Rate this year's three Grand Tours

[jens_attacks]

Giro:10
Tour:7
Vuelta:6

 

[roundabout]

Interesting point. If my memory isn't failing me i remember watching a superb stage of the Vuelta in full in 1998 over some of the roads used yesterday.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/vuelta98/stage20.html

Only 20 riders within 10 minutes of the winner (!)

Even with the lousy weather i thoroughly enjoyed the action even if the result wasn't to my liking.

Question is why do we got 3 hours at the very most 12 years later.

 

[craig1985]

Ferrari must of had a good programme lined for Lance then.

 

[roundabout]

It's not about Lance. It's about showing the stage in full. Of course the weather was so bad that almost nothing of the final climb was shown but it makes you wonder why the Vuelta broadcasters don't do it now.

 

[hrotha]

The real trick is to appreciate that the same sort of start often happens at the Giro and the Vuelta, but due to extra tv coverage, we only get to see this "action" at the Tour.
This Vuelta has had some crazy attacking, during first hour or so.........but only according to live race updates.

Judge that "medium" mountain stage on the last 60 or so kms and you have Barredo's attack, him being left out to fry by the rest, while the peloton take a sightseeing tour of the Pyrenean foothills.

Nah, I've seen enough full stages, and few were anything like the beginning of the Pau stage. You had real GC contenders going up the road (as in, people with a shot at the podium, not just people ranked 12th-20th trying to get themselves back into the fight), and real GC contenders getting dropped in the first climb (Samu, Gesink and others). And Vino. Vino never hurts, except other riders.

 

[battaglin]

Riders make the races as much as the parcours.I have always enjoyed the Giro,Vuelta and tour in that order so no surprises in my choice.
Giro 10,Vuelta 9,Tour 7

Giro 10 great racing great parcours winner not known till near the end.Lots in contention.

Vuelta 9 great racing better parcours than usual,again winner in doubt till end.Again lots of riders in contention

Tour 7 A good effort on the parcours and some great racing. 2 horse race.Marred by all the hype that surrounds the tour.Would have scored it higher if not for neutralising a stage and the look at me I'm hard stare from Schleck and all that hullabaloo about his mechanical.Learn to change gear and stop falling off Schleck's
Been an enjoyable Gran tour season.

 

[goggalor]

Giro: 10. Glorious, magnificent, brilliant. Stage racing at its finest. Is this what it was like in the old days, before Grand Tours became streamlined and predictable? I'm already getting nostalgic about it. Hell, I was getting nostalgic about it on the second rest day.

Tour: 6. The Tour is the Tour, always. Less racing, more circus. Thankfully, it was less circus, more racing than last year, which was a bit of a joke. If only Andy Schleck wasn't such a girl. Hey, Andy, Alberto called your mom a morue.

Vuelta: 7. Unfortunately, I didn't catch very much this race, and what I did catch was from a shoddy live stream with no sound. However, I noticed it had few pure sprint stages in the first week, and that's a big plus. And it had drama till the very end.

 

[The Hitch]

It was nigh perfection. Now if it had all that plus all the best riders, riders arriving covered in snow, Bartali and Copi, and a 3rd week that bettered the first 2 for entertainment value (subjective as it is, week 3 felt a tad flat to me), you'd have my 10.

I think these days the best way to measure the excitement of a cycle race is how many posts the thread on CN Forums had.

So i will use this method to confront your theory that the 1st 2 weeks were better. Here is the list of posts for each thread.



1 - 624-
2- 373
3-405
4- 684
5- 151
6- 394
7- Strade Bianchi 851
8-572
9- 191
10-151
11- Laquilla – 1042
12- 237
13 - 192


For me, just like people say the 60’s ended in 68, I say Monte Grappa, being the entrance into the Alps, started the 3rd week, but if you want you can choose it as part of the hilly flat first 2 weks.

14 – Monte Grappa – 755
15 – Zoncola – 1008
16 – Kronplatz – 704
17 - 245
18 - 95
19 – Mortirolo 920
20 – Gavia (despite poor coverage) – 651
21 itt – 256


For comparison – Tour of Romandie, a pretty good stage race – 741


If you look at this you get 5 500 + post threads in the first 13 days. In the next 8 days you get 6.
And thats before you look at the excitement during the race. Laquilla and Strade Bianchi are getting most posts after the race. But when you look at Mortirolo

if you click halfway into the there are 50 posts in the space of 6 minutes.
And thats just theclimb On the descent there are 100 posts in 12 minutes. Minute 16.00 has 9 posts. The next minute has 8.

And Zoncolan is even better. minute 1630 has 15 posts. Thats a post every 4 seconds. And this keeps up for much of the stage. And im pretty sure if i looked rather than randomly choosing a page, i could find minutes during both stages with even greater numbers.

I remember this because on both stages I was reading the forum, pausing the coverage to read more and after a while I just had to say screw this and fast forward 10 pages to be back on track.

I present to you therefore the theory that week 3 was in fact better than weeks 1 and 2.
Here i stand, i can do no other, and take that

 

[roundabout]

I am in the minority here but apart from the wind in Holland, a slog through the mud and the wtf escape nothing really happened before the Monte Grappa.

Notice that the weather played a major role.

 

[Barrus]

I am in the minority here but apart from the wind in Holland, a slog through the mud and the wtf escape nothing really happened before the Monte Grappa.

Notice that the weather played a major role.

