Was Paris-Nice exciting this year?

[Wallace]

TTake a look at Pereiro. Technically he's the winner of the tour de france 2006, yet somehow he never get to experience what it's like to win. He never really won the tour, because Landis stole that experience from him and that is why it's called cheating.
If something like that happened to me, I would be furious.

Agreed, but that's assuming that if you were Pererio, you would have won the race with cheating yourself, which gets us into murky territory...

btw, I'm not saying that OP cheated, but that with this sport, you can never be sure about who is clean and who isn't.

 

[theswordsman]

I really enjoyed every day of it. And as a Contador supporter, I didn't see the dominance, or the assurance of a win. There was the day Caisse planned ahead with the perfect chance to split the peloton and have their top riders gain time on Alberto, who wasn't even sure he could stay in the race due to pain from the crash. There were guys attacking everywhere, and surprises for stage wins. Valverde was in it until the finish line, or at least the last Sprint points.

 

[Willy_Voet]

2007 was very interesting and I actually enjoyed Bertie's win, it was exciting and unexpected. Stage 7 last year was amazing. After Stage 4 this year...meh. Granted there were still stage wins to look forward to and I was incredibly happy to see Golem/Schmiegel win on Stage 6...I think I've found a new antihero.

The fact that anyone was excited the French won two stages is sad.

 

[LeonG2010]

Paris-Nice

This was a very exciting edition. AC was correct - it was a race that was very difficult for any one team to control. The margin of victory was small & the many crashes early on included that confounding variable factor for everyone who participated, AC as well. The overall profile of the course did not make AC the most predictable winner.

 

[Krap Police]

Snooze fest.

 

[Colm.Murphy]

To all of those who didn't find PN exciting, maybe you should find a new interest. I could mention a few things: Sagan, the cross wind, Contador pushing hard on col d'Eze despite ending up in a Caisse d'Epargne sandwich, Moinard's fantastic stagevictory and I probably left out a few things. this is cycling if you find it boring then I can't help you.

I 100% agree.

However, your position on OP "winning" the Tour and being "deprived" of enjoying it? You cannot be serious with that, right? Did you see him be gifted near 30 minutes that year? I only ask this as you are spot on with your P-N comments but 1000km from reality on your 2006 TdF view.

 

[tgsgirl]

However, your position on OP "winning" the Tour and being "deprived" of enjoying it? You cannot be serious with that, right? Did you see him be gifted near 30 minutes that year? I only ask this as you are spot on with your P-N comments but 1000km from reality on your 2006 TdF view.

Doesn't matter how he won it, when they all got to Paris it took him the least amount of time (cheaters not included). So he was the winner, but never got to stand on that Champs Elysees podium.

 

[Anonymous]

Not all that exciting unless you get off on Contador domination.

Those grapes sour at all? I'd say not all that dull unless you get offended by Contador winning, as this was a good P-N for all the reasons people have already mentioned.

If anyone wants to see what a dull sport looks like, go and watch a re-run of Sunday's Bahrain F1 GP. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I 100% agree.

However, your position on OP "winning" the Tour and being "deprived" of enjoying it? You cannot be serious with that, right? Did you see him be gifted near 30 minutes that year? I only ask this as you are spot on with your P-N comments but 1000km from reality on your 2006 TdF view.

Indeed, this was AGAIN a great Paris-Nice. This race never dissapointed me in the past few years. From Contadors first win in 2007, than in 2008 the Gesink-loses-in-downhill saga. In 2009 the echelon-stage with Chavanel winning, and then Contador taking the lead, but losing it when he got hungry.
And this year again, a suprising prologue winner, an even more suprising 20-year old competing in nearly every stage and winning 2, another echelon stage, Contador taking it on Mende, and then the fight for boni seconds in the remaining stages and seeing some suprising wins again from Tondo and Moinard..

What do you want more?

 

[Bike Boy]

I 100% agree.

However, your position on OP "winning" the Tour and being "deprived" of enjoying it? You cannot be serious with that, right? Did you see him be gifted near 30 minutes that year? I only ask this as you are spot on with your P-N comments but 1000km from reality on your 2006 TdF view.

Yes I saw it. and yes I'm serious. I can't express it any better than tgsgirl did, so I will just quote her post:

Doesn't matter how he won it, when they all got to Paris it took him the least amount of time (cheaters not included). So he was the winner, but never got to stand on that Champs Elysees podium.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

There was a lot of stuff to enjoy about Paris-Nice. The result was likely from way out, but not inevitable until Moïnard crossed the line, finally ruling out Valverde. You had the cross-winds, you had the breakthrough of Sagan, especially his stage 5 victory, you had the péloton's pursuit of Xavier Tondo and his desperate ride to stay away in stage 6, you had the digs on the climb and Sánchez's little half-attack on the descent on the way into Nice, and who doesn't love cheering for a breakaway that it seems inevitable will be caught?

OK, so this year's edition was more bubbling with entertainment than providing a stand-out 'wow' moment like Contador blowing up last year, but the only way I can see saying that race was dull is if you particularly like one team that was anonymous, or if you particularly dislike one guy that won overall.

