Tour de France 2017 ***SPOILERS***

[Adam4868]

Allways liked Bardet as a rider,good climber,even better descending.Just hope he's worked on his TT.

 

[smutchin]

Antoine Vayer really is a cock.

 

[smutchin]

Just hope he's worked on his TT.

Supposedly he has been working on it but... did you see the Dauphiné?

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I had a look last night and it's not setting my heather on fire. A bit 'meh' - I cannot recall my specific issues (I'll have another look tonight and summarise them, unless I change my view in which case I'll summarise that...) but overall I was left thinking it's a poor effort. The format and timing of mountains was one of my gripes, not entirely sure why but I'm sure it will come flooding back later.

Right, it all came flooding back when I had another look...

The first week is going to be a dullfest. 5 x flat stages of over 200km on top of the opening 14km TT; only the stage which finishes at La Planche des Belles Filles looks in any way interesting. As previously stated the first mountain stage involves a few climbs and then finishes on downhill and flat, which dulls my mind. I have no idea why they'd need a rest day after that dullfest, maybe to sleep off the boredom?

Then another couple of flat stages, then a decent enough looking "mountain" stage (on a weekday - FFS!) followed by a "mountain" stage that finishes on the flat, then 2 half-assed "medium" (barely) mountain stages before another day off for a snooze (I hope someone wakes me up as I'll have dozed off a while ago)

And then 3 out of the last 6 stages are fecking sprint stages, and one of them is a short ITT. And the 2 stages that look like they might be ok are on a weekday again.

FFS!


@rich p and @Dayvo could have come up with a better route if they'd painter a spider's legs with black ink and let it run about a map of France.

 

[Milzy]

Aru is weaker at TT but I think he'll do better than bardet.

 

[Adam4868]

Supposedly he has been working on it but... did you see the Dauphiné?

Yes watched it,I guess the only plus is there short TTs.

 

[rich p]

Right, it all came flooding back when I had another look...

The first week is going to be a dullfest. 5 x flat stages of over 200km on top of the opening 14km TT; only the stage which finishes at La Planche des Belles Filles looks in any way interesting. As previously stated the first mountain stage involves a few climbs and then finishes on downhill and flat, which dulls my mind. I have no idea why they'd need a rest day after that dullfest, maybe to sleep off the boredom?

Then another couple of flat stages, then a decent enough looking "mountain" stage (on a weekday - FFS!) followed by a "mountain" stage that finishes on the flat, then 2 half-assed "medium" (barely) mountain stages before another day off for a snooze (I hope someone wakes me up as I'll have dozed off a while ago)

And then 3 out of the last 6 stages are fecking sprint stages, and one of them is a short ITT. And the 2 stages that look like they might be ok are on a weekday again.

FFS!


@rich p and @Dayvo could have come up with a better route if they'd painter a spider's legs with black ink and let it run about a map of France.

Who knows, we may be pleasantly surprised. It may just possibly be that it won't be a slugfest of either Movistar or Sky sucking the life out of the opposition.

 

[Boon 51]

Right, it all came flooding back when I had another look...

The first week is going to be a dullfest. 5 x flat stages of over 200km on top of the opening 14km TT; only the stage which finishes at La Planche des Belles Filles looks in any way interesting. As previously stated the first mountain stage involves a few climbs and then finishes on downhill and flat, which dulls my mind. I have no idea why they'd need a rest day after that dullfest, maybe to sleep off the boredom?

Then another couple of flat stages, then a decent enough looking "mountain" stage (on a weekday - FFS!) followed by a "mountain" stage that finishes on the flat, then 2 half-assed "medium" (barely) mountain stages before another day off for a snooze (I hope someone wakes me up as I'll have dozed off a while ago)

And then 3 out of the last 6 stages are fecking sprint stages, and one of them is a short ITT. And the 2 stages that look like they might be ok are on a weekday again.

FFS!


@rich p and @Dayvo could have come up with a better route if they'd painter a spider's legs with black ink and let it run about a map of France.

Too many sprint stages by far...

 

[Adam4868]

Yes think there's 8/9 sprint stages.I think they have tried to make the course so it will encourage attacks.Not as many long mountain finishes where a team can control it.Stage 9 looks brutal though !

 

[Dayvo]

@rich p and @Dayvo could have come up with a better route if they'd painter a spider's legs with black ink and let it run about a map of France.

Wassup? Picked your fantasy team and realised that it'll be crap regardless of the 21 stages! They might be good on the last day, though, just going round and round in circles at the Champs-Élysées, if you've got any riders left, that is.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Wassup? Picked your fantasy team and realised that it'll be crap regardless of the 21 stages! They might be good on the last day, though, just going round and round in circles at the Champs-Élysées, if you've got any riders left, that is.

As long as you don't get lucky again

 

[Shadow]

Right, it all came flooding back when I had another look...

Right, so you won't be watching,reading or listening about any of it. What will you with the time? Maybe you could spend the 3 weeks coming up with a better route and then we can all play PTP!!!

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Too many sprint stages by far...

Yes think there's 8/9 sprint stages.I think they have tried to make the course so it will encourage attacks.Not as many long mountain finishes where a team can control it.Stage 9 looks brutal though !

I suppose for me it's a mix of too many long dull stages that will end in sprints, not enough "medium mountain" stages that will see a bit of action, and, most of all, it just ain't a tough parcours at all. That "no team will take control" means that no team will see any reason to; our winner might come from an effort on 1 or 2 stages. And I think it might have been designed so Sagan does not have it as easy for Green other than anything else.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Right, so you won't be watching,reading or listening about any of it. What will you with the time? Maybe you could spend the 3 weeks coming up with a better route and then we can all play PTP!!!

You can all play PTP anytime, no need to wait for a decent event.

I shall, of course, be watching and blabbering about it. But I think it's a dull parcours.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I suppose for me it's a mix of too many long dull stages that will end in sprints, not enough "medium mountain" stages that will see a bit of action, and, most of all, it just ain't a tough parcours at all. That "no team will take control" means that no team will see any reason to; our winner might come from an effort on 1 or 2 stages. And I think it might have been designed so Sagan does not have it as easy for Green other than anything else.

Oh, and I should have added - as far as I am aware every stage will be covered from start to finish. What a waste of an opportunity to have a parcours that will capture people's imaginations, throw up the unexpected, have us gripped, etc.

Start > 200km of waffling pish> the end.