[bodomaniac]

Hat's off to ASO and Christian Prudhomme for making this years Tour de France the best I have seen in my lifetime. Although I was disappointed with the crashes that took many of he GC contenders out the first week, I think they absolutely got the parcours down right in limiting the typical flat sprinter stages and made that first week some of the best racing I've seen in a Tour. Although the second week was less suspenseful, it had it's great moments and finishes as well. This past week, however, was a thing of beauty, as I witnessed some of the most thrilling and dramatic racing in a Tour in recent memory and worthy of a "best ever" ranking. Were it not for the camera moto and caravan induced crashes, this would have been a perfect Tour de France.

While the Giro may be the most beautiful race, when the Tour gets it right it is simply the best hands down, which is no slight to the Giro whatsoever. I leave the Tour wanting more and am already looking forward to the Vuelta, as I think that is going to be a heck of a race as well given that you'll have rested riders from the Giro such as Nibali, Scarponi, Sastre and Menchov banging heads with some of the GC contenders from the Tour whose race came to an unfortunate end and will be looking for redemption at the Vuelta to salvage their season.

I am not sure if this will be the template going forward for future Tours, but I think Prudhomme and company have finally touched upon a winning formula. Although it's been said that its the riders who make the race, it definitely helps to have a parcours that demands their very best each and every day. Chapeau to ASO for providing that this year!

[Double R]

bodomaniac, on 24 July 2011 - 04:44 PM, said:

Hat's off to ASO and Christian Prudhomme for making this years Tour de France the best I have seen in my lifetime. Although I was disappointed with the crashes that took many of he GC contenders out the first week, I think they absolutely got the parcours down right in limiting the typical flat sprinter stages and made that first week some of the best racing I've seen in a Tour. Although the second week was less suspenseful, it had it's great moments and finishes as well. This past week, however, was a thing of beauty, as I witnessed some of the most thrilling and dramatic racing in a Tour in recent memory and worthy of a "best ever" ranking. Were it not for the camera moto and caravan induced crashes, this would have been a perfect Tour de France.

While the Giro may be the most beautiful race, when the Tour gets it right it is simply the best hands down, which is no slight to the Giro whatsoever. I leave the Tour wanting more and am already looking forward to the Vuelta, as I think that is going to be a heck of a race as well given that you'll have rested riders from the Giro such as Nibali, Scarponi, Sastre and Menchov banging heads with some of the GC contenders from the Tour whose race came to an unfortunate end and will be looking for redemption at the Vuelta to salvage their season.

I am not sure if this will be the template going forward for future Tours, but I think Prudhomme and company have finally touched upon a winning formula. Although it's been said that its the riders who make the race, it definitely helps to have a parcours that demands their very best each and every day. Chapeau to ASO for providing that this year!

Of course it's important that ASO makes a fine parcours, but the quality of the race allways depends of the riders themselves make the race good or bad. This was a pretty good Tour, but lacked the action in the Pyrenees. The alps had all the drama we could have dreamed of with Contador allways attacking, and Andy Schleck finaly tried something. And it was also beautyfull to see that Evans took the responsibility at the Galibier stage.

The winning formula = the best climbers sees every stage in the Pyrenees and the Alps as an unique opertunity to win the Tour.

[bontempi]

It's been a great tour and I've really enjoyed it, but I would stop short of calling it the best tour ever. It's human nature to think the event we just watched was the best ever as the past ones begin to fade a bit in our memories. Only a week ago many of us, including myself, were bemoaning the lack of combativity from the GC riders and the amount of crashes in the first week.

Highlights:

1) The battles in the hilly classic style stages between Gilbert, Evans, Contador and (shock, horror) Cavendish!
2) Hushovd's first amazing stage win and his run in yellow. It's a shame for Hushovd that his achiements will be overshadowed by Voeckler, but he really did an amazing job to ride with the best on a number of those hilly classic/medium mountain style stages.
3) Sanchez's stage win in front of a Basque crowd.
4) Condator's attacks on those two alpine stages that finished with a decent.
5) Schleck's attack to the Galibier and Evans' chase.
6) Contador's attack on the Alpe D'Huez stage.
7) Tommy Voeckler's battling spirit.