So apart from some of the most amazing stages this year, nothing really happened? Also the insane attack by almost all the favourites the day after L'aquila to gather at least a few seconds? The break-away just inching over the finish just before the peloton? The amount of break-aways that stayed away? Petacchi's suicide attack on a hill? Evans and Vino trying to get points in a bunch sprint?

If any of these stages would've have been in the tour, the tour would've been ten times better

 

[Ferminal]

I am in the minority here but apart from the wind in Holland, a slog through the mud and the wtf escape nothing really happened before the Monte Grappa.

Notice that the weather played a major role.

All the crashes and chaos in The Netherlands, the break pulling one out of nothing on Stage 5, Matt Lloyd going solo the next day. Terminillo was average but CAS was so good. What about Evans and Vino sprinting? Was the next the one stage where there was a small split, maybe 20 riders including some GC men were ahead of the rest in the final 20km (was very wet, but Evans & co. managed to bring it back). L'Aquilla, enough said. And then the infamous punch on the when a few had a dig over a small hill in the final 15km?

 

[Spanky]

way too Brokeback Mountain by A&A

Excellent. Best description I've heard of TDF '10

 

[The Hitch]

way too Brokeback Mountain by A&A.

Excellent. Best description I've heard of TDF '10

As i have used this phrase about a dozen times in the last 3 months, i claim copyright.

 

[Anonymous]

Giro 9 : best grand tour i have ever seen since the mid eighties but there always has to be room for that perfect 10.

Tour 2 : Boring, only really memorable for chaingate and armstrongs implosion. the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge i would be in paris for the end of it.

Vuelta 6 : Tinged for me over the first week or so by the events at Sky. Didnt watch for a few days, but the final week had eveything a grand tour should have, even with some of the bigger names missing.

 

[Descender]

Maybe it's only me, but the name or even level of the riders doesn't mean much to me. I enjoyed this Vuelta and the Giro a lot more than the Tour despite the Tour having a much better line-up (especially this year).

And, about the Vuelta, I enjoyed this year's Vuelta A LOT more than last year's, despite last year's Vuelta having a much better line-up. I think it was a much better tour cycling-wise, no matter how many LBL or Worlds or Olympic medals last year's top riders had won. And just wait until next year's Vuelta, if Contador does ride it and he dominates it from start to finish...

 

[Descender]

As i have used this phrase about a dozen times in the last 3 months, i claim copyright.

Just for the record, I'm new and didn't copy it from you. But hey, they say great minds...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think these days the best way to measure the excitement of a cycle race is how many posts the thread on CN Forums had.

So i will use this method to confront your theory that the 1st 2 weeks were better. Here is the list of posts for each thread.

-Nice sum of facts-

Where do you find the time to research all that. Bored much this sunday?

 

[The Hitch]

Where do you find the time to research all that. Bored much this sunday?

It took literaly 5 minutes. I went on page 58 or something where the giro 1 thread was. And they are all scatered over the next few pages. By every thread is the number of posts. just scribble them down. Done.

 

[The Hitch]

Just for the record, I'm new and didn't copy it from you. But hey, they say great minds...

Well ill confess. I got it from politics. There was a bit of a controversy here when a mp called the government "brokeback coalition". Later that day we had the Tourmalet and all that.

Maybe it's only me, but the name or even level of the riders doesn't mean much to me. I enjoyed this Vuelta and the Giro a lot more than the Tour despite the Tour having a much better line-up (especially this year).

+ 1

In fact i like it when riders like Arroyo or Mosquera, who wouldnt normally get the chance, get the chance of a gt podium and some glory. Also its from these people that you often see real balls, like Mosquera yesterday or Arroy on mortirolo.

Its better than have the same guys constantly win.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Where do you find the time to research all that. Bored much this sunday?

Had this at the end of your keyboard, then?

They did evade eachother in 2010 though.

(bar the Tirreno, Gesink 5th, Nibali 8th, and the ardennes classics, where they both kinda sucked (21/23 agr, 12/14 FW, 15/28 LBL) and CSS (7/76th)

 

[Sophistic]

Giro 9
What keeps me from giving a 10 is Evans and Arroyo losing the race 1 stage too early and tha there wasnt enough flat ITT, especially in relation to the TTT.

Tour 3
Crap, the most decisive moments were a crash orgy and Andy Schleck losing his chain.

Vuelta 6
The course was great and there was plenty of action but a weak starter field + favs crashing (out) or being out of shape definietly hurt the race.

 

[karlboss]

Best GT of 2010.

Which one and why? How was the depth of the fields course etc?

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

The Giro was epic!

Hard to compare though. I thought all 3 were great this year. The tour was saved by the cobbled stage which was probably the best GT stage this year with the rain lashed strade bianci stage of the Giro a close 2nd. Really enjoyed the Vuelta as well. The mountain stages have been far more aggressice than those of the tour.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

Which one and why? How was the depth of the fields course etc?

Do we really need a second thread for that? Try this one: link

 

[Mellow Velo]

Dude writing today's lead on The Podium Cafe, rates them thus:
My final Grand Tour ranking for 2010:

1. Vuelta a Espana
2. Tour de France
3. Giro d'Italia

How can anyone, who saw all 3 GTs possibly rate the Giro bottom of the pile?

IMO, he must be spending too much time in his cafe and has become lost in cyberspace.

http://www.podiumcafe.com/