Tour of Britain - 11th to 18th September - Race Thread

[Ney the Viking]

VAC, THR, SAX and SKY were all well represented in the front group of 30-40. It seems like a bit of a two-tiered race at the moment.

Thanks! Thought it was a small breakaway that got it, must have misunderstood

 

[Cobblestoned]

So, who actually won now ?
The great Johnny Hoogerland ?

His supporters and fanclub will celebrate as if there will never be a tomorrow.
Great people. Met them at Amstel Gold - crazy.
But not as crazy as the Schlecksupporters

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wout Poels won. Definately.

 

[theyoungest]

1. Wout Poels
2. Borut Bozic
3. Koen de Kort

 

[stefrees]

I think it's good for the race that teams like saxo, vaconsoleil etc are taking it seriously, it will show up the decent uk pros at the end of the week. And it certainly hasn't been a sprint snooze fest

 

[theyoungest]

I think it's good for the race that teams like saxo, vaconsoleil etc are taking it seriously, it will show up the decent uk pros at the end of the week. And it certainly hasn't been a sprint snooze fest

Add a time trial and we seem to have a proper replacement for the Tour of Germany, if they keep the course as interesting as it has been so far. Although it also seems to be a matter of riders going absolutely nuts and attacking from mile zero.

 

[stefrees]

Add a time trial and we seem to have a proper replacement for the Tour of Germany, if they keep the course as interesting as it has been so far. Although it also seems to be a matter of riders going absolutely nuts and attacking from mile zero.

Britain has the ingredients for a great parcours but it's all about councils etc. A route starting in worcester, doing malvern, ankerdine, Clifton, up to clee hill then finishing up the burway (long mynd) would be a beast, and every county could plot an awesome route, but I'm not sure if it'd ever happen. Poor weather helps of course

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wtf has Koen de Kort eaten.

 

[Frosty]

Britain has the ingredients for a great parcours but it's all about councils etc. A route starting in worcester, doing malvern, ankerdine, Clifton, up to clee hill then finishing up the burway (long mynd) would be a beast, and every county could plot an awesome route, but I'm not sure if it'd ever happen. Poor weather helps of course

Ive painful memories of attempting the Burway.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?...ill,+Shropshire+&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

Milk Race used to go over the Bwlch y groes

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?...+Groes,+Gwynedd+&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

 

[lancaster]

Britain has the ingredients for a great parcours but it's all about councils etc. A route starting in worcester, doing malvern, ankerdine, Clifton, up to clee hill then finishing up the burway (long mynd) would be a beast, and every county could plot an awesome route, but I'm not sure if it'd ever happen. Poor weather helps of course

i would go up the long mynd on the "mur d'asterton" but agree that route would split things up

 

[stefrees]

I don't want to start another sky thread so thought I'd post this here. Quite a few cycling journalists as well as people working on other British teams are loving the fact that sky are struggling, and a cycling weekly journalist tweeted that they are getting bombarded with anti sky emails/ letters. Do you think a) this is fair as I'd argue sky have had a reasonable- not great but not bad- first season with 20 plus wins and b) does this happen in other countries. I just don't get it, first pro British team and it seems whole of Britain would love them to stop

 

[Anonymous]

I don't want to start another sky thread so thought I'd post this here. Quite a few cycling journalists as well as people working on other British teams are loving the fact that sky are struggling, and a cycling weekly journalist tweeted that they are getting bombarded with anti sky emails/ letters. Do you think a) this is fair as I'd argue sky have had a reasonable- not great but not bad- first season with 20 plus wins and b) does this happen in other countries. I just don't get it, first pro British team and it seems whole of Britain would love them to stop

its the british mentality, build them up, have unrealistic expectations, and then bring them down again. Theyve done it to just every sports person or team over the years. Its the press through and through, they are incapable of being neutral, if they cant report on you winning, they call you a failure.

Its unfortunately a side effect of the number of new fans sky has brought into the sport who know nothing about cycling. They see brad finishing 4th in the tour and expect him to win it the next year. Its like fulham finishing 4th in the premiership and rather than their fans realising it was a one off thinking fulham will win the league and cup treble the following year.

