battle!

 

[top_tenz_finish]

.....and well done to you, for not reading that Susan had merged two threads.
Some off us were replying to that, not the Onion piece, which wasn't there to read.
Having now read it, yes haha.

Sorry my mistake! I thought she had just moved the thread whole

 

[Dewulf]

I think giro 2010 is still better. It is going to be very hard to top that imo.

yeup. though definitely better than last year, the Giro got inventive with stages in the strade bianche, and an uphill TT with serious gradients, that also had strade bianche. Oh and a TTT.

This years TdF had the cobbles (which rocked), and the ardennes roller derby oil slick stage (exciting, but for all the wrong reasons really). A couple of good mountain stages (which woke me up), but otherwise....ay ay ay, if i hear paul sherwen say "people often ask me why do riders go in a breakaway...well..(bla bla bla)"...i mean it was already boring, did he have to make it worse??

 

[flicker]

I think giro 2010 is still better. It is going to be very hard to top that imo.

I do not understand. How is it possible to compare TdU Giro TdF ToC Crit Intr Vuelta does not make si=ense to compare. Different riders and styles courses etc.

 

[Arnout]

I think so. I am thoroughly enjoying the Tour and I watched every stage till now. The most important thing is that most stages have their own story. I mean, you cannot expect the GC riders to go for it every day, especially in the heat. But every day there was excitement, the first days because of the Holland trip and the fact that Petacchi was winning again in beautiful fashion, after that the comeback of Cav and some interesting sprint finishes, the courage of Chavanel, the failure of Lance and Cadel (various, understandable reasons, but still) and of course that epic Madeleine stages which is in my mind one of the best I've ever seen.

The second week is always difficult in the Tour. Last year it was a disaster, this year it looks more promising, especially tomorrow in Mendes.

Its early to say, but yes, I think this is a very good Tour de France.

 

[Zerak-Tul]

I think it's been good. Exciting racing on the cobbles, hotly contested sprints, mountain and points jerseys are very close. Yellow has changed shoulders several times (Both ITT WC and Road WC have held it). Daring wins for French riders, always fun to see. Contador hasn't locked it down tight yet, which helps, but I suspect he still will easily, Schleck just isn't good enough in the ITT.

Imagine if AC/AS weren't in the race, riders 3 through 12 are within 3 minutes of each other, that's amazingly close. Of course, baring some unforeseen events it seems like it's a 2-pony race for the overall win. But the way Contador has been riding the last few years I'm just happy to see that it's not a 1-man show (yet).

Good tour so far, better than a lot of recent ones.

 

[US Patent Exploding Cyclist]

@flicker

I don't think it is impossible to compare the Giro, Tour, and Vuelta. They are the three GTs; they should be compared. The other races do not belong in that list.

To compare the quality of fields and racing between the three Grand Tours is what should be done. Otherwise, what is the point of changing the route, adding in cobbles, dirt roads and the like? The comparison between the races is what keeps them changing and interesting.

Plus it gives us another thing to complain about when the riders phone in the stages.

"There weren't any transition stages in the Giro, every stage was awesome!"