The Tour - Is anyone excited?

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited July 2008 in Pro race
I'm not.

I bought a guide and can't be bothered looking at it.

I realised yesterday it starts this week. Everything which has happened has worn me down and I've lost interest.

Hope it changes when it starts.

And I hope it's not a snooze fest!
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
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Comments

  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    haha dude I was gonna post the exact the same topic but you beat me to it.. I am exited yano but I am more exited about getting out on my bike and pretending I am doing my own tour de france :) Can I be contador? :lol:
    cartoon.jpg
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    I think I'd be more excited if we had a Prologue start as usual - silly, I know, but I quite like the spectacle. Having said that I have bought every mag and guide going...
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    yea the prolouge's are a nice way to get to know the riders etc,
    cartoon.jpg
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    I bought the Cycle Sport / WH Smith Tour guide because it was the only cycling mag they had in the airport. Then I subsequently remembered why I hardly ever buy cycling magazines. Are there any non-English speakers riding this year?

    So I'm not that excited yet. But it is only Monday.

    The lack of a prologue doesn't bother me, but how are they going to figure out who's the yellow jersey when the first four stages end in bunch sprints and there are no bonus seconds? Could be a bit confusing...
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    I'll watch it but obviously with a pinch, no, a sackful, of salt.

    It's a soap opera with many plots. Just as last year I found the GC to be meaningless, you can ignore the pharmaceutical contest where different haemtalogists put their guinea pigs to the test and look at the other stories in the race. Maybe this time we'll see some teams come out and publish their data. Does Rasmus Daamsgard actually do anything?

    Instead, I want to know if Philip Gilbert can win the opening stage, will Mark Cavendish get a win? Can the reputedly clean teams compete on an equal footing? It's still a drama, there are moments of sport.
  • secretsqirrel
    secretsqirrel Posts: 1,712
    Doobz wrote:
    yea the prolouge's are a nice way to get to know the riders etc,

    It's like the walk around the paddock at the Grand National :D

    Must admit, I'm not getting the old tingles of expectation myself. For the first time in many years, I booked a 2 week holiday in July, not even occured to me that I might be missing something!
    Hoping I muster up some interest for the final week when I'm back.
  • ACMadone
    ACMadone Posts: 300
    I've had a look what the UK TV coverage is, but not that excited yet. Am on holiday for the final week so will decide whether to watch the finale as I've got Eurosport where I'm staying.
  • phil s
    phil s Posts: 1,128
    I'm pretty aroused by it all. Just off for a cold shower now.
    -- Dirk Hofman Motorhomes --
  • I tried not to be but its hard to change 3 decades of habit...
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Yes looking forward to it - maybe it lacks big long established favourites battling it out - and there isn't a British interest in the GC (nothing new) - but it's a relatively open race with no overwhelming favourite and a British interest in stage wins. The doping stuff doesn't really change things for me - I've always assumed they were all doped so it'd be odd to be put off the sport now there are more reasons to believe a reasonable number of riders might be clean.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    I ADORED the Giro this year and am dead excited for the Tour. This ties in pretty much with a massive increase in my own passion for cycling.
  • richa
    richa Posts: 1,631
    Starting to get excited. I'm in France for the first week so will have to watch from there.

    Advantage: Reading page after page of what's going on in L'Equipe
    Disadvantage: Commentry is in French!

    Anyway, I prefer the High mountain stages, so bring on Sunday 13 July.
    Rich
  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    I'm looking forward to it. Mainly because, with no exams to rule my life, it's something to concentrate on rather than worry about impending results. It's also nice to kick back and watch it after training.

    This year will probably be the cleanest tour for quite a while, of course there's always the risk that our heroes are taking us for chumps, but its something I've had to get used to after Operation Puerto, (wasn't in the sport when Millar got caught).
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • Arkibal
    Arkibal Posts: 850
    Not excited at all.
    I'll probably watch just a couple of stages, TT's, some mountains stages and the first stage.

    What a charade the Tour is this year....

    Just waiting for the UCI to drop a doping bomb before or during the Tour. :shock:
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    I thought I wouldn't be but it's the freakin' Tour de France. No matter how many times the doping violations ruin it, the politics get in the way, etc, I still find it impossible to ignore. I liked the ProCycling TDF preview but easily the best TDF guide out there is the VeloNews one. Phenomenal! In depth profiles on numerous riders (everyone from Schleck to Sastre to Evans to Prudhomme), teams, historical stories and other stuff that's NOT just the usual regurgitation. They also have the usual stuff on each of the stages, teams, riders.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    The best Tour guide I ever saw was a French one that my parents brought me back from their holidays two years ago. There were barely any PR rider profiles, just masses and masses of information about just about every aspect of the race - career highlights and past Tour perfomances for all the riders, full specifications for all the road bikes, detailed stage routes with detailed profiles of all the climbs (even cat 4s), zoomed in maps of the last 2-3km of each stage etc, etc.

    It was incredible. I think it was a separately published guide rather than a magazine supplement.

