Bring on Le Tour

[The Double Zero]

So who here is excited about the tour finally coming around again (nearly).
I am looking forward to it, and hopefully we can have a good event so that the Landis affair can be put into the distance and we can celebrate a true clean winner hopefully Cadel Evans.

 

[Rolfrae]

So who here is excited about the tour finally coming around again (nearly).
I am looking forward to it, and hopefully we can have a good event so that the Landis affair can be put into the distance and we can celebrate a true clean winner hopefully Cadel Evans.

I wil be riding my bike in Italy during the last week of the Tour, proper bike riding without illicit doctors, greed and shame-faced lies. I love the Tour (or perhaps loved, past tense), but hate the idea of cheering on (yet another) rider who is lying and cheating his way into the maillot jaune. It's an exciting spectacle all the same and it will be cool to see the prologue kicking off in London - hoepfully ending with Wiggins in yellow!

 

[DiabloScott]

I'm kind of dreading the whole affair.

 

[Powerful Pete]

Yes, I am not really excited about the TdF this year.

 

[lwedge]

Big parties in London town I bet..... Going out on a limb there.


lw

 

[keylargo]

No, I am not excited about the Tour and I will not watch it. The viewer numbers will be off by 90% over last year's numbers here in the US. More sponsors will drop out and tour highlights will only be shown on channel 137 next year. The antics of the anti-doping gangs -- not the riders -- have killed pro cycling and it will not recover in the US for at least a decade.

 

[patch70]

No, I am not excited about the Tour and I will not watch it. The viewer numbers will be off by 90% over last year's numbers here in the US. More sponsors will drop out and tour highlights will only be shown on channel 137 next year. The antics of the anti-doping gangs -- not the riders -- have killed pro cycling and it will not recover in the US for at least a decade.

Yeah, you really have to feel sorry for those poor riders that are all given dope without their knowledge and then test positive falsely. And for what? Millions of Euros. Bah! They truly are the innocent victims here.

 

[Wayne666]

So who here is excited about the tour finally coming around again (nearly).

I've got to admit I've yet to recover from the Armstrong era. When you added the fact that the GC race was over after the 1st mountain stage (except that one year) and typically the first 7 to 10 days are a monotonous snooze-fest for the sprinters (thankfully they brought back the TTT) I've found it hard to get excited the last several years.

I know the geography of France has a lot to do with it but I wish they'd make the effort to mix the stages up a bit more. I think this year the first TT isn't until after the first trip into the mountains. Too many days where the only intersting stuff is the last 10 minutes of the stage.

 

[jonjungel]

So who here is excited about the tour finally coming around again (nearly).
I am looking forward to it, and hopefully we can have a good event so that the Landis affair can be put into the distance and we can celebrate a true clean winner hopefully Cadel Evans.

It seems like the general attitude here is that noone watch the grand tours anymore. Strange for a cycling forum .
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to TdF, hoping it will be as good as last year. I agree about the sprint stages though. Boring until the final 10km. I wish they would make them lumpier or more twisting or cobbled or whatever to get the chance of some real racing.

I understand the argument that doping makes it less interesting since it's no longer a level playing field etc. But in my opinion, the hard parts of any high-level race are great entertainment.

 

[alibat]

Can't say I have my usual level of enthausiasm either. Like many, it was the Tour that got me into cycling in the first place and for several years I've eagerly looked forward to it (even if during the Tour the first few stages weren't that interesting until the finish and I got well and truly fed up of USPS/DC). This is the first year for a long time that I'm not actually going to watch any of the stages live, and I only went last year because everything was booked months in advance (I had so been looking forward to Ullrich vs Basso). Until a year ago, I was planning on going to the prologue and first stage this year as well as the last week, more than I can normally manage with my job.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Big parties in London town I bet..... Going out on a limb there.


lw

WBT has a marquee in Hyde Park with a big TV, 8 of his friends and full bar service to watch the prologue.... bring it on !

 

[Wayne666]

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to TdF, hoping it will be as good as last year. I agree about the sprint stages though. Boring until the final 10km. I wish they would make them lumpier or more twisting or cobbled or whatever to get the chance of some real racing.

The arguements I've seen about this is that the large media circus and spectators make it very hard for the Tour to have those finishes in hill-top towns that often spice up other stage races.

 

[Lonnie Utah]

I agree about the sprint stages though. Boring until the final 10km. I wish they would make them lumpier or more twisting or cobbled or whatever to get the chance of some real racing.

Just take away the race radios and those flat stages will be interesting again...

 

[Bro Deal]

Just take away the race radios and those flat stages will be interesting again...

+1 to the losing the radios.

 

[Scotttri]

I'm looking forward to it, should be some new faces in the mix this year

 

[dexjava]

So who here is excited about the tour finally coming around again (nearly).
I am looking forward to it, and hopefully we can have a good event so that the Landis affair can be put into the distance and we can celebrate a true clean winner hopefully Cadel Evans.

What makes you believe that evans is a "true clean winnner". I'd be pretty skeptical about any pro cyclist being clean at this point. Innocent until proven guilty, yes. But that just means that you can't be SURE that any professional athlete is guilty until it's proven beyond a doubt. You'd have to be blind to not think that it's highly probable that any given professional athlete is not taking PED's in 2007, regardless of who they are or how they present themselves publically. I'm a proponent of not fingering an athlete as a doper until he's been proven beyond a doubt to have done so, however I strongly suspect anyone that's receiving a paycheck for sports these days.

 

[cyclingheroes]

WBT has a marquee in Hyde Park with a big TV, 8 of his friends and full bar service to watch the prologue.... bring it on !

We failed to meet at the Plan De Corones last year, maybe London?

 

[Klodifan]

I am looking forward to seeing Klodi atop the podium!

 

[whiteboytrash]

We failed to meet at the Plan De Corones last year, maybe London?

Sounds good.... I'll PM my details to you..... I actually have an almost "access all areas" pass so want meet some riders and members of teams.... where will you be ?

For stage 1 have booked a table outside a pub in Tumbridge wells for lunch to watch the riders go by.....