Rate the 2019 Tour de France

[WildspokeJoe]

Re: Re:

6/10

The fact that the two key mountain stages were cancelled and shortened makes giving this tour a high rating impossible. Alaphilippe was exceptional but no one else showed any panache.

Bernal attacked from 42 km out. If that's not panache I don't know what is. The fact the stage was cut short is irrelevant to the actual move.

I think panache also has a lot to do with how risky a move is. If bernal does that in a team where he is the clear Leader he should get a lot of respect but in reality the risk ineos took was very calculated and they basically already had a 1-2 in the gc when bernal attacked

I think that's a very astute point I didn't even think of. alaphilippe had already been dropped so the only danger man was kruijswijk.If Bernal is caught, GT counters.

 

[WildspokeJoe]

Re: Re:

6/10

The fact that the two key mountain stages were cancelled and shortened makes giving this tour a high rating impossible. Alaphilippe was exceptional but no one else showed any panache.

Bernal attacked from 42 km out. If that's not panache I don't know what is. The fact the stage was cut short is irrelevant to the actual move.

The fact the stage was cut short doesn't really allow us to evaluate the move.
Looking at the course he attacked toward the summit of the penultimate climb. From 89km to 119km it was down hill. I have said in earlier posts that Bernal was a deserving winner. He was just lacking flair. I'll give you three Tour moments that I thought had real Panache.

The first is Chris Froome downhill attack on stage 8 in 2016 tour. Even though he won the stage by only a few seconds he put stamp on the race with the audacious downhill attack. The second is Lance Armstrong on alpe d'huez in 2001. Telekom did everything to make the race as hard as possible. But when the time was right Armstrong attacked from the front and won the day. The third example is Bernad Hinault on stage 13 in the 86 Tour. He took 5 minutes from LeMond on the previous stage but instead of sitting back and following wheels he attacked. It ultimately failed but it was a bold move. LeMond won the Tour but Hinault made the race.

Hinault made that race interesting. LeMond the previous year vs Hinault might have been better action, if only we could have found out.

Well the '85 tour was remarkable because of all the intrigue it set up for the '86 Tour. LeMond was loyal in '85 and got stabbed in the back. In '86 he was loyal and got stabbed in the face. Maybe I'm bias but for drama, the '86 Tour was the best tour of the past 35 years.

 

[sir fly]

Well, the accidental highest ever stage finish in the GT history, and these hateful 1s make me give it a 10.