Rate the Tour 2015
Comments
-
A solid 7 from me.
Lots of variation in the stages, so very few "turn it on for the last 5 minutes" flat sprint stages.
The mountains were a bit cagey after stage 10, but that stage in itself was an awesome display.
Masses of drama, even if the GC didn't quite live up to overhyped expectations - though still managed to deliver a couple of days suspense at the last. Plenty of romance too, with Qhubeka, Greschke, Bardet, Tony Martin all delivering.
Would have liked to see Cav in better form, a proper top-dog sprinter duel between him and Greipel would have added a little extra.
Polkadots could do with spicing up as well, a little too heavily weighted to the GC riders - to be expected in a MTF heavy edition, but didn't ever really take off as a competition.
Yeah, it was a good'un.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
The case for the prosecution.
The green jersey battle was a non-event.
The worlds top sprinter was absent and the man he deposed off form so we did't see that battle.
The polka dots battle may as well not have happened.
The young rider classification was in the bag from day 1.
The yellow jersey battle looked like it was going one way from the first week and was never seriously under threat after the first mountain stage.
Billed as a 4 way battle but it took until Alpe D'Huez for anyone to lay a glove on Froome.
Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian![Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
The case for the prosecution.
The green jersey battle was a non-event.
The worlds top sprinter was absent and the man he deposed off form so we did't see that battle.
The polka dots battle may as well not have happened.
The young rider classification was in the bag from day 1.
The yellow jersey battle looked like it was going one way from the first week and was never seriously under threat after the first mountain stage.
Billed as a 4 way battle but it took until Alpe D'Huez for anyone to lay a glove on Froome.
Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian!
Watch golf, you'll get more out of it.0 -
The case for the prosecution.
The green jersey battle was a non-event.
The worlds top sprinter was absent and the man he deposed off form so we did't see that battle.
The polka dots battle may as well not have happened.
The young rider classification was in the bag from day 1.
The yellow jersey battle looked like it was going one way from the first week and was never seriously under threat after the first mountain stage.
Billed as a 4 way battle but it took until Alpe D'Huez for anyone to lay a glove on Froome.
Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian!
I completely agree, but the fascinating part for me is that most of the above was also true for the Giro, but Giro really was a good race. I think that is because every stage was genuinely eventful in some way.0 -
The case for the prosecution.
The green jersey battle was a non-event.
The worlds top sprinter was absent and the man he deposed off form so we did't see that battle.
The polka dots battle may as well not have happened.
The young rider classification was in the bag from day 1.
The yellow jersey battle looked like it was going one way from the first week and was never seriously under threat after the first mountain stage.
Billed as a 4 way battle but it took until Alpe D'Huez for anyone to lay a glove on Froome.
Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian!
7.1 from me“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
A solid 9 from me. First week was amzing looking back, didnt want to miss a stage and something major happened almost every day. Second week started off sensationally with Froome attack, but lack of any attacks from all other contenders really let it down. Third week should also have been better, but a Brit won, so who cares. Have also decided I actually like Valverde a lot more than I once did and have lost all respect for Nibali at this tour.0
-
I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?The case for the prosecution.
The green jersey battle was a non-event.
The worlds top sprinter was absent and the man he deposed off form so we did't see that battle.
The polka dots battle may as well not have happened.
The young rider classification was in the bag from day 1.
The yellow jersey battle looked like it was going one way from the first week and was never seriously under threat after the first mountain stage.
Billed as a 4 way battle but it took until Alpe D'Huez for anyone to lay a glove on Froome.
Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian!
I completely agree, but the fascinating part for me is that most of the above was also true for the Giro, but Giro really was a good race. I think that is because every stage was genuinely eventful in some way.
Expecting a genuine multi-way battle for every classification sustained for the full 3 weeks just seems a tiny bit unrealistic to me. If it happened that'd be an exceptional Tour for sure, but exceptional events don't tend to happen every year.0 -
I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?
