Tour de France 2015 - may contain nuts and SPOILERS

[winjim]

There was a women's tour until a few years ago (2010?) won by Nicole Cooke (x2) and Emma Pooley.

Ended due to lack of sponsorship.

I didn't know that, but looking at Wikipedia, it seems that the
Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale was a separate thing to the TdF, who even made them change their name. A proper women's TdF run by the same organisation would surely benefit from the prestige and publicity of the TdF, and sponsorship could be shared.

 

[screenman]

Utter plonker.

Why?

Does make me laugh that every time somebody calls me a name theclaud gets all excited and adds a like.

 

[coffeejo]

OK - but why 'moderate climbs'? Why can this event not stand alone ( and not interfere with 'Le Tour de France') if it is popular - ultimately leading to males and females going head to head over three weeks, should it be thought fair so to do...

I was thinking of a three day race spread over the three weeks that has a bit of everything, hence the moderate climbs thing to balance out a day in the Alps for the climbers and the Champs-Elysée for the sprinters.

And I don't want to see men vs women as I suspect that the majority of the female cyclists would end up as domestiques rather than champions in their own right simply because most male pro cyclists will be stronger and faster.

Ultimately, I want to see all the Grand Tours putting on events for both men and women but as I said, I'm a realist and am prepared to take it step by step. Extending La Course so that it's more than laps around Paris would be a great start IMHO.

 

[HF2300]

Any news about Fernando Alonso starting his own cycling team yet?

Didn't happen this year, Bettini's said it's not going to happen next year, looking like it's not going to happen full stop, Bettini's been told he's a free agent.

 

[suzeworld]

Just imagine how pissed off you would be if you were within striking distance of winning, but you were not allowed to try though?

But how can this happen? Only a sprinter is ever going to win a sprint stage, and sprinters are never going to be near the top of the GC in a three week race, never ever ... so unless they make the last stage a mountain stage it is never going to be won on the last day. It is always "won" on the day before, like this year, in the Alps ... or, more usually with a time trial which is a really significant show of an individual's strength on the bike.

 

[HF2300]

He's been fantastic. Total superstar. Superb rider, and a great ambassador for the sport off the bike. It might have been different if Contador hadn't been knackered, or if Nibali hadn't been so out of shape, or if Quintana hadn't spent the first two weeks riding himself into form, but as with Nibali last year, you can only beat what's in front of you. And he did so brilliantly.

Now he's done the Tour twice, I'd love to see him have a stab at the Giro and Vuelta and become the first Brit to win all three.

The one thing I thought marred his 'ambassador' credentials was a bit of a Thiboude toys out of the pram day on the La Toussuire stage - strops at Nibali and Valverde over what was really a storm in a teacup. Perhaps understandable given the pressure and off-race stuff going on I suppose, and he'd done well to stay calm up to that point.

There's a danger of focusing on Froome's achievement, as the press tend to do, and distracting from the superb team performance - I don't think it would come near as easily had the whole team not been doing sterling stuff, and every member put in heroic individual performances at times.

 

[Louch]

Isn't thins parralell woman's tour chat now drifting into its on topic rather than this years tour, and us deciding who will be gc for team cycle chat?

 

[HF2300]

...Introduce more women's cycling on the rest days. A day of moderate climbs and technical descents and some sprints. A challenge for QOM in the Alps. Finally, a proper race into Paris, concluding with the traditional sprint finish on the Champs-Elysée...

...I was thinking of a three day race spread over the three weeks that has a bit of everything, hence the moderate climbs thing to balance out a day in the Alps for the climbers and the Champs-Elysée for the sprinters...

I worry about the 'support act' business as well, but I think getting women's racing in front of a large captive audience and showing them how good it can be has got to help it grow. If the Tour keeps a similar format to this year you could easily have three stages very different in style. I wonder if three stages spread over two weeks would just be seen as three separate races though?

If the women race into Paris - properly - would it compel the men to do so...?

 

[HF2300]

I think you may find there used to be one, but not that we'll supported I think. They do of course still have stage races for women, just that some people for some reason may not know about them.

There was a women's tour until a few years ago (2010?) won by Nicole Cooke (x2) and Emma Pooley.

Ended due to lack of sponsorship..

Think it'd be different these days as there's much more awareness and a lot more money behind the women's scene.

 

[coffeejo]

I worry about the 'support act' business as well, but I think getting women's racing in front of a large captive audience and showing them how good it can be has got to help it grow. If the Tour keeps a similar format to this year you could easily have three stages very different in style. I wonder if three stages spread over two weeks would just be seen as three separate races though?

If the women race into Paris - properly - would it compel the men to do so...?

Not enough coffee at this hour on a wet Monday morning to think through the logistics

 

[HF2300]

Why not just race the men and woman at the same time (therefore saving time, money and scotching the question of people coming out to support them), with the two different categories?

It would be interesting to see how many of the guys they could outpace.

Also, the road races at the Paralympics had both men and woman in the same race. I agree that the road around Brand's Hatch aren't quite the same, but still...

Last sentence is the key. Paralympic road races were separate, just timed so they ended up overlapping; there were far fewer riders, far less support and Brands was a much more compact and controlled environment.

Think about the size and length of the TdF caravan, all the support vehicles and so on. Add another 50 - 100 riders, the extra support vehicles they'd need, the extra organisation. Think about how stretched out the race gets on long mountain stages particularly. Add in that you've got to get everything finished in a reasonable time to suit television schedules, getting everyone moved to the next stage... Not saying it's not do-able but it's one heck of a logistical challenge, possibly too much to be practical.

 

[HF2300]

Off the top of my head, what would happen if the podium presenters were eminent cyclists? Same sex kisses might be a little too far for the public but man-to-woman and woman-to-man might be a way of including cyclists of both sexes together and it would get rid of the irrelevant podium girls. Just off the top of my head, I repeat....

Man to man / woman to woman cheek kissing's a perfectly normal greeting in Europe (in fact Thevenet did it to Hinault when getting his honorary Maillot Jaune the other day), so probably not an issue except to us uptight Brits.

On the other hand, one doesn't have to snog everyone. Johnny Foreigner's too damned emotional. Nothing wrong with a firm handshake.

 

[HF2300]

And this is why I'm not a professional cyclist. They'd have to provide me with a box to stand on so I didn't get mistaken for someone's child.

I have a vision of a pair of very small, clipless fitted orange crates on the pedals...

I'm sure Shimano could be persuaded to an addition to the range...

 

[coffeejo]

I have a vision of a pair of very small, clipless fitted orange crates on the pedals...

I'm sure Shimano could be persuaded to an addition to the range...

 

[smutchin]

Why?

Ok, I'm sorry for resorting to childish name-calling, but your comment was daft even by the standards of this thread. Most of the time I just CBA to respond rationally to such daftness but if you really don't get it, here's a more reasoned argument...

The Tour hostesses, to give them their proper title, do an important job. It's just that one aspect of the job that seems very out of place in 2015. If they eliminated the podium nonsense, they could still do the rest of the job.

What's more, removing that element of the role would open the position to those who don't fill the current criteria of looks and age but could otherwise be very capable of doing the job.

In any case, it's a one-off job for three weeks, not a career with prospects. Getting rid of the position wouldn't ruin anyone's life. That's just ridiculous hyperbole.