So the verdict on the 2009 TDF route is??
Jellylegs1968
Posts: 73
Now its done, what did we think?
Did Prudhomme's experiment work?
From my point of view:
- Long stage 1 TT and TTT mortally wounded GC.
- Middle week was dull dull dull
- Ventoux was too late and the time gaps already too big to make the GC interesting.
Did Prudhomme's experiment work?
From my point of view:
- Long stage 1 TT and TTT mortally wounded GC.
- Middle week was dull dull dull
- Ventoux was too late and the time gaps already too big to make the GC interesting.
0
Posts
Complete failure.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
not enough summit finishes IMO
Very good analysis.
Personally I'd like to see the final stage to always be a TT. Just a personal POV.
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
The Ventoux stage at the end didn't work. Pyrenees totally emasculated. Only one really fascinating stage, to Grand Bornand, which at least showed you can still have serious racing before the last 5 ks. The small time gaps were more a result of dull racing than a close fight.
Personally I don't mind some quiet stages, the riders need to take some 'piano' time after all, but the feel of this course was just wrong. And the return of Bruyneel's Myrmidons cast a shadow over the whole thing (as they will for the near future I fear).
Apart from that it was great!
Yea i agree i hate the TTT hope its not in the race next year, mind you it did give us synchronised diving by BBox
And then you put in the milk.
I thought it was a good Tour. The only exception being the lack of summit finishes. They hurt more, and it's great to watch! Ventoux was spectacular though...
Moving on from that purely selfish issue to the racing itself and for me it hasn't worked. The ventoux being held back till the penultimate stage was obviously an attempt to create a nail baiting showdown but it never materialised at all so all the negative dull days it created beforehand wasn't worth the sacrifice. I'd love to know how many riders didnt try anything on days when they felt good before the ventoux stage in order to save themselves only to find come ventoux they were too knackered to do anything anyway.
I think too much is made of the route which I think was not the disaster some claim..
the TTT killed more of the race than any lack of early mountain top finishes.
The ventoux is hyped not just in this years tour but generally.. it has not produced IMO the greatest mountain top finishes in the tours I have seen.
As a tour it was far from the greatest but conversely it was very much not the worst I have ever seen... by any stretch of the imagination
I would describe it as memorable....
I think we are going to be talking about that stage for sometime....
That said, for me it was the riders that made it: the sheer team work of Columbia, the Astana politics, the Green Jersey battle and the fighting spirit of Bradley Wiggins. Not to mention the phenomenal descending by Cancellara and the inability of a least one Rabobank rider per stage to upright.
If they could work in a good route, leave out the TTT and milk the mountain stages for all they're worth, we would have no issues.
Garmin 18 seconds
Saxo Bank 40 seconds
Liquigas 58 seconds
Riders from these teams filled the top 9 places. Ok, so the 10th and 11th placed riders may have finished higher up without the TTT but they were 14 minutes behind Contador and 9 minutes behind the podium.* If there had been, say, a 40ish km TT that they normally have then Contador would IMO have finished ahead of A Schleck by more than 40 seconds. Armstrong and Kloden benefitted from the TTT but then they would probably have done well in a normal TT anyway. A mountain time trial would have been more interesting - maybe they could have made one of the Pyreneean stages into this. Then again they could just go down the road of having no TT between the prologue and the one near the end.
The two Pyreneean stages post-Andorra were very disappointing. However, i think one of the problems was that Contador was simply the best at both TTing and climbing. These are the main ways to get time so if someone is best at both then there is no real battle for GC.
Mont Ventoux may appear to have failed but the TT being on the last day would have been a failure too as Contador would have gone in with a big lead over Schleck with us all expecting him to extend it.
*It did unfairly hit some other contenders though, esp Evans, although how good his form was is open to question.
So what would you all change next year then?
Personally I'd like to see a whole series of short, sharp cat 4 hills (Normandy will do the trick) put at the end of a long stage, close together to prevent time being made up on the flats, so the climbers will get separated from the rouleurs. This might encourage the likes of S. Sanchez, Cunego etc to really have a go at the mountain specialists before the race hits the Pyrenees. Hopefully - and this is where the plan gets cunning - riders such as Contador, the Schlecks and Wiggins will realise that they can't leave the yellow jersey on the shoulders of dangerous riders like that, and they'll be forced to fight as soon as the race hits the mountains. Stick in another stage like this between the two mountain ranges to make their job even more urgent.
Either that or Contador and Schleck will stick with Sanchez and Cunego no problem and the whole plan will just fall flat on it's face. But anyway, it has to be better than a TTT.
EDIT: I've had a couple of drinks and might regret this post in the morning.