"Tour de Bore"

[FoxxyBrown1111]

It wasn't much animated, and it was a boring Giro compared to 2011 & 2010, but at least we had one memorable stage, and a close GC battle.
This Tour we neither had any memorable stages, nor a close GC battle.

Wrong. At least stage 7, 11 and 17 were memorable and much disscused for many different reasons.

Besides that tiny time gaps say nothing about excitement (just compare Tour of Polands with any TdF of the 80s), 70% of people were not sure who will win this years tour deep in week three. Far from a non close CG-Battle.

 

[slim charles]

Besides the fact that we'll remember the winner, I don't think there's anything else really to remember from this Tour.

Which is ok, I mean, not every race can be spectacular. The problem I'm having with it is - it was very predictably non-spectacular.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Besides the fact that we'll remember the winner, I don't think there's anything else really to remember from this Tour.

Which is ok, I mean, not every race can be spectacular. The problem I'm having with it is - it was very predictably non-spectacular.

Better to remember nothing than cowardly racing of 2011 or looking hard at each other.

 

[the asian]

Better to remember nothing than cowardly racing of 2011 or looking hard at each other.

I will remember the Galibier and alpe d'huez stages of 2011, rather than the boring first two weeks.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I will remember the Galibier and alpe d'huez stages of 2011, rather than the boring first two weeks.

And since i don´t have a short memory i´ll remember both stages and the non racing event that occured for 2 1/2 weeks in 2011. Further i´ll remember at least stage 7, 11 and 17 of 2012. That´s one more than last year and two more than the abysmal Giro 2012.

 

[roundabout]

What happened on stage 17?

Well, apart from Froome having to ride circles around Wiggins so that the latter could keep up.

 

[Nocontest]

especially the way the peloton finished today

This is what you get when schools spend years promoting 'non-competitive sports' Christian has said there will be no winner this year but that every rider who gets to Paris will get a 'participants medal'.

Peter Sagan is reported as saying 'F%&k the medal, just give me my Porsche!!'

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

As flat stages go I really enjoyed Stage 18.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

What happened on stage 17?

Well, apart from Froome having to ride circles around Wiggins so that the latter could keep up.

At least it made it a discussable stage, and i had my laugh, so it was entertaining. While on non racing events i just had the feeling to throw my TV out of the window in annoyance.

 

[Nocontest]

What happened on stage 17?

Well, apart from Froome having to ride circles around Wiggins so that the latter could keep up.

Not much happened apart from Froome showing what a complete knob he was and also showing everyone that he can surge up the road in 20 metre bursts when the race is effectively over. What Wiggo showed today, was that he is the strongest rider in the Tour.

What we will see next year is a Crocodile Dundee moment when AC responds to a Froome 'attack'

'Thats not an attack son, this is an attack!...'

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Not much happened apart from Froome showing what a complete knob he was and also showing everyone that he can surge up the road in 20 metre bursts when the race is effectively over. What Wiggo showed today, was that he is the strongest rider in the Tour.

What we will see next year is a Crocodile Dundee moment when AC responds to a Froome 'attack'

'Thats not an attack son, this is an attack!...'

I am not so sure here. You remember riders coming off a ban? DiLuca, Sella, and Basso in his first year. I take a avatar bet; Froome will be at least right on the side of AC, if nothing strange happens before.

 

[Fergoose]

[grumble]Well, I like to reserve judgement until I’ve seen it all and I hate to be negative but I really do think that was mince. An absolute shadow of what a GT could be. Probably a touch bitter as I took days off for some of the ‘key’ stages.

Yellow - Course design immediately ruled out anyone that didn't have a strong ITT and ensured it was always going to be a three horse race (Wiggins, Evans & Froome). Only one horse was able to race to anything like the best of their abilities. Of the top teams contending the GC, only one turned up with a squad focussing on winning yellow while the rest had multiple or no apparent objectives.

When you are relying on Nibali to animate the race you are going to struggle. He is a great intelligent rider, but not the most naturally gifted and previously not considered a top tier climber.

Green - Griepel not contesting it from the outset and no Hushovd or on-form Gilbert to compete with Sagan on certain stages. A shadow of the contests of previous years where it was a two or three way contest until the end between riders of differing styles.

KotM - back to the bad old days of non-climbers contesting it while nobody else cared. Recognised sprinters at the head of the peloton for many climbs and most climbs only seeing accelerations when Evans or VdB wanted to be first to get a bottle at the summit.

Team contest - As exciting and relevant as always. Radioshack, possibly the only team with the assets to test Sky in the second half of the race, made no attempt at any point to launch an attack on the top 5. Their main contribution was to chase down an attack by VdB; at least Sky neutralised the race for a legitimate reason. Leaving arguably their top ITT performing GC contender Fuglsang out didn’t help them either. If the Team contest contributed to the conservative and risk free riding by RSNT then we are better off without it.

