Boring Week - is there an end in sight

off the back

OK first week was amazing, this time last week we all thought it was heading to be best tour ever and then just when it seemed to be ready for fireworks, nothing!!!! So is this the eye of the storm or are riders happy to ride for top 10 and wait for lads to fade away.

Have to agree with Hinault -
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/arti ... is-attack-

All for a big day on Ventoux but hopefully someone will try something on Sunday before I turn over to watching cricket!!

john-e-big-guns

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I've mist nothing then???????

No wonder the Astrna team have no money..too many back handers gone out to buy the TDF win

The Giro was far better all the way to the end with De Luca & Menchov

Gazzetta67

zzzzzzzzz it`s like watching coverage of the Etape Du Tour for the past week -

Had to laugh at James Richardson on Eurosport - the "High Mountains" yeah Verbier a 1st cat Ramp

We Might even see Armstrong and Contador taking in Cavendish in the Sprint in Paris.

Thanks Mr Prudhomme for Boring the Tits off us this Year !!!!

andyp

How come everyone blames the organisers for the lack of action yet the riders get off scot free?

Harry Hill

this is painfully tedious. What muppet decided to do away with mountain top finishes?

eh

How come everyone blames the organisers for the lack of action yet the riders get off scot free?

Fair point today was definitly the riders & DS's fault, but there have been a few dull pointless mountain stages as well. I'd say its about 50:50 on the blame front.

Kléber

I tend to think it's the riders but what can they do? Astana are scaring a lot of riders and at the same time the Kazakh team has been delighted with the help from Ag2r.

I wish Andy Schleck had attacked harder in the Pyrenees to ditch Nocentini, this would have put more pressure on Contador and his team.

Today though the weather played a big part. Wiggins called it "brutal and epic". We can bemoan the riders for not trying but it was hard just to do 200km at 40km/h, yet alone to start taking risks. It's hard to take a flyer in a rain cape and removing your jacket would be an obvious sign you were going to attack, so an element of surprise was lost. Few wanted to attack in conditions like this, to take their chances on wet descents.

Anyway, this is not Wacky Races and if the riders don't attack all the time, that's there choice. Besides, if we had 21 summit finishes then I suspect the result would be equally boring too: the GC race is not fixed yet, we have some real mountains coming up and there are still 25 riders in five minutes of the lead. Plenty CAN happen, whether it will remains to be seen.

Mettan

Kléber wrote:

Today though the weather played a big part. It's hard to take a flyer in a rain cape and removing your jacket would be an obvious sign you were going to attack, so an element of surprise was lost. Few wanted to attack in conditions like this, to take their chances on wet descents.

+ 1 - Agreed.

blazing_saddles

A great advert for even the weakest of Giro courses.
This Tour has one less ball that you know who.

It is down to the organiser's obssesion with downhill finishes, miles from crucial climbs, (gawd help us, if it's wet on Tues and Weds next) the inevitably dibilitating Team TT and riders who are already prepared to accept third place.

A combination of factors.

Brutal, yes, maybe.
Epic, not in a million years.
Hardly a race to inspire thousands of new fans into the sport, if it's strangling those who have followed for decades.

Mettan

Blazing Saddles wrote:

It is down to the organiser's obssesion with downhill finishes, miles from crucial climbs, .

Agreed - it's not as if Andy and Carlos are great descenders. What were the organisers thinking

Anonymous

This would make an interesting addition...

http://freecaster.tv/mtb/1008612/red-bull-road-rage-trailer

Tom Butcher

What an advert for our sport - absolutely nothing of consequence for the GC has happened in 2 weeks save the Columbia attack in a side wind and Contador charging off in the last km or two of a mountain. Maybe next year they can make it a 3 day race - a couple of time trials and a stage up the Ventoux - save everyone wasting 3 weeks.

satan80

this is my first time watching the Tour, 1s week was great, i was hooked by the Cav sprints and Armstrong/Contador saga.

I don't even know what a proper attack looks like, the closest was when Alberto turned on the gas the other day and i thought that was exciting!

Last few days haven't been too great, but i'm watching every day cause i don't want to miss out when something decisive does happen, it surely cant be too long...can it?! :shock: :?

turkeytickler

the teeth have been taken out of a lot of the mountain stages by giving them valley finishes where GC gains can be clawed back. its not normally like this.

I agree it's been very dull and I dearly hope the Ventoux stage lives up to expectations.

