| Archive for justcycling.myfastforum.org Just Cycling |
| maffy |
Tour of Britain - 12th-19th September 2009
official site start lists it's time again for the our stage is number two this year. same stage as last year, apart from just near the end. remember the hairy twisty turny bits they did in the wet when they came in from the coast. loadsa parked cars and that? this year they're coming in straight along the coast road for some exciting sunday dual carriageway action. was down at the quayside yesterday to say hi to radcliffe and maconie and the advance road closure sign at the swing bridge says the road is closed for a whole half hour between quarter to and quarter past one. |
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| SlowRower |
I'm hoping to be there to watch the excitement at the Col de Kilnwick Percy on Saturday.
The kids developed something of an obsession with Mr Wiggins during this year's TDF, so hopefully their hero will have his climbing legs on. |
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| Superbagneres |
Re: Tour of Britain - 12th-19th September 2009
I do a great impersonation of Radcliffe. The key is to say "Erm, er, erm, erm, er, erm" after every few words. |
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| Mrs John Murphy |
Fucking boring route. Same old same old.
Is there a forcefield that prevents the race from going into the Cambrian mountains or any more north than Glasgow? |
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| redster73 |
Me and the lad are off to Gun Hill on stage 5 and might be back in London for the finale... | ||||||
| maffy |
mjm, indeed. you could also do a reasonable version of the vuelta st9 (possibly with less sun) from kendal to hutton-le-hole via sedbergh. kirby stephen, swaledale, buttertubs, hawes, swaledale, leyburn, northallerton with rosedale chimney bank as the final killer climb. prutour went up it in 88, and i remember watching american and eastern european cyclists walking up hills in the area in the milk race when i was a kid. do a circuit of all the passes in the lakes the day before.
don't hold your breath. due to the unique way the race is funded(İroboftheog), police hiding behind health and safety, and the car being more king now than it was when
slightly better startlist than last year, no? sb, i like radcliffe but i, er, know what you, um, mean. kinda hope he ends up on mayo's fivelite slot. not so fussed about maconie but did used to like the treatment. only really make a point of listening when noddy holder's doing the telly review. on the other hand, alan green, jonathan pearce, n*cky c*mpbell, thicky derbyshire and the archers all make me turn over. and robert peston makes me throw things at the wireless. 21.53 here for the rest of the day. i'm off to kom high barns. |
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| HuwB |
I thinking of boycotting this load of shiite, for the obvious reason.
Time they renamed the event. |
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| Ralphnorman |
Tour of the Home Counties? |
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| kathy |
Well, a Tour of Britain it most certainly is not 
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| HuwB |
I don't want to put a dampener on the race, for those on the forum, who are lucky enough to get to see this edition, but maybe their PR slogan shouldn't be:
"The Tour of Britain, where Hardian's Wall and Offa's Dyke are just too hors catagory for us." |
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| Superbagneres |
No, it doesn't go to the Home Counties either. Why they don't come to a place which would have totally closed roads and a historic challenging mountain circuit which Merckx, Coppi, Binda, Simpson, Fignon, Roche and many others have graced in the past I don't know. |
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| kathy |
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| cardinal guzman |
SPOILER
Kai Reus Just won stage 2. Good comeback that lad! |
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| maffy |
i changed my mind, and watched near a shop that sells tasty sausages and alcohol. in a nod to euro cycling rules, i wore short white colnago socks that became somewhat troublesome on the nettle filled bridlepaths i tried to use on the way home.
there was, as seasoned sport of professional bicycle racing watchers may have possibly imagined, a break. i don't think any squirrels were harmed during it's formation. 
they were a bit late generally. all the police tag team motorbikes said they had five and a half minutes, but it was more like four when they continued not to stop the cycle race. mccrossan was announcing from the loudspeaker car. 
barlo and garmin seemed keen. 
blurry brad wiggins' bum and some vaguely somnambulant looking sheeps. 
slightly bigger photos may or may not be available at the usual place. edited for bigness. nice sausages consumed and enjoyed. |
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| SlowRower |
My trip to the Col de Kilnwick Percy with the Junior Rowers was great fun. The weather was ideal, which helped, and we found a prime spot for a picnic next to the finish line.
There were a lot of kids there and they were only interested in one man, our friend Mr Wiggins. The cult of celebrity hits the Tour of Britain. The route may be unchallenging, but it has the advantage that it goes near where a lot of people live and appears very accessible. Hence, the casual fan can have a short drive and watch some proper cycling. More demanding stages might suit the purist, but there aren't many of them relative to the potential viewing public, and once the action becomes inaccessible (as the hills of the Lake District, for example, would be) the event risks losing its mainstream appeal. The Tour of Britain is probably best considered as a demonstration event for the uninitiated rather than a serious bike race, with all due respect to the racers, who were going like the clappers by the time they got to us. When I get the time, I'll upload some piccies of Wiggo, the Broomwagon (the kids loved that, as it has a proper broom on the back!) and Trent Lowe's heavily bandaged left limbs. |
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| The Lemondheads |
Thing is that the best way to build the race is to have Wiggins win the thing, or come close. That would get the race on the front page of the papers. But that won't happen on this sort of poxy route. It will be interesting to see if things change when Team Sky are riding - maybe then the course will get tougher to make it possible for them to mount a proper challenge. Everyone knows the answer is the S Wales Valleys: proper terrain with sustained climbing and potential for uphill finishes but within easy reach of large numbers of people. | ||||||
| Bartali |
But it used to be more challenging in days (and years) gone by. Trouble with this race is, and will always be, the willingness of the local authorities to close the roads. Last year was a disgrace.
