TDF: a shiny new thread for 2012

[malkin]

We saw riders on the ground, One ticked off rider going to yell at the dog owner, who had placed a child in front of himself and the dog. The dog was like a big black Newfoundland or something, as big as a bear.

[malkin]

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral...ses-tour-spill

Scroll down to a still pic of angry Gilbert restrained by his manager.

[ny biker]

Okay I will say it, I think this tour has been boring.

Usually I have little interest in the sprinters' stages in the first week, but this year that turned out to be the most interesting part, with Sagan and Greipel lighting things up.

Since then, having the #2 guy on the same team as the guy in yellow has taken the excitement out of the mountain stages. Liquigas tried to attack, but when you know the guy in second has no intention of riding as fast as he can, it's just dull. It would have been way better if Froome was on another team.

[aka_kim]

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's tour. The scenery; the daily stage battles; the bright young stars like Sagan, Van Garderen and Pinot; Voeckler in polka dots; Bradley Wiggins proving to be a very worthy winner; Jens Voigt's attacks, David Millar's stage win; Fabian in yellow; ... and on and on. Everything!

[jobob]

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's tour. The scenery; the daily stage battles; the bright young stars like Sagan, Van Garderen and Pinot; Voeckler in polka dots; Bradley Wiggins proving to be a very worthy winner; Jens Voigt's attacks, David Millar's stage win; Fabian in yellow; ... and on and on. Everything!

I'm with Kim.

[emily_in_nc]

Okay I will say it, I think this tour has been boring.

Usually I have little interest in the sprinters' stages in the first week, but this year that turned out to be the most interesting part, with Sagan and Greipel lighting things up.

Since then, having the #2 guy on the same team as the guy in yellow has taken the excitement out of the mountain stages. Liquigas tried to attack, but when you know the guy in second has no intention of riding as fast as he can, it's just dull. It would have been way better if Froome was on another team.

I have to say that I totally agree with you. The early stages were by far the most exciting this year, which is unusual. The mountains were a bore, except for the scenery, which was gorgeous.

I was happy for Voeckler, but I really didn't have anyone to strongly root for or against this year, which also took some of the fun out of it. There were a lot of riders I didn't know at all since I don't follow pro cycling very closely. It was a lot more interesting when the Schlecks and Contador were battling it out, and before that Lance, Ulrich, and the other "old timers". To me anyway.

[ny biker]

At least we have Jens. He was awesome again today.

[ny biker]

Well this is terrible -- injuries suffered by one of Vaconsoleil's riders in stage six. I hope he's able to recover fully.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/poel...-hospital-soon

[denda]

My husband and I also thought it was a rather boring tour.

[pll]

Well this is terrible -- injuries suffered by one of Vaconsoleil's riders in stage six. I hope he's able to recover fully.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/poel...-hospital-soon

I read that. After the crash, as he was being put into the ambulance at the scene, he got off and remounted his bike, with all those injuries. He abandoned 10km down the road. I just could not believe he did that when I read it. Crazy.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this tour. I must say, I missed Contador and that I do not miss the Schlecks -- they just complain too much. The sprints were fun to watch. The mountains, not as exciting, but it was fun to see Nibali attacking repeatedly, until a muscle strain in his right calf got the best of him. I was disappointed by Gesink (why did he drop out?) and Van Den Broeck. And it was nice to see the up and coming generation: Sagan, van Garderen, Pinot... Rolland I am not too fond of... stuck to Contador's and Samu Sánchez's wheels in the Alpe d'Huez stage last year, then attacking twice during the tack incident this year.

I am curious now about how the teams will reconfigure for next year. And looking forward to the Vuelta...

[amnesiac]

Okay I will say it, I think this tour has been boring.

Usually I have little interest in the sprinters' stages in the first week, but this year that turned out to be the most interesting part, with Sagan and Greipel lighting things up.

Since then, having the #2 guy on the same team as the guy in yellow has taken the excitement out of the mountain stages. Liquigas tried to attack, but when you know the guy in second has no intention of riding as fast as he can, it's just dull. It would have been way better if Froome was on another team.

I agree. And I also find TT stages really boring.

[redrhodie]

The ironic thing is it was such a hard tour, you'd think it would have been more exciting to watch. It was just too hard. Too many great competitors out in crashes, and the rest were just spent. And, 3 time trials but no TTT. I love the TTT. I'm sure there's a reason they don't always have them, but I wish they were a requirement.

But congratulations Wiggins! He was superior.

[maryellen]

I love the TTT.

Me too! I don't know what US Postal was doing in terms of performance enhancement but watching them in the team time trial was amazing back then.

That said, TTs are not that thrilling to watch. Those are the days I'm particularly thankful for tv recording options so I can skip most of those stages. But I thought the last hour of Saturday's time trial was pretty exciting.

I'm no anglophile but I was very excited to see Bradley Wiggins win that stage by a good margin and the tour overall.

[malkin]

For TT I'd just rather check the results and be done with it. It is too repetitive for me to watch.

OTOH, I like long flat (boring) stages. I have to be in the right frame of mind for it, but it says lazy summer afternoon like nothing else. Watch a breakaway get out, doze off listening to Phil & Paul, wake up an hour or so later, check the distance, see if the breakaway is still out, notice the sunflowers or lavender fields, decide whether to wake up or not...