Tour of Britain 2011- 11th-18th September

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Reverend_T_Preedy

Feb 12, 2010
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Could be an interesting start to the race. 20mph winds around Dunfries tomorrow from the southwest. Could make it interesting on the loop out to the solway (ie cross winds). Then the remnants of hurracaine Katia to hit western Britain on Monday for the stage to Blackpool. Could make for 2 very challenging days in the wind.

Looks like no Millar for Garmin anymore. Not sure why but he appears to have been replaced. As has Ed Clancy for RCS.
 
Richeypen

Richeypen

May 3, 2011
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Reverend_T_Preedy said:
Could be an interesting start to the race. 20mph winds around Dunfries tomorrow from the southwest. Could make it interesting on the loop out to the solway (ie cross winds). Then the remnants of hurracaine Katia to hit western Britain on Monday for the stage to Blackpool. Could make for 2 very challenging days in the wind.

Looks like no Millar for Garmin anymore. Not sure why but he appears to have been replaced. As has Ed Clancy for RCS.
Click to expand...

Sums up the way my predictions have been going this year ;)
 
Andy99

Andy99

Jul 30, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
What a joke of a race. Tour Down Under will be more interesting than this rubbish.
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I know that statement is tongue in cheek, but for a start the TDU never will be a race. It's a pre-season training camp.

Teams ride the ToB because they want to. Teams ride the TdU because they have to.

ToB is great for developing home base teams, due to the number of british pro continental and continental teams that get to ride.

The TdU is forced to close its doors to Australian teams. This may in part explain why pegasus etc can't find sponsors..
 
Izzy eviel

Izzy eviel

Jul 25, 2010
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auscyclefan94 said:
What a joke of a race. Tour Down Under will be more interesting than this rubbish.
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Give it a chance. We've got the remnants of a hurricane lashing the country from Sunday nights onwards, it's gonna be very cold, windy & wet.
 
F

Ferminal

Jul 3, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
What a joke of a race. Tour Down Under will be more interesting than this rubbish.
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Did you even watch the highlights packages from last year? Had 3-4 ripping stages.

Having a weaker field with small team sizes, and a few PROF and CONT teams actually makes for interesting racing, especially if the weather turns nasty.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
auscyclefan94 said:
What a joke of a race. Tour Down Under will be more interesting than this rubbish.
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Last years tour of britain was the best so far, and was a million times better than the tour down under.

4 really really good stages.

Sure it has its faults.
The fact they skirt some really good climbs, especially in devon where they have gone past porlock about 4 times now without ever climbing it, the lack of live coverage, certain cities regularly getting finishes (down to the paying councils). but last years was miles better than the TDU
 
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BenbeN

Aug 21, 2010
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Tower Hill U-Turn is a goodspot. I spent a good hour yelling some not nice things into Tyler Hamilton's ear every lap he come past one year.

Well - it was fun for me.
 
auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
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theyoungest said:
Why are you Aussies so desperate to find races that are more boring than the TDU? There aren't any.
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LOL, I am certainly not. I am just critical of this route. zzzzz. I watched the highlights of every stage last year. It was a good race. The route looks pretty average to me.
Midnightfright said:
I think we can all say thank you for finding time to contribute to this thread.
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At least I don't need to be a bigot to contribute to a thread.:rolleyes:
 
Midnightfright

Midnightfright

Mar 6, 2011
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auscyclefan94 said:
LOL, I am certainly not. I am just critical of this route. zzzzz. I watched the highlights of every stage last year. It was a good race. The route looks pretty average to me.


At least I don't need to be a bigot to contribute to a thread.:rolleyes:
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What excatly are you trying to imply?
 
richtea

richtea

May 6, 2011
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Dancing On The Pedals said:
Am thinking of going to the London stages - most easily accessible for me. Any suggestions from those who have been before on the best place to watch? The finish line, or as the ToB website says, the turn by the Tower, as the Peloton will have to slow right down?
Any help much appreciated!
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I'm planning to watch at either the Hungerford footbridge, or Waterloo bridge, both easily accessible from Waterloo station. Should be a good vantage point as you'll see the riders go underneath you along the Embankment (the footbridge might be better as its easier to cross from one side to the other to watch them come from both directions). Am sure the Tower would be a good spot too.
 
Spider1964

Spider1964

Jul 8, 2009
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Andy99 said:
I know that statement is tongue in cheek, but for a start the TDU never will be a race. It's a pre-season training camp.

Teams ride the ToB because they want to. Teams ride the TdU because they have to.

ToB is great for developing home base teams, due to the number of british pro continental and continental teams that get to ride.

The TdU is forced to close its doors to Australian teams. This may in part explain why pegasus etc can't find sponsors..
Click to expand...

Hello? Earth to Andy?? TdU is a race.. just like the ToB is a race. And the ToB is a wind down to the post season, party time for some? No partying at TdU? They're all thinking of the year ahead.

Seriously, both races are a few rungs below lot's of decent races. But no need to denigrate either. Teams ride ToB because they want to? Not IMO.

