Should Tour stages be made longer ?

[pcolbeck]

Just finished Laurent Fignon's autobigraphy. One of the things he says of The Tour is that it has lost some of it's magic because they have shortened the stages. He thinks that 250km + stages allow for a better competition where there is more chance of a late attack. What do we think, does he have a point ?

[mattc]

I'm reminded of the quote from a couple of years back:

It's a very pretty lake, but haven't we ridden far enough today?

[an expert can remember the full context]

[citoyen]

It would change the character of the race massively - make average speeds much slower, for a start. Which may not be a bad thing.

Presumably the reasons for making stages shorter than they used to be are money and TV. Same with motor racing - they should bring back the old 14-mile Nürburgring and the 9-mile Spa Francorchamps circuits. The modern versions are too short. And too safe.

d.

[Hot Flatus]

Doesn't need to have longer stages. As it is people have to resort to dubious practices to survive the three weeks.

Fignon is just sore because the French haven't won for a quarter of a century

[pcolbeck]

Doesn't need to have longer stages. As it is people have to resort to dubious practices to survive the three weeks.

Isn't it being hard to survive part of the point ? It used to be longer and people made it to the end. Most of the older doping products didn't actually have any physical effect (speed etc) mainly they helped mentally. Speed makes you think you are fitter and keeps you awake .

[Exit Stage Left]

You can lead a horse to water....The peleton would just stick together until they decided it was appropriate to race. Remember that the back of the field should not be eliminated, the public are perfectly satisfied with Alpe D'Huez style finishes, where the likes of Hincapie or Voigt leads their GC contender onto the lower slopes for the big shootout, the intermediate climbs having been left to the KoM contenders.

[Hot Flatus]

Don't forget that a big part of what Fignon is talking about is mythology. Modern day live coverage is not conducive to this, and copywriters haven't got the room for artistic licence and romanticising they once had

[citoyen]

The organisers seem to have bought into the mythology with their attempts to turn this year's Tour into a series of one-day Classics. And look what has happened...

Today's stage could kill the myth once and for all.

d.

[Exit Stage Left]

Don't forget that a big part of what Fignon is talking about is mythology. Modern day live coverage is not conducive to this, and copywriters haven't got the room for artistic licence and romanticising they once had

Very true, the Tour was created to be written about, and the route and the rules were manipulated to generate a good story, at various times there have been national teams, no drafting, with riders going solo, riders on all the same type of bike, or having to carry all of their own kit from start to finish. There is a famous account of the 1924 race calling the riders the 'Convicts of the Road' which is an echo of the Dreyfus Affair oddly. This article from Socialist Review explains more.
Tour de France: Chain Gang Convicts of the Road

[Hot Flatus]

From what the riders were saying people were crashing on that hill whilst in a straight line. Certainly suggests oil on the road. Who knows, may have been sabotage, but not the fault of the organisers.

Today's stage will be fun. I'm looking forward to it. If these guys are up for Paris-Roubaix then they should be up for this too. Must be a pain for the mechanics though, having to bring along different bikes, tyres and wheels