Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 7: Mont-de-Marsan - Bordeaux, 169.9k

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DNP-Old

DNP-Old

Aug 6, 2014
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In regards to the discussion from earlier today, The Tour is already shorter than ever. Even further shortening the stages would not be a good idea, as the race is above all an endurance race. Unless, as compensation, we would give more length to the mountain stages, but then people will complain that it is too hard and such and such. Hilly stages like Le Creusot 2021 on the other hand only happen once every five years, while it should be the standard.

One factor we need to remember is that the Tour is bigger than ever, broadcasts are longer than ever. We are able to watch every minute of every stage. Back in the day we couldn't, yet the amount of sprint stages were comparable if not more. Take a look at the list of results of McEwen in 2002, now that is boring. However, the broadcast wouldn't go live until 15:30. Essentially, you couldn't get bored, because there was nothing to get bored by.

Secondly, team tactics have changed and smartened in these type of stages. Back in the day, they would give the break 7, 8 maybe 10 minutes and then start chasing like mad men. Nowadays, teams immediately start pulling from the get go so things don't spiral out of control. It's much easier to control a break at five minutes with one guy starting at kilometer 180, then it is to control a break at 8 minutes with ten guys starting at kilometer 100. The element of surprise if completely gone. Miscalculations are a thing of the past.
 
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RobertCrawley

RobertCrawley

Jul 3, 2022
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DNP-Old said:
In regards to the discussion from earlier today, The Tour is already shorter than ever. Even further shortening the stages would not be a good idea, as the race is above all an endurance race. Unless, as compensation, we would give more length to the mountain stages, but then people will complain that it is too hard and such and such. Hilly stages like Le Creusot 2021 on the other hand only happen once every five years, while it should be the standard.

One factor we need to remember is that the Tour is bigger than ever, broadcasts are longer than ever. We are able to watch every minute of every stage. Back in the day we couldn't, yet the amount of sprint stages were comparable if not more. Take a look at the list of results of McEwen in 2002, now that is boring. However, the broadcast wouldn't go live until 15:30. Essentially, you couldn't get bored, because there was nothing to get bored by.

Secondly, team tactics have changed and smartened in these type of stages. Back in the day, they would give the break 7, 8 maybe 10 minutes and then start chasing like mad men. Nowadays, teams immediately start pulling from the get go so things don't spiral out of control. It's much easier to control a break at five minutes with one guy, starting at kilometer 180, then it is to control a break at 8 minutes with ten guys starting at kilometer 100. The element of surprise if completely gone. Miscalculations are a thing of the past.
Click to expand...
Yep. Back in the day we got 15 minutes on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

No complaints about the coverage here.

Except I should not be seeing commercials on a pay channel.
 
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Unterlenkerfahrend

Unterlenkerfahrend

Jun 11, 2021
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distance on screen was like off by 500m (on German television at least). Philipsen again with a bit dodgy move but on the other hand he was clearly ahead of Girmay at that point and "hadn't started his sprint".
 
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