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What is the best Grand Tour of the year?

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What was the best GT this year


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Posters can't remember a worse Giro? 2017 and 2012 were definitely worse than this year.
2017 was far better. A brilliant Quintana on Blockhaus, then Dumoulin taking the lead in the ITT and overtaking Quintana on Oropa, shitgate after Stelvio and Nibali being the strongest rider in the last week, a chase between groups on the final mountain stage settling the overall.
 
I think Vuelta is not that bad. We had several great editions in the past ten years, this one didn't go anywhere near that, but still not so much below average.

It's the Giro that was extraordinarily disappointing this year, although it's not too easy to make good measurement as how much percentage went to bad racing and how much to the new level awful coverage.

The Tour wins it easily of course.
I agree on past Vueltas. It's the closest to a free for all. This year had team relegation pressure, Covid retirements and crashouts that minimized some drama. Remco's ability to last 3 weeks was the only question that was unresolved for a time and he put that to rest.
 
So only one race can get the top grade?

I think my students would be quite sad if I applied that logic on them.

Not sure what your issue is on this, I thought this years Tour was great, one of the best I have seen, but no it does not compare to 89 and I don't think there are many who witnessed the 89 Tour would disagree. As others have pointed out JV really dominated this year and Vingegard never really looked in bother, but it was still a great race.

In 89 the race lead changed hands 4 times between LeMond and Fignon with never a minute between them at any point. Defending champion Delgado losing crazy time by missing his prologue start and then mounting a storming comeback, but falling short. Memorable stages like Theunisse in polka dots on an incredible solo to Alpe d'Huez. A mere 2 sprint stages. The more I recall, the more amazing it seems. Still doesn't get a 10 as the perfect Tour will probably never happen.
 
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Not sure what your issue is on this, I thought this years Tour was great, one of the best I have seen, but no it does not compare to 89 and I don't think there are many who witnessed the 89 Tour would disagree. As others have pointed out JV really dominated this year and Vingegard never really looked in bother, but it was still a great race.

In 89 the race lead changed hands 4 times between LeMond and Fignon with never a minute between them at any point. Defending champion Delgado losing crazy time by missing his prologue start and then mounting a storming comeback, but falling short. Memorable stages like Theunisse in polka dots on an incredible solo to Alpe d'Huez. A mere 2 sprint stages. The more I recall, the more amazing it seems. Still doesn't get a 10 as the perfect Tour will probably never happen.

My issue is that it doesn't make sense to have a grading scale where the top grade cannot be used in over 30 years. Then, clearly, the scale should be adjusted.

Not giving a 10 to 1989 is even more absurd. 10 isn't for the perfect Grand Tour, it should be for Grand Tours in the 91st to 100th percentile.
 
My issue is that it doesn't make sense to have a grading scale where the top grade cannot be used in over 30 years. Then, clearly, the scale should be adjusted.

Not giving a 10 to 1989 is even more absurd. 10 isn't for the perfect Grand Tour, it should be for Grand Tours in the 91st to 100th percentile.

That makes even less sense, if something is the best, it is the best. Just because it has never been equalled doesnt mean criteria needs to be changed. Do we just dismiss World Records because nobody has equalled them for a long time?

I witnessed the 89 Tour, I witnessed the 22 Tour. The 89 Tour was better so why on earth would I give them equal value when I know they are not equal? That is just illogical.
 
I heard it is done that way in some schools... I forgot the name of the system... I think it was in some schools/ universities in Spain? But yes, it's a slightly sick approach to rate students... probably meant to encourage inner competition...
They aren’t doing now but in the past the community college would drop the lowest 15% in the nursing program, even if they passed.
 
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That makes even less sense, if something is the best, it is the best. Just because it has never been equalled doesnt mean criteria needs to be changed. Do we just dismiss World Records because nobody has equalled them for a long time?

