"Tour de Bore"

[SilentAssassin]

I don't think it's possible for this tour to get any more bearing. When the highlight of a race is a few flat tires, you can't get any more boring than that. Someone just give Wiggins the trophy already because no one is going to attack.

 

[thehog]

I heard reports that the tacks where put on the road to wake up some of the riders. Apparently some of them were falling alsleep during the stage it was that boring.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Garbage tour. Worst tour I have watched, and I've been watching since the 80s.

Complete trash.

 

[Pippo_San]

And someone dared to say this year Giro was a snoozefest.
Well actually it was, it's just I can't believe this Tour is even worse.

We really missed hugs and kisses on the finish line today.

 

[Afrank]

This tour is no where near the level of excitement of last years, of course with 100 km of time trialing and a team like sky bringing back all the dangerous attacks we can't expect much. To bad there is not a Schleck or Contador type rider at this tour, it is missing a rider that can blow the field apart with a single move.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The tour is boring as hell. I originally thought this was quite a good route. I think the way the race has progressed has resulted in a rather boring tour so far. I will still watch it for the love of the sport.

Maybe Dekker_Tifosi should come and visit this thread as some non-Cadel fans are actually saying it is a boring tour. :rolleyes

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

This tour is no where near the level of excitement of last years, of course with 100 km of time trialing and a team like sky bringing back all the dangerous attacks we can't expect much. To bad there is not a Schleck or Contador type rider at this tour, it is missing a rider that can blow the field apart with a single move.

True so far. Last year did not light up until stages 18-19. But those were legit mtn stages. This year all that's left to hope for are stages 16 and 17. But 16, while there are two HC's and two cat-1's, it's a downhill finish. And 17 is not what I'd call a monster MTF where big splits are likely to develop. So there sure is not much more to look forward to. Some forumite a couple months ago correctly put it by saying the organizers ASO'd it with crappy routes.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

The tour is boring as hell. I originally thought this was quite a good route. I think the way the race has progressed has resulted in a rather boring tour so far. I will still watch it for the love of the sport.

Maybe Dekker_Tifosi should come and visit this thread as some non-Cadel fans are actually saying it is a boring tour. :rolleyes

I'll be watching too. But it is agonizing on NBC Sports coverage because they'll have 5 minutes of race coverage followed by almost 5 minutes of advertisements. Terrible. So terrible I got up and left a couple nights ago.

 

[thehog]

Even the Froome v Wiggins drama fizzled out to nothing. That was totally p1ssweak and lame. Bring back Armstrong. He would have thrown Froome's wheels out and stole the team car!

It's such a lame Tour. It's like a 21 day charity ride that on occasions breaks out into a race.

 

[Pippo_San]

Some forumite a couple months ago correctly put it by saying the organizers ASO'd it with crappy routes.

This thing should require a new MEME shouldn't it?

 

[mewmewmew13]

Even the Froome v Wiggins drama fizzled out to nothing. That was totally p1ssweak and lame. Bring back Armstrong. He would have thrown Froome's wheels out and stole the team car!

It's such a lame Tour. It's like a 21 day charity ride that on occasions breaks out into a race.

especially the way the peloton finished today

 

[DominicDecoco]

Definitely needed another thread.

 

[Hotbrakes]

I must admit I did get half a chubby watching the climb of the Col du Grand Colombier. The way the road snaked it's way around that ridge was amazing. Some of the new climbs have been interesting. But overall, a jar full of coffee while sitting on a board of nails, can't keep me awake. The route is a little dull but I new the result before the Tour started. That's what was wrong with the Armstrong years.

 

[danjo007]

couldnt agree more. atleast i dont have to put myself through it this year, im sitting this one out.

 

[UlleGigo]

Friday's stage was the worst stage design I have ever seen. The two early climbs were absolutely pointless.

Apart from that I think we are really missing Bertie and even Andy. You know you're in trouble in terms of quality of entertainment when rubber neck would make a big difference.

 

[Chris85]

We have a good battle in the sprints. Sagan, Greipel, Cav and Goss. White jersey could certainly change over the next few days in the mountains. We also have two young Frenchmen in the top ten GC. Excellent!! Not boring, just cycling.

