Why the 2012 Tour de France route was a necessity for faith in cycling

It was a route that has been bombarded with abuse, being named boring and predictable, but could it have actually been a clever plan by Prudhomme and co to restore a little faith in the front line of our sport?

Doping, by it's nature, makes cyclists better. And by being better then surely better performances, more impressive performances, are pulled off? Nobody can forget the scenes of Armstrong dancing up Alpe d'Huez, staring Ullrich in the face as he shoots off into the distance, the German being made to look pedestrian whilst still destroying the rest of the peloton himself. But all these scenes, exciting though they may be, are now utterly unconvincing and ultimately fake.

The 2012 route then was one which certainly highlighted strong time trialists, but still needed gritty and dogged performances in the mountains to pull of a victory. Wiggins and Froome did not ride everybody to oblivion. Their climbing 'dominance' was epitomised on stage 17 where they rode everybody else off their wheels - however they finished no more than 15 seconds ahead of third place overall Vincenzo Nibali. And just 3 seconds over youngest rider in the race Thibaut Pinot. What is especially telling is how this appeared to us - the judgmental public - as a complete trouncing of the field. Compare this though, to the likes of Armstrong claiming 2 minutes over Ullrich on a single assent of Alpe d'Huez in 2001. Or passing Basso on the mountain time trial in 2004. These performances were exciting, magnificent, unreal.

As a result, Wiggins was the only person who ever looked likely to win the Tour because of his supreme time trialling skill, and the whole race perhaps seemed monotonous and easily-predictable. But in the age where the form book tells us everything we need to know, and where races are easy enough to predict anyway, shouldn't this be the case?

Take away the fireworks and you don't get burnt. Prudhomme performed a masterstroke to protect cycling from the fire in an oh so significant year. While talking about Lance and the dirty years of cycling, we need to look at this year's races and believe in clean and honest sport. It may not keep you on the edge of your seat, but it might just save professional cycling altogether.

Click to recap the 2012 Tour de France route and to see what's in store for 2013 when hopefully viewers can watch with renewed faith.