Sky have had a perfectly reasonable season, over 20 wins, over 60 podiums, far better than some teams. Held jerseys in two grand tours. NOt a remarkable season, mistakes have been made they will learn from but far from bad, and certainly far from some of the comments i have seen in various places recently.

Some of the comments on sky's facebook page (which isnt moderated except for language or libel) where the riders visit and take part are ridiculous. calling for rider sackins, staff sackings and god knows what.

Times like that im ashamed to be british.

 

[janraaskalt]

Times like that im ashamed to be british.

It happens everywhere.

I really don't understand why cycling fans would hate Team Sky. They ride as a team, try to take control of races, have a positive attitude in the race. Even the results aren't that bad, although maybe a bit under my expectations at the beginning of the season.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I don't want to start another sky thread so thought I'd post this here. Quite a few cycling journalists as well as people working on other British teams are loving the fact that sky are struggling, and a cycling weekly journalist tweeted that they are getting bombarded with anti sky emails/ letters. Do you think a) this is fair as I'd argue sky have had a reasonable- not great but not bad- first season with 20 plus wins and b) does this happen in other countries. I just don't get it, first pro British team and it seems whole of Britain would love them to stop

You should read the Dutch press anti-Rabo articles sometimes.

For instance, take our regional newspaper monday:

A full-page article about the total failure of Denis Menchov and Rabobank in the Vuelta.

3 sentences about Gesink's win in Montreal

So you brits are definately not alone.
Also Belgium is also terrible, especially in cycling journalism, on their sporters. They load of crap Tom Boonen and other top riders get is unbelievable. They first build up and hype a talent until he is king of all, and then they start tearing him down in wreckless fashion. Every tiny detail is enlarged x1000
Especially by crap newssites/papers like Het Laatste Nieuws.

 

[janraaskalt]

For instance, take our regional newspaper monday:

A full-page article about the total failure of Denis Menchov and Rabobank in the Vuelta.

3 sentences about Gesink's win in Montreal

Newspaper deadline, maybe?

 

[Cobblestoned]

You should read the Dutch press anti-Rabo articles sometimes.

For instance, take our regional newspaper monday:

A full-page article about the total failure of Denis Menchov and Rabobank in the Vuelta.

3 sentences about Gesink's win in Montreal

So you brits are definately not alone.
Also Belgium is also terrible, especially in cycling journalism, on their sporters. They load of crap Tom Boonen and other top riders get is unbelievable. They first build up and hype a talent until he is king of all, and then they start tearing him down in wreckless fashion. Every tiny detail is enlarged x1000
Especially by crap newssites/papers like Het Laatste Nieuws.

And many posters/forists follow this route and get influenced by media. It's obvious.

I thought about writing "cyclingfans" - but no, I can't do that.

For example:
One of the best things I ever read (Eurosport Germany), was :
Greipel outsprinted !
Actually, he didn't even sprint and was held up by a crash at 5km to go.
So result was: the commentators under the article started flaming and insulting Greipel again.

 

[salixcycling]

I think it's good for the race that teams like saxo, vaconsoleil etc are taking it seriously, it will show up the decent uk pros at the end of the week. And it certainly hasn't been a sprint snooze fest

Back to the ToB

Good race today and very good showing by one of the uk teams (Motorpoint)

They actually raced - one of the bonuses of smaller races compared to the GTs

I can't help but feel the ITV4 coverage is lacking something(s) though. Not until the results at the end did I know Hendo was in the front group, which should be mentioned given that it was 2nd in the FC. At least today they were giving time gaps - yesterday was apalling in that regard. And it would be very helpful if they could show the GC time-gaps against the riders names when they actually show them. Maybe it is unfortunate that the Vuelta is on at the same time.

