Most boring/ exciting Tour de France in last decade?

[wendybnt]

This Tour is odd as hell, and I can't make sense of it.

 

[bigcog]

2004, 2007 were entertaining, the chicken was great. 2012 was boring as hell apart from the Wiggins/Froome dust up, same for 2014 once Froome/Contador were out. Some of the 90's editions were good, although Big Mig's were generally tedious.

Think this one could really kick off in the alps, it aint over yet.

 

[Gigs_98]

My list:

2007 - had it all
2009 - Alberto vs Lance!
2006 - Hey as it happened it was awesome!
2010 - pins and needles as it happened
2011 - Evans rides like a champ
2014 - ok I like Nibali .
2008 - Ricco was exciting until he was tossed
2013 = No comment
2012 - YAWN.....
2005 - Disgusted throughout

2009 on second spot? Its your personal opinion but I am just very surprised

 

[Koba80]

Re:

Some of the 90's editions were good, although Big Mig's were generally tedious.

Christ, as savagely boring as they were, Armstrong's tours were the very measure of unpredictability vs Indurain's. Just Google Luxembourg TT.

 

[PremierAndrew]

My list:

2007 - had it all
2009 - Alberto vs Lance!
2006 - Hey as it happened it was awesome!
2010 - pins and needles as it happened
2011 - Evans rides like a champ
2014 - ok I like Nibali .
2008 - Ricco was exciting until he was tossed
2013 = No comment
2012 - YAWN.....
2005 - Disgusted throughout

2009 on second spot? Its your personal opinion but I am just very surprised

2007 & 2009 as the top two. Who won those? Now who is Carols' favourite rider? There you go

 

[movingtarget]

2006 and 2007 even with the controversies. 2010 was also very good and I wonder if Schleck had won 2010 on the road instead of on paper, would his career have turned out different ? I have never seen Contador so tired after a TT as after the final one in 2010, it was real match race that year and Schleck was probably a bit unlucky not to win. 2006 was just a bizarre race but very entertaining with a great final TT, Landis' android ride and the break that gave Perreiro over 20 minutes, it was a crazy race.

 

[auscyclefan94]

1. 2011
2. 2007
3. 2008
4. 2006
5. 2010
6. 2015
7. 2014
8. 2013
9. 2009
10. 2012

 

[WildspokeJoe]

2007 - Top 3 riders within a minute final time trial had real drama
2006 - Great battle with an epic stage win by Landis
2013 - First time in a long time the king of the mountain was really the KOM - Stage 13 was an amazing stage.
2015 - One of the best first weeks I can remember - really like the TTT later in the race

2014 - Loses some luster with no Contador or Froome but Nibbles was genius on the cobbles
2010 - A podium of 1 - Andy should have won on the road and not the lab
2009 - One team was far and away the strongest but Contador was SO strong

2008 - Meh
2011 - Andy was more concerned about getting his brother on the podium than winning the race himself
2012 - Zzzzzzzzzz

 

[The Hegelian]

I think of it in terms of 2 epochs:

That period - '07 to '11 was brilliant. A lot of interesting pretenders to the throne, a lot of drama, chaos, some close GC battles.

'12 to now has been pretty dire. I've lost interest pretty early on in all of them, including the one unfolding now.

 

[malakassis]

Re:

I think of it in terms of 2 epochs:

That period - '07 to '11 was brilliant. A lot of interesting pretenders to the throne, a lot of drama, chaos, some close GC battles.

'12 to now has been pretty dire. I've lost interest pretty early on in all of them, including the one unfolding now.

good one! so you r talking about post USPS pre sky-era! i hope the route designers learn and insert some real high mountain stages. iseran,galibier,izoard,bonette,agnel,tignes,cayolle,granon! we need stuff like that to put skyborgs back in their place

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Apart from that '09 was as boring as anything that's come since (including the 2012 Giro!!!) and the 2011 race sucked for 2/3 of it and featured racing in the Pyrenees almost as tame as 2009, where the final climbs were 60km from the line.

 

[SeriousSam]

I'll always look back at 2009 fondly because Armstrong was destroyed, but the race was horrible. Certainly one of the worst versions of the Tours I've watched.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'll always look back at 2009 fondly because Armstrong was destroyed, but the race was horrible. Certainly one of the worst versions of the Tours I've watched.

My overall summary of the 2009 Tour:

1: Exactly as anticipated. No problems here.
2: Worthless flat stage
3: The crosswinds gave us intrigue, so no problems here.
4: Awful, awful, awful. TTT that eliminated half the contenders, and meant that apart from Le Mevel, who got in the big week 2 break, the whole top 10 came from the top 4 TTT teams.
5: Worthless flat stage salvaged by TV Tommy and Saxo not caring about the chase.
6: Worthless flat stage salvaged by a more interesting final 2km thanks to the slight uphill, but it is the easiest route to Montjuïc.
7: Effectively a one-climb stage to the most dull MTF in the Tour, won from the break; no real action behind although Contador getting a few seconds to get ahead of Armstrong on the GC after Bruyneel's "who's ahead after one week?" posturing has value. Ag2r get the maillot jaune from the break, and Astana not having that responsibility paves the way for week 2 being absolutely diabolical.
8: An awful "high mountain" stage with a long flat run-in taken by the break with the best stagehunter in that break by far unsurprisingly winning. No action behind.
9: The worst designed stage possibly in the history of cycling. One of the key mountain stages, a weekend stage, and Grégory freaking Rast leads the bunch over the Tourmalet. Óscar Freire and José Joaquín Rojas sprint for 3rd in a high mountain stage from a sizable group. It would have been for the win if Caisse had had a bit of help as Fédrigo and Pellizotti only just held on.
10: Worthless flat stage
11: Worthless flat stage
12: Break takes it more or less uncontested. Nicki Sørensen wins easily. No action behind other than Levi Leipheimer crashing, which is unanimously agreed is the most interesting thing he's done in 2009.
13: A well-designed stage (first of the race... 2nd arguably because of La Grande-Motte). Haussler somehow climbs over several cat.1 and 2 climbs in the Vosges to win solo by a mile. Amets Txurruka and Brice Feillu spend hours in a hopeless chasse-patate. No action behind. Thor Hushovd gets upset with Peter Velits sprinting for a placement.
14: A godawful weekend stage with a flat stage where the break is allowed to take it by about 15 minutes because Lance wants to give George Hincapie a day in yellow. HTC are torn between the need to keep the gap to the break high for Hincapie and the need to lead out Cavendish in the sprint battle. Cavendish gets demoted for irregular sprinting, causing outcry and tantrums. Sergei Ivanov wins the stage, and everybody raises an eyebrow as they didn't even realise Катюша were in the race.
15: A one-climb stage to a pretty easy MTF, Contador stamps his authority on the race and breaks the VAM record. Nothing happens until the last half hour, then Contador rides off and that's that. Bradley Wiggins drops Lance Armstrong.
16: A strong first half of the stage ruined by the very dull tempo grinding final climb. Harmon makes jokes about Valverde as they enter Italy. A large break goes. A second group goes. The leaders ride across to it. Armstrong puts a show of power to ride over to Contador and Schleck in that group. The group then sits up and everybody waits for Dave freaking Zabriskie to lead them to the finish. Mikel Astarloza wins from the break and is super happy because he's not won a race in years and has been one of the few people really trying in the race. He tests positive for EPO.
17: One of the finest stage designs Christian Prudhomme has ever greenlit, and the best thing about this Tour by far. The group is shredded by the time they get to the final two climbs, and fans with no radio signal on the Saisies and Aravis are completely baffled as the first rider they see is Thor Hushovd in a day long solo escapade to get the maillot vert points in the intermediates. Cav concedes defeat. Sastre initiates hostilities in a futile attempt to get some dignity out of his Tour defence. Wiggins is finally dropped. Armstrong fans throw a hissy fit about Contador trying to win the race, even though Klöden was stronger than Lance anyway.
18: Contador wins the TT ahead of a peak strength Cancellara. The GC is set.
19: A moderately interesting stage with the final climb proving tougher than anticipated but attacks not gaining steam. The finest win of Mark Cavendish's career from a racing perspective, if not from a profile perspective.
20: Ventoux's legacy is eroded somewhat by a dull stage where the GC is settled, Schleck rides to protect his brother, Contador rides to protect Lance, only Franco Pellizotti tries to catch the break and Tony Martin nearly wins.
21: Worthless flat stage.

 

[Miburo]

Can you do this for the last 10 tours libertine? Was a fun read

 

[WheelofGear]

Call me a nostalgic, but I miss the Contador vs. Schleck years. Post-2012 seems more sterile and controlled.

2010
2006
2009
2007
2011
----
2013
2008
2014
2015


----


2012 (Perhaps the worst Tour ever? Even worse than the Armstrong days)

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

Can you do this for the last 10 tours libertine? Was a fun read

Yup, great read. Then again, clearly would take a lot of time, and you always seem to put in a huge amount of effort into each of your posts, so don't bother if you're busy

 

[SergeDeM]

I enjoy most tours, even 2009.

I must say though that 2012 was the worst thing ever to happen. I'd rather scratch that from history than the Armstrong years

 

[Dazed and Confused]

In hindsight the Schleck brothers seems ridiculous aggressive compared to the the hyped up Fab 4 (minus 1).
Pathetic GC racing on on the Mende stage today,

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

2011 race sucked for 2/3 of it

And the one week that was good actually (better say 2 stages) balloned it to the best for some. I just dont get it. As you said in another thread, a Dauphine week doesnt make a GT (something like that).

2011... the worst ever TdF I saw, and in a tie for all time worst GTs (the 2012 Giro being the other).

 

[Flamin]

Libertine, you didn't just do that out of your memory, did you?

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

2011 race sucked for 2/3 of it

And the one week that was good actually (better say 2 stages) balloned it to the best for some. I just dont get it. As you said in another thread, a Dauphine week doesnt make a GT (something like that).

2011... the worst ever TdF I saw, and in a tie for all time worst GTs (the 2012 Giro being the other).

Worse than the 2012 Tour? I remember how frustrating it was to watch the 2012 Giro, I really hoped that the Tour would be better, but that was hands down the worst GT that I ever saw.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Libertine, you didn't just do that out of your memory, did you?

The only thing I had to look up was which stage Sørensen won and which one Ivanov won, as I knew they'd both won easily from the break being allowed to go. Week 2 I'm a bit hazy on as that was all stages where Astana just helped Ag2r keep the break to the right distance all week until the HTC train could take over and we were reduced to pretending to be excited when Pellizotti outsprinted Egoi Martínez at the mountaintops of cat.2 and 3 climbs in the fight for the polka dots when everybody knew Pellizotti was the stronger sprinter of the two anyway. Weeks 1 and 3 are burnt in my mind indelibly as images of what cycling can be at its worst, while week 2 was so dull I couldn't even manage that.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Libertine, you didn't just do that out of your memory, did you?

Did you really have to ask that.

LS has by far the best rants on this forum, or any cycling forum

 

[Red Rick]

The 2011 Tour is by far the best 1 week stage race I have ever seen btw

 

[ray j willings]

Wiggins tour was fantastic, such a close race between him and the rest of Sky.