Rate the 2022 Tour de France

[Big Doopie]

11/10. Greatest tour we'll ever see. We even had the guy in second attack on the champ elysees and put 51 seconds into yellow. Such craziness sums up the whole race.

hmm, i think this may depend on how old we are.

i actually remember #1 and 2 arriving alone on the Champs and sprinting it out in 1979.

and nothing, i mean absolutely nothing comes close to 1989.

;-)

 

[movingtarget]

7.5. Matthews win was a personal favourite after I have been critical of him for so long. Ewan disappointing. the route was hit and miss as usual with the Tour. A lot more action than the Giro even though I still enjoyed that race as well . Enjoyed the revival performances from Froome and Meintjes. A few good mountain stages. Sets the race up nicely for next year with Pogacar wanting his crown back and maybe Hindley and Carapaz riding the Tour. I am hoping that Roglic rides the Giro next season. Nice ride by Gaudu to get French hopes up again. The new generation of GC riders has fully arrived on the scene. Apart from Thomas the previous generation is mostly gone now as far as podium chances go, at least in the Tour anyway. Entertaining race.

 

[Nostradumbass]

9 - If the GC battle was closer , it would have been 10. It will be a while before another GT matches this one.

 

[IndianCyclist]

9.
Even though the result was known before the tour and after Pogacar's mistake on Granon, it could have been won or lost on multiple occasions due to attacks from Pogacar. He made this tour. To a lesser extent WVA also animated this tour and then we also have Jonas matching Pogacar's attacks and beating him.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

I'll return to this thread in a few months to drop a rate (probably winter as busy hours doesn't seems to drop here, unfortunately) when I've watched every stage in full length.

So far, in addition to evening stage summaries and interviews of approx. half of the stages, I've until now only had the opportunity to watch a single stage in full length; Lourdes-Hautacam stage. For that single stage I would have given Le Tour '22 a clean 10/10, had it not been for the sequence of events towards the end where my thoughts were sent directed towards cycling's dismal past and the c-stuff forum as I read many other users just at this forum had same thoughts (however unfair that may be, and my own immediate reaction annoys me when I think about it, the same riders also had convincingly similar efforts in the same terrains last year, without likewise yelling from the public and medias, but fair enough).

However, regardless of the sporting element, I will give a clean 10/10 for the human aspect, the two combatants between each other and their personalities.

Tadej Pogačar for his constant drive and especially unfiltered honesty, combined with a radiance of "the immediate" and his fundamental love for the sport. I hope to see him attending Le Tour for many years to come.

Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen to reintroduce a likewise lovable immediacy. Of which brings my mind back to rider interviews of my first memories in mid-late 1970ies.
The shy fishing factory boy who finds it difficult to get the words out. But who, nonetheless, answers critical questions nicely and makes the complicated very simple. As you might do when you come from an area where life is simple and the right priorities in life are straight forward, I can simply only kiss.
The imperfect speech on the Champs-Elysées totally got me here.

Looking forward watching more stages. Maybe I'll even be "necromancing" bedated stage threads here, as the youngsters say.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

hmm, i think this may depend on how old we are.

i actually remember #1 and 2 arriving alone on the Champs and sprinting it out in 1979.

and nothing, i mean absolutely nothing comes close to 1989.

;-)

Remember those two final stages clearly as well, but quite out of context in relation to thread title, letting one stage rule them all ;-)

 

[Big Doopie]

Remember those two final stages clearly as well, but quite out of context in relation to thread title, letting one stage rule them all ;-)

i think you missed that mine was a response to another poster who stated that this was the best TDF ever because of pog “attacking” in the last stage. I imagine the poster was joking, but just wanted to point out that pog is not the first to do this. And while I rate this TDF very highly, nothing touches 1989 (and not just because of the last stage).

I rated this the best since !989. With only !975 being the other TDF that I watched that was also better imo.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

i think you missed that mine was a response to another poster who stated that this was the best TDF ever because of pog “attacking” in the last stage. I imagine the poster was joking, but just wanted to point out that pog is not the first to do this. And while I rate this TDF very highly, nothing touches 1989 (and not just because of the last stage).

