Reflections on the 2009 Tour de France

[tigerboy]

I don't think we need a "sprinter" classification: one just need to take a look at the number of stages won to see who was the best at sprinting.

Fair point.

 

[jamfra67]

i gave the tour a 7. Mount ventoux was a dissapointment as the best did not win there. The internal politics of Astana and Andy Schlecks bid to help his brother deprived fans of an epic battle for the stage between himself and contador. That was a let down for me. Contador had to play nice boy and babysit Lance to secure his 3rd place for fear of being called a bad team mate. The roles reversed i wonder if lance would pas up the stage win to protect him. The rise of Wiggins, Andy,Nibaldi and the polka dot man makes for an interesting 2010.

 

[blaxland]

5/10 Unfortunatley this tour was decided by the Team time trial thus providing a very boring 10 to12 days of racing...8/10 for the last week..Congratulations to Alberto and Andy Great rides

 

[TourLeTour]

I thought it was great. I thought there were plenty of tough climbs, and I should know, I rode them. I have to say I would have liked to see more of them being finishes rather than having big long descents, but you get that. TTT was a part of the race. Everyone knew about it before they picked their teams. It is a team race. Getting the right guys for the TTT is a part of winning the race. Astana did this better than everyone else, so they won the stage. And really, it didn't make that much difference to the overall. I have to say though, I rode that course the morning before they raced it, and could see then that there would be a LOT of whinging about it (as proven in my blog, with time stamp), it was a bl00dy awful road.

I wanted to Andy Schleck win it. That was what I predicted half way through last years race. But I was happy with AC as well, it was a superb performance. Also, I was generally riding my bike (it weighs 45kg OK, it took me a while to finish some of these stages) so I didn't really watch that much of it. Still, I give it a 7.

 

[elapid]

I thought it was great. I thought there were plenty of tough climbs, and I should know, I rode them. I have to say I would have liked to see more of them being finishes rather than having big long descents, but you get that. TTT was a part of the race. Everyone knew about it before they picked their teams. It is a team race. Getting the right guys for the TTT is a part of winning the race. Astana did this better than everyone else, so they won the stage. I have to say though, I rode it the morning before they raced it, and could see then that there would be a LOT of whinging about it (as proven in my blog, with time stamp), it was a bl00dy awful road.

I wanted to Andy Schleck win it. That was what I predicted half way through last years race. But I was happy with AC as well, it was a superb performance. Also, I was generally riding my bike (it weighs 45kg OK, it took me a while to finish some of these stages) so I didn't really watch that much of it. Still, I give it a 7.

Congratulations - great ride. Cycling the entire tour, including transfers, on a 45 kg (lb?) bike. Legendary effort.

 

[Bagster]

Congratulations - great ride. Cycling the entire tour, including transfers, on a 45 kg (lb?) bike. Legendary effort.

At 45kg it must have been a motorbike

 

[Psalmon]

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

This Tour was average to good on racing and below average in spirit. Some of that was not ASO's or the Tour's fault, some was.

The Good:
- No positives (so far): based on the Passport and retesting, we should know the final winner of the '09 tour in about 30 months. Catch the creeps out there, but seriously, is this what we want?
- Breakaways won 9 stages! Cav 6. AC 3 (incl. TTT). Other favorites 3 (Sparticus, Thor, Schleck): All this with radios, imagine. Must be a record. Good for teams, good for the sport, haven't seen it reported anywhere.
-Week 1 route: Monaco, winds, technical TTT, more winds, Barcelona
-The weather: A little Mistral, Un poco de lluvia en Barcelona y les Alpes, some heat across central France - mother nature, the 19th team
-Lance came through for all us old people. I hope he can make the podium when he's 40, but I'd easily trade that to STAY 40.
-Jens Voigt is ok.

