Tour De France

[GravitySucks]

Anyone else enjoying the Tour this year?
Hadn't been watching the last few years. The doping scandles and lack of good American riders had me lose interest.
But this is a heck of a race year.
Mark Cavendish has tied Eddy Merckx' stage win record - once thought unbreakable!
This Pogacar kid is we worth watching too.

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[Bigdawg]

"The doping scandles".

The doping scandals, exactly. The tour is dead to me. Same with NFL, NBA and MLB. Now that college will be paying athletes I guess there may be no more spectating for me. We'll see.

 

[SJ1_]

Fell in love with the tour when I saw Greg LeMond on wide world of sports winning it.
Loved the Lance era
Stopped watching after all the drugs came out
I watched 1 leg this yr when Mark Cavendish won. Only name I now recognize
fyi Tyler Hamilton wrote a great book on cycling during the drug era

 

[marko]

We lived in France for several years and enjoy watching the aerial scenery, not to mention downtown Paris.

I had gone skiing with a French friend. We were climbing a road so steep that he was in first gear all the way up; it was actually a bit scary; it was like driving up the side of the roof of your house! He commented that they climb this road during the Tour, pumping at about 20 mph! Impressive.

 

[ERObjd]

Pro Bikers are not the only sport using steroids and other dope ..not by a long shot.. NFL, MLB NHL all will have their share or roiders and plenty going on in college sports as well. Been going on for decades now and no sign of it stopping.

 

[zinger1457]

I enjoy watching the Tour, record most stages on my DVR and fast forward much of it, like to watch the climbs and finish. Wish Pogacar had more competition and someone pushing him, since he took the lead it looks like he's out on a joy ride on most stages. They do ride fast but they aren't going 20mph up the big climbs, just look at all the drunken fools running along side them, my guess is closer to 10 mph.

 

[marko]

They do ride fast but they aren't going 20mph up the big climbs, just look at all the drunken fools running along side them, my guess is closer to 10 mph.

Ok. 10 mph! or 5mph. You try it!

 

[audreyh1]

I got a big kick out of the coverage from French Today as the tour rode through Paimpol Brittany. The initial floats of common household items was so funny - these must be the tour sponsors. I especially enjoyed the dishwasher packets float. Ha ha!

 

[tulak]

I watch the tour highlights, not every day, but I watch every stage.



Today's stage had an excellent performance by Pogacar. He won the tour last year (yellow jersey) when he was 21 years old, along with the KOM (polka dot jersey) and youngest rider (white jersey). After today, he'll most likely win the yellow jersey again this year and he might win the KOM too, if he rides like he did today. And it'll be interesting to see if Cavendish holds on to the green jersey and is able to win another stage to beat the record of most stages won. His come back this year has been fun to watch, tying the record for most stages won.

I got a big kick out of the coverage from French Today as the tour rode through Paimpol Brittany. The initial floats of common household items was so funny - these must be the tour sponsors. I especially enjoyed the dishwasher packets float. Ha ha!

The video was from the 2nd stage of this year's tour. It was fun to watch and reminded me of seeing a tour start in 2018. By chance, we were in France during the tour and we watched the parade preceding the riders, and yeah, I seem to recall laundry detergent packets thrown into the crowds. I guess those advertisers have to get a return somehow!

 

[RunningBum]

I googled "biggest climbs on Tour de France" and it looks like very few even have a short section greater than 10%. https://www.bikeradar.com/features/routes-and-rides/2021-tour-de-france-climbs/ illustrates it well.

There's a story I've heard, but have no verification, that Lance Armstrong did a bike race around where I live, that had a very steep climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The steepest part is right around 20%, measured by my Garmin when I've run it. OK, tried to run it. Armstrong supposedly didn't like it, said it was ridiculous and not something that would be part of a "real" race. I can usually take this hill in 3rd gear, maybe 2nd, in my Miata. Never had to go to 1st.

