Rate Tour De France 2018

[hayneplane]

5 at best. Sagan at his best until the crash that killed his chances of getting an amazing 5 stages. Bernal was super impressive but sadly that came at the detriment of an exciting maillot Jaune battle as Thomas was never really left alone to be tested Mano a mano. Roglic was fantastic and won me a tasty little each way bet for top 4 finish.

The down marks are for Movistar being far less than the sum of their parts and Demare being allowed to finish the race and win a stage long after he should have been thrown out.

The first week dragged on interminably with way too many gift stages for the sprinters to have their glory without having to clear any genuine obstacles. The structure of the race also meant that curiously other than the cobbled stage none of the other weekend road stages were really showcase stages which is very odd for maximising publicity and crowds.

The team time was mercifully close but I still feel they are a bit dull to watch and skew the advantage even further to the big budget squads with deep rosters.

I loved the short stage in terms of the parlours and it's position in the race plus the brutality of the last climb served up huge time gaps through the field but the grid start did naff all to provoke any tactical drama. If it is to be repeated they should line the groups in 300 metre gaps or set them off at 30 second intervals so it either takes a longer time or greater effort for teams to reform and a real risk of dangerous riders making a positive move off the front exists.

 

[thehog]

4.

I thought the route was good but even on the cobbled stage none of the GT riders didn’t want to risk and played it defensive - the headwind didn’t help either. Same when it got to he first MTF eveyone realized there was no way they could attack because of the Sky tempo. It became a very defensive Tour with limited attacking and options. Not much can be done other than GT riders taking a chance elsewhere. Perhaps more MTFs might help, less 10km descents into the next town after a climb.

If you added up the time Thomas’s spent in the wind it would add up to single digit minutes. It was basically a team time trial around France. Reducing riders down a number didn’t help as Sky’s did it without Moscon and Froome barely took a pull at the front. Five riders plus Thomas they’d still win.

 

[The Barb]

2.

Hilly stages are where it's at! (don't have to be uphill finishes, often better when not, so long as hills are reasonably close to the finish).

This Tour just needed 2-3 such stages in that tedious first week and it could have been really good. Without them, it became a predictable procession.

I'm also troubled by the climbs being dominated by classics riders and time trialists. And I don't mean in a Clinic sense (although that too) but more because it makes for less interesting racing when the best climbers are also the best time trialists.

 

[zlev11]

i voted 6. the boring first week is normal for the Tour, almost every Tour in history has a bad first week. still, the end of stage 1 was exciting and stages 5 and 6 were fine. the cobblestone stage was fun to watch live but i was expecting a lot better. i thought the Alps were quite good aside from the LGB stage, especially the last half of stage 11 and Kruijswijk's raid over the Croix de Fer. the 65km pyrenees stage was underwhelming but the Laruns stage was one of the best stages in a long time. if Sky weren't so dominant this would have been a really fun race.

 

[GraftPunk]

Re:

i voted 6. the boring first week is normal for the Tour, almost every Tour in history has a bad first week. still, the end of stage 1 was exciting and stages 5 and 6 were fine. the cobblestone stage was fun to watch live but i was expecting a lot better. i thought the Alps were quite good aside from the LGB stage, especially the last half of stage 11 and Kruijswijk's raid over the Croix de Fer. the 65km pyrenees stage was underwhelming but the Laruns stage was one of the best stages in a long time. if Sky weren't so dominant this would have been a really fun race.

SK's domestiquing for Froome when Roglic was attacking is still a head-scratcher for me.

 

[jmdirt]

7.

 

[movingtarget]

Sky still dominated even with Moscon going home and Poels out of form. Bernal and Rowe were great. Thomas looked strong throughout and never looked like cracking which made the result fairly inevitable in the final week as long as he stayed on his bike. Plus the lack of a challenge from Bardet and Movistar and with Porte crashing out again and also Nibali's demise, Roglic was the only spark really in the final week. Quintana won a stage in good style. I give it a 6 mainly because of the awful stage design.

 

[oldcrank]

Obviously another 10. The race started with some wonderful
sprint stages, there was high drama in the mountains as well
as suspense right up until SuperG crossed the line in the ITT.

