Rate the 2022 Tour de France

[Gigs_98]

It's all in the title. What do you think about this years edition?

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

9/10. Exciting, a little anti climatic, but still an excellent race.

 

[Ricco']

Ignoring issues belonging to another subforum and focusing on this Tour as a standalone media product, I will give it an 8. I think it's the best Tour I've ever seen from start to finish (started in 2004 following every stage).

Would be a 10 if Pogi managed to take back some time in the Pyrenees to bring the GC decision to the last stage.

 

[Oliver]

Excellent race!

 

[ice&fire]

Half incredible, half fishy.

 

[sir fly]

Had the tt been decisive, could've been one of the all-time best.

 

[Valv.Piti]

9. 10 is reserved for races that I probably will never get to watch

 

[Rackham]

I don't see why I should give an unbiased vote, so I'll be the one to vote... 1.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

9
Sure, not the closest race, but incredibly entertaining. The real question is what Netserk will rate it. Best Tour I‘ve seen.
Accidentally voted 10

 

[Valv.Piti]

9
Sure, not the closest race, but incredibly entertaining. The real question is what Netserk will rate it. Best Tour I‘ve seen.
Accidentally voted 10

Netserk is a respectable human being, so I cannot see him vote under 8. This is what we all want from the Tour, every stage full on (apart from Denmark).

 

[BigCoward]

Best tour I can remember for a long time.

+ points for the completely unexpected Pog crash, Pidcock showing what massive balls look like.
- points for Roglic continuing the unluckiest tradition in sports.

 

[KZD]

9 - it would be difficult to expect more entretainment but there is always room for a little improvement, just a shame that so many riders had to abandon during the race

 

[jmdirt]

I will never understand how people rate races:
"Excellent, I give it a 7" 70% is excellent?
"Best TdF I've ever seen, I give it an 8". 80% is the best?

At least no one has compared it to the '72 GdI YET.

 

[gunara]

As an entertainment, it's a succesful genre crossover of drama, comedy, and science fiction. It can be either 10 or 1, close to the best and the ugliest at once.

In the end I can play dumb. A special one it is. Never watched any GT with more fun live.
If only JV was half a notch weaker probably I'd give it a 9, but they just pulled all the strings, it got really tiring towards the end, so 7.

or maybe 8

 

[SHAD0W93]

9 - it would be difficult to expect more entretainment but there is always room for a little improvement, just a shame that so many riders had to abandon during the race

In a way it helped that TJV was weakened as they would have then Ineo’d it the whole way with the strength they had. Less crashes would have been nice, same if Pogacar was closer in the final TT to add drama.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Gave it a 5. Would have given a higher score only for the dodgyness of it all. Hard see why some scores are so high but the clinic is full of negativity. Looks like some folk are happy with the dodgy stuff as long as it produces excitement.

 

[zlev11]

9. best tour since 2011, possibly better.

 

[Gerrard Slipped haha]

What more can be said about this? Incredible stuff. When cycling is great, it's *** amazing.

Can't call it a 10, because 10 is a perfect score for me. And this TDF would have been that, had it all come down to the final ITT. Still, the best TDF I have ever seen, up there with the best Giros for me (2010, 2015-18).

No but seriously, when did we have a Tour this good?

 

[Valv.Piti]

What more can be said about this? Incredible stuff. When cycling is great, it's *** amazing.

Can't call it a 10, because 10 is a perfect score for me. And this TDF would have been that, had it all come down to the final ITT. Still, the best TDF I have ever seen, up there with the best Giros for me (2010, 2015-18).

No but seriously, when did we have a Tour this good?

I havent watched a Tour this good, ever, since I don't really watched 2003. It was around that time I started. But that race was probably on par, maybe better

 

[Andy262]

Solid 9/10 from me. Great battle and some entertaining subplots. JV and the rest of JV were super strong; Pog just a great rider to watch; G riding his best for several years and some great individual stages.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Friebe gave it his first full 5 since 2003.

Also helped by three great breakaway stages that didn't end in what now seems to be the customary lone breakaway win from 8km out.

 

[yaco]

9 - Would have given it 9 1/2 if there were one or two more sprint stages.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

8 out of 10

Excellent first week. The best I can remember. Excellent second week as well with the big turnaround in GC. The Granon stage is surely the best mountain stage in the last 10 years.

However, it detracts from my rating that the last week was a little bit locked as Vingegaard was just too good for Pogacár and in the end nothing changed in the Pyrenees. I also don't like the domination from Jumbo in every terrain, and it hurts my cycling soul to see classic nations like Spain, Italy and France so invisible.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

This tour is super overrated wow

 

[Gigs_98]

Gave it an 8. I think I've seen better Grand Tours so I don't want to give it more than that. The one thing it was simply lacking was a close conclusion to the gc battle and I suppose there were a few dull stages here and there (Super Planche doing Super Planche things, that kind of stuff). Pogacar kept fighting till the end so it's not like the gc battle was boring after stage 11, quite the opposite really, but a gc battle where one rider never shows a single sign of losing just a second of his lead for half the race, can simply not give you the same kind of chills as Fuente De 2012, Rissoul 2016, Jafferau 2018 or LPdBF 2020.

So with all the negativity out of the way, what a race. I don't think there has been a TdF edition I considered good since 2015 and even that race wasn't exactly great. So much defensive racing, hardly ever any gc attacks from far out and so many mountain trains completely neutralizing mountain stages. What TJV did on the Galibier and what Pogacar did in the pyrenees is simply something we haven't seen at the Tour, probably since 2011. There were some glimpses like the Iseran stage in 2019, before it got cancelled, or 2015 when Contador, Nibali and Quintana sometimes tried from far out but crucially Quintana never truly commited to a move. But full on attacks with dozens of kilometres left, riders completely commiting to letting the race explode way outside their comfort zone, that's just something that for the Tour feels like a thing from ancient times. The Granon stage will be talked about for decades and to be honest, I actually think the Hautacam stage was just as good.

Add to that a number of really good non mountain stage, like Pogacar ruling the cobbles stage, Van Aert riding everyone off his wheel on stage 4, numerous really good breakaway battles and hardly any straight forward sprint stages and it has simply been a blast. I don't know if I have ever seen a Tour this good, but considering I started watching when Austria was all aboard the Kohl train in 2008, probably not. 2010 was a closer duel, 2011 had an even more exciting final week and if I wanna see a gc contender dominate on the cobbles I will continue watching Nibali and not Pogacar, but none of those Tours were the complete package this one was. What a great 3 weeks these were and I already can't wait for the next edition.