SB is right - get them over to the IoM. It would be ideal .... even if it's not 'Britain'! (oh no ... not that old chestnut!) 
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| cardinal guzman |
Well accessibility doesn't seem to be a concern - remember the Dalby Forest finish last year?
I'll have a look at map my ride later and see if I can come up with a decent stage route for the West Riding. SR - if you look at who's won, it seems the big teams use the TOB as a proving ground for breakthrough riders making the switch to the 'A team'. |
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| Mrs John Murphy |
There could be tears before bedtime in the Rower household and not from the Junior Rowers if they start to repeat Wiggins' opinion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2...4/bradley-wiggins-tour-of-britain |
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| SlowRower |
It's an outrage, MJM. Fewer ice creams for the little blighters on their next hols. Their pilgrimage to the Shrine of His Blessed Tactical Genius at Grande Motte clearly didn't do the trick this year. | ||||||
| cardinal guzman |
Here's my idea for a course, Todmorden to Barnsley - it's a brute down the pennine spine, some of the gradients are horrendous mwuhaha......
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/todmorden/448125297022196528 Kids - can't live with em, can't put em in a sports bag and hit em with a stick. |
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| HuwB |
A nice roulers course, CG, with plenty of modest gradient.
All I have to say about the T of B, thus far, is that all 3 stage profiles have been almost identical. |
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| mr shifter |
Ralph...you need geography lessons son. ENGLAND is not the Home Counties but the Home Counties are in ENGLAND.
Something wrong there, but didn't you say the IOM is not part of Britain or Europe. ?????? |
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| cardinal guzman |
I think they do that to suit the British riders, like the short routes. Mapmyride must seriously average those climbs out, as there are lengthy 15 to 20%+ gradients dotted across that route. Hmmph - maybe the same is true of the gradient maps we get from organisers? |
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| Beasley |
All riders, CG. No rider wants to do serious milage at this time of year in what, too many, is a warm-up race.
The Tour of Britain is only a 2.1, btw. There are limitations to what can and can't be done. Sure, the organiser can draw any route they want, but they don't have the muscle - prize money nor quantity of UCI points - to get the teams to the start line. Whilst accepting that major improvements can be made, most 2.1 race organisers would be delighted to have the coverage/participation the ToB have. |
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| HuwB |
Flat at the start. A couple of climbs in the middle. Flat and downhill 50-60kms to the finish.
4 stages and no variety. Even seems to feature the same teams and riders, each year, so they must like it. |
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| redster73 |
Gun Hill - could do with learning how to focus...
...and number one son got himself a Katusha bidon.... |
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| MAILLOT JAUNE |
Great pics red. And a bidon as well - cool. | ||||||
| SlowRower |
Some belated Stage 1 piccies. Wiggo, a heavily bandaged Garminite (Trent Lowe, I think) and my kind of team vehicle. (The broom was a nice touch!)
All photos taken by hanging over the barrier, taking repeated shots on "rapid fire" and hoping for the best. I'm not sure what the camera focuses on - it definitely focuses on some part of the shot but not necessarily what's in the middle. 
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| MAILLOT JAUNE |
Like the photos SR.
Know what you mean about focus, as red mentioned in earlier post. I have same problems as well. |
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| SlowRower |
DSLRs are fantastic. I've got a Canon EOS400 and it seems to be able to engineer out most of my photographic incompetence. You can apparently use it for proper photography, but presets and rapid fire do it for me! |
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| cardinal guzman |
loving all the pics - cheers for them! 
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| SlowRower |
I never was too good at the mystery guest on Question of Sport, but is the Columbia guy at the back Edvald BH with Tony Martin in the foreground?
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| Fontfroide |
What kind of a race can this be when the guy leading the mountains contest is also leading the sprints contest. AND, although my ignorance sometimes surprises me, I have never heard of this guy.