In 2012 the Skybot was still being tuned and was unproven as a winner, Wiggins' tenacity was unknown, Fenton ran off and there was a smaller margin (IIRC) in the last week. This year was miles better in terms of the individual stages (Paris an obvious exception) but there didn't seem much doubt about Froome after the first rest day. There was a short moment near the end of the Alpe when we started to think maybe he could crack, but little prospect elsewhere.
Even after Wiggins' had nailed it, the Paris stage in 2012 was a proper race and seeing the yellow jersey lead Cav onto the final section was electric. Compare that with the damp fart of yesterday (with due respect to Greipel).0 -
I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?
Expecting a genuine multi-way battle for every classification sustained for the full 3 weeks just seems a tiny bit unrealistic to me. If it happened that'd be an exceptional Tour for sure, but exceptional events don't tend to happen every year.
2012 was a snoozefest. This year was much better as there were some interesting stages.0 -
I think a lot of you were watching a different race from me.
It was a 6 or maybe (if I'm generous) a 7. It was pretty much in the bag on all fronts for all jerseys from the first MTF.It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.0 -
In 2012, Nibali started the last couple of mountain stages almost 3 minutes down on Wiggins, similar to the lead Froome had over Quintana. The major difference was that a 50k+ ITT was still to come before Paris. Wiggins had already taken almost 2 minutes out of everyone on the previous shorter ITT and everyone knew he was good at those beforehand despite Sky being unproven as GT winners. Nibali and Evans tried to attack a few times and got absolutely nowhere, were dropped on most of the MTFs and couldn't even manage to isolate Wiggins as Froome finished with him on every mountain stage. As it turned out he put 3.5 minutes into Nibali in the final ITT, although since I don't think he lost so much as a second to any GT rival (other than Froome) on any mountain stage it was irrelevant anyway. To me that seems like a far more dominant and less exciting performance than either of Froome's wins.I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?
In 2012 the Skybot was still being tuned and was unproven as a winner, Wiggins' tenacity was unknown, Fenton ran off and there was a smaller margin (IIRC) in the last week. This year was miles better in terms of the individual stages (Paris an obvious exception) but there didn't seem much doubt about Froome after the first rest day.
The GC being "decided already" was the story in 2013 too after Ax-3-Domaines, yet the very next day he could easily have lost most of the time he gained there when Sky fell apart. Then he lost a minute in the echelons stage before managing to gain it back on Ventoux, bonked on the Alpe and lost more time at Semnoz, albeit all while holding a more substantial lead. This year Froome didn't have any longer ITT stages to help him gain time, and we knew he might struggle towards the end while Quintana would have his chances. I don't understand how you can think it was nailed on from stage 10 onwards - all it would have taken was Froome struggling on La Toussuire as he did on the Alpe, or cracking on the Croix de Fer, and it could have turned out very differently. All it takes is one really bad day in the mountains to completely change the race, and you can never be sure when those are going to crop up.0 -
It looks like Oleg is struggling to give this year's Tour a 4.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/oleg-tinkov/oleg-tinkov-chapeau-to-team-sky-but-theyre-going-to-kill-the-business
He is still prattling on about the "Big 4" doing the Giro AND Tour so that Alberto can have a level playing field. Last time I checked, Oleg only had control over one team in the Protour. He is correct in saying that SKY have an advantage over other teams in that they can plan long-term because they have a lengthy sponsorship deal. That is their good fortune but not an unfair advantage.
DD.0 -
I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?
Actually that sums up this tour pretty well "Better than 2012...unless you are a Wiggins fan". Can't argue with that. Being better than a very uneventful Tour does not make this one a 9 or a 10 though ! Up to a 7 maybe, 7 is pretty good, 7 is above average, any more than that I'm calling for an enquiry.