Negatives:

1) Crashes in the early stages, esp. Van den Broeck and Vino going out.
2) Lack of attacks in the Pyranees, especially from Andy who I believe had the ability to attack.
3) Sprints. There was pretty much no competition to Canvendish and that made them a big boring. Would have been great to have seen an in-form Freire, Petacchi and Boonen in the mix. To be honest, I was expecting more from Tyler Ferrar who I felt was only slightly below the level of Cavendish.
4) Flecha failing to get a stage win as usual

In terms of the course design, I kind of feel the riders made it exciting to a certain extent. I mean, those two stages where Contador attacked would normally have been snoozefests in any other year. Then there is the fact that Gilbert is on an absolutely blinding year and wanted to contest anything where he had a half-chance.

Personally I would have liked to have seen a time trial in the first week. I think that we had to wait something like 9 days for the first decisive stage, which meant pretty much every team had a couple of GC guys they were trying to protect near the front of the bunch for the first 8 or 9 days of racing. I guess that may have been what caused the crashes, so a time trial to sort the men from the boys to a certain extent might have helped with that. Also, since everyone was so close on GC it seemed to give the Schlecks the false impression that they didn't need to work hard to gain time at every single opportunity. If they'd lost a minute or so in an early time trial that might have given them a bit of a wake up call in the Pyranees. I've always been a supporter of the team time trial, but for some reason I found this year's a bit uninspiring - I'd be tempted to drop the TTT for next year and replace it with a shortish 30km TT.

Other than that, I do like the idea of having lots of hilly classic/medium mountain style stages. They do seem to create exciting racing. I also think the idea that the Tour needs to emulate the Giro but having ridiculously hard mountain stages has perhaps been put to bed. Someone else mentioned something similar in another thread, but I think a tour jampacked with medium mountain stages and just one HC mountain-top finish could be very exciting. Anyway, I don't think the ASO will rest on their laurals, next year's Tour will probably be completely different, for good or for worse.

[The Rake]

bontempi, on 24 July 2011 - 06:38 PM, said:

I've always been a supporter of the team time trial, but for some reason I found this year's a bit uninspiring - I'd be tempted to drop the TTT for next year and replace it with a shortish 30km TT.

Other than that, I do like the idea of having lots of hilly classic/medium mountain style stages. They do seem to create exciting racing. I also think the idea that the Tour needs to emulate the Giro but having ridiculously hard mountain stages has perhaps been put to bed. Someone else mentioned something similar in another thread, but I think a tour jampacked with medium mountain stages and just one HC mountain-top finish could be very exciting. Anyway, I don't think the ASO will rest on their laurals, next year's Tour will probably be completely different, for good or for worse.

Prudhomme is talking about an edition full of surprises for next year:

http://www.cyclingne...-tour-de-france

Race starts in Liege, and rumours currently abound that the focus will be on Medium mountains (so perhaps stages in the Vosges, or back through the Massif Central). First three stages in the Belgian Ardennes and northern France.

2013 will be the biggie - the 100th Tour de France, and which begins in Corsica

Then for 2014 applications have been received from Qatar, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Berlin, Scotland and Yorkshire

[smug]

Excellent tour, rivals 2003 and 1989

[micomico]

bodomaniac, on 24 July 2011 - 04:44 PM, said:

Hat's off to ASO and Christian Prudhomme for making this years Tour de France the best I have seen in my lifetime.

Certainly the cleanest since the inception of EPO, looking at the times. That makes it ever in almost the past 30 years, since a clean guy won in a looking-clean peloton.

The change in green jersey points was a very good idea, but I think that designing a course that opened to greater possibilities of having so many contenders out in the first part of the race needs serious tweaking.

