Professional Cycling - Article on Slate.com

Hey, I just saw this article (http://www.slate.com/id/2121810/) on Slate.com. It seemed interesting.

Only someone without an understanding of cycling and the TDF would recommend earlier mountain stages to make the race more interesting. If you want more action...

Eliminate radios

Thanks for the link. There is a link within the article that goes to a detailed page of all the climbs and their respective grade rating. Pretty cool.

Wow. The author of that article is obviously not only NOT a cycling fan, but has likely never watched a race.

The article talked about how the Tour is BORING and explained the reign of Miguel Indurain as this:

....won every Tour de France from 1991 to 1995 without ever attacking. While his opponents raced up the mountains (the fools!), Indurain simply kept them within sight and then slaughtered them in the time trials.

This FOOL has obviously never seen any of Indurain's races.

The author compared last year's tour to this explanation of Indurain...Did the author see Lance in the Mountains? (could have one another if he hadn't let Basso take that one Mountain stage)..

The author then complains that there aren't enough finishes on climbs and says that it doesn't matter because the FRENCH Mountains aren't that steep anyways! This guy has probably never even rode a hill as steep as a parking garage!

This guy must have been late on a deadline or something becuase this article is very biased, incorrect on several accounts and uninformed on almost all accounts.

The only thing I thought was possibly true in this, was that he mentioned that if somebody BEATS Lance this year, it would be better for the sport than if Lance wins, and retires...I think Lance will win, and honestly hope he does too. But I do think that if someone dethrones him, it would hype the sport more.

I don't even know the point of this article. 10 years ago you would NEVER see even a news report on the Tour in North America. Now, it is the most popular sporting event of the summer, and OLN basically covers nothing but the tour for 3 solid weeks.

10years ago most non-cyclists couldn't tell you the name of a cyclist. Now everyone knows who Lance is, and because of that MANY new fans and loads of new enthusiasts and racers have emerged.

Some people...geez. :)

Ban the French: Traditionally, French riders have made up much of the field, especially since the organizers generally give "wild card" spots to mediocre French teams. Their numbers are down a bit this year, but there are still gobs of them: 30 of 189 riders. The sad truth is that French cyclists just aren't that good. The last one to win the race was Bernard Hinault, in 1985. Are the French bitter about this? Bien sûr. But they still won't crack the top five this year, and they're taking the spots of racers who might actually do something.

can't. stop. laughing.

Only someone without an understanding of cycling and the TDF would recommend earlier mountain stages to make the race more interesting. If you want more action...

Eliminate radios
get rid of radios, team cars, team mates, and the bunch finish rule, that would make it interesting !!!

They should make the tdf like the RAAM... that'd be interesting too.