Heresy ?.....but Im enjoying Vuelta 2012 more than TDF 2012

Raffles

You can tie me to a stake and burn me, but im digging this years Vuelta and hollerring at my tv screen a lot more than I did for this years TDF :shock: The stage a couple of days ago which took the riders up a mountain peaking at 24% was just astonishing to watch. Make no mistake that those guys are the fittest athletes on planet earth....bar none. My admiration for those riders just goes up and up every time I watch the heart, passion, commitment and superhuman fitness which they display. I sat down to watch the TDF on ITV4 with my cup of strong black filter coffee and it was good, but nothing like the standing in front of the screen shouting and annoying my wife and kids that this years Vuelta has brought out in me. Roll on la bola del mundo, another leg sapping beast of a special category climb to come...............and I cant wait !!

Contador played an absolute blinder last night, what a ride !!!!!! Rodriguez finally cracked on that stage and was running on empty and Valverde is showing the world that he is a superhumanly strong cyclist with a performance last night to match Contadors.

Anybody else enjoyying this years Vuelta too ?

ugo.santalucia

Of course you are, it's a far better race!
Riders make a race interesting or boring... Contador and Rodriguez are exciting riders, while I am sorry to say Wiggins is not

hipshot

It is a far better race than the TdF year, but I've always slightly preferred the Giro & the Vuelta actually. something to do with less hype and more unpredictability..

Contador's audacity was breathtaking - a brilliant tactical move. A classic.

getting_on_a_bit

Couldn't agree more Raffles.I am equally annoying the family by squatting in front of the TV at 7pm every night and loudly marvelling at the speeds that these guys go,in particular up the steep gradients, with frequent comparisons to my own much lesser efforts none of which however seems to interest them in the slightest as non cyclists and they now start whinging/taking the mick even before I start eulogising.Still..they are well looking forward to the start of the Tour of Britain..not

snowley

It is immense this year!!

The riders make the race and with Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez, you know they are going to attack at every opportunity

Calpol

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Of course you are, it's a far better race!
Riders make a race interesting or boring... Contador and Rodriguez are exciting riders, while I am sorry to say Wiggins is not

Yup that about sums it up. Both la Vuelta and the Giro have been better races this year. I think a lot has to do with the parcours.Mountain top finishes make for a great stage but like Ugo said Wiggins and Froome are more mechanical riders placing heavy reliance on the data from their SRM unit. Of course Wiggins is peerless on the TT bike this season but he didnt give us the best moments of the tour.Sagan, Voeckler and Pinaut favoursites from this years race. Hopefull Prudhomme will learn a lot from this years Giro and Vuelta and announce a more exciting route next year.

BelgianBeerGeek

It's also a race in Spain and you would expect the Spanish riders to go for it. By winning they attain eternal fame. This year's race has been ok apart from the flat stages (so far) and Contador's win yesterday was very impressive. OK the TdF didn't excite you that much this year but it is the Tour and the daddy of them all. The other races are only there to fill in the calendar.

charlie_potatoes

Yep It's been awesome so far.
Even Mrs Potatoes is enjoying it
Contador's not as good looking as Rodriguez apparently :evil:

dw300

It's excellent .. I miss the French countryside, HD coverage, and big name riders getting shelled out the back of the peleton when the pace is lifted though. A combo of those and the Vuelta's racing would be perfection.

Raffles

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

It's also a race in Spain and you would expect the Spanish riders to go for it. By winning they attain eternal fame. This year's race has been ok apart from the flat stages (so far) and Contador's win yesterday was very impressive. OK the TdF didn't excite you that much this year but it is the Tour and the daddy of them all. The other races are only there to fill in the calendar.

I enjoyed both the giro and vuelta this year more than the tdf. more about out and out racing , struggling up huge uphill finishes compared to the bit of tedium element in this years tdf. spanish passion and flair against the less charasmatic wiggo. out of the 3 , im giving it to the vuelta though, its been a belter this year.

Yellow Peril

Raffles wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

It's also a race in Spain and you would expect the Spanish riders to go for it. By winning they attain eternal fame. This year's race has been ok apart from the flat stages (so far) and Contador's win yesterday was very impressive. OK the TdF didn't excite you that much this year but it is the Tour and the daddy of them all. The other races are only there to fill in the calendar.

I enjoyed both the giro and vuelta this year more than the tdf. more about out and out racing , struggling up huge uphill finishes compared to the bit of tedium element in this years tdf. spanish passion and flair against the less charasmatic wiggo. out of the 3 , im giving it to the vuelta though, its been a belter this year.

Agreed, no contest. I'm pleased for the Vuelta, it has taken a bit of a hammering the last few years and been treated like the ginger step-child due to poor parcours and poor calendar placing.

Richmond Racer

I've enjoyed all 3, actually, for differnt reasons.

TdF stands out for me though as I was out there for 9 stages...

tailwindhome

Raffles wrote:

You can tie me to a stake and burn me, but im digging this years Vuelta and hollerring at my tv screen a lot more than I did for this years TDF :shock:

You're leaning against an open door there fella.

Turfle

The passing of time is certainly treating the Giro well.

ddraver

^Hah! Great point, well made

Did nt Iain give it a 3/10 this year to widespread approval?

God, we re suckers are nt we!!