[Burkni]

A fine course and a fine race.
The improvements I would be looking to make if I were ASO would be to move the final TT to an earlier date in the race, meaning that the TT specialists would possibly need to be more active in the remaining mountain stages. Also somehow balance the mountain stages so that an entire mountain range can not be "wasted" like this year's Pyrenees. One way would be to have all uphill finishes in the first mountain range. Then again, who wants to see the Tour decided by downhills?

[Jayhawk]

I didn't find the Pyrenees stages dull. They revealed who's got the horses for the all-important mountain stages, the big surprise being Europcar. The descent past Beloki corner was exciting. Plus running the gauntlet of Basque fans is always one of the great joys of watching the Tour.

I liked the new intermediate sprint -- the ASO got that right. We were treated to a classic, final Vino attack on Stage 8 to Super-Besse. I'm always happy to see LLSanchez win a stage, & Movistar got their stage win to honor Tondo & Soler. Sammy Sanchez was a joy, Gilbert battled for everything & anything, Johnny Hoogerland out-Jensed Jens!, and of course we had the rolling melodrama of Tommy V. Like them or not,the Schlecks are amazing to see when they decide to fly away. Contador too, plus he's such a great, great battler. The white jersey race was good, and I liked getting to know Teremae & Rolland. Evans was a beast in the mountains and rode a super smart race.

I'm sorry Gadret was not on form. He added much spice in the Giro, and could have been the gadfly here if he'd been rested. I missed JRod & Igor Anton in the mix. Looking forward to the Vuelta.

Yet 2003 -- Lance dehydrating in the TT, the Virenque/Simoni showdown on the queen stage with the yellow jersey drama down the road (Vino came within 18 seconds of yellow, then cracked), Iban Mayo wreaking havoc, the massive crash where Tyler Hamilton broke his collarbones, Beloki menacing early before his accident -- these are the least remembered features!

This post has been edited by Jayhawk: 24 July 2011 - 10:42 PM

[Leafcake]

Thought this was an excellent Tour and really enjoyed it. The first half was so packed with drama that they could have finished there and and then in Paris. In hindsight, I think it was worth having the two lackluster mountain top finishes in the Pyrenees, if that contributed to the super action in the Alps. I don't see how a minute-half a minute here and there would have served for the same kind of drama. Loved the stages to Gap and Pinerolo. Had the stage to Lourdes ended 10kms earlier and had there not been an additional mountain top finish the next day, it may have prompted the GC men into more action there as well (sorry A.Schleck).

But, as the race depends on what the riders make of it, so too the forums depend on their posters. Thank you funny, smart, kind and knowledgeable people that you are for choosing to share your thoughts here. Much enjoyed the Tour discussions.

This post has been edited by Leafcake: 24 July 2011 - 10:27 PM

[micomico]

Jayhawk, on 24 July 2011 - 10:11 PM, said:

Yet 2003 -- Lance dehydrating in the TT, the Virenque/Simoni showdown on the queen stage with the yellow jersey drama down the road (Vino came within 18 seconds of yellow, then cracked), Iban Mayo wreaking havoc, the massive crash where Tyler Hamilton broke his collarbones, Beloki menacing early before his accident -- these are the least remember features!

Thanks for bringing back those memories. That was really a dramatic Tour.

One minor point that adds to this year's tour, was the performance of a chronic under-achiever. In his 30s and in the tour for the first time, he ends up 9th despite losing around 2 minutes in a crash in the first week, rode hard to protect his yellow jersey teammate, while putting his nose into the wind to help to set up his team's sprinter.

[il_hombre]

smug, on 24 July 2011 - 08:50 PM, said:

Excellent tour, rivals 2003 and 1989

1989 Tour and 1989 Giro hard to beat ... very hard ! Also liked Roche in 1987 against Delgado. 85/86 were special due to Hineault/Lemond.

