Like when he said AS had lost the tour, after stage 17 and before 18?

Like when he shills for American riders and teams because it is good for Versus ratings?

Yeah. Legendary.

+1!

And respect to Cadel Evans, both Schlecks, Thomas Voeckler, Sammy sanchez, Edwald Boasen-Hagen and Johnny Hoogerland. Best Tour in years! Still not sure about Contador, hope he's clean but shades of Landis maybe?

Except that that's not how he rode.

Sadly, I haven't been able to see much of the tour this year; but every time I have - Cadel seems to be killing it. Not his form, or his speed. But I was watching him the other day, and something about the way he rode made it seem like he wanted it - really bad. All I could say was "Holy crap, GO CADEL!"
-Gene-

I got to watch almost none of the tour this year, but followed it rabidly on VeloNews. Chas Pelkey's coverage was superior, and yes the best tour in years. Glad to see a mountain biker win as well.

Hopefully the slower times are indicative of the sport turning a corner on doping.

Phil Liggett is a legend in UK cycling and Paul sherwen also (and he's done the tour).
Believe it or not these people and riders have a passion for the sport - it's not all about money.

Let me rephrase that: These guys aren't paid to entertain you. Myself and the majority of the posters so far found the race very entertaining. We don't know what your problem is.

Again: what, exactly, would have to transpire for a Tour to "entertain" you. Evans rode a hell of a race, was strong, and showed he wanted it. Thor (the world champion) had some great victories and what is more entertaining than watching someone who isn't know for climbing to take an uphill victory in the rainbow jersey? Contador, though he was pretty much guaranteed to lose, attacked on the last stages for the hell of it. And speaking of strength and determination, Voekler was an inspiration for sure. It's always fun to Watch Cavendish kill it on the sprints, and that was present on more than one finish, and he didn't always win it.

Let me be direct: What would entertain you? What do you require?

I think this is a key to the type of racing we're seeing - a group of guys very evenly matched at the top, arriving more or less together at the mountaintop finishes, rather than strung out all down the mountain by minutes as in the past. Less explosive may very well also mean less doped.

Picchio, "may very well also mean less doped"?

This is probably the first TdF in a couple of decades when ALL the riders weren't doped to the gills.

From where I sat (in front of the TV/computer) it was the most exciting TdF in 30 years. I honestly can't understand the 'meh' attitude of a copule of posters. If pro racing bores/disgusts you, don't watch and don't be a buzz kill for those of us who enjoy it.

Personally, I don't give a FF if Cadel doped 5 years ago, or last year. He won this year in a memorable tour, and all of our friends in Oz should be proud, just as our friends in Costa Rica are proud of their fantastic rider, Andrey Amador, who was mugged, left for dead in January, broke his collar bone in April, and suffered a grade two ankle sprain in the first stage of the TdF, yet finished.

I doubt anyone on this forum could hold any of their wheels for a half a mile, even on a flat, never mind at 10%.

Well said, OFG. Let's enjoy this Tour for what it was (damned exciting!), not for what it wasn't.

I was trying to avoid being over-optimistic, which I'm sure you can understand. The "leaked" biological passport scores were pretty telling, embarrassed a few guys, and may have nudged others grudgingly into line.

Picchio, I'm 'fairly' sure that 'most' of the riders are using something that isn't available to most of us to aid in recovery.

I'm not a Pollyanna. I think that it is also reasonable to assume that in prior years, a lot of people here celebrated the victories of some who would do whatever it took to win, and chemistry played a big part in those victories.

For the next few days, we should raise our collective glasses to Cadel, Cavendish, Rolland, Sanchez, Team Garmin-Cevelo, and everyone else who actually rode in Le Tour, finish or not. It is the stuff of dreams. Chapeau to all!

It's not my favorite race, but it is a Grand Spectacle.

Except for when we lost power for 5 days after a big storm, I watched most of the stages of this year's Tour. I admired the grit of Voeckler, the determination of Andy Schleck, the power of Cavendish, and the climbing elegance of Contador.

I enjoyed this year's Tour quite a bit. I wish Versus broadcasted the Vuelta a España.

Not my favorite race, either, but it is indeed the most "larger-than-life." It was very nice to see France claim the white jersey, and a number of French riders perform well, including some very promising younger ones - Rolland, Coppel, and Jeannesson in particular. Good signs for the future health of the sport, IMO. Especially when you factor in the performances from Vanendert and Uran representing nations whose presence on GC used to be much more noteworthy.

I really liked Andy's attack on stage 18, gutsy move to go out that far from the last climb.
This tour was better for me as it wasn't a done deal after week one, hell it wasn't a done
deal until Saturdays ITT (well okay there was the issue with Andy's TT ability).
Nice to see some new faces on the podium day to day.
Rollands ride up the Alpe was inspiring, and here's hoping there's a resurgence in French
cycling.

One of the good things about this year's Tour is that Greipel showed that when Cavendish doesn't have his train dominating the field, he is beatable. Talk about a snore-fest: Cavendish, Cavendish, Cavendish... thank God for the mountains. And Thor in yellow, and Thor winning two MOUNTAIN stages(?!?!).

And AFAIAC, Phil is a ledgend in his own mind. Can't even pronounce "Voeckler" consistently... Give me Bobke any day.

SP
Bend, OR

i really got into the tour this year and enjoyed it very much - i still dont understand why they dont 'race' the last stage - i also dont like that the final 'race' stage is the time trial - but being a newb to the sport - who am i to say - just some newb observations

The last stage is too flat for any significant time to be gained by the GC contenders on one another. Now the organizers could change that up, but then you'd lose the Paris sprint finish there on the CE. For some additional knowledge, look up the LeMond/Fignon finish results, I believe the last year they didn't use the current format.

They've had individual time trial stages placed earlier in the race as well, but (to me anyway) it settles the race too early. The GC contenders would get sorted too early, and the leader's team made the race ho-hum. Maybe it was just LA and his teams that made it that way. Probably were more interesting pre-LA, but we didn't really get good coverage here in the US before him.

First part of post was a snore fest.






Did not read the rest.

OK, your opinion but seems a bit harsh on iab to me?