A Tour winner should be a well-rounded rider, outstanding in some aspects and at least competent in the rest. Descending is a skill and only having mountaintop finishes doesn't allow skilful descenders to make the most of their abilities. I'm glad the TdF organisers have finally put together a well-rounded Tour after years of one-dimensional courses.
I'm not disagreeing, but where do you draw the line with regards to dangerous descents for the sake of entertainment? I say this because the commentary today didn't go 5 minutes without mentioning how dangerous the descent was ad that was two different lots of commentators. 5 live sounded properly concerned for the safety of the riders.
Riders will take risks that are too great to win anyhow, you only have to look at the riders who died in their sleep after EPO usage.
Again, let's not forget that there's already been one fatality this year on a descent.
Well, first, the TdF and the Giro started as publicity stunts for the media, as they are still to some extent. And the Giro and the Vuelta have both at times been publicity stunts for fascist governments. The result of all this has been the creation of the world's greatest three-week bicycle races.
Second, all the riders reached Pinerolo safely today, including those who went
hors-piste - and one of those still holds the
maillot jaune.
And, third, Wouter Weyland died after he'd given up descending fast - he slowed down after realising he wasn't going to win any prizes that day. He crashed after looking back to see whether any others were coming down who he could link up with to finish the descent.