Mind you, I hope that Eddie is working his cay into the hearts and minds of the British cycling public, as he he is clearly the man for the Sky team, which some think is British. |
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| HuwB |
Thomas de Gendt is a neo pro, no less. Lots of potential. Yes, each day they go out, he's mostly away in the break, which is, of course, brought back, for the inevitable EBH win. At least the peloton did split for a little while, yesterday. This is what happens, when each stage profile looks virtually the same. You would think that it isn't possible to design a really testing stage in Britain. More like familiarity breeds complacency. |
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| SlowRower |
I'd wondered about this as well. The nationality of a team is pretty arbitrary unless its sponsor, management structure and riders are predominantly from the same country. My guess would be that the casual British cycling fan will continue to follow Wiggins and Cav, as they are unambiguously British (territorial disputes over the IoM notwithstanding!) and successful. If Sky do put out a team of Brits, or at least a team with a British leader in the TDF then the situation could become clearer. As an aside, closer examination of the Columbia guy at the back in my last photo reveals Swedish flags on the arms, so presumably it's Lovkvist (sp?) It's pretty hard identifying riders when they've got helmets on and you don't really know what they look like to start with! (I'd spotted some Edvard-style hair poking out of the helmet. Lovkvist obviously goes to the same dodgy barber!) |
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| Fontfroide |
I do agree. You would think they could throw in a couple of little hilltop finishes for variety. It is not like there are not hills in Wales or the Pennines which at the top have enough space for the not that huge set up at the Tour of Britain. The people would surely come to a finales like that, since they are only a few minutes from urban centres. but I know nothing of how the designers think, nor do I know anything at all about who they actually are.
While we don't have the long lovely climbs of France, there are people who would be blown away by some hills in Britain. Certainly a stage resembling the Fred Whitton would be a good one, sort the men from the boys. Love to see some famous climber getting off and walking up Wrynose or something. It could be a reasonable Tour. But maybe they just can't find the money, just no one interested in sponsoring. Nevertheless, Eddie did pretty well, and should be a fine rider for the Sky Team. I bet that in the next year or two we find that not only can he do breaks, sprints from small groups, sprints from masses, but that he can climb as well as, maybe, as well as anyone but a climber. I think he is a totally brilliant business buy, and I understand he can speak English very well for Anglo interviews, although I only think I have heard him speak English once. |
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| Spoo |
In terms of the stage design it does seem a shame that they can't go over some of the steeper areas (Lakes, Pennines, North York Moors) or the the highlands in Wales or Scotland, but someone else mentioned the races 2.1 rating. I've no idea how these work but does this rating determine the severity of the parcours available or just the prestige of the race?
I'd think the race suffers more from its position in the calendar just before the worlds meaning that its stuck between trying to raise its profile by enticing the top riders who will just want to maintain form and being a tough entertaining course. I guess as much as we'd like them to the top riders don't wanna ride on the limit all year and this is the time of year when they're least likely to. A question to all - For the ToB what do you think the best strategy would be to improve the races profile amongst the general public? A. A world champs warm up with a course to suit the top names keeping or riding themselves into form. B. A tough course with 2 or 3 mountain/hill top finishes with a stretched GC but maybe a predominantly domestic field without the top teams or pros. In terms of Team SKYs 'britishness,' I reckon they've got a pretty good balance as they need to get some foreign names in to get a PT license and big race invites as we don't have the depth of top level talent at the moment. Although I guess the final balance depends on how the other 6 slots are filled. The teams based in the UK, the infrastructure appears to be mainly British and if the link up with SKy results in more coverage in the UK then I think they can build a British identity and following. To be fair in recent years there aren't too many teams in the ProTour ranks that do have a strong country/region specific identity (EE? US Postal? Quick Step?) |
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| SlowRower |
Spoo,
The race needs big names. With all due respect to the top domestic riders and the hills of the lake district, you'd get zillions more spectators / viewers to see Wiggo, Cav and a certain Texan racing on flat dual-carriageways for a week than for a domestic field racing over the most exciting / challenging course the UK has to offer. |
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| cardinal guzman |
The parcours was tougher in years past, but I think I'm right in thinking the TOB was downgraded last year or the year before? | ||||||
| Beasley |
Ben Swift won stage 7. First win as a professional, IIRC. | ||||||
| mr shifter |
The helicopter shots after this showed the amount of cars parked on the road and I thought at the time that one of them belonged to Red. Beasley says "this is only a 2.1 event" and that won't improve while they allow that sort of obstruction. Yes I saw some of the narrow lanes they used also, Comparable with some in Italy or Belgium perhaps. Great Pictures, Red. Be Lucky |
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| Beasley |
Michele Merlo finally gets his first win as a pro.
The icing on what was a constant performance, coming 4th in points competition. Doesn't have a ride for 2010, so a pleasing result. Edvald Boasson Hagen takes the overall. Dominate rider throughout, so totally deserved. |
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| kathy |
I will bump this as well.
I got a surprise this morning. A package of DVD's arrived from a friend in the UK. They included coverage of the TOB. She recorded them for me even though she isn't remotely interested in cycling. So I will have something else to watch in the off season. |
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| cadence |
Yes, this is much more interesting than talking about Lance Armstrongs lawsuit...... |
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| cardinal guzman |
b. | ||||||