Well, neqrly done and dusted for another year and time to reflect a bit maybe.
In my opinion this has been a bloody good tour - but I don't have many to compare it to! Last year was the first tour that I watched, and I missed the first 3 days of that.
One thing that has struck me was how well the invited teams have done.
I remember when the news broke that there were going to be 4 French teams invited:
4 other teams, invited by the organisers, will make up the field for the 98th edition of Le Tour:
COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE (FRA)
FDJ (FRA)
SAUR - SOJASUN (FRA)
TEAM EUROPCAR (FRA)
There were a number of negative comments, with some posters saying that the tour would be poorer because the organisers hadn't invited other (stronger?) teams.
I think that the invited teams have worked really hard to make the most of their opportunity.
All four of them had a really close contender for the white jersey, which made for good TV and is also good for the future of French racing.
All of them tried for breaks and I think had a go on most stages.
Take Menchov out of Geox and that team is reduced to some promising youngsters, a climber who is past his best and pure shit. I stand by what I said back when the wildcards were announced: I agree with them.
kumazan wrote:
Take Menchov out of Geox and that team is reduced to some promising youngsters, a climber who is past his best and pure shit. I stand by what I said back when the wildcards were announced: I agree with them.
But why you should take him out? If Geox would have been invited, with right selection of riders I see them better than almost half of teams that were racing this year.
Menchov rode the Giro, and he most likely was going to ride the Giro even if they got a wildcard for the Tour, being Geox a Italian sponsor. Without Menchov/with a tired Menchov, I can't see Geox doing better than any team, except maybe Katusha and Saur, but nobody knew back then Katusha was going to go full retard and left some of their best guys at home.
Also, even considering that, Having MatxÃn and Gianetti out of the Tour is a good step of the sport. Now we just have to get rid of them in all races, and we all will be happier and live longer.
kumazan wrote:
Menchov rode the Giro, and he most likely was going to ride the Giro even if they got a wildcard for the Tour, being Geox a Italian sponsor. Without Menchov/with a tired Menchov, I can't see Geox doing better than any team, except maybe Katusha and Saur, but nobody knew back then Katusha was going to go full retard and left some of their best guys at home.
Also, even considering that, Having MatxÃn and Gianetti out of the Tour is a good step of the sport. Now we just have to get rid of them in all races, and we all will be happier and live longer.
Actually, maybe it's good that the team wasn't invited to Tour, because I feel that they will have a very strong squad for Vuelta and Menchov should do a podium.
Speaking about "heads of team", there're many sportif directeurs I don't like in this Tour too.
