Rate the Race: Tour de France 2021

No_Ta_Doctor

From 1 to 10, how did this year's tour rate?

davidof

5

Too many riders not there or out due to crashes or just past their sell by date.

Relatively dull route with relatively dull riding but it is the tour, the routes are always relatively dull. Prudhomme must be a fairly conservative, boring kind of middle manager guy in real life.

Most of the excitement was in the sprints.

mrb123

6

Was between 5 and 6 but have gone for 6.

Amazing first week but very little GC interest after that. The Cav wins and green jersey were fantastic though hence the extra mark.

pblakeney

7

The GC was a done deal in the first few days but the sprints and breakaways kept it interesting.

kingstongraham

6

+ Pogacar is seriously impressive
+ Cavendish's resurrection
+ Ben O'Connor
+ WvA hat trick
+ MvdP and his tactics

- The crashes spoiling everything

That minus is a very big minus, made the overall race a done deal from the first TT onwards.

bobmcstuff

4

Debated between 4 or 5, maybe should have gone with 5 but I guess it adds some balance

Definitely not more than that though.

There wasn't even a hint of jeopardy in the GC for the last 2 weeks. I struggled with motivation to watch it after how good week 1 was.

joe_totale-2

6

1st week - 8/10
2nd week - 6/10
3rd week - 4/10

So an average over the three weeks of 6/10.

ddraver

Kinda never thought I would give a GT under a 6, but I gave the Giro 6 and it was better.

3 weeks of wall to wall cycling is always great, but my interest levels really tailed off this year. (Pr'haps this is a sign of improvements in 'real' life)

Without the Cav Fairy Story - which didnt quite end how it should - it would have been a real struggle

singleton

6

I went with a 6.

GC was done after the first week, but the breaks (Mohoric esp for me) and the sprints kept sufficient interest.

If only the crashes had not happened, oh what could have been.....

mrfpb

6

7/10. The usual excitement but in back to front order. Tempted to go for 5 or 6 but Cav was special.

bobmcstuff

4

mrfpb said:

7/10. The usual excitement but in back to front order. Tempted to go for 5 or 6 but Cav was special.

Except you've gone with a 6 according to your post...

takethehighroad

5

Half of it was good, half of it wasn't, so I gave it a 5

bobmcstuff

4

Giro thread for reference:
https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/20792279

Lowest 4, highest 9, mean 6.5, median 7.

rick_chasey

7

First week was so good (despite my protestations at the time), you can't give it an average 5. A week for the ages.

Attacking from yellow. Aggressive racing generally. Decent. Lacking in jeopardy. 7/10.

focuszing723

1

I've gone for a one, because you shouldn't allow your hair to peep through your bounce receptacle.

Lanterne_Rogue

6

Started brilliantly (if crash-infestedly) and then slowly faded as the various sub-competitions blinked out one by one, and post-crash attrition / Tokyo Syndrome started to accumulate. If seemingly half the peloton aren't that invested in it then it's hard to keep your enthusiasm up.

The lack of a yellow jersey competition and any other narrative to talk about meant the unwelcome return of lots of doping chat, not helped by a couple of gestures that must have had the media managers doing their crust, and that got a bit wearying.

JimD666

6

The GC was dead after the first week, but enjoyed most of the other stages.

No_Ta_Doctor

5

I went for a 5 and now feel a bit mean spirited. Over here, Vingegaard was the big story (obviously), so I adjusted down to avoid too much national fervour, but think I should have stayed at 6 for the first week, WvA, MvdP and Cav.

Also, I watched a *lot* of the starts and they were very entertaining. The fight to get in the break was only exceeded by the fight to avoid controlling the break.

gregster04

5

As much as I admire what Pogacar achieved, it wasn’t interesting to watch and his taking of the Polka Dot jersey at the end really irritated me. The crashes were sometimes unfortunate but sometimes preventable so they also added to my irritation.

I enjoyed Van Der Poel, Alaphilippe taking yellow and WVA cannibalising the race despite destroying Cav’s perfect ending. Was pleased to see Ben O’Connor do so well too.

Overall, the race struggled to maintain my excitement after the first rest day and I enjoyed the route and story of the Giro a little more.

Pross

6

Just sort of petered out after a decent first week. Not a very exciting time in the Pyrenees, the wind refused to blow on the stages where that could have livened things up.

Very well deserved winner but he just killed it off with that one decisive move in the mountains. Maybe it would have been closer if Vingergaard had started as a leader. The old guard seem unlikely to match Pog over the next few years so we need the new generation to come through and mount a challenge.

andyrac

5

A very good first week, but even then the ITT showed us we may not have a race; confirmed on the Saturday when he just rode away from his rivals. If he stays fit & healthy, he doesn't appear to have too many weaknesses.

Standout performances from Cav, and Van Aert, with cameos from Vingegaard who shows promise.

One wishes Prudhomme would grow a set, and be bold with the route instead of playing it safe.

kingstongraham

6

No_Ta_Doctor said:

I went for a 5 and now feel a bit mean spirited. Over here, Vingegaard was the big story (obviously), so I adjusted down to avoid too much national fervour, but think I should have stayed at 6 for the first week, WvA, MvdP and Cav.

Also, I watched a *lot* of the starts and they were very entertaining. The fight to get in the break was only exceeded by the fight to avoid controlling the break.

Vingegaard at least gave it a go for a stage or two, he was definitely a plus. His battle back to deny Carapaz second on that stage was very gratifying.

The starts were fun, but I think we've been spoilt, because the Giro starts were manic this year.

DeVlaeminck

6

I've given it a 6.

My interest in it was more like a 4 or 5 but the Eurosport team kept on about how amazing every stage was and I can see that the racing for the stage was often good racing it's just I'm not particularly invested in the current crop of riders.

jimmythecuckoo

6

Can't give it more than a 6.

I would love to, but the dominance of Pog and the poor tactics of the other so-called contenders marks it down.

mididoctors

7

Would be 6 but cav story worth +0.5 and WvA +0.5 . Crashes killed GC but the Pog killed it even more . So 7

m.r.m.

5

delete

m.r.m.

5

It started out extremely well, but then just mostly fizzled out. Pogacar was incredibly dominant. Down to him being the real deal and his competition crashing. Cav and WVA were great stories, but in the end the beginning of the stages and the fight for who is allowed into the break with the bonkers speeds of the first hour was the most interesting aspect of the final two weeks.

tailwindhome

6

Second half wasn't great ... But I'd happily go another stage

Pross

6

There seems to be a fairly unusual agreement on the race this year.

bobmcstuff

4

Pross said:

There seems to be a fairly unusual agreement on the race this year.

I'll have a look at the ratings thread for last year if I can dig them out.

At the moment the distribution looks similar to the Giro just with a lower average (mean 5.7, median 6, compared to mean 6.5, median 7 for the Giro - surprised the Giro is only one point better really).

mrfpb

6

bobmcstuff said:

mrfpb said:

7/10. The usual excitement but in back to front order. Tempted to go for 5 or 6 but Cav was special.

Except you've gone with a 6 according to your post...

DOH!