EAH wrote:
I love the TDF but agree with the poster who noted that there are long periods of it that are incredibly boring (e.g., long flat stages that end in sprint finishes in the last 5-10 minutes). I'd like to see a few changes that might help. First, shorten stages to about 60-90 miles in length to encourage more aggressive racing from the drop of the flag. Second, more mountain top finishes since the long downhills in this year's TDF helped negate any gains on the climbs. Third, longer time trials to reward more well-rounded riders rather than pure climbers. Fourth, eliminate race radios on riders. Fifth, reduce the number of team members to 4 or 5 so the race is more about the strength of individual riders rather than the team and the overall strength of riders in the peloton is higher.
I like that you're thinking but I mostly disagree :/
1. Shorter stages mean higher average speeds can be sustained, which means it's harder to form breakaways (because of the benefit of drafting) and fatigue is less of a factor. So longer stages are generally better for variability (assuming they're not totally flat...).
2. I agree, more mountain top finishes would be good. The long downhills are fun and epic and I wouldn't want to get rid of them completely...
3. Froome wasn't the best climber this year and he won. So I'm not sure more TTs are the answer.
4. This is talked about a lot... Race radios are mostly a safety and logistics issue. The riders are told the gaps to the break by the motorbikes even when race radios are down.
5. I think I disagree here again. If you want the strongest/fittest rider to win, you want to minimize the effects of weird adverse events (mechanical issues, crashes, crazy spectators, etc), and you want the riders to be well-hydrated and fed (although less of an issue if the stages are shorter as you propose). The best way to do that is to have lots of riders on each team so that they can help their leaders with all of the knucklehead stuff. I agree it looks bad when you have four team Sky riders on the final climb ramping up the pace, but setting tempo for Froome can be advantageous for other riders as well (and limiting the number of riders on their team isn't going to change things very much).
Like I said before, I don't get the point of 3 weeks of racing if you're only going to have three decisive stages.