2015 'PRO' cycling discussion

[KWalker]

I hope they don't go back to having two long TT's because it penalises the climbers. I thought 2012 was awful to watch as due to the TT's it allowed Wiggins to follow the other riders rather than make an individual effort on the climbs.

The Tour has never been about climbers, puncheurs, sprinters or roulers. It's been about finding the best overall rider in a 3 week stage race. Some years it will favor the climbers more than the TT'ers, other years it will be vice versa.

I enjoy the years where they feature more climbs and uphill finishes, but some years I miss the TT.

I think this years tour had a good mix of everything, although I would have liked to have seen a 30-40 km TT somewhere in there. I liked the fact that they opened with a short timetrial to get things started. The northern stages were interesting, but they also seemed to take a lot of energy out of the GC riders.

I think some of the climbers and GC hopefuls today would tremble at the TT km's that featured in the TdF not so long ago. The first long time trial in 1987 at Futuroscope was 87.1km. The winning time was 1:58:12 if my memory serves. And there were two more time trials to come - the TT up Mont Ventoux and the closing TT at Dijon where Roche finally overhauled Delgado. And before all those, there was the prologue and the TTT in Berlin, in the first two days. The climbers today don't know how lucky they have it.

Not only that, but the last climbing stage was only 111KM this year. Not much potential for a shake up as we saw.

[xena]

"You can keep telling yourself that, but the quality of racing in France was better than in Italy this year. We'll just have to see what happens in Spain "

I think each GT is different ...If Astana had brought their Giro team to the tour we would have had a whole different race.
It would have been interesting to see how Movie and Sky would have coped, Bertie did OK

[nathanong87]

next year, super GT. 5 weeks long. 15 man deep squads.

[Leviathan]

And they should allow two or three of each team to wield cavalry sabres. Oooh, and team pets. Perhaps a votoff to eliminate a team after each stage??

[KWalker]

Tour of the United States. 1 month, all 48 contiguous states. Lets see them get through the great plains while living off of Waffle House and chewing tobacco.

[tranzformer]

If you thought this tour was boring I have to question how long you have been a cycling fan for. That was an awesome 3 weeks of racing and I am not a huge fan of the Tour. Froome could have easily lost it on the penultimate day if he cracked and if Movistar hadn't botched it in the crosswinds the GC battle would have been down to seconds. My only complaint is having to listen to Phil & Paul's senile, dumbed down commentary with 'jensie' on the Canadian broadcast.

Giro is still the more exciting GT.

[tymon_tm]

Tour of the United States. 1 month, all 48 contiguous states. Lets see them get through the great plains while living off of Waffle House and chewing tobacco.

actually I wonder why hasn't anyone thought about something similar. you've got so much variety it begs for a GT! just imagine, a crit stage in NY, or better yet - San Fran, round the hills of LA, and some killer stage near Grand Canyon. THAT would be pure awesomeness!

[Derf]

^ Why hasn't there been an all-encompassing tour of Europe? Plenty of variety when you use the same lens. (I do agree it'd be fun to have some sort of major US tour nonetheless)

[prendrefeu]

What I'm wondering is why hasn't there been a Tour of the Himalayas yet?
Nepal, Tibet, northern Pakistan, Bhutan, India...

[tranzformer]

Tour of the United States. 1 month, all 48 contiguous states. Lets see them get through the great plains while living off of Waffle House and chewing tobacco.

actually I wonder why hasn't anyone thought about something similar. you've got so much variety it begs for a GT! just imagine, a crit stage in NY, or better yet - San Fran, round the hills of LA, and some killer stage near Grand Canyon. THAT would be pure awesomeness!

There was a promoter trying to raise sponsors for a Tour de USA type stage race. Ran into issues with ProTeams not wanting to participate. If I remember correctly it was going to be +3,000 miles, over 100,000 feet climbing. I wish I could find the information on it again. It wasn't RAAM, but some other promoter trying to startup something new.

[djm]

What I'm wondering is why hasn't there been a Tour of the Himalayas yet?
Nepal, Tibet, northern Pakistan, Bhutan, India...

Hehe! Imagine the visa applications..

[MattSoutherden]

And they should allow two or three of each team to wield cavalry sabres. Oooh, and team pets. Perhaps a votoff to eliminate a team after each stage??

Teams start with 9 riders. Stage 1 is run as a 200km devil, with a sprint every 20k eliminating 5 riders.

[tymon_tm]

What I'm wondering is why hasn't there been a Tour of the Himalayas yet?
Nepal, Tibet, northern Pakistan, Bhutan, India...

haha. funny. or tour de moon. riding into craters and $hit.

There was a promoter trying to raise sponsors for a Tour de USA type stage race. Ran into issues with ProTeams not wanting to participate. If I remember correctly it was going to be +3,000 miles, over 100,000 feet climbing. I wish I could find the information on it again. It wasn't RAAM, but some other promoter trying to startup something new.

I've no idea what e.g. TdF's budget is, but surely it's pennies compared to what major US companies like Coke or McD spend on advertising. and eventually it all comes down to money. I believe sooner or later someone will make it happen, maybe not a whole 3-week long thing, but at least a 6-7 days of racing around some cool areas. with USA being so familiarized through Hollywood flicks and pop culture, it would market and sell itself.

[KWalker]

How do people define interesting? Does every stage need a massive GC shake up with minutes gained/lost? 1,000,000 feet of climbing?

To me the Tour was interesting because:
-On day 1 the fastest speed of any TT in Tour history was set and a top 5 favorite didn't set it.
-Greipel, who hadn't really done a whole lot this year managed to haul in 4 stages.
-Stage 4, Martin on his teammate's bike. How often does a solo move like that stick on a flat stage?
-Stage 6, Stybar makes a solo attack stick again. Pretty impressive for a guy that hasn't raced on the road for more than a few seasons.
-A breakaway rider won on stage 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, and if you add in solo attacks tack on 19 and 20.
-Of those breakaway stages Cummings' win was incredible and stage 18 was pretty cool seeing the tactics of the various groups on the road.
-GVA's win was absolutely awesome especially considering how close he has gotten so many times.
-MTN and the polka dot jersey.
-GT crashing into a phone pole and losing his coveted shades (BTW does anyone have a picture of them?)

[bearsdidit]

??