I mean come on a couple of people have given it a 10... where's Rick...anyone that is scoring this a 10 is a troll and should be banned ![Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
In 2012, Nibali started the last couple of mountain stages almost 3 minutes down on Wiggins, similar to the lead Froome had over Quintana. The major difference was that a 50k+ ITT was still to come before Paris. Wiggins had already taken almost 2 minutes out of everyone on the previous shorter ITT and everyone knew he was good at those beforehand despite Sky being unproven as GT winners. Nibali and Evans tried to attack a few times and got absolutely nowhere, were dropped on most of the MTFs and couldn't even manage to isolate Wiggins as Froome finished with him on every mountain stage. As it turned out he put 3.5 minutes into Nibali in the final ITT, although since I don't think he lost so much as a second to any GT rival (other than Froome) on any mountain stage it was irrelevant anyway. To me that seems like a far more dominant and less exciting performance than either of Froome's wins.I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?
In 2012 the Skybot was still being tuned and was unproven as a winner, Wiggins' tenacity was unknown, Fenton ran off and there was a smaller margin (IIRC) in the last week. This year was miles better in terms of the individual stages (Paris an obvious exception) but there didn't seem much doubt about Froome after the first rest day.
The GC being "decided already" was the story in 2013 too after Ax-3-Domaines, yet the very next day he could easily have lost most of the time he gained there when Sky fell apart. Then he lost a minute in the echelons stage before managing to gain it back on Ventoux, bonked on the Alpe and lost more time at Semnoz, albeit all while holding a more substantial lead. This year Froome didn't have any longer ITT stages to help him gain time, and we knew he might struggle towards the end while Quintana would have his chances. I don't understand how you can think it was nailed on from stage 10 onwards - all it would have taken was Froome struggling on La Toussuire as he did on the Alpe, or cracking on the Croix de Fer, and it could have turned out very differently. All it takes is one really bad day in the mountains to completely change the race, and you can never be sure when those are going to crop up.
I stand corrected. It still felt far more inevitable to me this year, maybe because of 2013. Although he had had a fantastic build up, Wiggins was looking to do a first.0 -
It depends how much weight you give to the GC battle. It never got close until the final stage but the rest of the racing was pretty good in my opinion. It's a 7 but it's a stretch to rate it higher than that.
Basically all of the negative points brought up about this Tour could have been applied to the Giro. There's a bit of the usual "cycling regular" pretentiousness going on.
0 -
Just to be clear, I thought it was a good tour and overall definitely better than 2012.
To get above 7 I'd need to see GC changes in week 2 and maybe a minute going into the last mountain stage and coupled with good individual stages - like this year with feelgood first big wins and against-the-odds breakaways. I did think this year's Paris was the most boring I can remember which, together with post-tour blues, left me on a downer.0 -
7/10 for me. Very good opening week but a lot of the mountain stages were a bit of a let down. I think we just have to accept that is the price we have to pay for cleaner cycling though.
+1. Not that it's a bad thing.0 -
You're being generous :PI think a lot of you were watching a different race from me.
It was a 6 or maybe (if I'm generous) a 7. It was pretty much in the bag on all fronts for all jerseys from the first MTF.0 -
I went 8. Probably one of the best 5 tours I have watched.
Not close to touching 1989 but the last weekend was really exciting.0 -
What gets me reading a lot posts on here and other forums is how people seem to overlook Froome's sustained effort on the race. The idea that Froome took all the time out of Quintana on one stage and just sat back and defended is clearly not true. Also the idea that the race was as good as over after the first week is also patently nonsense. Quintana obviously didn't have the legs (or the team) to make it stick in the first two weeks and simply relied on Froome weakening over the last few days.
Comparing stages where Froome and Quintana gained or lost time to each other we have:
Stage Time GC
1 0:11 0:11
2 1:28 1:39
3 0:17 1:56
9 0:03 1:59
10 1:10 3:09
14 0:01 3:10
19 -0:32 2:38
20 -0:86 1:12
There are obviously a lot of ifs, buts and maybes in a Tour like this but what can't be argued is that Froome took all the time out of Quintana on one stage and then just sat back and defended. What it came down to in the end was that Froome just wanted it more than Quintana and was prepared to fight for every second, even when he was losing time on the last two stages.0 -
Enjoyable tour. Not as good as 1989 mind you.
First week - 10/10
Second week - 6/10
Third week 7/10
Overall - 7.60 -
Enjoyable tour. Not as good as 1989 mind you.