I'm sure if you asked someone who isn't following the tour, who won. They would say "that young guy in the green jersey". Hes spent more time, so far, on the podium than Wiggins. He also popped a wheelie when he won his 1st stage. As far as i'm concerned, Peter Sagan is winning the Tour of France.

 

[Oldman]

Take.....away.....the.....radios

 

[S2Sturges]

Agree with virtually all comments, I went out and bought a PVR for the Tour and quit recording after the TT.. I wasn't interested in staying up til 1:30 or so every night just to see the same guys sitting at the front, grinding away, letting the token break get down the road and giving P&P something to get excited about.. That's what happens when you get a bunch of ringers that are bought with some very deep pockets.. I think this is going to be more or a problem as team owners demand more return for their investment and the riders are more controlled than ever by the team directors.. the spontaneity is gone from the Tour and this should be a wake up... This year's Giro was pretty good, I'm hoping the Vuelta will be the same... BUt the idea of getting a coupe of minutes in the TT, then having your team ride tempo for the rest of the rest is negative racing, Bernard, Francesco and Roche must be shaking their heads...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Garbage tour. Worst tour I have watched, and I've been watching since the 80s.

Complete trash.

so much wrong with this tour, dont even know where to start.

 

[the asian]

A disappointing Tour was somewhat to be expected. due to the parcourse & the riders participating. The first week crashes and the strength of Team Sky has made it even worse.
I also feel the World Tour points has also contributed to the bore fest.

 

[Marcus135]

Take.....away.....the.....radios

This, most definitely. Until this season i thought taking them away was a bad idea, but now get rid of them, reduce team numbers to 8 (at the most) and i would go as far as not showing time gaps to breaks very often at all, 2 or 3 times a stage or so.

Racing has become to calculated and mathematical with a fat old guy sitting in a car telling riders exactly what to do and its just plane boring most of the time now.

 

[thegrimpeur]

I think a lot of people have an unfair level of expectations to the sport of cycling. Obviously, it hasn't been the greatest Tour, but you have to say that the stage Rolland won was one of the better stages I've seen. Stages 16 and 17 is also really hard and will probably be exciting. Especially stage 16 should be an instant classic, and if Nibali and/or Evans has a good day and have a gap on the top of the last climb, they could take minutes on that last decent.

Now, the only real problem I see is ASO's sudden desire to make "medium" mountain stages with HC and cat 1 climbs. IMO there should be 5 really hard mountain stages in every Tour. This year, we only have 4, counting La Planche Belle Filles, and that's one short. In addition to this, there should be a handful of stages like the one Pinot won, which was great. Short, steep climbs, enabling the GC guys, the puncheurs and the climbers a shot at the stage win. When you make stages like the one yesterday, it will just neutralize everything. No one will attack as there is to far to go, a break will get 20 mins and it will all be pretty boring.

I think that is the biggest problem with the Tour the last years, the misuse of the great climbs. To see the map of yesterdays stage, and see that 13 k loop they did in the end, was just depressing. That climb could have been legendary, yet ASO made a blunder and neutralized the race. Give us 4-6 mountain stages, obviously with variation, then 4-6 medium stages where it is possible to gain time if desired, like stage 8 this year or the finish in Mende. Then fill that out with 2-3 TTs, maybe a TTT and 7-9 sort of flat ones, and you have a Tour. Its not that hard, and the ASO generally does a good job finding new variations to the Tour. They just have to stop misusing the great climbs, like the last one yesterday or the Grand Colombier.

 

[Eric8-A]

At least I'm not the only one who thinks this Tour is dead.

I only watched the prologue and two stages from first week. After all the crashes, I lost interest.

 

[frenchfry]

I can't believe todays stage is in the "Pyrénées" yet is basically flat. What a waste. Yesterday wasn't much better. So we end up with one good mountain stage in the Alps and one in the Pyrénées. Of course it is boring.

 

[thegrimpeur]

One more thing: There should be a sub-forum for "cycling is boring"-threads, like we have with the clinic for doping. It is predictable, uneducated and frankly a bit arrogant to keep saying that. Everyone who follows cycling more than the Tour knows that 18 out of 21 stages doesn't really cut it, but thats a grand tour. You can't expect Liege or Paris-Roubaix every day. Last year was supposedly the most boring grand tour ever, until Schleck and Contador blew up the race on the last couple of mountain stages. Just enjoy what you get and adjust your expectations.