    PS Yes, I'm excited, July's my favourite month.[/url]
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    RichN95 wrote:
    The best Tour guide I ever saw was a French one that my parents brought me back from their holidays two years ago. There were barely any PR rider profiles, just masses and masses of information about just about every aspect of the race - career highlights and past Tour perfomances for all the riders, full specifications for all the road bikes, detailed stage routes with detailed profiles of all the climbs (even cat 4s), zoomed in maps of the last 2-3km of each stage etc, etc.

    It was incredible. I think it was a separately published guide rather than a magazine supplement.

    PS Yes, I'm excited, July's my favourite month.[/url]

    VeloNews' guide is also a separate guide -- about 3 times as many pages as the regular magazine.
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    iainf72 wrote:
    I'm not.

    I bought a guide and can't be bothered looking at it.

    I realised yesterday it starts this week. Everything which has happened has worn me down and I've lost interest.

    Hope it changes when it starts.

    And I hope it's not a snooze fest!

    Well i for one am looking forward to it as i am going across to France and will be possibly watching Stage 4 and definately gonna be on the slopes to Hautacam watching stage 10 . But then its a professional cycle race and i always find them enjoyable to watch. Despite its troubles IMO the TDF is the greatest annual sporting event in the world that may be a naive viewpoint but thats my view.

    cheers
    MG
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • kmahony
    kmahony Posts: 380
    Finding it hard to get excited this year. Not so much because of the doping, but more low expectations of those in the race. I can't even see where a great unknown will come from (I really hope someone young and interesting will attack early, or they let someone get a 30min break like the old days).

    Otherwise, Valverde, Cunego and the Schlecks will disappoint and Cadel will probably bore his way to a win. Can Sanchez save the tour? I doubt it.

    That said, I think stage 1 will be better than expected. Maybe not for the sprinters.

    .... and my first Etape on Sunday.
  • Salsiccia
    Salsiccia Posts: 405
    I'm excited, as it is a very open race this year. If we take for a given the PED issue, beyond that the race has the potential to be a good one. No prologue, less time trialling and not so long stages sounds like a recipe for an attacking race.
    I was only joking when I said
    by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
  • Simon Notley
    Simon Notley Posts: 1,263
    i'm excited because the route looks like it could produce some really interesting racing. there's a lot of hills as well as some great mountain stages... and I finally get to go and see it first hand during a week in the alps!

    And I get to watch cycling every night for three weeks!
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    I can't see why someone who has been excited in the past, wouldn't be excited by a wide open Tour.
    Sure, last year was a doping farce, but it was still an exciting race, even though the true winner got the boot,

    I have to be honest, there have been some mind numbingly boring Tours in the past two decades, but it's alaways a great spectacle and the one race that gets tv justice.

    Personally, I much prefer the Giro, as a race, but it's often poorly covered in the UK.

    Plus, it's always nice to see the French enjoying a months holiday, before they go on their August month holiday! :shock:
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Moomaloid
    Moomaloid Posts: 2,040
    You sound like the old gits from harry enfield. I'm very excited, not least because its some bloomin live cycling on TV. We don't get much, and a 3 week tour is the most we can expect.

    Not only that its promising to be the most open tour yet. You all sound like you'd rather watch the good ol'pumped EPO tours. remember there were exciting tours before the armstrong years too.

    Any cycling for us to watch is great. And if you don't wanna watch don't, but i bet ya do!

    I don't buy the tour special guides. Same s**t different year, i see them as a bit of money making exercise. But I am really excited about it.

    I would like to see a prologue though, doesn't seem right not having one t launch the tour off.
  • oily sailor
    oily sailor Posts: 235
    Am getting more excited by the day. Stage 12 goes along roads I have cycled many times so that will be interesting on a personal level.

    This is the month that makes November bearable. Cheer up.
  • bipedal
    bipedal Posts: 466
    Yep... can't wait
  • pottssteve
    pottssteve Posts: 4,069
    DaveyL - which is the best guide? I'll get my cycling contact in the UK (my Mother in Law) to get it for me!
    Ta
    Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    I'm looking forward to it a lot. There is no outstanding favourite, the route is less formulaic than it has been for the past 20 years or so and there are some nasty looking mountain stages.

    It has all the ingredients for a classic edition.
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    I prefer the ProCycling one, if only because it has Bernhard Hinault's comments on the teams, and he's usually good value. I get the vague impression he doesn't really rate Moreau....
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • pottssteve
    pottssteve Posts: 4,069
    Thanks,
    I shall dispatch her to Smith's asap... :wink:
    Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    I can't see why someone who has been excited in the past, wouldn't be excited by a wide open Tour.

    Well, think of it this way:

    Last year we watched some incredible cycling. Amazing attacks by Rasmussen and Contador and some inspired time trialing by Rasmussen (the ride of his life) and then the political characters decided the race instead of the cyclists on the road. They kicked out (Rabobank was basically forced by ASO to dump Rasmussen) the leader on the road despite the fact that he didn't fail a doping test and yes, even though he'd lied on the sheet, I've never seen a rule that states he was thus not allowed to race in the TDF. In other words, we were told everything we'd just watched was crap and didn't count. That sucks.