Best Races of the Decade

rick_chasey

ugo.santalucia said:

What was so special about Hayman win? He outsprinted Boonen, but otherwise I don't recall being such a magnificent race.

Oh come ON.

Race was balls out from the gun. Big big serious moves from 100km out. Gloriously attritional yet tactical. The final group of 5 were easily the in the strongest 7 in the race (with two, Cancellara and Sagan being tactically outmanoeuvred) yet they were absolutely swinging.

The makeup of that group made for lots of attacks but they were all so f*cked. Every attack seemed to change the balance of who had what left in the tank, with riders who would be out the back one minute being right back in it 5km later.

Then the sprint itself was again both a mixture of tactical nous and just riders right on the edge of their capabilities, with a worthy (if heartbreaking) winner.

It was everything you want out of a bike race bluntly. Except perhaps for stunning scenery but I quite like it flat and bleak, given I grew up in the Fens and summered in Friesland.

philbar72

totally agree, full gas all the way. surprising result, but you could see that everyone left had invested every ounce of their being to get to the finale.

RichN95.

rick_chasey said:

Anyone fancy ranking the Tours in order of excitement? Here's my stab.


1) 2011
2) 2019
3) 2010
4) 2018
5) 2015
6) 2017
7) 2014
8) 2013
9) 2016
10) 2012

I did back in July, but I can't find it. I had 2015 first and 2017 last - which you have as the mid-table

rick_chasey

Nothing can be worse than 2012, surely.

RichN95.

rick_chasey said:

Nothing can be worse than 2012, surely.

It rates higher for British people for obvious reasons - it had the excitement of the new. Wiggins was still a little unproven and their were the inter team conflicts. 2017 was Froome phoning it in. As the first leg of an historic triple crown it has merit, but as a stand alone race it has little to recommend it except the stage Uran won

rick_chasey

Oh man. I spent so much of it re-winding and FFing through stage finales because I'd fallen asleep.

mrb123

On the 2012 Tour...
First British winner.
7 stage wins for British riders shared between 4 different ones.
Wiggins leading out Cav onto the Champs Elysee.
Hard for us Brits to be completely objective about that one.

rick_chasey

Hard, but not impossible...!

TheBigBean

mrb123 said:

On the 2012 Tour...
First British winner.
7 stage wins for British riders shared between 4 different ones.
Wiggins leading out Cav onto the Champs Elysee.

And dull.

rick_chasey

Honestly it seriously made me question if I should even bother with GTs.

It was so bad it put Prudy off long TTs forever.

m.r.m.

ugo.santalucia said:

What was so special about Hayman win? He outsprinted Boonen, but otherwise I don't recall being such a magnificent race.

It was extremely exciting even before the final selection got to the velodrome. Plenty of attacks and riders just hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

RichN95.

rick_chasey said:

Honestly it seriously made me question if I should even bother with GTs.

It was so bad it put Prudy off long TTs forever.

The problem with the 2012 parcours was the lack of high mountains. La Toussuire was the only big MTF

rick_chasey

Agreed.

Increasingly I think the thinking is an MTF is rather like a TT and rewards very similar attributes in a rider. A lot in pro-cycling about this recently.

m.r.m.

Ineos entire winning strategy is built off this.

shockedsoshocked

RichN95. said:

shockedsoshocked said:

RichN95. said:

shockedsoshocked said:

iainf72 said:

shockedsoshocked said:

Tour de France: 2014. Nibali fantastic. Took the cobbles in his stride that laid low a few others.

Really? The cobbled stage was ok but the rest of the race was pretty dreadful as I remember.

I loved the first week. Nibs win into Sheffield was brilliant too.

Without looking it up can you remember who came second?

GVA wasn't it? Or Sagan. Loads of big hitters just chasing, Kwia, Valverde etc

I actually meant second in the GC that year. But if you can get that stage right, then I doubt you'll have much trouble.

Saying that, I thought it was Pinot, then the 'Old Man' got me thinking "was it Valverde? Horner? I can't remember that". Then looked it up and saw Peraud. I'd genuinely forgotten about that!

TheBigBean

RichN95. said:

rick_chasey said:

Honestly it seriously made me question if I should even bother with GTs.

It was so bad it put Prudy off long TTs forever.

The problem with the 2012 parcours was the lack of high mountains. La Toussuire was the only big MTF

Also, the two best riders were on the same team with team orders.

Wheelspinner

[tinfoil hat mode] The 2012 Tour parcour was specifically set to ensure a British first time winner, preferably Wiggins, which is why the lack of MTF and extra TT miles. Assumption was that even if Wiggo crashed then Froome-dog would still do the job easily.

This was done to ensure maximum hype around cycling in the UK for the London Olympics.

And it worked, almost. Just that someone forgot to tell Vino.
[/tinfoil hat mode]

RichN95.