Mikey23

Yup hugely more enjoyable in a bad old days kind of a way. I stopped watching when it became obvious that cheating is still very much alive and kicking

blazing_saddles

Only a 3 week fan could enjoy this year's Tour more than the Vuelta.
It's as if somebody bought the polish, six weeks after the turd was laid........
..........and the Giro was even worse.

mtbboy101

Mikey23 wrote:

Yup hugely more enjoyable in a bad old days kind of a way. I stopped watching when it became obvious that cheating is still very much alive and kicking

Indeed, lost interest when the 2 lead riders are unrepentant dopers. no faith that they are clean now so where is the fun.

Actually makes me quite angry...

blazing_saddles

mtbboy101 wrote:

Mikey23 wrote:

Yup hugely more enjoyable in a bad old days kind of a way. I stopped watching when it became obvious that cheating is still very much alive and kicking

Indeed, lost interest when the 2 lead riders are unrepentant dopers. no faith that they are clean now so where is the fun.

Actually makes me quite angry...

Do those Garmin unrepentant dopers make you angry, too?

Lots of foreign folk lost interest in the Tour, when Sky domestiques continually dropped
all the Tour contenders on what climbs there were in that dud.

alihisgreat

I did enjoy the Tour immensely with Sky dominating and Wiggo winning..

.. but the racing in la Vuelta is good.

am I allowed to have enjoyed both?

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Only a 3 week fan could enjoy this year's Tour more than the Vuelta.
It's as if somebody bought the polish, six weeks after the turd was laid........
..........and the Giro was even worse.

It depends how you watch sport. I mostly watch it in a partisan manner. So I enjoy 'my team' winning a turgid 1-0 match than losing a 5-4 thriller.

So I enjoyed the Tour because my favourite won. The Vuelta I would enjoy more if Rodriguez was winning and less if Valverde was.

Richmond Racer

Blazing Saddles wrote:

mtbboy101 wrote:

Mikey23 wrote:

Yup hugely more enjoyable in a bad old days kind of a way. I stopped watching when it became obvious that cheating is still very much alive and kicking

Indeed, lost interest when the 2 lead riders are unrepentant dopers. no faith that they are clean now so where is the fun.

Actually makes me quite angry...

Do those Garmin unrepentant dopers make you angry, too?

Lots of foreign folk lost interest in the Tour, when Sky domestiques continually dropped
all the Tour contenders on what climbs there were in that dud.

Basically for various reasons there's no GT that's made everyone equally happy, is there

Turfle

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Only a 3 week fan could enjoy this year's Tour more than the Vuelta.
It's as if somebody bought the polish, six weeks after the turd was laid........
..........and the Giro was even worse.

Objectively the racing may be better/more competitive, but subjectively I disagree strongly.

Personally I'm finding it very hard to find any joy in anything Contador is doing, and that is making it a very hard race to enjoy.

The Tour was good enough until Evans cracked, and then it lost some of it's intrigue. But the caterwauling of the anti-Sky anti-Wiggins folk made the Tour far more enjoyable for me.

mtbboy101

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Do those Garmin unrepentant dopers make you angry, too?

yes

iainf72

The Tour is rarely the best GT in terms of racing.

Both the Giro and the Tour were turds this year. The Giro was more of a turd as there weren't even many good stages, where as if the GC race in the Tour was beyond duff, there were a few good stages.

smithy21

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Only a 3 week fan could enjoy this year's Tour more than the Vuelta.
It's as if somebody bought the polish, six weeks after the turd was laid........
..........and the Giro was even worse.

It depends how you watch sport. I mostly watch it in a partisan manner. So I enjoy 'my team' winning a turgid 1-0 match than losing a 5-4 thriller.

So I enjoyed the Tour because my favourite won. The Vuelta I would enjoy more if Rodriguez was winning and less if Valverde was.

Are you me? This exactly.

Also, it's a bit like enjoying a great Europa League final after the Champions League final was a bit dull. You know it's not really the main event.

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Only a 3 week fan could enjoy this year's Tour more than the Vuelta.
It's as if somebody bought the polish, six weeks after the turd was laid........
..........and the Giro was even worse.

It depends how you watch sport. I mostly watch it in a partisan manner. So I enjoy 'my team' winning a turgid 1-0 match than losing a 5-4 thriller.

So I enjoyed the Tour because my favourite won. The Vuelta I would enjoy more if Rodriguez was winning and less if Valverde was.

True It was a great race for we Brits, but objectively it was a lousy race, in terms of everything else.
Not that we weren't expecting it, given those parcour.

I agree re Purito-Piti, but again, that's the racers, not the racing.

iainf72

I wonder if everyone would say "that's alright then" if the wattages were normal like in the Tour

Raffles

Are some of you saying that this years Vuelta isnt that good ?

I think its been action all the way and those epic uphill rides have just been fascinating to watch as riders truly suffer on them. To be honest, I found the TDF a yawn by comparison.

ms_tree

Giro was ok but a bit pedestrian at times.
Tour was boring with Armstrongesque riding.
Vuelta is really good; pity it isn't on for longer each day especially yesterday's stage.

No_Ta_Doctor

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Only a 3 week fan could enjoy this year's Tour more than the Vuelta.
It's as if somebody bought the polish, six weeks after the turd was laid........
..........and the Giro was even worse.

You're MUCH better and longer standing fan than me. Obviously.