No doubt that Lance is approaching the Tour exactly as he should, but by playing it so conservatively, it makes for a dull-ish event.
He hangs back and lets the lesser lights finish well ahead of him and his closest competiors in each stage. Lance thus wins Yellow Jersey after Yellow Jersey. And he hasn’t won a single stage as yet.
I know, I know, you can counter by saying that’s exactly what the top 5 or 6 (or more) other guys are doing, too. But it sure doesn’t make the Tour de France very exciting.
Oh well, maybe Lance is just too good.
Yeah, this is a boring Tour. Frankly, the Tour itself is the most overhyped event in cycling. The parcours of this year’s Giro was more exciting, and it most certainly resulted in a more exciting race.
Hopefully things will pick up again when Lance leaves next year.
Add me to the “this tour is dull” camp.
I was so jazzed about it, thought it would really be an aggressive and event filled tour. It started out with some promise in the ITT. But instead it’s turned into something plodding, predicatable and boring.
This may be Lance’s 7th and final win and he may be the world record holder for consecutive tour wins for a long time to come, but he will not be known for this tour or his exciting riding style in it.
And I’m still really disappointed by Hincappie’s win. The guy should have worked harder for it. He didn’t need to, but he should have.
Speaking of that, Merckx was NOT happy that Vasseur rode his wheel and came around at the end for the 2nd place finish. I’ve never heard of a fight at the finish line, but that’s the closest type of emotion I’ve seen (in my short experience in watching).
I too wish that Lance were doing something more than maintaining the edge and daring everyone else to attack first, which they’re reluctant to do.