ToB is great for blah blah blah pro-conti? Conti? Apart from lots of GBR riders, not a lot of big guns turning out for their teams... more at TdU I'd say? More in Quebec even?

Pegasus etc? Have nothing to do with TdU so disagree. Sponsors didn't want to have anything to do with Chris White... they will with etc (I assume you mean Greenedge)?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Spider1964 said:
Hello? Earth to Andy?? TdU is a race.. just like the ToB is a race. And the ToB is a wind down to the post season, party time for some? No partying at TdU? They're all thinking of the year ahead.

Seriously, both races are a few rungs below lot's of decent races. But no need to denigrate either. Teams ride ToB because they want to? Not IMO.

ToB is great for blah blah blah pro-conti? Conti? Apart from lots of GBR riders, not a lot of big guns turning out for their teams... more at TdU I'd say? More in Quebec even?

Pegasus etc? Have nothing to do with TdU so disagree. Sponsors didn't want to have anything to do with Chris White... they will with etc (I assume you mean Greenedge)?
Click to expand...

No big guns?

HTC - Cavendish and Bak
Endura (conti) - Bauer
Leopard - Voigt and Gerdemman
Topsport - Cornu
Rabobank - Boom and Bos
Vacon - de Gent\
Sky - Thomas, Swift
Europcar - Chartreau
Garmin - Hushovd, Dean
Utd Healthcare - Forster, Van Poppel

Youve got the world champion, green jersey winner from the Tour as well as numerous major stage winners.

Better team lineups that some races.

As for the season warm down, its certainly not a holiday like California etc and theres certainly not all the partying etc. In fact, its a surprise to a lot of riders how tough it is. Not often Haussler quits a race knackered.

It is certainly a better race than ATOC.
 
Andy99

Andy99

Jul 30, 2009
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Spider1964 said:
Hello? Earth to Andy?? TdU is a race.. just like the ToB is a race. And the ToB is a wind down to the post season, party time for some? No partying at TdU? They're all thinking of the year ahead.

Seriously, both races are a few rungs below lot's of decent races. But no need to denigrate either. Teams ride ToB because they want to? Not IMO.

ToB is great for blah blah blah pro-conti? Conti? Apart from lots of GBR riders, not a lot of big guns turning out for their teams... more at TdU I'd say? More in Quebec even?

Pegasus etc? Have nothing to do with TdU so disagree. Sponsors didn't want to have anything to do with Chris White... they will with etc (I assume you mean Greenedge)?
Click to expand...

I apologise, the Tdu is for sure a 'race'; I was drawn in my ACF's juvenile arguments yet again.

The point I was trying to make is that if the race wasn't classified as World Tour, many of the top pro teams wouldn't be intersted in going. Who (other than local riders) is really going to want to peak for a race thats in the middle of winter on the other side of the planet. Thats without considering the logistical nightmare with no team vehicles etc etc.

With regard to the ToB, I will correct you there. Unlike the TdU, where teams are obliged to race by virtue of being part of the World Tour, teams must apply to ride the ToB.

As far as the 'weak' field you imply is concerned, see TSF's post above and additionally, to quote Greg Henderson recently.....'The Tour of Britain is very much now regarded as one of the two races that can be used as prep for the World Championships. The other being the Vuelta a Espana.'

I have worked as a DS for professional teams and every year the ToB is oversubscribed.

The ToB, is ranked as 2.1 which gives the organisers scope to allow a number of lower ranked pro conti and conti teams to enter. This is great as far as the development of the sport is concerned as teams and sponsors have an incentive to come into the sport. The organisation to their credit also bend over backwards to allow UK Pro/conti teams to ride, and as a result there are now numerous pro and pro conti teams based in the country which is essential for the sports further development.

The inclusion pro/conti teams also ensures good racing as they use what is possibly their biggest event of the season to try and show themselves.
 
ferryman

ferryman

Dec 30, 2009
3,801
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I've always had a bit of a soft spot for TDB, probably going back to the days of Millar and Kelly. I hope it is a success. As others have posted the weather front coming in tomorrow could make for some desparate racing. This won't be easy to control.

Geraint T for for the win.
 
3

3wheeler

Oct 31, 2009
115
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Looks Like its all going to be Grim and Nasty.. Well for the 1st few Stages Anyway.. Mother Nature will be ripping into the Bunch Big Time..
Expect some Beefy Belgium Type to Do Well.. :)
 
Z

Zinoviev Letter

Aug 18, 2010
11,435
3,594
28,180
I like the Tour of Britain. The combination of small squad sizes and the race's importance to a bunch of smaller teams always seems to result in a much more attacking and exciting race than the often rather weak parcours should dictate.

I hope that Gediminas Bagdonas is in good nick. This is the kind of race that should suit him down to the ground and it's always good to see the small teams put it up to the big boys. I'd also like to see Matt Brammeier given his head, but now that Cavendish is riding, presumably everyone else on HTC will be working for him.
 
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