 

[Ezra]

I always enjoy all bike races & this year’s tour all the more so. That young leader, Tadej, has amazing abilities. It’s tragic that so many contenders have been compromised in wrecks. There is a strong crop of young talents in cycling these days.
Unlike most hardcore viewers, If it were up to me, I would tune Phil Ligget down a little. I find his obsession with country of birth to be over the top - especially when it’s a country associated with the United Kingdom.

As far as drugs go, I hope the current crop of riders are all drug free but it seems to me that all pro cyclists used drugs in the past. Google “The hardest test” from years ago in the New Yorker. It discusses Tommy Simpson’s death but also one
Legend of the sport saying - of course he drugs and anyone who says they don’t aren’t worth talking to.

(https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/08/21/the-hardest-test)

 

[aaronc879]

I have been watching The Tour for many years as well as the Giro and Espana. I am only interested in the General Classification(GC) people. I have no interest in the sprinters. I think there are too many riders and sprinters shouldn't be a part of the race. Crashes have badly hurt too many big races and they are largely caused by having too many riders. This year is a little boring with several top talents out due to injury from crashes and now there is a leader with a large margin so it's less compelling. There aren't enough mountain top finishes this year. Those are the best part of the Grand Tours.

 

[Midpack]

DW watches every stage. I used to be a devoted fan, but Armstrong and other doper professional liars put me off. And Phil Liggett bats about .500 with his commentary, Bobke and others have to correct him constantly.

 

[stepford]

I'm not sure what is being used in the mountain stages of this year's Tour, but the Alpe d'Huez is one of the traditional heartbreakers. It has a peak grade of 13% and an average grade of a bit over 8% for a bit less than 9 mi.

I'm a pretty crummy cyclist, but I've ridden on similar gradients over short distances on my road bike. I typically go at maybe 4-5 mph and can't really maintain even that speed for long without a rest. On a mountain bike with much lower gearing I can sustain a ride up that kind of grade at 3ish mph for multiple miles, but even that is pretty fatiguing.

IIRC the Tour pace up the Alpe d'Huez is about 14 mph. Those guys are consistently putting out 4-5x the power I can manage - and they do it hour after hour, day after day. Again, I'm just an old guy in no kind of competitive shape so my reference point doesn't mean much, but Tour efforts are awfully impressive.

 

[marko]

I'm not sure what is being used in the mountain stages of this year's Tour, but the Alpe d'Huez is one of the traditional heartbreakers. It has a peak grade of 13% and an average grade of a bit over 8% for a bit less than 9 mi.

I'm a pretty crummy cyclist, but I've ridden on similar gradients over short distances on my road bike. I typically go at maybe 4-5 mph and can't really maintain even that speed for long without a rest. On a mountain bike with much lower gearing I can sustain a ride up that kind of grade at 3ish mph for multiple miles, but even that is pretty fatiguing.

IIRC the Tour pace up the Alpe d'Huez is about 14 mph. Those guys are consistently putting out 4-5x the power I can manage - and they do it hour after hour, day after day. Again, I'm just an old guy in no kind of competitive shape so my reference point doesn't mean much, but Tour efforts are awfully impressive.

This is the exact road I was referencing earlier!

 

[captain3d]

I have been enjoying the tour but also presume all top professional athletes in any sport are doping one way or another.

With so much to gain it is hard to avoid if you want to be competitive.

It would be nice to think otherwise and I am sure stock brokers do not insider trade and politicians are not bribed etc.

Either way incredible performances

 

[donheff]

I love cycling and ride about 5 times a week. But pro riders live in an entirely different universe than me. I record each stage and skim through after it's done. I am amazed at what these riders do.

 

[Ronsbusa3]

I follow the tour and was lucky enough to go and see 2 stages in 2015. I also rented a bike and climbed Alpe d Huez the day after the tour went up. One of the most amazing moments of my life.

 

[cathy63]

I follow the tour and was lucky enough to go and see 2 stages in 2015. I also rented a bike and climbed Alpe d Huez the day after the tour went up. One of the most amazing moments of my life. View attachment 39528

How fun to be able to ride the actual course! I'm sure that really gives you an appreciation for what these guys are doing every day. We record the coverage that starts around 3:30 AM and watch it with breakfast so we can fast forward the boring parts and the commercials.