The BAD:
Not ASO/Le Tour's fault:
-Dominant riders and dominant teams: Alberto, Cav, Astana took a lot of the drama out of the race; Needed Robbie McEwen (don't know if it had mattered, but a missed competitor); also Tom "Blew my chances" Boonen and Quick Step who I thought had been kicked out until I saw a couple QS guys in Paris
-Lance's return and the Contador-Armstrong soap opera: Needless controversy that rained all the sport out of the race when from the beginning Alberto was clearly dominant (Lance lost his accel difference after 2003), made worse by the all the press. I greatly admire Lance's performance at his age, but I can't see him ever winning the TdF again. I'm sure Lance knows it too (see the Ugly).
-Nocentini: A colorless leader unless your favorite color is grey. At least Voeckler had a story, was enthusiastic, had some character. We'll see if Nocentini becomes a visible rider in the peloton or vanishes into the tapestry.

ASO/Le Tour's fault:
-The Pyrenees: Andora wasn't steep enough, no other mountain top finishes, lots of big monuments just marginalized to nothing or left out totally. Need more Mountain tops. Classify also under the entire week 2 route: Week 2 weak.
-Sans Radios: Plop. We watch the tour on mobile phones and they want to go "old school"? Then ditch all the communications, motos, and choppers. Chase the riders in old 1920's vintage cars. Does F1 plan this? Come on.
-Actually relegating Cav for dangerous "looking around" --- Sucked all the last energy out of the green jersey competition (which was good to that point). Thor made sure there wasn't any (inspiring), but what a stupid move to "judge" the competition over. The TdF jury actually realizes it can hate someone more than Robbie. Maybe it's just the English accent thing a'?

The Ugly?
-Two for Lance: 1. Radio Shack announcement: Good business timing (understand it), bad form 2. Today's podium. Arrived with sunglasses on, Stood un-animated, Tight jaw...Get me off of here, I'm embarrassed to get 3rd. That's what it looked like to me. Didn't even look at Alberto when he shook his hand. All he talked about is make the podium toward the end, and then he looked like he wanted to be invisible. Man, wave to the crowd, give Alberto a hug, better yet raise Alberto's hand, at least look happy. Or let Brad Wiggins up there. Lost a lot of respect for Lance there.
- Riders Whining: Complaints about teams attacking in cross winds; Complaining about the TTT course; Radios that ended up giving them an extra rest day; George's entitlement to the MJ; Thor complaining about Cav's barging; Basta! It's a tough sport, That's why we like it.
- Cav's personality: Like road rash, you just want it to heal, stop oozing and have the scab go away.
-Last that occurred last: I love the Danish anthem, so I hope that Alberto listens to it every day while training for the next 8 freekin' years so he can help them make sure they get it right a la Mohammad Ali "What's my Name!" ASO wasn't sure who was going to win? Didn't have enough time to prepare since at least 3 weeks ago? The guy is clearly your champion. If that happens you stop it and start over. Apologize and take the heat right there. Don't embarrass him and rob him of the moment. Therefore, I can't buy that as a mistake, just can't. At BEST a slap in the face, at worst...not going there.

Score? 5

 

[agp212]

I'd rate the Tour a 7. The difference this year was that the "battle" for the yellow jersey was anticlimactic, particularly if one never bought into the idea that Lance could realistically challenge Contador for top spot on the podium.

That said, the way the Tour unfolded drew new attention to the other classifications and there was plenty of drama to be had in the contest for the sprint and mountains jerseys.

The Good:
Contador delivering on every stage on which he was challenged
Hushovd winning a stage and going on the breakaway to use unconventional tactics to win and hold green
Cancellara winning the prologue, riding like a champion - especially on Swiss soil, working hard for the Schlecks, and nearly winning the ITT
Pelizotti fighting hard for the polka dots
Breakaway wins by Voeckler, Feillu, Haussler, Sanchez, Fredrigo, Sorensen, Ivanov
HD coverage on Versus
Nocentini (I thought he did a good defense of yellow)

The Bad:
Sastre, Menchov, Evans - there was zero analysis on Versus on what went wrong with these top riders
Boonen - would have been nice to give Cav more of a threat
Astana's protection of Armstrong - although he faded in the last couple of days, Kloden might have had a better chance to finish on the podium if he didn't have to protect Lance (particularly on Arcalis)