Once again the TdF promises much...

[BroDeal]

...and delivers little.

Someone needs to tell the new management to stop trying to engineer a "down to the wire" finish.

 

[Big GMaC]

...and delivers little.

Someone needs to tell the new management to stop trying to engineer a "down to the wire" finish.

Bro, they just needed Tommy D in there to mix up the GC

 

[BroDeal]

Bro, they just needed Tommy D in there to mix up the GC

I am not sure if whale blubber would keep in a jersey pocket.

 

[ansimi]

I found this Tour to be lacking joy and spark. The sun was shining and France looked beautiful but most of the riders looked so miserable. I hope they'll be happier in the run in to Paris and that everybody left makes it to the end.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

giro >>>> tour

for how many years in a row now?? at least from 2007 and before that most giro's were better also with the greatest gt I ever saw giro 2005

 

[El Pistolero]

Well, when was the last time a Grand Tour had rivals that were just as good as each other like Schleck and Contador(except tting)? That's probably why some find it boring. Take Schleck away from this Tour for example and Contador would have attacked on a lot of mountain stages for the victory.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Well, when was the last time a Grand Tour had rivals that were just as good as each other like Schleck and Contador(except tting)? That's probably why some find it boring. Take Schleck away from this Tour for example and Contador would have attacked on a lot of mountain stages for the victory.

actually that made it exciting for me. I liked this tour but the giro this year was so awesome that nothing can compete. I will never forget watching that dirt stage with vino. It still gives me random orgasms.

 

[Moondance]

The Top two guys are 8 seconds apart going into the final TT.

How much more exciting can you get?

 

[Mellow Velo]

The latest tradition of the Tour, is that it sucks, big time.
How come these guys consistently deliver the best week stage race of the year, with Paris-Nice?

Size certainly isn't everything.

The Top two guys are 8 seconds apart going into the final TT.

How much more exciting can you get?

That's a sound argument to have 20, pan flat stages, but not much to do with the race's potential to deliver exciting and unpredictable action.

 

[ilillillli]

all things considered this one wasn't so bad. in fact, i think it's probably been the best one since 2003. saying that will probably get me into trouble. whatever. if (and i'm not trying to start a separate argument) contador would've waited for schleck and there was still a 30 second gap, this thing would be pretty thrilling up until saturday's itt.

i think the thing to look forward to is andy and frank leaving bjarne riis behind next year. that'll almost surely result in more than one "free to fly" day per year, which i believe is all riis will allow.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This year's Tour has been a very good two week race followed by a typical "win the TT, win the race" one week race.

Prestige: Tour > Giro > Vuelta
Racing: Giro > Vuelta > Tour

 

[El Pistolero]

I wonder what Schleck will do at the Vuelta. Frank says he's going to ride for his brother in the Vuelta because of his injury.

Could one of the two win it? This is going to be one of the most difficult Vuelta's in recent times though, so I expect a lot from it.

 

[roundabout]

Nope, Fränk won't be in form because of his injury and Andy is one GT a year rider (for now at least).

 

[Francois the Postman]

It wouldn't be so bad if the "building up to a crescendo" didn't turn out to be the actual crescendo.

It looks like there is simply too much at stake for teams in the Tour. It flips quickly from racing to gain to racing to consolidate. The first things that gets struck off the list is anything that looks like slightly risky to the current team situation tends. Thus the attacking strategies that we are treated to aee always found in these race strategy left-overs.

That never adds up to the greatest show on earth. And it hasn't done so for a while now.

You'd think that in an era where the riders have more and more the chance to become stage race specialists it would get more exciting near the top, but the reverse seems to be the case.

It's all far too managed from utterly predictable hand books that just breed monotony. From stage planning to in-race responses.

Still, I probably blame earpieces more than anything. Total information certainty, and instant reactions to everything, seems to kill the benefits of anything vaguely surprising. And its surprise that brings entertainment more than anything.

Too few riders do the really stupid things that made previous eras so entertaining. Bring back the team leaders that drive their entire team in the ground on the first stage they can get their hands on, just to prove a point.

Maybe the way that riders can flow so easily between teams too. Most of the potential weaknesses are covered for a decent price. Or breed hyper team-specialization, deflating the ambitious plans of others to target something less predictable.

The only way they can save the TdF is if they don't announce what the next stage will look like until they hit the start line. A road map for all riders, no earpieces, no getting to know every inch of a mountain three months in advance. There you go, here is the map, you lot figure it out. Especially if some of those finishing roads are a bit narrower and less motorway straight than is the "10k TdF standard". Drop and give me 100 push-ups for anyone who uses words that start with "neutra" and end with "lized". Or for "OK, I'm so sorry, you can have this one" people.

And next year no Vino either. Please tell me one of his young kids has been given a bike for his birthday?

 

[The Hitch]

bro deals idea of giving more money for combativity award.

Perhaps they should only give money for wearing the yellow jersey on the first day, but once a rider has the mj for more than 1 day, stop paying the team prizes. Would stop the defensive riding.

Then give all the money saved to the combativity award.

 

[El Pistolero]

Nope, Fränk won't be in form because of his injury and Andy is one GT a year rider (for now at least).

Yeah, but Frank already said he will ride for his brother, he's not going for the win I guess. I think Andy has a change if he's really going for it. Or perhaps it's just preparation for the World road championship.

