The best TDF?
Comments
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There's a "Rate the Tour" thread
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I think this is a very subjective judgement call based on whether your particular favourite rider or team did well. The other problem is as well that the Tour is such a long event it's difficult to keep all the highlights in mind and make an overall evaluation. Even looking at the Tour just finished, many posters seem to forget some of the great stages we had in each week judging by some of the posts on other threads.
I've watched the Tour for many years and I struggle to evaluate whole Tours rather than just recall some fantastic stages. I think you can even include the Lance Armstrong years as well because although they have been nullified by the drugs subsequent scandal, they were still great entertainment at times.
Trying to be as objective as possible I still think this Tour was probably the most dramatic and closely fought battle I can remember for many years. Usually it comes down to two maybe three riders if you are lucky but here we had five grand Tour winners occupying the top five places on GC at the end with the top two only separated by just over one minute.
Part of the problem of people being disappointed I think might have been down to the pre-race hype about the Magic 4 going head-to-head and the subsequent failure of two of those to live up to their reputations, especially early on. That takes nothing away from the race though in my opinion and Chris Froome's achievement of not only winning the event, (taking the KoM jersey in the process as well, the first time in living memory) but dealing with all the external pressure in such a dignified manner.
Certainly the best Tour de France I can remember, by a long way and one that will only get better with time I am sure.0 -
Easy now. It was good, but not that good. You'll have to go a long way to better the 1989 Tour. The best one since then was possibly 2011, and this year's wasn't as good as that.
All IMHO of course.It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.0 -
Easy now. It was good, but not that good. You'll have to go a long way to better the 1989 Tour. The best one since then was possibly 2011, and this year's wasn't as good as that.
All IMHO of course.
I don't think '89 will ever be beaten for closeness. That's final GC drama for you.
Personal favourite though is '87, though I only remember about 20 seconds of it :-D They were an incredible 20 seconds though.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Easy now. It was good, but not that good. You'll have to go a long way to better the 1989 Tour. The best one since then was possibly 2011, and this year's wasn't as good as that.
All IMHO of course.
You do know Cadel Evans isn't Welsh?
But seriously, Cadel Evans vs the Schleck brothers? A great and much deserved win for Cadel but hardly a classic.
1989 is obviously held in high esteem because of the last stage drama resulting in the closest finish ever. Having read Laurent Fignon's biography recently and seen films like "Slaying the Badger" there was high drama all through that Tour and Fignon could have put the whole thing beyond Lemond quite easily before the final stage but eased off on advice from his team manager.
That's my whole point about things improving with time though. You remember the highlights and films and books are written about the greats which reinforce the memories. Who knows, we might be looking back in ten years' time and Chris Froome might have joined the greats with maybe five TdF wins to his name?0 -
The best tour is the next one0
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[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19665713#p19665713]SpecialGuestStar[/url] wrote:The best tour is the next one
Is the correct answer. They are invariably a bit of a damp squib.
The Fignon/Lemond 1989 tour is the one that always sticks out in my mind.Trail fun - Transition Bandit
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris0 -
Tour's used to regularly be ding-dong battles before a rider took a decisive lead. This year was OK by recent standards but when you go back to pre-Indurain days you'll find many better ones.
I liked 1990 when a group took a ridiculous lead in Stage 1 (split stage day) and the favourites took ages to chip away at Chiapucci's lead (anyone who thinks attacking when a favourite has a mechanical is new should also watch this race).0 -
87 and 89 vintage years, but I loved the 1970s Tours, when all you got was a few minutes on World of Sport and it was a real effort to find out anything. The urgency of David Saunders commentary added to those blurry pictures. I can remember thinking how cool it was when Holdsworth's in Putney had a replica of Thevenet's Peugeot for sale in their window (far too expensive for my limited pocket money).0
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depends on what you look for in the tout as well. It isn't always about the GC, sometimes that can be sown up but still a great battle for KOM \ Green that can keep the tour interesting.
This year wasn't a great GC battle but still enjoyed it anyway.0 -
The 1989 tour was the best even if you take out the last stage drama. All the stage higlights were on youtube and it was great to watch them while on the turbo.0
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The 1989 tour was the best even if you take out the last stage drama. All the stage higlights were on youtube and it was great to watch them while on the turbo.
Not that I necessarily disagree with your assessment but the trouble with that approach is you only see all the highlights and not the less exciting sections, of which I'm sure there were many. Come back in 25 years time and watch the holographic, 360 degree representations of the highlights of this Tour and I am sure they will be mind-blowing. 0 -
For me the best Tours were ’75 (Merckx dethroned), ’83 (Fignon emerges), ’84 (Hinault v Fignon), ’87 (Roche’s year) as well as the ’89 Tour, because all were close battles (practically) till the end - even ’83, although the final GC doesn’t suggest it.
Compared to those, I found this year was pretty flat in excitement - there was no real challenge and no alternation in who had the yellow jersey, or even the 'virtual' yellow jersey. So I’m surprised how favourable this year is being judged (in the Rate The Tour thread).
There also didn’t seem to be much in the way of spectacular solo/small breakaway group victories this year compared to previous years, like those of Hansen and Riblon recently (Majka’s solo this year found a bit pedestrian, and I didn’t see Pinot’s).
As for those ‘70s-‘80s years, admittedly I saw practically no TV then, instead relied on intermittent live commentaries from French radio of the decisive stages – and my imagination of how it was evolving on the road - and next morning French newspaper reports.
I suppose that aspect might play a role in my choices – it means I missed or wasn’t informed about the more boring bits. But evenso, I'd still recommend my choices to anyone interested in previous Tours.0 -
I didn't watch for much of the Armstrong years but, of the last 9 editions (I re-engaged in 2007) 2015 doesn't make the top 8. Definitely the least exciting tour for a long time despite the artificial nonsense of the first week.0
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Personal favourites what I have watched
89, 98 (minus drama), 03, 11"In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0
