Best ever opening stage of a Grand Tour?

tailwindhome

So...

From the perspective of the armchair fan today's stage was missable. Nothing much happened and the weather ruined the scenery.

So what has been the best opening stage of a GT?

iainf72

1990 Tour de France was a good 'un. Shortish stage but Bauer, Pensec (I think) and Chiappucci took 8 minutes and it basically made the race what it was

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

1990 Tour de France was a good 'un. Shortish stage but Bauer, Pensec (I think) and Chiappucci took 8 minutes and it basically made the race what it was

Maybe time to bring back split stages. That breakaway succeeded because riders saving energy for the afternoon's TTT

iainf72

RichN95 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

1990 Tour de France was a good 'un. Shortish stage but Bauer, Pensec (I think) and Chiappucci took 8 minutes and it basically made the race what it was

Maybe time to bring back split stages. That breakaway succeeded because riders saving energy for the afternoon's TTT

I think they should. The saving yourself adds an interesting dynamic to the whole thing. Think the year before in Lux, Accacio da Silva went off on a break.

Yellow Peril

If we are discounting prologues I thought the last opening stage in Britain with McEwan's miracle recovert was pretty good.

Overall though, and quite logically you don't get the commitment of a one dayer.

I'm really glass half full with cycling but even I thought today was dull.

andyp

iainf72 wrote:

1990 Tour de France was a good 'un. Shortish stage but Bauer, Pensec (I think) and Chiappucci took 8 minutes and it basically made the race what it was

Poor Frans Maassen, makes the break and wins the stage but no-one remembers.

Yellow Peril

andyp wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

1990 Tour de France was a good 'un. Shortish stage but Bauer, Pensec (I think) and Chiappucci took 8 minutes and it basically made the race what it was

Poor Frans Maassen, makes the break and wins the stage but no-one remembers.

does it pre-date Race Radios? #justsayin

iainf72

Yellow Peril wrote:

does it pre-date Race Radios? #justsayin

First year of race radios I think.

But no, the pattern happened a lot with split stages. If you turned yourself inside out on the morning stage to get yellow, you might get dropped in TTT. And teams wouldn't chase so hard because they had to do the TTT in afternoon.

napoleond

I think this year's first TdF stage could be pretty interesting.

Yellow Peril

iainf72 wrote:

Yellow Peril wrote:

does it pre-date Race Radios? #justsayin

First year of race radios I think.

But no, the pattern happened a lot with split stages. If you turned yourself inside out on the morning stage to get yellow, you might get dropped in TTT. And teams wouldn't chase so hard because they had to do the TTT in afternoon.

Good point. I think I remember Kimmage, Millar et al referring to the difficulty of split stages in various books. well worth a general re-introduction. Didn't we have one in Turkey or Romandie this year?

Crankbrother

TdF 2009 is the one that sticks in my mind ... The renewed LA drama added to the spectacle and the backdrop (and competitive course) in Monaco was fantastic ...

Also loved the 1km 'sprint' prologue in the Giro 2005 ... Cipo's cameo was also a nice touch to honour his achievements in the race ...

Anonymous

Last years tour was good, with all the drama and that.

knedlicky

I never saw it so I can’t say if it was one of the best ever opening stages of a GT to watch, but ...

I always liked the idea that in stage 1a of the 1991 Tour, the hot favourite Lemond took it to his rivals* from the beginning, by joining a break and gaining almost 2 mins on them (when including time bonuses) - a case of the previous year's winner aggressively defending his title from the start.
(Although in the end it didn’t help Lemond, because he gradually lost ground and only finished 7th in Paris)

Stage 1b was the TTT later the same day.

(*not a few rivals – amongst others, including Bugno, Chiappucci, Roche, Delgado, Herrera, Rooks, Leblanc and Fignon)

phreak

In terms of drama, probably the 1989 Tour. Seems staggering to think that the defending champion would miss his start slot and drop 2m40s before he'd even left the start ramp. Obviously all the focus of that race is the final gap between LeMond and Fignon, but Delgado was only 3m34s back, so that first day slip up had a huge baring on the race.

FJS

andyp wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

1990 Tour de France was a good 'un. Shortish stage but Bauer, Pensec (I think) and Chiappucci took 8 minutes and it basically made the race what it was

Poor Frans Maassen, makes the break and wins the stage but no-one remembers.

I guess because he was the only of the 4 not to wear yellow and at some point be considered the potential winner of that Tour overall

They gained about 10 minutes, wasn't it, nothing to do with race radios that kind of gap

mm1

First 3 stages of the 1979 Tour were pretty good, a bit like the criterium international - prologue, mountain stage, uphill TT. The rest of the race was good too, roubaix cobbles and Alpe d'Huez (twice). Class podium and classification winners - G.C. Hinault, Zoetemelk, Agostino. White Jersey, Bernaudeau. Mountains, Battaglin.

I liked last year and think Yorkshire will produce some great racing.

above_the_cows

Last year's TdF opener was pretty good, not so much for the racing but if they could arrange for some major drama to occur on the finish line as the peloton reaches the last 10k again then that would be grand. Oh yeah and a flying boat, every opening stage needs a flying boat.

FJS

The 1992 opening weekend of the TdF was great too, as they went straight into the Pyrenees from San sebastian. Stage with the Jaizkibel, and the 2nd stage with a long break through the Pyrenees with a very young Virenque, among others

And yes, this year in Yorkshire will be great (the 2nd stage without a doubt; the 1st stage has the potential to be great, depending on whether Cannondale can find any friends to make it a proper race in the Dales)