 

[Biffins]

giro >>>> tour

for how many years in a row now?? at least from 2007 and before that most giro's were better also with the greatest gt I ever saw giro 2005

The problem with that statement is that the Giro doesn't have the best riders in the world. The Tour does.

A close finish in the Tour of Georgia won't make it the best race in the world.

 

[zapata]

The problem with that statement is that the Giro doesn't have the best riders in the world. The Tour does.

A close finish in the Tour of Georgia won't make it the best race in the world.

From the viewpoint of a spectator, having the best riders in the world doesn't necessarily make for a great race. On the contrary, it can almost seem. The two best climbers in the world are unable to outclimb each other, and it inevitably comes down to the TT, where one is clearly superior. The rest of them are to scared to take a risk, because it's the TDF, everyone's watching, so better to be conservative than risk failure. (apropos: chapeau to Sastre today..doomed from the start, but nice to see him try)

This year the tour of turkey, to me, was probably more watchable than the tour de france. The Giro most certainly.

 

[Anonymous]

There was that scintillating Team competition...

 

[hfer07]

Sometimes we tend to blame the organizers & the parcours when the Tour turns that less entertaining than we the fans hope for, but I have to agree with Prodhomme when he says that it's up to the protagonists-the riders-to generate the painting and they(TDF organizers) can only provide the canvas--- this year, the parcours was more exiting, more challenging and at the end AC & AS just kind of accompanied each other throughout the race, even with the chain ring gate-at the end it didn't change anything at all..
I'm a true believer that one of the solutions most come from the reduction of riders per team and by default, the inclusion of more teams, so the peloton would find a balance in the pace making & generate more breakaways & attack motivation will grow. time bonuses are plus & I would suggest some time bonuses at the summit of the climbs....

 

[zapata]

And to the one who said "if you don't like it, don't watch it": I did indeed skip a lot more stages this year than I have before, but I'll always watch the big stages, because it's the Tour de France, the first race I knew about, and I really want it to be good. That's the whole reason I'm so disappointed when it turns out like it does. But I'll keep watching.

 

[tifosa]

The Top two guys are 8 seconds apart going into the final TT. How much more exciting can you get?

but I have to agree with Prodhomme when he says that it's up to the protagonists-the riders-to generate the painting and they(TDF organizers) can only provide the canvas

The Tour is 21 days of racing. However, the modern methodology of winning the Tour is to only target key stages, then pray for an amazing result in the ITT thus ensuring victory. Contador has not won a single stage (much like Armstrong did in past Tours). It's boring to watch. It's calculated to the extreme. The Tour has become a tradition with infinite potential to inspire, but it morphs into bad theatre that lacks inspiration, heart, and soul. The story line is there - but nothing happens to move the plot along.

Where is Hinault when you need him?

 

[Wattie]

I'm inclined to agree that the tour is often a let down and this one, despite much promise, has also fizzled out. It seems to me that maybe it is down to the dull and unimaginative tactics of the teams. All the main protagonists seem to do is try to keep it together until the last climb then put domestiques on the front to set a high pace and slowly thin the lead group out until with a not many K to go someone attacks and gets marked. They seem to leave the attacks until so late that there isn't much chance of gaining a big advantage anyway. This was exactly what we saw today and frankly one knew it wouldn't work for Schleck. What I don't see (and haven't for a number of years) is tactical variety, it seems that the aforementioned approach is the only one anyone dare use. Is it because they are afraid of risking defeat? Maybe it is race radios that somehow encourage negative or predictable tactics. Why don't major GC riders attack on the penultimate climb, or at the foot of the final climb? (that is how Sastre won the Tour on Alpe D'Huez). Why didn't, for example, Rabobank try sending Gesink up the road quite early on one of the Pyrenean stages? Sure it probably wouldn't have worked, but it would have caused teams to respond and to rethink their tactics, to improvise and adapt. Somehow racing tactics have ossified into total orthodoxy that results in predictable and unexciting racing. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, the likes of Merckx, Hinault, Fignon, and so forth didn't race so predictably.

 

[Von Mises]

Sometimes we tend to blame the organizers & the parcours when the Tour turns that less entertaining than we the fans hope for, but I have to agree with Prodhomme when he says that it's up to the protagonists-the riders-to generate the painting and they(TDF organizers) can only provide the canvas--- this year, the parcours was more exiting, more challenging and at the end AC & AS just kind of accompanied each other throughout the race, even with the chain ring gate-at the end it didn't change anything at all..
I'm a true believer that one of the solutions most come from the reduction of riders per team and by default, the inclusion of more teams, so the peloton would find a balance in the pace making & generate more breakaways & attack motivation will grow. time bonuses are plus & I would suggest some time bonuses at the summit of the climbs....

Indeed. Personally I think that parkour of the Tour is fine. Riders are those who are making race interesting. But here comes the problem comparing Giro and Tour.

You cannot win Tour coming from beach (as Contador did in Giro) or come Top 3 in Tour coming from beach (as Nibali did recently). One reason why Giro is more interesting is because its field is weaker, there are more surprises, forms are fluctuating, riders are ready to take more risks (hell, it is just a Giro, not a tour) etc.
But all are trying to peak for the Tour, there is so much in stake, less risk taking, less fluctuation in form, conservative riding etc. In some way Tour is a victim of its own size.

 

[zapata]

But this year was pretty exciting compared to most years. So I'm wondering what year you actually DID like?

You thought so? Good for you.