The worst Grand Tour you can remember

[Cookster15]

Re:

Agree with what Carols and Pantani_lives say:

Although I wasn't watching cycling in the 90's, I did catch enough of US Postal in their day, and Sky the past years to understand what a kill-joy super mountain trains are to Grand Tour action and excitement.
Worst GT's I've seen:
1. Tour 2016
2. Tour 2015
3. Tour 2013
4. 2005
5. 2004
6. 2003

How could you leave out 2012? The worst of all in my opinion.

 

[postmanhat]

Re:

I dont remember something similar to a Banesto train. But sure I remember Indurain being attacked from everywhere and everytime and him closing the attacks the most of the times. I remember him winning his first Tour descending Tourmalet and cruising a very far attack with Chiapucci. I remember him closing a gap of one minute with Bugno in a single descent. I remember him destroying his rivals many times pacing a monster rythm up the mountains. I remember him fighting the entire peloton in the way of Liege in Tour95. I remember him fighting in an all out fight against Berzin and Pantani in the way of Aprica with the Mortirolo in the middle. I remember many situations that dont carry to say that Indurain years were boring.

A lot of what made the Indurain years exciting was how well he reacted to attacks. Not so much what he initated himself, from my very hazy memory. He never won a stage other than a TT in those five years.

I think Froome is a more complete and exciting rider

 

[SafeBet]

Getting closer to the worst ever GT every passing day. If somebody pulls a De Gendt I will consider giving it the edge over the Giro 2012 but I don't think it's likely.

 

[hrotha]

He never won a stage other than a TT in those five years because he tried damn hard not to, mostly.

 

[jalep]

Re: Re:

How could you leave out 2012? The worst of all in my opinion.

:lol: yeah, almost listed 2012 but I actually miss some Wiggins / Froome antics!

 

[Cance > TheRest]

The 2003 Tour is one of the best grand tours I've ever seen

 

[El Pistolero]

Re:

He never won a stage other than a TT in those five years because he tried damn hard not to, mostly.

That's pretty pathetic for a five-time Tour winner actually.

 

[Sciocco]

The Tour is very good at being boring as *** most of the time. Sometimes you get nice stages though like the rainy cobbles stage in 2014, those late mountain stages in 2011. I'll stick with a previous observation of mine though that transitional stages in the Giro can provide more entertainment than the entirety of the Tour (from a racing standpoint).

 

[robow7]

Indurain was smart enough and humble enough to fly beneath the radar and not make it too obvious, unlike Lance that would just flaunt it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

At this point of the race, it competes with 2011 and 2009 for the most boring race (2012 is still on another level IMO), but 2011 had 2 spectacular stages in the end for today's standards, so unless Quintana finds his legs or Froome bonks, it will most definitely be worse.

Now that I think about it, 2007 was definitely the best I can remember. 08, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15 were pretty mediocre. 2009 and 2012 downright horrible. Probably around 2009-levels right now.

 

[deValtos]

Oh come on, people who are listing 2013,2015,2016 are not even trying to hide that it's not the GT but the rider.

2014 was by far worse than any of those 3 unless someone thought Peraud was going to take about 7 mins with an attack on the final day?

Sure 2013/5/6 have been pretty bad but let's try to be a little objective here ...

And ye 2003 was actually an amazing Tour. Why that is in anyone's list is again because of the rider and not because of the race.

A shoutout to Giro 2006 for a GT that had almost no suspense.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

He never won a stage other than a TT in those five years because he tried damn hard not to, mostly.

That's pretty pathetic for a five-time Tour winner actually.

In retrospect, one of the smartest things about his career. Make lots of friends, create no unnecessary grudges or resentments. Not contesting stage wins was one part of an approach to others in the sport and to his own profile that has allowed him to relax into a long, uncontroversial and wealthy retirement.

 

[SevenTimeTdfChamp]

12, 13 ,14 ,15 ,16 ... in no particular order....

on the other hand 03 was the best GT ever and iam not just beeing bias because lance won.. you had no idea who was going to win until after the last tt and there was so much drama througout the tour.. The tt were jan took a lot of time on lance,, lance boinking in the mountains, lance rideing over the field when beloki crashed, lance crashing and attacking on luz ardiden, ulrich crashing on the last tt. So the argument that 03 sucked becasue you knew who was going to win doesnt hold up in court

 

[blaxland]

In order 2012/13/14 and looks like 2016 aswell.Please bring back C. Chiapucci/T.Marie and C.Mottet,those guys new how to attack from afar...

 

[Laggard]

Hands down, ever tour Armstong won were the most boring ever.

 

[El Pistolero]

I found 2014 to be entertaining still. We had the awesome cobbled stage, the stage to Shefield and Nibali attacked in all mountain stages to win stages or gain time. He won dominantly, but with panache. The stage where Tony Gallopin took yellow was also quite exciting.

This Tour every key stage, besides one, has gone to the break.

 

[deValtos]

Re:

I found 2014 to be entertaining still. We had the awesome cobbled stage, the stage to Shefield and Nibali attacked in all mountain stages to win stages or gain time. He won dominantly, but with panache. The stage where Tony Gallopin took yellow was also quite exciting.

This Tour every key stage, besides one, has gone to the break.

