King of the Mountains - huh?

[nicholaaaas]

The King of the Mountains jersey classification is somewhat of a joke and definitely a misnomer. It used to be that whoever was the best climber used to win it but last few years have rendered that untrue. This year in particular though is a bigger joke than usual due to the proliferation of a lot of HC and Tier 1 climbs long way from the finish. They should rename it King of the Breakaway.

The top 6 in the King of the Mountain classification at the moment.

1 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 143 pts
2 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 128
3 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 99
4 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 93
5 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step 92
6 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 82

What a joke. These guys are probably not even the best 20 climbers in the tour.

The Solution.

The Tour needs to keep all the HC climbs and the toughest climbs of the day as the last climbs and close to the finish or a mountain-top finish. Mountain top finish is better but a 20 km descent is ok too. None of this 60 km flats after 2 HC climbs nonsense.

With all HC climbs as mountain top finishes, the best would automatically pull the breakaway in, and the GC contenders will have incentives to go for stage wins as well, and the best mountain climbers would actually be wearing the polka dot.

I would have been happy if Contador or Schleck or Menchov or Sanchez etc etc were wearing the polka dot. They might even compete each other for it in addition to podium positions. At the moment this is a joke.

Anyone complaining about how the points go in the Green Jersey of the KOM: turn off your tv/internet feed. you are not a real fan. Sorry you never heard of the KOM winner. But I found the battle pretty interesting. What the f is wrong with letting a domestique get a little fame and make some money in the post-tour crits? I mean hell... if mountain stages counted the same as flat stages and the KOM would be as you say... the top 5 would win both catagories no question. Oh no I never heard of that guy before... therefore I have no interest. Go home