First week - 10/10
Second week - 6/10
Third week 7/10
Overall - 7.6
I enjoy your good use of maths,0 -
I give it a 7. Didn't live up to the hype, largely because Contador and Nibali were a busted flush after the first day in the Pyrenees, but enjoyed the madness of the first week, and the last three days in the Alps.
Steve Cummings winning that stage was my personal highlight - I was jumping up and down like a madman in front of the telly that day
Special mention for Thomas (nails) Teklehaimanot (heartening to see) and Quintana (shame his team tactics let him down) - and also Simon Geschke bawling his eyes out
Also enjoyed watching Bardet climb and Pinot descend
Next year I'd prefer it if the first mountain stage wasn't tailor-made for Sky thoughFat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.0 -
Jesus.. I'm reading eight, nines and tens..
Did you lot watch the Giro?!
Yeah, I watched the best climber in the race not win and called back so his team leader could finish second.
Brilliant race though, a 9 for me.0 -
I have to wonder how you guys rated 2012 if you feel this year was so awful. -5 out of 10?The case for the prosecution.
The green jersey battle was a non-event.
The worlds top sprinter was absent and the man he deposed off form so we did't see that battle.
The polka dots battle may as well not have happened.
The young rider classification was in the bag from day 1.
The yellow jersey battle looked like it was going one way from the first week and was never seriously under threat after the first mountain stage.
Billed as a 4 way battle but it took until Alpe D'Huez for anyone to lay a glove on Froome.
Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian!
I completely agree, but the fascinating part for me is that most of the above was also true for the Giro, but Giro really was a good race. I think that is because every stage was genuinely eventful in some way.
Expecting a genuine multi-way battle for every classification sustained for the full 3 weeks just seems a tiny bit unrealistic to me. If it happened that'd be an exceptional Tour for sure, but exceptional events don't tend to happen every year.
And last year when it was over after a few stages, that must have been -50 out of 10.
Seriously, are people giving this Tour a 5 or 6 saying it was decidedly average? :? I could understand if you're not British and got the rag on because Contador/Nibali/Quintana were stuffed by Froome.0 -
^this isn't a British / non-British thing
That aint how it works0 -
[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19666124#p19666124]Richmond Racer 2[/url] wrote:^this isn't a British / non-British thing
That aint how it works
Its not I know, but giving this tour anything less than an eight, when the net result was the first ever British winner of two TDF's is in my opinion pretty weird. Life isnt always like a Rocky film, sometimes someone excels to the point they are indomitable, that that someone was British should give us something to rejoice in, not moan about them, just because they spoilt the narrative.0 -
9 was my score because (a) I'm not a Froome Fan but I have come to "almost" enjoy this wierd style of pedalling. It's not pretty or has panache but he got the job done and it's unmistakeable his style.Sure there were some good individual stages but a grand tour is about the narrative over 3 weeks - anyone scoring that over 7 is either a Froome fan or a contrarian!
(b) I've been watching since this carnival arrived on the Parc des Princes to a crescendo of noise chanting Anquetil.
That I've suffered the rubbish of the 21st Century and this 2015 race is about the best of this century.
I note when I last looked that 78% thought it a better race than average.Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 19720 -
[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19666124#p19666124]Richmond Racer 2[/url] wrote:^this isn't a British / non-British thing
That aint how it works
Of course that's how it works, what a weird thing to say. Cheering on your own countrymen and seeing them win is always far more emotionally involving than just watching people who are good at what they do.0 -
8/10. you saw character from many different riders in this one. and people came back from the dead after a awful first week. pride seemed to count for something. which was entertaining.
route was interesting. ASO are getting it refined from the limited topographical choices they have compared to the giro.
I wonder what a fit TJ without illness in the third week following the fastest wheel leechable would have ended up? but he looked to be fading quite early after a good start.
a lot of riders looked to be very stressed in the third week if not the second. contador was hanging on for a long time suffering like a dog for the whole race. I liked that aspect, everyone looked as thou they could have a bad day and most did."If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