My fault. My intention was by pressing the "quote" button to imply both of your threads, but I don't see the forum engine making any difference from the "reply" button here.

 

[ppanther92]

7/10 - a lot of attacking and superhuman performances but I fail to see a bit whats so exciting about Jumbo winning everything. We also had no fight for Green, no fight for Polka dots. No closeness in the GC whatsoever.

 

[SafeBet]

9 for me.
Best Tour since 2003 at least. Vingo's strength in the third week prevented a possible 10.

 

[OlavEH]

2. I hope this finally puts to rest that the best way to design a GT is to artificially make sure that the top ten are within one minute going into the final week.

But the route this year was fairly standard with stage finishes at Belles Filles, AdH, Mende and Peyragudes. So the great racing was mainly due to the Pog's and Vingegaard's willingness to attack. The only "odd" element this year, was a really tough MTF at Granon. I also hope there will be a different and better design of GTs the coming years, especially in the Tour (and the Giro have also been moving in that direction the last couple of years), but I don't think it will happen.

 

[Ulle97]

Yes the cancellation of the last climb on stage 19 was a pity there and also the shortened stage 20 lead to a anticlimatic finish. But overall this was the most open and fun Tour until then.

The Tour this year was more dull in the early stages of the race. Not that much happening in the first week and also not that much enjoyable breakaway fights because of the nervous peleton.

I give it an 7 as it was in the end really not close but Pogacar and van Aert were really great. Also thee big gaps in GC leave me a little bit speechless. Took me back to a time in bike racing were I lost interest in the sport and just gained it back 16/17. Not that interested in having that for the next few years tbh. Also the polka dot and green fight really sucked this year.

Does anyone genuinely care or follow the green/polka dot jersey competition?

 

[gregrowlerson]

Not sure of my rating, but pretty hard for anyone to rate it outside of a 6-9.

To the posters speaking ill of the Denmark stages: I agree, however, a grand tour is meant to have boring stages, and these stages don't necessarily harm the racing (on the relevant stages) at all. Fans mostly remember GT's for one or two, maybe three or four stages. It's how good those best stages are which tends to sort the favourite GT's from the not so loved.

Which is why many recall the 2011 Tour and 2016 Giro fondly.

I think that personal bias has to come into this, at least to some extent. My favourite GC rider was Primoz Roglic, and after stage 5 (and stage 11 to a lesser degree) I simply didn't have as much emotional interest in the outcome of the destination of the yellow jersey. And I am far from being the biggest Roglic fan boy around here.

Having said that, there was still a sense of great drama when Pogacar popped on Granon. Perhaps it was kind of like when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson. Only in Tadej's case, he did get up from the canvas, albeit slowly. This made it slightly less dramatic than Tyson, whilst also providing hope that the "heavyweight champion of the wooorld" would somehow manage to recover and deliver a knock out blow of his own.

It was probably a bit like Ullrich losing to Pantani, though not as immediately shocking, since when Pantani attacked it was such a long way from home that it wouldn't have been as immediate that Jan was in big trouble. Whereas Pogacar almost cracked to the level that Landis did, but he was close enough to the finish to only lose three minutes rather than five, and most of us still strongly believed in the possibility that he could turn it around.

That was kind of a bit of a let-down. It certainly wasn't from want of trying. How does this become virtually undeniably a really, really, really great Tour? McNulty also drops Vingegaard on stage 17 (which was a crazy enough stage as it was), and gains 1-2 minutes. Pogacar didn't necessarily have to comeback and win the Tour for it to be a '10', but there did need to be more suspense than Jonas almost crashing a couple of times.

It would have helped for Jonas to have a Contador Finestre moment of serious doubt.

As great as many of the mountain stages were, will it be as memorable as the 2018 Giro? Or the 2015 Giro? Or the 2006 Tour (though that had as many boring stages as any other)? Or the 2003 Tour? Ullrich did distance Armstrong a couple of times in the mountains, and Vino was a much more threatening third favourite than G.

