Tour De France is Boring

[Kai]

I thought that there was no sport on television that is more boring than golf. (Well, maybe bass fishing, if that's even a sport.) However, after watching 90 minutes of the Tour de France on TV at the gym today (that's what was playing on the big screen in front of my stair stepper) I've decided that televised bicycling is by far the most boring sport I've ever encountered. 90 minutes watching guys pedaling slowly uphill, while the commentators struggle to find something to say about it has to be the least engaging televised sporting event I've ever seen.

The most exciting thing that happened was that the leader may have winked at the camera man. It was exciting enough that it led to 20 minutes of commentary, speculations about his state of mind, and what the significance of the (possible) wink might really have been. The only other "excitement" of the day was when one of the riders rose from the saddle for 17 seconds and began to pedal a little harder, then stopped, when it became clear he wasn't gong to pass anyone. Compared with the rest of the race, it was riveting, and again, gave the commentators something to talk about for the next half hour.

I understand that competitive bicycling at this level is very hard, and the athletes are extremely fit, but it is a sport that is completely uninteresting to watch, to the point that I found myself craning my neck to try to watch the daytime talk show two screens over. Even without being able to read the closed captioning, the talk show was a lot more fun.

 

[maze]

I agree completely. also, the prevalence of PEDs makes the sport even more unattractive beyond its boringness.

 

[edmorel]

Get ready to be eviscerated by the bicycling fanbois.

In happier news, maybe this is up an running by now:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...lds-giant-fart-machine-to-fire-at-France.html

 

[Joffrey]

I remember watching a lot of the TdF 2 years ago (or whenever BRadley Wiggins won) but watched little last year and haven't bothered this year. Not sure why. I do love reading about it though

 

[Nil]

The most exciting part about the TdF is that this quite good local French restaurant is having different special burgers depending on what region of France they're in.

 

[grundletaint]

My wife and I pump ourselves full of HGH and set up stationary bikes in front of the TV. It's far from boring and I wink at everyone.

 

[asinglfficu]

the prevalence of PEDs makes the sport even more unattractive beyond its boringness.

 

[Keller]

If you see the whole thing, the whole tour everyday, tour de france can be really interesting

 

[whiteslashasian]

Not boring this year! Stage 3 crash at 42 kph (26+ mph) wipes out yellow jersey leader Cancellara.

 

[VaderDave]



Not boring this year! Stage 3 crash at 42 kph (26+ mph) wipes out yellow jersey leader Cancellara.

Watching some of those guys sliding across the pavement just makes me shudder.

Oh, and the guys running headlong into the pole. That's bad too.

 

[eljimberino]

The Giro d'Italia is not boring.

 

[SixOhNine]

Lol. Sure it's not.

 

[eljimberino]

If you don't take the time to understand something, no one is going to convince you. Want to go through life having preconceived ideas about what's exciting or not go right ahead.

Grand tours are designed to connect people and places, not make millions of dollars for stadium and club owners.

The French tour is the traditional tour that historically is a race of attrition.

The Giro is usually designed to encourage attacking and bravery.

The Vuelta is a mixture of both.

If you happened to be on your treadmill (the most exciting thing known to man) during the stage where general classification riders, classics specialists, domestiques and sprinters were all burying themselves on cobbles you might you walked away with a different perspective. So the timing wasn't great for your introduction to the most popular and greatest sport known to man, good reason to start a thread.

Next time why don't you start a thread about how you were watching a guy read a book on public transport and how boring that was?

 

[gomestar]

this year's tour was actually excellent. I only caught 8 or 9 of the stages, but all were exciting. Lots of excellent routes, and great battles on the mountains.

 

[iLuveketchup]

I find myself going through withdrawals without Tour de France on TV. I watched every stage and would have kept all of them in DVR if I had the HD space. I'm a cycling fanatic.