I witnessed the 89 Tour, I witnessed the 22 Tour. The 89 Tour was better so why on earth would I give them equal value when I know they are not equal? That is just illogical.
You have 100+ Tours throughout the history of TDF and just 10 grades. This means it’s impossible for every Tour to get its own grade. It’s also highly unlikely that all Tours with the same grade are completely equal quality wise…

Since we are not grading Tours best-to-worst but assigning grades 1 to 10, you are bound to have some events which are not completely equal quality wise having the same grade…
 
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Posters can't remember a worse Giro? 2017 and 2012 were definitely worse than this year.

lol. 2012 is one of my favorites. Liked the winner and the Stelvio stage was amazing. I know I am in the minority here. However I wonder how much that is to do with fans for some reason not thinking the winner was somehow “deserving” of a GT or not their personal favorite. There was a lot of exciting attacking and suspense right until the last minute. And Hesjdahl and his team managed Stelvio stage absolutely tactically brilliantly.

and 2017 was good too, lol. How can u not like Dumoulin? And it was the perfect balance between the strong TTer all-rounder against the climbers. And four riders with a chance to win in the very last ITT! And Dumo and the sh!t during the double Stelvio stage…

I do find it interesting. So many people here wanting suspense to the last moment. Willing to have routes designed to artificially keep certain riders in play. Frankly I think it is because they want their personal favorite rider to win. If they are kept in play, it becomes more interesting, but when they lose at the end then the GT was awful, no matter how close. Lol!!

I repeat, the history of cycling is full of amazing exploits and dramatic collapses. That is what people remember.

No one will remember anything about the 2022 Giro.
 
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That makes even less sense, if something is the best, it is the best. Just because it has never been equalled doesnt mean criteria needs to be changed. Do we just dismiss World Records because nobody has equalled them for a long time?

I witnessed the 89 Tour, I witnessed the 22 Tour. The 89 Tour was better so why on earth would I give them equal value when I know they are not equal? That is just illogical.

Because you don't have an indefinite number of different grades, obviously.

My grades to student analogy should clarify that quite clearly...
 
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The Torino stage will be remembered. And I will also remember Hindley's excellent performance on Fedaia.

I would rather say the same thing about this year's Vuelta. Except for being Remcos first GT win, I won't remember anything about this version.
I will remember a ton more of this Vuelta than the Giro. You mentioned the two things thats somewhat worth to remember.. the Vuelta had more to offer
 
lol. 2012 is one of my favorites. Liked the winner and the Stelvio stage was amazing. I know I am in the minority here. However I wonder how much that is to do with fans for some reason not thinking the winner was somehow “deserving” of a GT or not their personal favorite. There was a lot of exciting attacking and suspense right until the last minute. And Hesjdahl and his team managed Stelvio stage absolutely tactically brilliantly.

and 2017 was good too, lol. How can u not like Dumoulin? And it was the perfect balance between the strong TTer all-rounder against the climbers. And four riders with a chance to win in the very last ITT! And Dumo and the sh!t during the double Stelvio stage…

I do find it interesting. So many people here wanting suspense to the last moment. Willing to have routes designed to artificially keep certain riders in play. Frankly I think it is because they want their personal favorite rider to win. If they are kept in play, it becomes more interesting, but when they lose at the end then the GT was awful, no matter how close. Lol!!

I repeat, the history of cycling is full of amazing exploits and dramatic collapses. That is what people remember.

No one will remember anything about the 2022 Giro.
There is more to remember about the 2022 Giro than the 2012 Giro. There was not "a lot of exciting attacking" unless you're a paid-up member of the Matteo Rabottini tifosi, the very fact that almost every GC stage was a boring group ride until J-Rod did his thing 800m from the finish was precisely what people found boring about it. It would be slated even if it had a more "exciting" winner. Hesjedal is the perfect winner for the 2012 Giro - nondescript, never really seemed like a threat, in fact Scarponi even said at one point that they saw him suffering at the back of the group in week 1 and figured he would drop away so didn't attack him - and more fool them, because Hesjedal tended to get stronger as GTs went on and not attacking him in week 1 cost them because he had rode into form by the time anybody actually did try something in that race.

If you read through the threads on race designs and course reveals, you'll find a lot of us don't want suspense to the last moment, because bigger gaps usually lead to more dramatic exploits and attacks from distance, whereas when everything is kept really close, everybody has too much to lose and so attacks become limited to the small digs for small amounts of time and the rest of the stage becomes processional. Races where the organisers have designed it to stay close until the last minute frequently result in heavy backloading that renders the rest of the race inconsequential, and also sometimes end in a damp squib when the whole build is for a massive stage 20 mountaintop finish only for the best climber to already have the jersey (2009 Tour, 2014 Giro). And if everybody has got into a negative mindset of fearing the losses that may occur if they take a risk, because instead of dropping a position or two they fall from the podium to outside the top 10 even, then this paralysis can completely ruin the racing even on those later stages which all the action has been reserved for.