 

[75Driver]

It wasn’t a 10 because it lacked several elements for that lofty rating. I didn’t think it was worthy a 9 either but understand why someone would rate it that high.

I’ll call it an 8. Thoroughly enjoyed it and IMHO one of the best tours since I started watching.

 

[OlavEH]

As great as many of the mountain stages were, will it be as memorable as the 2018 Giro? Or the 2015 Giro? Or the 2006 Tour (though that had as many boring stages as any other)? Or the 2003 Tour? Ullrich did distance Armstrong a couple of times in the mountains, and Vino was a much more threatening third favourite than G.

This version was something special about the Tour when it comes to the mountain stages. I've watched the Tour since 2002 and can't really remember more than one or two other versions where the racing in the mountains have been that hard. Usually it's limited to one or maximum two stages. This year it was more or less all the mountain stages except perhaps the AdH stage. Hopefully this can continue next year and be supported by an even better race design.

 

[BR2]

Okay, a bit longer. I'll try to leave out the clinic issues.

negative:

• completely dominated by one team plus Pogacar that were head and shoulders above everyone else
• no fight for green
• only one real contender for the polka dots who in the end had to give it to the overall winner
• some stages promised more than was delivered (bridge, cobbles)
• as soon as it was clear Vingegaard was the strongest (after Granon) the GC fight was over
• not too many small side stories
• Morkov being left alone in the heat

positive:

• in terms of landscapes one of the best editions
• not too many heavy crashes
• Granon stage was pure racing, hardly ever seen like that in a GT
• Jungels stage win (my personal highlight)
• Jakobsen making the time limit by a few seconds

For me personally it was disappointing that none of my favourite riders really played a role. Ala not there, Hodeg of course not there, Bernal not there, Pedersen, Ganna, Cosnefroy different levels of underwhelming - although at least Pedersen won a stage I had hoped for even better for him before the Tour. O'Connor out of GC contention early and then out of the race completely. I don't care much for any of the top 3. Bardet looked good for a while, but then was unable to achieve a top 5 (or get a stage win).

Covid played a role, but despite several good riders having to leave the race because of it, it didn't influence the race that much.

I decided to rate it 4.

 

[OlavEH]

as soon as it was clear Vingegaard was the strongest (after Granon) the GC fight was over

Still the last two Pyreneean stages were ridden incredibly hard and ended up with bigger gaps than 95 % of mountain stages in the Tour the last couple of decades.........

 

[BR2]

Still the last two Pyreneean stages were ridden incredibly hard and ended up with bigger gaps than 95 % of mountain stages in the Tour the last couple of decades.........

Yeah, didn't get me though. Jumbots at the front, Pogacar trying to look as good as possible... they didn't even once try to get rid of Thomas, not even speaking about the others, in any of the mountain stages, because they knew the others were no threat at all. Everyone was just trying to hang on. When Vlasov or Meintjes went into the break, they let them, because - who cares about them anyway. On a few days there was a fight between Gaudu and Quintana, but it was for 5th or something like that and the cameras didn't care either.
So yeah, ridden hard, but for me, personally, it wasn't exciting. Probably would have been more exciting if I had been more emotionally invested in one of the two top riders. But still then after Vingegaard got yellow, the result was so clear cut. I never expected a change afterwards anymore.

I have to admit it was nice to see how relaxed and friendly Pogacar took defeat. But in the end the whole Tour was a race of like 4 riders, for me that just wasn't it.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Using the dutch Uni grade system with a 10 being almost impossible and a 9 being pretty hard to get, that leaves it with the highest rating possible of an 8. Good race, but I might be slightly biased being a fan of Jumbo, all the riders in the top 4, as well as Bardet and Meintjes. Oh, and Cort, Pidcock, Wright, Phillipsen and Pedersen...

 

[perico]

I give it a 9. Movistar had a dreadful race, but my personal preferences dont take away from what was a great race. The alps had the best combination of MTFs in the TDF since 1986. Its a crime the Granon hasn’t been used since 1986, and the Alp always delivers in some fashion.