Stage wins – a couple of gutsy efforts but nothing to linger in the memory other than Voeckler and the slowest sprint finish in history (and possibly Stage 18). Some stages where the peloton actually slowed down in order to not catch the breakaway too early, which brings me to…

Team radio - Entertainment killer as always, removing virtually all hope of unpredictability and making it far easier for a team like Sky to manage every scenario from the front. Likely contributing to nervousness and crashes that robbed us of several leading talents.

Positives – plenty of young talent in and around the top 10. The race may have been so bad that the powers that be will take notice and tinker again. This race strengthened the case for getting shot of two-way team radio.

Score: 2/10
(last years TdF I would give a 7/10 and if it wasn’t for crashes it could have been a 9 or even 10. From 2008-2010 I'd have given them all 6/10 or 7/10)
[/grumble]

Feels better getting that off my chest. Roll on the Olympics

 

[Nocontest]

I am not so sure here. You remember riders coming off a ban? DiLuca, Sella, and Basso in his first year. I take a avatar bet; Froome will be at least right on the side of AC, if nothing strange happens before.

To be honest, watching Froome it was Ricco that immediately sprang to mind. For his speed up hills of course.

 

[rickshaw]

What???

Do you all mean that the battle for 5th and 6th places didn't keep you on the edge of the couch?

So I ask the wife, "Want to watch the Tour?"
She, "Do you know what happened?"
"Yeah", says I, "Cav won a sprint."
She, pausing for a second, "Nah."
We watched "Project Runway" instead. Its the 10th season you know.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

To be honest, watching Froome it was Ricco that immediately sprang to mind. For his speed up hills of course.

That´s what i meant with "strange things".
Anyway, i´ll take the bet if they meet in a GT. I´d even give it a go in this years vuelta.

 

[armchairclimber]

A great tour to watch. Sagan's celebrations, Tommy's facial expressions and Cavendish's "whoosh" on stage 18. Aome attritional riding in the mountains, some surprising failures and some great new talent.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

A great tour to watch. Sagan's celebrations, Tommy's facial expressions and Cavendish's "whoosh" on stage 18. Aome attritional riding in the mountains, some surprising failures and some great new talent.

Yep, to watch it does two things: separating the pretenders from the contenders and it´s more exciting to watch than AC & Schleck looking hard at each other...

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think I will be buying the Taste Le Tour DVD this year instead of the TDF 12 'Highlights' DVD.

 

[movingtarget]

I think I will be buying the Taste Le Tour DVD this year instead of the TDF 12 'Highlights' DVD.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[armchairclimber]

I think I will be buying the Taste Le Tour DVD this year instead of the TDF 12 'Highlights' DVD.

That'll be because the Aussies were rubbish this year.

 

[Dutchsmurf]

I go home early every day from work to watch the Tour. Not because I expect good racing, but I need to use those overwork hours at some point and the Tour is a good excuse. All my coworkers know about that and of course I do get comments about the Tour as result. They all called it the most boring Tour they remember. Now keep in mind my coworkers know nothing about cycling and only ever watch the Tour. Some of them even said they didn't bother watching it this year. And I had to admit I agree with them.

 

[thehog]

I go home early every day from work to watch the Tour. Not because I expect good racing, but I need to use those overwork hours at some point and the Tour is a good excuse. All my coworkers know about that and of course I do get comments about the Tour as result. They all called it the most boring Tour they remember. Now keep in mind my coworkers know nothing about cycling and only ever watch the Tour. Some of them even said they didn't bother watching it this year. And I had to admit I agree with them.

And that's the problem. How is the sport suppose to attract new comers with a route like this.... what's the point.

 

[armchairclimber]

Aw, I'm starting to feel sorry for you.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

[grumble]Well, I like to reserve judgement until I’ve seen it all and I hate to be negative but I really do think that was mince. An absolute shadow of what a GT could be. Probably a touch bitter as I took days off for some of the ‘key’ stages.

Yellow - Course design immediately ruled out anyone that didn't have a strong ITT and ensured it was always going to be a three horse race (Wiggins, Evans & Froome).

A point amply demonstrated by the result if ITT times are discounted, leaving the winner as, ermm, Wiggins. And everyone on the podium the same. And everyone in the top ten the same.

 

[thegrimpeur]

It was great for a long time, and I also thought the route was pretty good, and the stage were Rolland won was a definite highlight for me. Then it became painfully clear that Sky would just control this until the bitter end, and unfortunately, it was only two stages were you could attack him in the final week.

Anyway, I think there were only two problems with this years route: the lap around Foix and the misuse of the grand colombier. Outside of that, you have to "blame" Sky for the bore, as they had the two strongest riders in the race, in addition to a legit top ten contender in Richie Porte. It will be different next year, and a great centenary edition that should include the most mythical climbs and the best riders.