With our Geraint now joining other pursuiters including Kubler,
Koblet, Hinault and Brad as a Tour champ (and joining French
trackie Christophe Riblon as a victor on Alpe d'Huez) I think I'll
rate this tour according to number of prizes won by pursuiters.

3-overall and 2 stages by SuperG (2008/2012 Olympic Team Pursuit champ)
2-stages by Fernando Gaviria (2015 Pan American Games Team Pursuit champ)
1-stage by John Degenkolb (2004 German Novice Pursuit champ)
1-combativity award/stage 2 by Sylvain Chavanel (2016 European Team Pursuit champ)
1-combativity award/stage 4 by Jerome Cousin (2008/2009 French Team Pursuit champ)
2-combativity awards/stages 6+9 by Damien Gaudin (2009/2010 French Team Pursuit champ)
1-combativity award/ stage 18 by Luke Durbridge (2008 World Jnr/2011 World Team Pursuit champ)
_
11 total prizes, so I rate the Tour 11...but voted it a ten.


note: Riblon's track palmares includes second places at the 2002
Euro U23 T-P, the 2008 Worlds Points and 2010 Worlds Madison.

 

[SafeBet]

Despite being boring it was still much better than 2012, 2016 and 2013. Possibly better than 2017 too, so I gave it a 5.

 

[SKSemtex]

5

What I like most is that the most of the sprinters were sent home. I hope it will be the same next year until they start to train in the mountains as well. I would even shorten the time limits next years so they have to work "hard" all 21 stage.

For me, sprinters stage wins have very small value especially if they come after two days "relax ride" in grupetto.
Probably if they had to ride hard hilly or mountain stages they would be beaten by "third class" riders in a flat finish. I do not need to know who has the highest speed for 200 m, I prefer to see the sprint of "third class riders" who are not 2 hours behind the GS leader time.

I would even set up the time cut in GC. THere is one thing to struggle in HC or 1 CAT climb or to have a bad day but being on the edge of time cut every nonflat stage is ridiculous.

I know it is unrealistic but it is my opinion.

Parkour was not so bad at all. Unfortunately, we lost Nibali, Porte and also half of the Majka first week. I am pretty sure Froome would be cracked badly in the Pyrenees. GT was not even tested.

EDIT: I hate TTT. TTT longer more than 10 km lower the GT immediately by 3 points.

 

[armchairclimber]

Re:

I sometimes wonder if any of the people who comment on the CN forums actually like cycling or have any understanding of it. The same people who pray for rain on cobbled stages bemoan the ffect that crashes and mechanicals have on GC. Flippin bonkers.

sometimes I am unable to watch on long sketchy descents in the wet i'm so anxious

for the riders......flippin' bonkers but there ya go..................

but what has this to do with perceived rating for the tour?

Mark L

I'm with you on that ... at least. It's terrifying.

 

[armchairclimber]

4.

I thought the route was good but even on the cobbled stage none of the GT riders didn’t want to risk and played it defensive - the headwind didn’t help either. Same when it got to he first MTF eveyone realized there was no way they could attack because of the Sky tempo. It became a very defensive Tour with limited attacking and options. Not much can be done other than GT riders taking a chance elsewhere. Perhaps more MTFs might help, less 10km descents into the next town after a climb.

If you added up the time Thomas’s spent in the wind it would add up to single digit minutes. It was basically a team time trial around France. Reducing riders down a number didn’t help as Sky’s did it without Moscon and Froome barely took a pull at the front. Five riders plus Thomas they’d still win.

I concur with much of what you say here. It was a good route. More wind in the vendee might have helped to shake things up, but there was more excitement and GC action in the first week than we normally get, despite the benign conditions. More MTFs yes ... though I suspect that they were hoping to give Bardet an edge .... which he didn't have in the end. All in all a very close race at the front end and one illuminated by some stellar performances. I'll give Thomas credit, because I didn't think he could sustain his effort for the three weeks. Turns out he was the strongest rider. Kudos to Dumoulin for taking it to Sky. Brilliant from Roglic and Alaphilippe. Bernal was unreal. I also thought Jungels did pretty well .... though I expected more from him in week 1.
Even Froome showed a bit of class, I thought.

All in all a 7 for me.