 

[Big Doopie]

But the route this year was fairly standard with stage finishes at Belles Filles, AdH, Mende and Peyragudes. So the great racing was mainly due to the Pog's and Vingegaard's willingness to attack. The only "odd" element this year, was a really tough MTF at Granon. I also hope there will be a different and better design of GTs the coming years, especially in the Tour (and the Giro have also been moving in that direction the last couple of years), but I don't think it will happen.

You’re right. And I wasn’t clear.

My point is big gaps do not make it less exciting. Back ending a GT with all the difficult stages does not make it more exciting. Trying to design routes that benefit less all round riders like Bardet, Quintana, Yates, Lopez etc to keep them artificially “in the game” only delays action by the racers.

So more TT would help (another exciting day between the real contenders). TTs are downright thrilling when the focus is firmly on the real contenders, not on how Meinjes or Bardet or whomever is losing 5 1/2 minutes over 40 kms and is sadly now out of contention. They never were/should have been in contention.

Having stages with climbs but few valleys helps (Hautacam stage). And they should use the Massif Central every single year.

But MAINLY having just two true contenders who have all round skills is really all that is needed. And designing the course for all-rounders (not 2022 Giro for instance). Lemond used to say that you could count the riders who could legitimately win any given TDF on one hand, often even less. So stop trying to keep “one dimensional” riders in the game until the final few days. It leads to boring racing.

 

[tobydawq]

Gave an 8. I had the delusion we're watching an epic battle till stage 20. Then I realized it was scripted and Pogi never was a contender. It was Netflix ahead of the proper Netflix show, but still a good show.

It was scripted? Oh boy...

How anybody can rate this below nine is a riddle to me. What do you people want?

 

[OlavEH]

My point is big gaps does not make it less exciting. Back ending a GT with all the difficult stages does not make it more exciting. Trying to design routes that benefit less all round riders like Bardet, Quintana, Yates, Lopez etc to keep them artificially “in the game” only delays action by the racers.

So more TT would help (another exciting day between the real contenders). Having stages with climbs but few valleys helps (Hautacam stage). But MAINLY having just two (that’s all that is needed) true contenders who have all round skills is really all that is needed. And designing the course for all-rounders (not 2022 Giro for instance). Lemond used to say that you could count the riders who could legitimately win any given TDF on one hand, often even less. So stop trying to keep “one dimensional” riders in the game until the final few days. It leads to boring racing.

I agree on the point the big gaps doesn't make it less exciting. And that we need more and tougher stages designed to attack from further out then the last few km. And alsp that a certain amount of ITT is sometimes beneficial, and that some previous versions would have been better with more ITT. But I don't think they have made design like this mainly to benifit those guys you mention, rather in general to keep gaps rather small.

And also that the complete GC riders are so rare that it is difficult to achieve many more GTs the last decade where you get similar action like this version of the Tour. The most ideal situation is when you have two fairly complete riders battling each other like this Tour, or a situation where riders like Bernal and Dumolin are battling and a certain amount of ITT forces the climbing specialist to attack often in the mountains. But these situations are rare. And even though it would have been better with more ITT, it's only in certain occasions that would have made the race significantly better. Better mountain stages is clearly more important factor.

 

[OlavEH]

It was scripted? Oh boy...

How anybody can rate this below nine is a riddle to me. What do you people want?

I am more suprised with people rating it a 10. Then the race should be more or less perfect. And close to every aspect of it, not just the high mountain stages. More competitive GC (those behind top 3 this year was fairly mediocre), one or two really good breakway stages and a non mountain stage that is the icing on the cake (like the sterrato stages in the Giro).

 

[RobertCrawley]

9.
Even though the result was known before the tour and after Pogacar's mistake on Granon, it could have been won or lost on multiple occasions due to attacks from Pogacar. He made this tour. To a lesser extent WVA also animated this tour and then we also have Jonas matching Pogacar's attacks and beating him.

At every important test, it looked like V was the stronger rider.

But there were two moments when V almost lost the race: the downhill on Stage 18 when V did that magnificent save when his wheel popped off after he unclipped, and when he went off the road on Stage 20 on the time trial. And inch here or an inch there, and we'd be having a much different conversation right now.