If that was dull racing, you're going to be mighty disappointed come the Tour. The 2009 Tour is the most boring Grand Tour I've ever seen, mind, so hopefully it'll be better this year. I doubt it will be better than Paris-Nice. The Tour seldom is.

 

[Tangled Tango]

Dull? really? sure AC won as expected, but there were moments it looked less than secure, there were two french stage winners, sagan emerged as yet another young talent. Astana admitted they couldn't control all the breaks on their own. Wind played havic the first stage, second a little also. Would exciting racing meant Contador loses? Its not like he won by 3 minutes.

I agree. It was a close race throughout. AC had to work very hard to hold his lead, defending from some pretty strong pressure. That´s not what I´d call dominating or dull. I think maybe too many people don´t want to see AC win, so when he does it´s dull regardless of how he does it. Just look at the time gaps between the top 10. If that´s not exciting good luck for the rest of the year.

 

[bianchigirl]

There was a lot of stuff to enjoy about Paris-Nice. The result was likely from way out, but not inevitable until Moïnard crossed the line, finally ruling out Valverde. You had the cross-winds, you had the breakthrough of Sagan, especially his stage 5 victory, you had the péloton's pursuit of Xavier Tondo and his desperate ride to stay away in stage 6, you had the digs on the climb and Sánchez's little half-attack on the descent on the way into Nice, and who doesn't love cheering for a breakaway that it seems inevitable will be caught?

OK, so this year's edition was more bubbling with entertainment than providing a stand-out 'wow' moment like Contador blowing up last year, but the only way I can see saying that race was dull is if you particularly like one team that was anonymous, or if you particularly dislike one guy that won overall.

If that was dull racing, you're going to be mighty disappointed come the Tour. The 2009 Tour is the most boring Grand Tour I've ever seen, mind, so hopefully it'll be better this year. I doubt it will be better than Paris-Nice. The Tour seldom is.

Agreed, P-N is consistently the best stage race of the year - interesting parcours, great talent, good organisation and of course teams out to prove that they're worthy of the TdF wild cards all add up to exciting racing. Being terribly world weary about good racing just isn't big or clever

 

[python]

when some say '2010 p-n was dull', they mean it did not end the may they wanted it to end.

there is no point in trying to reason with such an attitude. no matter what telle showed owners of the 'dull p-n' wont see beyond their preconceived idea.

there was so much drama and high quality racing that i will go on a limb - if p-n was dull you probably dont get to see enough bike racing to appreciate it.

or you're a one-sided fanboy of a certain rider. to me it's all the same - lack of something important to appreciate real cycling.

 

[bianchigirl]

Python, perfectly stated

 

[B.Rasmussen]

Great race this year and very close even if the big favorite won.

 

[thehog]

Great race this year and very close even if the big favorite won.

Agreed. You can tell those who read the text updates from those who saw the race live. Watching it live proved to be a very exciting race. The Tour hasn’t been as exciting as Paris-Nice in years.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

the course was the weakest in a while i thought. Though i liked the exclusion of a itt.

 

[reyan12]

Absolutely Exciting!

those who were not excited were Pro Lance and anti Spanish!

 

[bianchigirl]

That was the beauty of it though, Timmy - on paper it looked quite dull, on the road anything but. Had it had significantly harder stages then we wouldn't have seen Sagan's excellent performance or the close finish at the top of the GC.

 

[dolophonic]

No ITT was great...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

That was the beauty of it though, Timmy - on paper it looked quite dull, on the road anything but. Had it had significantly harder stages then we wouldn't have seen Sagan's excellent performance or the close finish at the top of the GC.

Oh don't worry I agree, I thought it was a great race, and the riders did a great job on keeping us on the edge of our seat. But I would have liked at least one stage with a bigger summit finish, that's all.
And yes I love stage races which exclude the itt, makes for a better race.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Yes I saw it. and yes I'm serious. I can't express it any better than tgsgirl did, so I will just quote her post:

I would also add that, at the end of the race when Perreiro was defending yellow, he was climbing with the likes of Kloden (who, recall, has podiumed above Ullrich and Basso at the Tour). The German was actually clinging to Perreiro's wheel on at least one stage--I think it was the day of Landis's attack--just trying to hang on.

Perreiro is no [insert multiple Tour winner], but he sure put in a strong ride to stay in contention that year.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Paris-Nice is always a great race. There are breaks with great possibilty of surviving (as we saw), decent sprint finishes, good climbs, and normally there are very close time gaps. The way the last stage was going, I thought if Valverde or Sanchez got away, this year could be won/lost on time bonuses. Somebody earlier said it's only dull if you didn't like the results. I think that's a very apt statement. I'm sick of seeing Contador win, but it was still an exciting race.

Reminds me of the Canada/US gold medal hockey game. I hated the result but the game more than made up for it, so I didn't feel so bad for the loser. Same thing at the year's Paris-Nice; it was such a good race, I couldn't care less that Contador won...yet again

 

[Boleyn]

I enjoyed PN this year - even though I didn't get to see much live because of the Firewall at work.

It was good to see the performances of Tondo, Sagan, and especially Moinard, and Voeckler.