What's your opinion of this years tour?

[Greedo]

I thought it was pretty good compared to the past few years. Dipped a bit in the middle but the start and last week were great. The Cavendish thing kept things interesting when the GC had nothing happening.

I think next years will be brilliant. I can't wait.

We'll have

Armstrongs new team which could have Cavendish in it will be interesting to watch

Wiggins needs a podium place to improve on this year so will be good to watch

Cavendish will go all out for the Green no matter what team he's in

Andy Schleck has a good chance of winning if he can focus on himself and stop worrying where and what Frank is up to all the time

Contador will try and rip the field apart and not being a tactical genius will be interesting to see if others can out fox him

Alexander Vinokourov will be back

And surely Carlos Sastre and Cadel Evans (as much as he's one of the most dislikable people on the planet) can't have as bad a tour as this year

There are also a few others who are proving to be talented riders who could come into the mix

I'd love it of they also got rid of the team time trial to even up the GC. That would be immense.

 

[cisamcgu]

Put back the time bonuses for winning a stage .. it would/might change the holder of the yellow jersey over the first few days .. and increase (maybe) the excitement of the mountain finishes

 

[accountantpete]

5 minutes or so back to the next placed rider meant that Contador had things all his own way -not that i'm blaming him! And similarly there was no-one within a bike's length of Cavendish at the best of times in the sprints.

So in many ways it was a bit lacklustre punctuated by a couple of heroic solo performances like Tony Martin's climb the day after helping Cav to a sprint win.

 

[simon_brooke]

I thought it was a great tour. We saw some wonderful performances. I really enjoyed the whole thing, and the highlights for me were

* David Millar's doomed solo breakaway into Barcelona
* Thomas Voeckler's win in Perpginan
* Brice Feillu's climb to Andorre Arcalis
* Tony Martin on Ventoux, after leading out Cav the day before
* Wiggie, throughout
* Nicki Sörensen at Vittel
* Haussler's mad, successful dash in the rain
* Andy Schleck's loyalty to his brother
* Hincapie's assault on the yellow in Besançon

I don't know which tour you all were watching that had a dull second week, but the one I watched did not. We had three successive days of successful breakaways, and a fascinating political battle between Columbia, Garmin and Cervelo. The only thing that worries me about this tour is the gap in performance between Contador and the rest - I so do not want to see another champion retrospectively stripped of his jersey.

And the best thing? The best thing about this year's tour is that Andy Schleck, Tony Martin, Brice Feillu, Heinrich Haussler, Vincenzo Nibali, Nicolas Roche and, of course, Mark Cavendish are all young - we have many years of racing yet to come from them. That is something to look forward to.

 

[dellzeqq]

A good tour, rather than a great one, although the British interest was unprecedented. The finish of the last stage was electrifying. We were a bit shortchanged on the Pyrennees. Lance provided the comedy moments, Contador is a dummy, but the man L'Equipe calls 'Wiggo' is very engaging and the Schlecks are like characters from Arthur Ransome - you expect them to turn up with grey socks and school caps on - and yes, their mutual devotion was heartwarming. Cancellara's descent is now my favourite cycling video, and the demise of Cadel Evans had you reaching for 'it couldn't happen to a better bloke'.

Last year's tour was an absolute classic, so hard to match.

 

[Kirstie]

As is always the case in July, my life is empty without it...

 

[Fnaar]

As is always the case in July, my life is too busy to catch it regularly!

 

[dodgy]

I feel as though I've just finished a really good book, a bit sad that it's over. This is the first year I've really enjoyed and 'lived' the tour if you see what I mean. More of a casual observer in the past.

 

[Globalti]

How long before the current surge of interest in cycling brings us a British winner?

 

[stoatsngroats]

I'm not watching the TV in the afternoon, and my daughter is REALLY happy to have DAD back - we played basketball in the park this afternoon!

I thought it was a good tour - Cancellara's decent, 'The Cav & Wiggins Shows' were good, Both Schlecks, The LA & Conty Bonding Show', fantastic scenes of France, and Millar in Barcelona - edge-of-the-seat stuff wasn't it...?

Cuddles needs to pack it in tho' it was tough to watch....!

 

[asterix]

It was bloody rubbish. The nearest it got to me was Limoges and that was the start of a flat stage

Last year was much better. When I arrived by bike I got a (probably derisory) cheer from the earlier arrivals so I did one of those victory salutes without even falling off.