Poor overall route & anti climactic stages

[dse1969]

I think the ASO tried hard to orchestrate a close GC battle with the hope that it would be decided on Mt Ventoux in the penultimate stage. Unfortunately, many of the other stages they programmed in ensured this wouldn't happen.
My main issues are with the TTT and the stages that include epic mountains but are then neutralised due the distance from the top to the finish.
I love a TTT to be included but it certainly is disappointing when it leaves large gaps between the GC contenders. Include a TTT but run it like the Giro did for their first stage so that it can be a spectacle but not ruin the GC battle. The Giro Stage 1 was over a sensible 20k course that didn't put rider’s race at risk & only had 1min 37 between the first & last team!
Stage 9 in effect neutralised what is one of the great mountains, the Tourmalet - very disappointing.
One final point, I would love to see the stage into Paris actually mean something rather than a banal precession until the last lap. Bring back an individual TT or throw in a mountain but please give us 21 stages, not 20!

 

[Clemson Cycling]

Cav didn't help with the sprint stages.

 

[scribe]

Fewer pure group sprint stages would be nice.

 

[dse1969]

Cav didn't help with the sprint stages.

I'm a big fan of sprint stages but lets not get quality mountain stages mixed up as sprint stage options. Cav & his leadout train were a highlight of the Tour for me. Infact his win on stage 19 when he was able to stay with the bunch over the cat 2 climb near the end I thought was the ride of the tour - it definately emphasised his maturity.

While on Cav, it would have been good to see him in green in Paris. I wonder if any other sprinter has won 6 stages, made it to Paris & not been in green?? Great job to Thor. He did what he had to do but again, it would be nice to see a bloke that can win 6 stages on the way to Paris wear green on the last day.

 

[runninboy]

I'm a big fan of sprint stages but lets not get quality mountain stages mixed up as sprint stage options. Cav & his leadout train were a highlight of the Tour for me. Infact his win on stage 19 when he was able to stay with the bunch over the cat 2 climb near the end I thought was the ride of the tour - it definately emphasised his maturity.

While on Cav, it would have been good to see him in green in Paris. I wonder if any other sprinter has won 6 stages, made it to Paris & not been in green?? Great job to Thor. He did what he had to do but again, it would be nice to see a bloke that can win 6 stages on the way to Paris wear green on the last day.

I also enjoyed the sprint stages.
As far as the GC, riders make the race not the route. the problem was not so much the TTT, but the fact that the basic premise the contenders had was not to make any mistakes before Ventoux.

The problem is that played into Astana's hand. Concentrating the attacks in fewer stages meant that Astana had to defend less. You cannot cover everything, more attacks by more riders. You gang up on Astana, not allow them to minimize their expenditures. Does anyone believe Armstrong would still be on the podium if he had to cover as many attacks in the 2nd week that he did on Ventoux?

 

[sherer]

have to say I didn't enjoy the pyrenees as we didn't have any mountain top finishes. I think they wanted a battle on the final stage and didn't really get it.

Next year they might go for more mountain top finishes but that could play into the hands of a rider like Contador who we know can just handle this on his own with no team anyway.

Would like to see more famous climbs back like Galibier, Alp D'Huez etc

 

[fatandfast]

There were some very good stages and lots of good racers.They should have had time bonuses all over the place for sprint finish in a mountain stage is outrage.The sitting in until the sprint was kind of the organizers fault the took away any incentive to risk escape early for any big names.Who knows what would have happened if they would have dangled 30 seconds in front of Armstrong or Evans.It worked for points jersey Thor went off and risked explosion to take green from Cav.

 

[Jayarbie]

The route really wasn't the greatest, but not all of it can be blamed on ASO. First, it turned out there were block headwinds on both of the two HC mountaintop finishes (Andorra and Ventoux), which definitely limited the carnage on those stages. Second, when one rider is that much stronger than the rest and wins both the climbs and the ITTs, there is no route that you can possibly design that will lead to a tight GC. Finally, some of the blame needs to fall on Bruyneel. If he had really unleashed the team for Contador from the start, you'd have seen much more racing and less tactics on the mountain stages. If Astana had done a typical Postal/Disco ride at Andorra where they attacked as a team at the base of the climb and burned all their support riders finally down to Kloden and Armstrong and then launched Contador with 5k or so to go, Contador would have won by a lot more for one, but you also would have seen bigger gaps all over the GC. But then Armstrong would not have been on the podium, either...