DH is a huge cycling fan, and he had always wanted to see a bike race in Europe, so we timed a trip in 2018 to end in Innsbruck for the World Championships. I liked that better than a regular road race because the course was a circuit, so we could hang out in the finish area and see the riders come by 5 or 6 times rather than waiting hours on the side of the road to have them zip by once. It was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed meeting people from all over the world.

 

[O2Bfree]

I read the articles from time to time and occasionally watch a little coverage. Those guys are incredible athletes, in spite of the doping incidents. One thing I've noted while watching coverage is how often the commentators use the word "suffering" to describe riders. Seems more common for cycling than for other sports.

 

[stepford]

One thing I've noted while watching coverage is how often the commentators use the word "suffering" to describe riders. Seems more common for cycling than for other sports.

A former roommate of mine was a pretty serious cyclist (Cat 2 racer). He always used to say that the whole point of cycling was to make others suffer. Home training rooms for cyclists are often called "pain caves" and long rides "sufferfests" so this sort of thinking is pretty common in the sport.

 

[zinger1457]

Surprised at the negative comments on the long time announcer (Phil Liggett), I've always like him, can't be easy covering a 5-6hr stage when most of the time there isn't much action. Like the pairing with Paul Sherwen better than Bob Roll, they were much more in sync.

 

[cathy63]

Surprised at the negative comments on the long time announcer (Phil Liggett), I've always like him, can't be easy covering a 5-6hr stage when most of the time there isn't much action. Like the pairing with Paul Sherwen better than Bob Roll, they were much more in sync.

Phil is having trouble remembering names and identifying riders, but his enthusiasm for the sport and the riders is so genuine. I think some of the issue is probably due to age and some may be due to broadcasting remotely. I believe he's in England again this year while Bob Roll and the others are in Connecticut, and I think it's probably just easier when they can sit next to each other in their little portable studio in France. Hopefully next year they'll be back on site. (I've also noticed the last couple of years that baseball broadcasts are much better when the announcers are at the event rather than remote.)

I also liked Paul Sherwen, but I think Bob Roll does a pretty good job with the commentary. If you ever have a chance to hear him give a speech, he's fun to listen to and is quite engaging in person. I also find Adam Blythe, the British guy who joined them on the moto last year, quite funny and think he's been a good addition to the team.

 

[1242Vintage]

I’m watching too. I’m an amateur competitive cyclist (Cat 3 in cycling terms) and enjoy the team tactics that develop as the race unfolds. Some of the tactics are very subtle and commentator Phil does a great job in breaking it down and explaining.

 

[anethum]

I've been an avid cyclist my entire life, but have no interest in racing--maybe because I'm not particularly fast, though I'm a good climber. I saw the Tour de France once by accident while I was bike touring in France. For a couple of hours preceding the peleton, there was one advertising vehicle after another with a loudspeaker blaring. It was pretty unpleasant.

Having said that, I've biked up many of the famous climbs of the Tour with panniers, including the Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, Mont Ventoux, and Alpe d'Huez. The latter was the last big climb I did in France, and it was a bucket list item for my friend who I was touring with. Alpe d'Huez nearly killed me, figuratively speaking. The grade varied much more than the others, and one of the steepest sections was at the very beginning, and I think that discouraged me a lot. It also was an unseasonably hot day.

When I biked up Mont Ventoux on a beautiful Saturday, there were hundreds of cyclists riding up the mountain, mostly on rented racing bikes from one of the outfitters in the area. I was riding my touring bike with full panniers, the only cyclist with panniers I saw climbing up the mountain that day. I took the easiest of the 3 approaches, and only the final 6 km were difficult. Few of the racing types who were passing me in those final 6 km deemed me worthy of conversation. One French cyclist was impressed by the fact that I was doing the climb with panniers and he actually slowed down a bit to speak with me. When he found out I was American (this was shortly after the Lance Armstrong scandal broke), he asked me jokingly if I was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

I'm another one who can't stand Phil Liggett. He always seems to sound excessively excited to me, even when nothing particularly interesting is happening.