 

[Tank Engine]

Five. In many ways, I found this similar to the 2014 Tour. There were a number of interesting supporting roles, but the main plot line failed to hot up. Martin, GvA and Alaphilippe were often on the attack. I think the short stage (not the grid) was a nice idea, but Sky were too dominant there. Roglic added interest in the final week. Although the GC was closer than when Nibali won, after G took the yellow jersey, the racing was almost entirely between Froome, Tom D and Roglic and G simply defended his position.

 

[loge1884]

I am not quite sure about those who (as they do or someone else does every year) label this "the worst TOUR ever" .... either their memories fade quick or they don't have any memories (due to their youth), or, of course, they are just trolling around ...

When I started following cycling, Merckx was still active (albeight nowhere near his cannibal years) and from my memory, those years were among the best ... the first time we had something of a team imposing itself on others was the La Vie Claire-team around Hinault, but in the 80s that was an exception ....
the really bad years started early 90s with Miguel Indurain - his first win was ok, but after that he just crushed everyone in the ITT and could hold the time in the mountains, everything began being predictible and boring ,.. what a relief, when Bjarne Riis finally could finally beat the Spaniard in '96, then Ullrich, then Pantani and in '99 was the start of the worst years in Tour de France cycling (in my opinion): Lance 'Voldemord' Armstrong was just so dominant and somehow it was more than clear that his rivals, be it Ullrich, Basso, Beloki or Zülle, were like amateurs competing with a pro .... at some stage of this US-Postal tour de force I stopped watching the whole thing and only came back in 2007 I think (Contador's first Tour that was) ... so compared to the early 00-years, Sky might be as dominant as US-Postal, but the individual contenders are way stronger ... the tour lives ....

 

[Jagartrott]

Extremely bland first week, and then the rest of the race smothered by Sky.
We need a budget cap for teams.

 

[glassmoon]

4
Well... meh.

 

[SKSemtex]

Re:

Extremely bland first week, and then the rest of the race smothered by Sky.
We need a budget cap for teams.

It was said many times here. Budget caps are impossible as long as we have countries like Russia, Kazakhstan even Italy. who would be able to control these caps?

 

[Forever The Best]

That was bad. On par with '17 or slightly worse? Better than '16 though. And the spectators causing crashes doesn't help either. 2/10, which is 1 lower than 2017 seems fair because thinking back, 2017 was better.
Oh, and it would have been 1 without the Laruns stage. It was a very good stage.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Are we rating the route or how the race unfolded?

It's two different scores

 

[SKSemtex]

Silly question regarding the Soler in transfer thread gives me the idea how to change the bordtour to best tour ever.
Let Sky have a two teams in the Tour. Sky one and Sky two and we can have an interesting GC fight again.

Just joking of course. Can you imagine the train of 16 Sky riders?

 

[tretiak]

As long Sky train is onboard it will be boring.

 

[muppetkokken]

I actually enjoyed this tour. The first week was a bit boring because I always waited for the last 15-10 km, but when the finish finally came it was fun and exciting to watch. One issue with the flat stages is that they're shown live. The whole stage is shown live. That makes it pretty dull to watch even though the finish might be exciting.

Sky had this from the beginning. I can't really blame the race designers on that. They're just a much better team and rides alot smarter than the rest. If the other teams end up being content with second place in the GC-race they deserve it.

I don't have any problems with the favourites winning, but I would love to see the other riders try to work a bit more together.

 

[del1962]

Re:

Five. In many ways, I found this similar to the 2014 Tour. There were a number of interesting supporting roles, but the main plot line failed to hot up. Martin, GvA and Alaphilippe were often on the attack. I think the short stage (not the grid) was a nice idea, but Sky were too dominant there. Roglic added interest in the final week. Although the GC was closer than when Nibali won, after G took the yellow jersey, the racing was almost entirely between Froome, Tom D and Roglic and G simply defended his position.

2014 was far worse in terms of the excitement once Contador had crashed out, there was no challenge to Nibali it was ever more dominant than Froome in 2013

With this tour at least there was the suspense would G crack, of course he didn't but you could not be certain of the result before the end of the last mountain stage.

 

[saganftw]

1,every time you can predict the result and the way the result was achieved in sports,its garbage competition...only question throughout the tour was how will sky handle 2 leaders situation

 

[guncha]

Gave it 4. Horrible first week which is always the case in flat terrain. Disappointing LGB and Luchon stages. Pyrenees were too weak to test Froome. Glad that Thomas won.