My wife is also getting sick of me swearing at Cav for not contesting the intermediate sprints earlier.. :evil:

ms_tree

Surely the idea has been to keep the GC close together and not have TheTwit or one of his team already in yellow? This way breaks get away, sprinters win, afterall the Tour isn't just about the final winner it's a chance for other riders to win some glory.
Anyway, I am hoping ThatTeam will get hoist with their own petard and fall apart next week and someone else will come up on the rails and take the whole race apart!!!!!!!!

mandie

I think that having the Ventoux summit finish as the penultimate stage will probably kill the race until a week tomorrow. Everybody is scared of it and knows that even if they go in with two three minutes advantage that they can still loose. Consequently I don't think anyone especially Astana will do anything but defend untill then. The time trial will be fought out by Cancellara, Grabsh (if he is not knackerd from pulling back breaks by then) and possibly Dave Millar.

squired

Why did they originally have two stages this week without microphones for riders? Simple - because they knew the whole week would be a waste of time, with viewers turning off in their droves. Having two stages without the mics was an attempt to draw in viewers based on the potential calamity. Sadly it didn't work.

There is a lot of talk about a great climax on Ventoux, but of course we have a time trial before that, which will just rule out more contendors. Then on Ventoux we will probably have Astana drive on the front for the first few kilometres. A few big names will be dropped. Lance or Contador will attack and ride in alone. That's my expectation anyway.

Modern racing is very different to even 10 years ago. GC riders won't attack if there is any valley between climbs. They completely rely on their teams (would Greg Lemond ever be able to win a Tour now the way he did at the end of the 80s with essentially no team?). The race organisers need to accept that and adapt the course to encourage attacking riding.

jackhammer111 - banned

2 things.

these damned long downhill finishes have discroraged attacking knowing no GCer can make an attack stick all the way to the finish. And....

Ta Daaa!!!! No EPO. You want a cleaner field? The standing will be closer and racing will be less agressive when you make them ride on bread and water.

We'll see..

iainf72

jackhammer111 wrote:

Ta Daaa!!!! No EPO. You want a cleaner field? The standing will be closer and racing will be less agressive when you make them ride on bread and water.

Watch the pre-EPO tours - The racing was a lot more aggressive than what we've seen in this race.

mididoctors

andyp wrote:

How come everyone blames the organisers for the lack of action yet the riders get off scot free?

+1

too a degree I blame Astana and Lance

I know this comes across as a hater (which I am to be honest) but the point i'm making would apply to any other team rider in the same tactical/internal struggle.

Astana ave done everything they can to neutralise the race hoping Lance comes good in the third.

effectively trying to minimise the amount of racing in the 2nd week... after they damaged everyone in the first (TTT) and then having all those guys high on GC in the final week...

why wouldn't you play it that way...

its as blaze says "bore everyone into submission"

they have constantly chased down any attempt by Ag2r to flip the jersey and courted Colunbia.... which of course increases the predictability factor.

other teams don't think strategically enough ..I think..

putting strong riders into breakaways in the "defanged" Pyrenees and AIDING lesser teams would I think have created problems for Astana... to be fair Saxo did try but voigt is finally fading after all those yrs on the front and cancellara was still trying to recover from stage 5 IMO ..


more or less riding the whole peloton off you wheels on the flat in the crosswind!!!!

right got to go geezers telling me to come on we are going without you etc...

carbonfiend

tour de snore - wasted so many dvd's recording the coverage. Riders are gonna save energy where ever possible and especially knowing there is a huge penultimate stage and TT so you have to put it down to the organisers. IMO not only has the course been very unaggressive but its all been a bit of an eye sore as well can't really remember too many times I've watched this yrs raced and gawped at the beautiful scenery and droolled over the villages in the foothills. I agree this yrs giro was on all fronts a much better race. I am a lance fan (within reason) but have to also admit the whole astana and LA return has done something to kill the race. It was ok back in the day to watch the postal train as it was an awesome show of dominance but now it just seems slightly regressive and claustrophobic to the peloton

off the back

Roche calls it well -
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/roche-s ... e-his-time

"I was very disappointed today, that should have been a good stage," Roche said of the rain-lashed race to Colmar. "There is no way at all it should have finished off like that. When you see the final climb, not even one leader had an attack on it. They all stayed wearing their [rain] capes…they should have at least taken them off and had a go. It's insulting not to do that, to not even lift their backsides off the saddle."

Cumulonimbus

The rain interfered yesterday. Snow has been known to cut stages short in the past and its snowing on the Great St Bernard Pass today. Here's the current webcam from the Stelvio over in northern Italy

http://webcam.popso.it/stelvio.php?PASSOALTO

Good news though is that the finish at Verbier is relatively low so there is no snow there and it should be a nice day tomorrow anyway. Its going to warm up over the next few days so the snow on the GReat St Bernard Pas will disappear quickly.

jackhammer111 - banned

iainf72 wrote:

jackhammer111 wrote:

Ta Daaa!!!! No EPO. You want a cleaner field? The standing will be closer and racing will be less agressive when you make them ride on bread and water.

Watch the pre-EPO tours - The racing was a lot more aggressive than what we've seen in this race.

you when they were all speed freaks.