Biking Bis poll: Tour de France interest generally the “same” or “less”

How interested are Biking Bis readers in this year's Tour de France?

The responses were tied — 36% each — between “less interested than last year” and “same as last year.” Slightly fewer than 1 in 4 — 22% — voted that they were more interested in this year's Tour than last year.

I voted in that latter group, “more interested,” and now I'm wondering why. I got up early enough to catch the beginning of OLN's live coverage of Stage 10, and watched the alleged favorites sit back while two virtual unknowns grabbed the top 2 positions in the overall lead.

In itself, the attack by Cyril Dessel and Juan Mercado was heroic and I rooted for them, especially after no one in the peloton seemed to care.

But I had set the alarm for 5:30 (I'm on the West Coast) to watch a Discovery cyclist take the reins, or Floyd Landis drop the field as he rode into the mist, or Levi Leipheimer charge back from 70-something to get into the Top 10.

There was none of that. Chris Carmichael, the fitness coach for Lance Armstrong, explained at the Paceline fan website:

Mountain stages exist to separate the champions from the pretenders, but with 40 kilometers of gradually downhill roads separating the last summit from the finish line, there was no incentive for any of the favorites to go on the offensive.

American cyclist Bobby Julich, who is watching the race from a residence in Nice after crashing in an earlier stage, wrote at ESPN.com that he was “disappointed” in the stage, but figures that all the leaders are waiting for Thursday's stage.

 But Thursday's stage will be a real eye-opener and I hope the Americans are up to the challenge.

If you're Floyd Landis or George Hincapie, you should just concentrate on staying with the main contenders, staying within the peloton and concentrating on the last two climbs. With a hilltop finish, there's no chance for recovery and riders have no choice but to go 100 percent to the line. That's where riders like Landis and Hincapie will make a difference. Favorites will use their teams to set up a battle royale at the finish!

OK. Five rated climbs with a mountaintop finish on Thursday's Stage 11. Now come the major attacks. Now I'm interested. Just don't expect me to be in front of the TV when the telecast starts at 3:30 a.m.