Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Shortening Grand Tour stages...thoughts???
Quote | Reply
This year's TdF has 2 short mountain stages which I though were great for viewing. Both stages Sky had some form of control, but they were not really able to beat the GC down to a pulp over a much longer stage and minimize the action on the last climb.

The cobbles stage was a great example. Being only 150 km long, the action seemed like it was on very early as compared to Paris-Roubaix which is 260 km long and the action usually starts with around 100-130 km to go.

I get why a classics race should be really long. It's a hard man test. It's a one day spectacle. But for a grand tour (which is very hard in total)...it seems like the team directors have the longer races dialed in...effectively making them shorter stages in terms of racing action with X number of kms just riding steady. They know it's impossible to race 180-220 kms everyday as hard as a classics type single day race, so they purposely back off during a good chunk of those stages. They want the break to get a given amount of minutes early...then they just hold it there (regardless of how fast or slow the break is going) until a certain point at which they reel it back in. A lot of times X is a lot of kms, and the racing is basically neutralized during that time. This is especially true on stages where it's obvious the break won't stay away. The once the break gets 5 minutes (or whatever leash they are allowed) they know they can just ride steady because even if they drop their pace, the peloton will drop their pace accordingly. Or vice versa...so what's the point of riding like that for 2 hours?

I get that the break needs to have some TV time, but how much is too much? Is anyone actually paying attention for the entire 3-4 hours while the break is out there...or do you just tune in for the part of the stage when they are about to get reeled in and the pace picks back up?

By shortening stages, the viewing is higher quality, the races should be more animated, and if the stage is 1 hour shorter, that's 1 hour more rest the riders get between stages. So even if the intensity picks up, leading to a higher intensify factor, the shorter stage should result in a slightly lower TSS, and 1 hour more rest should allow the racers to be a little fresher. Would this open the door to GC riders being able to do more GTs per year?

Thoughts?
Quote Reply