"In order to achieve a thrilling race", ASO:
- guaranteed an advantage to the riders with the strongest backup team
- ensured no gaps until the 800m sterrato at the top of a climb that's been overused recently
- put the most selective Massif Central climb 25km into a 200km stage
- put 27km of ITT meaning climbers will have limited deficits to make up
- put the first two MTFs on climbs the riders know like the back of their hand
- put several tempo climbs as the decisive ones of stages
- avoided all of the best lead-in climbs to the MTFs they're using
- designed one (one) remotely half-ok mountain stage (Prat d'Albis).
This isn't a race design set up to create a thrilling race. It's a race design set up to not create big gaps, in the hope that something being on the line will make you think it was exciting when everybody rides in formation rather than it being settled early on.
I'm sure, just like the utter dreck that was the 2011 Tour, we'll get one or two good stages near the end seeing as somebody will have to try something at some point, and because the end was good people will forget that the rest of the race was garbage. I just hope and pray that the good stage is the Prat d'Albis or Galibier one so we can put an end to this "a short mountain stage is automatically good" fallacy once and for all and stop using it in as a crutch in lieu of providing actual good mountain stages, without paying attention to why it was that the 2011 stage worked in the first place.
And the Andy stage was a better spectacle anyway. I think everybody's being too generous to this route. 2018 had some well-designed mountain stages, but in the wrong order to get anything out of them. 2017 had a similar beginning but a much better second weekend (and deliberate misuse of Belgium, same as 2019). I'd have to study 2016's route in depth as against this as the start of that was execrable. Depending on the routes of the stages they've yet to reveal it could be the worst route since 2012, depending on the head to head against 2016. This has execrable mountaintop finishes (other than Val Thorens), terrible misplaced obstacles, as much TTT as ITT which is an instant fail, and overkill on the short stages that will take away one of the reasons they worked in the first place.
- guaranteed an advantage to the riders with the strongest backup team
- ensured no gaps until the 800m sterrato at the top of a climb that's been overused recently
- put the most selective Massif Central climb 25km into a 200km stage
- put 27km of ITT meaning climbers will have limited deficits to make up
- put the first two MTFs on climbs the riders know like the back of their hand
- put several tempo climbs as the decisive ones of stages
- avoided all of the best lead-in climbs to the MTFs they're using
- designed one (one) remotely half-ok mountain stage (Prat d'Albis).
This isn't a race design set up to create a thrilling race. It's a race design set up to not create big gaps, in the hope that something being on the line will make you think it was exciting when everybody rides in formation rather than it being settled early on.
I'm sure, just like the utter dreck that was the 2011 Tour, we'll get one or two good stages near the end seeing as somebody will have to try something at some point, and because the end was good people will forget that the rest of the race was garbage. I just hope and pray that the good stage is the Prat d'Albis or Galibier one so we can put an end to this "a short mountain stage is automatically good" fallacy once and for all and stop using it in as a crutch in lieu of providing actual good mountain stages, without paying attention to why it was that the 2011 stage worked in the first place.
And the Andy stage was a better spectacle anyway. I think everybody's being too generous to this route. 2018 had some well-designed mountain stages, but in the wrong order to get anything out of them. 2017 had a similar beginning but a much better second weekend (and deliberate misuse of Belgium, same as 2019). I'd have to study 2016's route in depth as against this as the start of that was execrable. Depending on the routes of the stages they've yet to reveal it could be the worst route since 2012, depending on the head to head against 2016. This has execrable mountaintop finishes (other than Val Thorens), terrible misplaced obstacles, as much TTT as ITT which is an instant fail, and overkill on the short stages that will take away one of the reasons they worked in the first place.