Wheelspinner said:

[tinfoil hat mode] The 2012 Tour parcour was specifically set to ensure a British first time winner, preferably Wiggins, which is why the lack of MTF and extra TT miles. Assumption was that even if Wiggo crashed then Froome-dog would still do the job easily.

This was done to ensure maximum hype around cycling in the UK for the London Olympics.

And it worked, almost. Just that someone forgot to tell Vino.
[/tinfoil hat mode]

Reality mode. The parcours is planned at least two years in advance. And it was announced only a month after Froome's breakthrough.
Prudhomme had talked about trying a different Tour - one for rouleurs or puncheurs, one that would open the race up to more riders and more attacking. He got it wrong.

Wheelspinner

RichN95. said:

Wheelspinner said:

[tinfoil hat mode] The 2012 Tour parcour was specifically set to ensure a British first time winner, preferably Wiggins, which is why the lack of MTF and extra TT miles. Assumption was that even if Wiggo crashed then Froome-dog would still do the job easily.

This was done to ensure maximum hype around cycling in the UK for the London Olympics.

And it worked, almost. Just that someone forgot to tell Vino.
[/tinfoil hat mode]

Reality mode. The parcours is planned at least two years in advance. And it was announced only a month after Froome's breakthrough.
Prudhomme had talked about trying a different Tour - one for rouleurs or puncheurs, one that would open the race up to more riders and more attacking. He got it wrong.

Well, that would have been around 2009 to 2010 when they started planning the 2012 route, no?

Fourth in the Tour in 2009 (promoted to 3rd after LA DQ) was none other than Bradley Wiggins. Cav won 6 stages in 2009.

QED. 😁

Lanterne_Rogue

The 2012 parcours seems to have come about because Prudhomme was experimenting with ways to shake the Tour up a little and accidentally hit upon the perfect formula for condensing each stage into a 5 minute highlight package at the end, and incidentally set the campaign for flag to finish coverage back by about five years.

I'm not going to deny I enjoyed watching it, but it wasn't because of the quality of the racing.

rick_chasey

We should probably establish the best stage of a stage race too.

I'll put in an early shout for 2014 Tour, stage 5 - the wet cobbled stage.

Presumably Rich will be along to shout stage 19 of the Giro - the Froome Lazarus ride.

rick_chasey

Which was the Contador Vuelta stage where he attacked well before the cameras turned up and won the thing? Or am I misremembering?

TheBigBean

rick_chasey said:

Which was the Contador Vuelta stage where he attacked well before the cameras turned up and won the thing? Or am I misremembering?

2012. Stage 17.

I would vote for that one, and the Schleck one from 2011. Plus Froome in the Giro.

There's probably some others I have forgotten about.

mrb123

What was that stage when other teams attacked Sky early doors and put them into a load of trouble? I seem to think it was a short mountain stage somewhere, I think Contador was involved.

poptart242

mrb123 said:

What was that stage when other teams attacked Sky early doors and put them into a load of trouble? I seem to think it was a short mountain stage somewhere, I think Contador was involved.

2016(?) Vuelta, when Froome abandoned with a broken foot afterwards?

RichN95.

rick_chasey said:

We should probably establish the best stage of a stage race too.

I'll put in an early shout for 2014 Tour, stage 5 - the wet cobbled stage.

Presumably Rich will be along to shout stage 19 of the Giro - the Froome Lazarus ride.

I'd probably say the mudfest in the 2010 Giro that Evans won

m.r.m.

I think he means the Vuelta where Quintana won GC. Contador attacked early on a short stage. Quintana went with him and there was a subsequent crash which held up Sky and increased the gap (no hassle, racing was on). Sky wasn't able to bridge over anymore. I think Esteban Chaves or Yates won that stage.

For me the best stage has to be Froome in the Giro followed by Contador on the Mortirolo where he ate Aru's soul.

gsk82

mrb123 said:

What was that stage when other teams attacked Sky early doors and put them into a load of trouble? I seem to think it was a short mountain stage somewhere, I think Contador was involved.

The 2013 tour stage after Froome won at aix 3 domaines?

Or the Formigal stage where just as sky were about to tag back on to the leaders group, someone crashed in front of them and the gap reopened?

mrb123

Well remembered chaps - it was the Formigal stage 15 of the 2016 Vuelta. Contador was the primary aggressor and Quintana joined the party. A rare sight to witness Sky in such disarray. One of those stages where you really wanted to have been watching from the start...
(just checked and it was Brambilla who won the stage. Quintana put over 2 1/2 minutes into Froome that day)

rick_chasey

TheBlueBean said:

rick_chasey said:

Which was the Contador Vuelta stage where he attacked well before the cameras turned up and won the thing? Or am I misremembering?

2012. Stage 17.

I would vote for that one, and the Schleck one from 2011. Plus Froome in the Giro.

There's probably some others I have forgotten about.

Galibier finish, Tour stage? Woof indeed.