I don't have a problem with the TTT. I love watching the race, and if you don't want to lose significant time on your GC, then make sure you have a good team. It's not that hard of a concept. Garmin, Saxo, and Liquigas all limited their losses. In fact, the two guys that supposedly lost the most on that stage, Evans and Menchov, clearly didn't have the form to win anyway. I do agree that it could be shorter, though.

 

[GIOSONZIPP]

TdF 2009 was a disappointment. From my own perspective the race appeared neutralised practically the day after the prologue. The downhill finishes played their part, neutralising stages that may have provided for more ferocious attacks thus flattering the likes of Armstrong and Wiggins. Cavendish, without any serious opposition got his record six stages. A great result for him but for me it simply became a bit tedious.

ITV tried hard to keep the enthusiam going but the Cavendish 'spoilt boy' attitude when he lost the green jersey was disappointing. Then Bradley had to get in on the act and prior to the ITT adopted his 'enter the Wiggins zone' mentality which 'surely' must have put the fear of God into his fellow GC riders. With all his years as Pursuit Champion he's never managed to win the prologue or ITT in the tour... I bet they couldn't stop Contador laughing on the team bus that night!

So Contador wins his second tour, Andy Schleck continues to show his precocious talent but I hope it's better next year!

 

[Pharazon]

some of the so called boring stages turned out to be great though..

stage 3 when Columbia split the field in the wind was epic
stage 19 when cavendish survived over the 2cat climb
loved the hassusler win, and the astalosa one..
loved the st bernard pass days
the queen stage was epic

only real dissapointments were the pyrenees, the 2nd week (which is always a bust) and ventoux...


i don't think the route was the problem, i think the strength of astana was to be honest

 

[GIOSONZIPP]

Fair point. It wasn't all doom and gloom even if the outcome was predictable.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Underlying the scheme to put Mont Ventoux on the penultimate stage was the idea that the penultimate state is usually decisive. This is, of course, wrong: it ends up having a big role in reshuffling the GC only once in a while. In other words, this stage was only ever going to be exciting in the unlikely event that we ended up with a really close race a la 1987 or 1989.

 

[gjdavis60]

I also enjoyed the sprint stages.
As far as the GC, riders make the race not the route. the problem was not so much the TTT, but the fact that the basic premise the contenders had was not to make any mistakes before Ventoux.

I agree. As much as the ASO wanted Ventoux to be the decisive stage, that was not necessarily what the teams wanted, not to mention that the skills and abilities of the best riders had pretty much sorted out the results prior to the penultimate stage (which is what usually happens anyway). Just as water seeks its own path, the race takes its own shape based on the participants, regardless of the organizers' objectives.

Now, there was still some suspense on Ventoux, but not nearly as much as the organizers had hoped for, I'd bet.

Reminds me of F1's attempts to slow down the cars by reducing horsepower and removing downforce only to find that the engineers figured out how get back all the lost speed and more under the new rules! The best laid plans ...

I think there is only so much you can do to contrive excitement in a contest that is based on cumulative time or cumulative points with athletes having such clear differences in ability. The teams and riders are too smart and the last thing they want is to have their positions up for grabs on the last day. If the TDF wants to keep the MJ in doubt until the end of the tour, imo, they will have to make fundamental changes to the format of the race, which could end up diminishing it.

My guess is that the ASO is trying to make the tour appeal to a wider audience, and perhaps expand into new markets, which they feel might be easier if the "winner" was not crowned until the end.

Personally, I don't mind the way it works now, although you have to have a deeper understanding of the event to appreciate some of the more nuanced aspects as the tour evolves. There is always something exciting happening in the tour, but it doesn't always involve the GC leader.