Seems pretty similar to this year.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

The Froome/Armstrong years have been the worst, with the exception of 2003, which was pretty good, especially the Alpe d'Huez stage.

There is no comparison between the Tours now vs. the Tours in the 1980s.

 

[The Hegelian]

Oh come on, people who are listing 2013,2015,2016 are not even trying to hide that it's not the GT but the rider.

2014 was by far worse than any of those 3 unless someone thought Peraud was going to take about 7 mins with an attack on the final day?

Sure 2013/5/6 have been pretty bad but let's try to be a little objective here ...

And ye 2003 was actually an amazing Tour. Why that is in anyone's list is again because of the rider and not because of the race.

A shoutout to Giro 2006 for a GT that had almost no suspense.

My personal reason for ranking 2012 worse than 2014 is that I stopped watching soon after Contador's crash, when it was apparent that there was only one possible contender - so I have a total blank in the memory bank. It's simply not there. Didn't watch, don't know, don't care. Whereas 2012 I had the misfortune of watching all the way through. The boredom from that still hurts.

Technically speaking, I agree that a tour that forces you to abandon following ought to be ranked worse than one you watch to the end albeit in utter contempt.

 

[The Hegelian]

As for the Indurain years - I always liked the pretenders who seemed to threaten for the win. Bugno, Rominger, Zulle.

But yeah, it was pretty bloody predictable....until the end. Who would have thought that Riis, of all people, would be the one to put him to the sword in the mountains? But one, Riis himself.

The romanticism-nostalgia is justified. The 90's gave us grunge, raves, Seinfeld and happy-globalisation. The lads rode steel. Sweeter times than now, with terror, coups and shitstorms everywhere.....

 

[El Pistolero]

Re:

As for the Indurain years - I always liked the pretenders who seemed to threaten for the win. Bugno, Rominger, Zulle.

But yeah, it was pretty bloody predictable....until the end. Who would have thought that Riis, of all people, would be the one to put him to the sword in the mountains? But one, Riis himself.

The romanticism-nostalgia is justified. The 90's gave us grunge, raves, Seinfeld and happy-globalisation. The lads rode steel. Sweeter times than now, with terror, coups and shitstorms everywhere.....

The Middle-East was already a ***-hole in the '90s, nothing new there. Iraq and Iran in particular were recovering from a VERY costly war.

 

[jalep]

Oh come on, people who are listing 2013,2015,2016 are not even trying to hide that it's not the GT but the rider.

2014 was by far worse than any of those 3 unless someone thought Peraud was going to take about 7 mins with an attack on the final day?

Sure 2013/5/6 have been pretty bad but let's try to be a little objective here ...

And ye 2003 was actually an amazing Tour. Why that is in anyone's list is again because of the rider and not because of the race.

A shoutout to Giro 2006 for a GT that had almost no suspense.

It's the mountain train and the train's leader in those years I didn't like. 2014 was cool, in that it wasn't boring sky train again on the heels of 2012 and 2013. Nibali's performance and others' performances on various stages in the 2014 edition made it refreshing and interesting, to ME. I barely tolerated 2015 and this year is a boring ditto; a rerun; a sequel of a sequel. I'm not a fan of Sky/Froome dominating the TdF GC year after year after year.

 

[The Hegelian]

Re: Re:

As for the Indurain years - I always liked the pretenders who seemed to threaten for the win. Bugno, Rominger, Zulle.

But yeah, it was pretty bloody predictable....until the end. Who would have thought that Riis, of all people, would be the one to put him to the sword in the mountains? But one, Riis himself.

The romanticism-nostalgia is justified. The 90's gave us grunge, raves, Seinfeld and happy-globalisation. The lads rode steel. Sweeter times than now, with terror, coups and shitstorms everywhere.....

The Middle-East was already a ***-hole in the '90s, nothing new there. Iraq and Iran in particular were recovering from a VERY costly war.

Sure, + 1st gulf war started + Balkans + Rhwanda + IMF and World Bank + Spice Girls.

I ain't saying the 90's was some utopia.

I am saying: it was a lot better than now.

 

[SKSemtex]

Oh come on, people who are listing 2013,2015,2016 are not even trying to hide that it's not the GT but the rider.

2014 was by far worse than any of those 3 unless someone thought Peraud was going to take about 7 mins with an attack on the final day?

Sure 2013/5/6 have been pretty bad but let's try to be a little objective here ...

And ye 2003 was actually an amazing Tour. Why that is in anyone's list is again because of the rider and not because of the race.

A shoutout to Giro 2006 for a GT that had almost no suspense.

No way the 2014 was far worse. At least the Sky train was completly derailed. Fanny that we think now that two three riders from Sky train are even better that the best one outside the Sky. They are probably not. It is different to ride without fear to get burnt with practicly no responsibility. Once Froome was gone they were toothless.
We just need the parcour were Froome can be challanged and put unther preassure. OK lets bring cobbles and classic type roads again. If Froome is a true champion (and I think he is) he will handle it. If not well we will have another champ. For me Nibali was a true champ. The champ of the "greatest" race does not have to be the best climber from the best team.

 

[Carols]

Re:

The Froome/Armstrong years have been the worst, with the exception of 2003, which was pretty good, especially the Alpe d'Huez stage.

There is no comparison between the Tours now vs. the Tours in the 1980s.

Spoken for Truth...plus 70s and early 1990s.