This year was good (very good) the last 3-4 days only. The rest was very boring from a GC point of view.

(Finally 2007 was great - asterix of course)

[buddy]

I don't agree about this years tour only being interesting the last 3-4 days from a GC point of view.

We had interest from stage 1 when Evans was second to Gilbert. Then there was the TTT and BMC surprising everyone with their performance.

Next it was stage 4 where Evans won from Contador and Schleck was dropped. The Pyrenees were a bit of an anti-climax but still interesting (just not as gripping) although everyone was surely waiting for Evans to crack.

The Tour is also more than the GC race. The green jersey this year was very exciting early with Gilbert, Cavendish and Rojas going at it and in the intermadiate sprints too.

Throw in a true mountains jersey winner .... a revelation white jersey winner ....... the crowd favourite forever Johnny Hoogerland ..... the mighty Thor and his Norwegian battle with the Boss.

In my opinion this 2011 edition will go down as one of the very best there has ever been.

And of course won by a well deserving rider

Thanks,

Buddy

[smug]

micomico, on 24 July 2011 - 10:28 PM, said:

Thanks for bringing back those memories. That was really a dramatic Tour.

One minor point that adds to this year's tour, was the performance of a chronic under-achiever. In his 30s and in the tour for the first time, he ends up 9th despite losing around 2 minutes in a crash in the first week, rode hard to protect his yellow jersey teammate, while putting his nose into the wind to help to set up his team's sprinter.

Forgot mayo's epic ride on l'alpe where the riders finally ganged up on Armstrong, Hamilton, vino, beloki, and mayo repeatedly attacking

[VdB]

This was definitely one of the best Tours I have ever seen, but I wouldn't say the best ever. As far as the last 20 years go, this Tour was better than everything but 2003. Indurain's demise in 1996 and Pantani's 1998 win were great too, but this year almost had it all.

Gilbert attacking everywhere in his national jersey, wearing all three jerseys and generally lighting up the race. Hushovd doing his world champ jersey proud with epic rides in the mountains and 7 days in yellow. Contador, Evans and Sanchez attacking on the descent in the rain. Cav finally getting that green jersey with yet another 5 stage wins. A. Schleck going balls-out on the Galibier, Evans' epic ride to limit the damage. Voeckler's seemingly inexhaustable stint in yellow, only cracking on the final mountain stage. Contador throwing caution on the wind on the Galibier, then on L'Alpe. Young gun Rolland taking the alp and the white. EBH with his major Tour breakthrough. And finally, Evans shaking off years of pressure and anxiety - in a way symbolized in how he jumped over that speed bump near the finish of the ITT, for me.

Let's hope the post-Armstrong (and bio passport) era will continue to show a diminished dominance of teams, allowing for more aggressive riding like this Tour. And for a little help from the parcours designers....

[micomico]

VdB, on 25 July 2011 - 09:31 PM, said:

Let's hope the post-Armstrong (and bio passport) era will continue to show a diminished dominance of teams....

And perhaps of riders too.

The climbing by the big boys this year was slower by quite a bit than just a couple of years ago. The one person who climbed very consistently year after year, with no improvement this year, according to an article, was Cadel. It was AC and the Schlecks who were slower than a couple of years ago, and Cadel rode at the same level as in the past (no bad day, though).

It might be saying something for the passport, and for the better coordination between testers.

[buddy]

I think you are on to something there but I am going to put it in the doping section so as to not get into trouble.

Definitely one of the best tours I have ever seen. 2003 with Ulle in his Bianchi celeste jersey was also outstanding.

Cadel winning however has to seal the deal for me though.

Thanks,

Buddy

[smug]

VdB, on 25 July 2011 - 09:31 PM, said:

Let's hope the post-Armstrong (and bio passport) era will continue to show a diminished dominance of teams,

armstrong's "turbo-charged" team took all the tactics out of the race and really stacked the deck against his opponents. the race is much more tactical now and unpredictable.