On the plus side, they discussed the Worlds today in regards other countries' riders

 

[Derrick]

I don't think that people have been unduly critical of Sky. Everybody is likely to get criticized at some time and Sky have just got their fair share given the pre season hype and the fact that one or two of their riders seem to be determined to make themselves unpopular. Many of you on this site will not be aware just how annoyed some were by Wiggins behaviour at the British T.T.champs. I wasn't personally there but can assure forumites that he didn't make many friends and, of course, for many British fans Wiggins IS Sky. I'm sure that because Sky is seen as a British team many home followers are a bit touchy about criticism. Personally I am not a supporter of any team but just want to see good racing irrespective of who does it.

 

[Jamsque]

I can't help but feel the ITV4 coverage is lacking something(s) though.

It's just flat-out bad. I like that they try to show highlights of the whole stage, especially on days like today when there is action from start to finish, but the commentary is crap, the graphics and information displays are lame and the overall production just feels cheap and unprofessional.

They do an hour-long TdF highlights show in the summer that is fantastic, I don't see why they can't make an hour-long ToB highlights show that is the same quality.

 

[Derrick]

The full result is still not up on the ToB website. Still its not 6 hours after the finish yet so give it a while yet.

 

[Boardslide]

Just up from Mark Renshaw twitter

"This #Tour of Britain is damn hard! Very hard start split the bunch after only 10kms. Legs are hurting after climbing every little /\ here."

It appears the TOB isn't the sprinter snoozefest a lot of people were expecting.

 

[roundabout]

That's fine and dandy How about getting the full results for stage 4 up?

 

[stefrees]

I don't think that people have been unduly critical of Sky. Everybody is likely to get criticized at some time and Sky have just got their fair share given the pre season hype and the fact that one or two of their riders seem to be determined to make themselves unpopular. Many of you on this site will not be aware just how annoyed some were by Wiggins behaviour at the British T.T.champs. I wasn't personally there but can assure forumites that he didn't make many friends and, of course, for many British fans Wiggins IS Sky. I'm sure that because Sky is seen as a British team many home followers are a bit touchy about criticism. Personally I am not a supporter of any team but just want to see good racing irrespective of who does it.

Out of interest what did wiggins do at tt champs to make him unpopular?

Funnily enough, he seems to be on Twitter again

 

[maltiv]

Just up from Mark Renshaw twitter

"This #Tour of Britain is damn hard! Very hard start split the bunch after only 10kms. Legs are hurting after climbing every little /\ here."

It appears the TOB isn't the sprinter snoozefest a lot of people were expecting.

Seems like it's back to the 2008 level of excitement.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The problem is, in order to draw the necessary attention to achieve their goals, Sky had to make some pretty preposterous claims, and put out some needless self-indulgent press that rubbed a lot of cycling fans and other personalities up the wrong way. I think Marc Madiot summed the pre-season stuff up best when he said something like "I put my riders in a wind tunnel too, but I don't have to put out a press release and pretend it's something new". Then there was the embarrassing posturing when they won early-season events when nobody else was up to form. Sky needed to get some wins under their belt to get momentum, but Wiggins reminding us of his Wigan/Manchester United quote and saying "I feel like we've just won the Champions' League" after winning the TTT in the Tour of Qatar was ridiculous.

Soon afterwards, the team were roughed up a bit by the péloton in Oman and have settled down and become just like any other team in the péloton. Not a revolutionary or special team like they claimed to be, but a thoroughly reasonable and quite well-integrated member of the péloton. They haven't been up there in the biggest races, but they've done every bit as well as T-Mobile or US Postal did in their first Tours. Unfortunately, while the péloton may be able to tell the difference between the riders and the team, many fans have trouble with it.

So those who don't know much about cycling who were brought in on the hype have been disappointed that they haven't been swashbuckling to wins that anybody could have told you were unlikely. And those who know plenty about cycling were often turned off by their pre-season self-aggrandisement and have found it very difficult to forgive them.

Not to mention that dim and ACF have some kind of mutual antagonistic ribbing about BMC vs. Sky and TDU vs. ToB going on. I assume it's ribbing, otherwise ACF has said some monumentally stupid things lately (like criticising sprinters being able to compete in the ToB meaning it's meaningless compared to the TDU, without acknowledging that Greipel's won the TDU twice).