In short, people's greatest fears and complaints about race routes are that they might encourage the 2012 Giro d'Italia to happen again.
 
No one will remember anything about the 2022 Giro.
Fedaia was pretty good, especially for most Australian fans and maybe fans of Bora who had never won a grand tour or simply fans of cycling strategy. It was a perfectly executed team strategy which cracked the Ineos nut. The Turin circuit where Bora tore the race apart was part of that strategy.

The Giro overall was boring because the top 3 riders were evenly matched as were their teams. But despite that plenty will remember it.
 
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In 2017, nothing happened in any stage until the final climb. Torino alone made 2022 better.
  1. Dumoulin shat himself before the final climb on stage 16.
  2. Nibali and Quintana attacked at like 60km to go on the stage to Ortisei
  3. Piancavallo had a massive split and breakaway that came together before the final climb. Dumoulin was literally droped at 100km to go
  4. Dumoulin actually got dropped on the weak side of Monte Grappa under the pace of Katusha but came back just over the crest.

So if by 'nothing' you mean 'it happened 4 times' then you're right.
 
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If you read through the threads on race designs and course reveals, you'll find a lot of us don't want suspense to the last moment, because bigger gaps usually lead to more dramatic exploits and attacks from distance, whereas when everything is kept really close, everybody has too much to lose and so attacks become limited to the small digs for small amounts of time and the rest of the stage becomes processional. Races where the organisers have designed it to stay close until the last minute frequently result in heavy backloading that renders the rest of the race inconsequential, and also sometimes end in a damp squib when the whole build is for a massive stage 20 mountaintop finish only for the best climber to already have the jersey (2009 Tour, 2014 Giro). And if everybody has got into a negative mindset of fearing the losses that may occur if they take a risk, because instead of dropping a position or two they fall from the podium to outside the top 10 even, then this paralysis can completely ruin the racing even on those later stages which all the action has been reserved for.

just fyi I 100% agree with this in its entirety. And u can find my many posts that say this verbatim. I guess the forumites wanting suspense to the very end at all costs appear way more vocal in all other threads always complaining. I feel like I read that ALL THE TIME.

we disagree on 2012. Not the greatest. But, damn, that Stelvio stage was absolutely epic. 2022 Torino was good and great race design. None of the contenders are “epic”, all similar and rode defensively until the last three kms of stage 20. It was absolutely abysmal.
 
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What's up with the forum these days?
Has objectivity been outlawed?
The 2017 giro was a brilliant grand tour. There were real attacks, comebacks and lots of suspense. I would have preferred Nibs or Nairo to win and I didn't like the Dutch alliance but I'm objective enough to say it was a great gt.
The 2022 giro had two good stages but most of the stages were so bad, I thought about switching to tennis.
 
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What's up with the forum these days?
Has objectivity been outlawed?
The 2017 giro was a brilliant grand tour. There were real attacks, comebacks and lots of suspense. I would have preferred Nibs or Nairo to win and I didn't like the Dutch alliance but I'm objective enough to say it was a great gt.
The 2022 giro had two good stages but most of the stages were so bad, I thought about switching to tennis.
What's wrong with tennis?
 
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just fyi I 100% agree with this in its entirety. I guess the forumites wanting suspense to the very end at all costs appear way more vocal in all other threads always complaining. I feel like I read that ALL THE TIME.

we disagree on 2012. Not the greatest. But, damn, that Stelvio stage was absolutely epic.
No I think there's a very big difference between how we rate stages with action that kinda obviously go nowhere.

Take Peyragudes this year. Was there any real threat? It was really just McNulty choochoo train until 200m to go. Spandelles the next day was great action, but after that it was just waiting for the hammer to drop on Hautacam. Pogacar never got the slightest gap on Vingegaard, so while there were attacks there wasn't that much suspense, and it's just the same riders riding in the same hierarchy for 3 weeks.

Torino is somewhat similar in that while the field got completely crushed at like 75km to go, they then proceed to sit on domestiques until 20km to go. Great stage, yes, but not really one for the ages.
 
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