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Professional cycling has undergone a pretty rapid change in the last couple of years.
Gone are the days where men would attack over 60 kilometres of mountains to gain back five or six minutes to try and win the race, that tactic is seen as outdated and foolish now.
The tactic that is being put in place now, especially by Team Sky, is to ride a high tempo all the way up the climb, so your leader will be the only man left with anything at the top, after the others have desperately tried to attack, and failed.
It’s worked a treat for two years at the Tour, with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome being propelled to victory by strong climbing teams.
It was also put in place by Astana at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Nibali’s team were head and shoulders above the rest, and attacking past the bright blue line at the front of the peloton wasn’t thought about by the majority of riders.
Now as effective as this tactic may be, for me it is incredibly boring. What would I rather watch, one team grind their way up a mountain for half an hour, before their leader darts off to no competition with a kilometre left, or dozens of attacks flying off left right and centre, without a clue which man will be successful.
It’s a no-brainer for me.
I was speaking to friends while this year’s Tour was capturing Britain once again, and being British, they asked me; “so you’re supporting Froome right?” And then gave incredulous looks when I told them I’d much rather see him be beaten by Rodriguez or Quintana, because if they won, it would mean the race had been much more exciting.
In my opinion, cycling needs more Joaquim Rodriguez’s, more Nairo Quintana’s, even more Thomas Voeckler’s.
The reason? It was the predecessors of these men that made the Tour, and professional cycling what it is today, it was able to catch the public’s imagination with riders such as these, because they made exciting stories for the newspapers that ran the races.
The first Tour I watched was in 2011, and it was racing like that that really got me hooked on cycling. I watched Cadel Evans drag the other contenders up the mountain after the Schlecks had double-teamed him, I watched Andy Schleck ride 60 kilometres alone to gain lost time, I watched Samuel Sanchez battling with Vanendert for victory at the summit of Luz Ardiden.
It was riding like this that really got me into cycling, and I dare say, that if the 2012 Tour was the first I saw, even though I’m British, I don’t think I would be sat writing about cycling now, I probably wouldn’t even be watching it.
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