Rate the 2016 Tour de France

[Cannibal72]

Re: Re:

Slightly confused why only Quintana could possibly chase when Valverde, a much better descender than Yates or Quintana, was still in the group, and Bardet was just 35 seconds up on Yates.

Valverde is the same guy who didn't follow Nibali in Lombardia. Being a good descender doesn't really say much when the most important thing is being tactically aware. Say Yates attacks, Quintana looks at Valverde, Valverde looks at Froome, Froome says "lol why should I risk anything" and in the meantime Bardet is already gone with Yates. All the better for the australian, who only needed to gap Quintana, Bardet can follow.

Ofc he can also fail, everybody jumps on his wheel at the same time like it never happened in recent history and he achieves nothing. But he f'n TRIED.

Yeah, Valverde is a singularly atrocious tactician, but I don't think it comes down to anyone following Yates, but to the fact that he'll simply be swept up if Valverde decides to lead the chase down - on the descent or, quite possibly, the flat. My attitude is that Yates, who isn't a great descender and had been fighting to stick with the lead group all Tour, was simply spent - physically, mentally, everything. I think he was just trying to cling on.

(Also, Yates is British, not Australian. )

Didn't yates attack on the aspin descent?
And what happened to eshnar? Aspin, ruta del sol, Australian?

Oh yeah, I meant to write 'as great a descender', not that he's 'not great'. He's pretty good (not Zakarin or Moncoutie), but he's definitely not Valverde or Bardet either.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

Didn't yates attack on the aspin descent?
And what happened to eshnar? Aspin, ruta del sol, Australian?

I'm very easily confused today... too much work But he works for an australian team so he's a bit australian

 

[Jagartrott]

Re: Re:

My attitude is that Yates, who isn't a great descender and had been fighting to stick with the lead group all Tour, was simply spent - physically, mentally, everything. I think he was just trying to cling on.

If he was really totally spent, he would've just stayed with Porte at the end, but he followed the Valverde acceleration. Anyway, we're talking in circles. Me and a lot of other feel that a real exciting racer would've given it a go at least, and that Tour podiums don't just come rolling along. That's all.

 

[Flamin]

Interesting discussion about Yates. I'm always curious though, to which extent it's the rider's or the DS/sponsor's decision to ride defensively and rather conserve a GC placing than take some risks with the chance of failing.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Interesting discussion about Yates. I'm always curious though, to which extent it's the rider's or the DS/sponsor's decision to ride defensively and rather conserve a GC placing than take some risks with the chance of failing.

I think MANY sport directors are very conservative. I think its up to the riders to do something, alá Cherel and Bardet. Thats at least the vibe Im getting. Very possible that he just was told that 4th and white jersey was an immense result and he just should try to hang on. Then again, a real character - if he had legs, which is very important obviously - had obviously tried to grab a podium.

 

[hrotha]

The thing is, often that judgment on whether or not you have the legs depends on your confidence and your ambition. You're never going to feel fresh as a daisy near the end of the stage, but you need to have the confidence to realize your immediate rivals aren't going to be much better off.

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

Interesting discussion about Yates. I'm always curious though, to which extent it's the rider's or the DS/sponsor's decision to ride defensively and rather conserve a GC placing than take some risks with the chance of failing.

I think MANY sport directors are very conservative. I think its up to the riders to do something, alá Cherel and Bardet. Thats at least the vibe Im getting. Very possible that he just was told that 4th and white jersey was an immense result and he just should try to hang on. Then again, a real character - if he had legs, which is very important obviously - had obviously tried to grab a podium.

Yeah, but Yates is still very young and a nobody in cycling. If his DS and sponsor really insisted on him not attacking and conserving 4th place, I don't blame him for following orders. That doesn't say much about character, but rather about knowing your place.

Of course this is all completely hypothetical. Maybe he just agreed with it like a little puppy and then I agree with the critics here about his lack of ambition. Point is that we don't really get to see the whole picture.

 

[A n d y]

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Positive - Some great sprint finishes, a couple nice breakaways, specifically Cummings and Izagirre's stage wins.

Neutral - Weather made for some dramatic days, and crashes.

Negative - Too much domination by one team, little challenge to the favorite and winner, Contador crashing out, Quintana with little to offer. Mountain stages had little fireworks. Two stages with snafus that changed outcomes.

I give it a 3 out of 10. Maybe a 4. If you're from GB, that number may be double.

 

[kwikki]

I suppose from a British perspective what you are seeing is the result of burgeoning interest in cycling over the last 20-30 years, with the last 20 seeing opportunities, funding and facilities at a grassroots level. When I was young there was literally nothing. If you were lucky you might have had a racing oriented club near you, but for many the nearest might have been 100 miles away. With that kind of environment, the only people to punch through to high level were anomalies like Millar, Elliott and Yates (S). Cycling and racing is everywhere now...even sportives feed into it in some way.

It's great that there is now an embedded cycling culture, and the success on the world stage is just what happens when you have a pool of 60 million people from which to draw.

 

[burning]

Re:

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

Please learn to count the number of stages that Cav won before drooling all over this place, thanks.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: Re:

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

Please learn to count the number of stages that Cav won before drooling all over this place, thanks.

1st stage 1
1st stage 3
1st stage 6
= 3

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

Please learn to count the number of stages that Cav won before drooling all over this place, thanks.

1st stage 1
1st stage 3
1st stage 6
= 3

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_France_2016_Stage_14

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

Please learn to count the number of stages that Cav won before drooling all over this place, thanks.

1st stage 1
1st stage 3
1st stage 6
= 3

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_France_2016_Stage_14

First week must mean something else in your dictionary

 

[SKSemtex]

Re: Re:

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

Please learn to count the number of stages that Cav won before drooling all over this place, thanks.

And you better read his post twice before you reply.

EDIT: too late

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

I'm going to have to score it as a solid 8, I've been a big fan of British cycling and as this has been the British Tour de France 2016 I'm very biased (and unashamedly so) in this opinion, I think the only thing missing was maybe getting a British rider in the polka dot jersey this time around but that first week alone with Cavendish getting 3 stage wins and a Green jersey, Steve Cummings claiming a stage victory, Adam Yates wearing the White Jersey and with Froome also winning a stage and grabbing hold of the Yellow jersey to boot was just the sort of thing that dreams were made of for me so I couldn't of asked for more from this GT.

I don't think that the Brit's will be getting a week like that again anytime soon so I'll always fondly remember this race for that lot at least, simply awesome.

Please learn to count the number of stages that Cav won before drooling all over this place, thanks.

1st stage 1
1st stage 3
1st stage 6
= 3

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_France_2016_Stage_14

First week must mean something else in your dictionary

Oh, that's what you get if you skip a lot while reading.

Edit: People here are really fast to jump on somebody.

 

[wrinklyvet]

Aren't they just!