Tour de France better than Giro or Vuelta to win

thebourke

why is it that more riders want to win the tour de france than the giro or vuelta..they all are a 3 week race...have mountain stages/flat stages and time trials..
is the tour a lot tougher than the other two?

fat bloke

thebourke wrote: »

why is it that more riders want to win the tour de france than the giro or vuelta..they all are a 3 week race...have mountain stages/flat stages and time trials..
is the tour a lot tougher than the other two?

Status. That would be my opinion. It's a more prestigious race. Like the Wimbledon of cycling or something, it's got a heritage and a broad recognition in the eyes of the public. People who otherwise have no interest in cycling will pay attention to press coverage of the TdeF but not be similarly drawn to the giro/vuelta.

Flandria

I reckon the purists would consider the Giro the toughest race, something that Zomegnan underlined when he directed the Giro. Le Tour is just simply the race that the whole world knows about, sometimes it's great more often it's a little bit dull and predictable. This year it was like watching wood warp but in fairness the Giro was hardly epic either. Both Il Giro and La Vuelta are prepared to be daring in the mountains (Stelvio, Mortirolo, Gavia, Zoncolan, Angrilu, Mondo Bolo etc.) and go to climbs that Le Tour simply wouldnt bring the caravan and entourage to. Everyone remembers the Tour de France winners though...

Hermy

Like Wimbledon in tennis and The Open in golf the Tour de France is the oldest major in cycling and maybe that accounts for the increased prestige.

elduggo

If you put it to Basso or Nibali I reckon they'd tell you winning the Giro means more to them. Perhaps likewise the Vuelta to someone like Cobo. In general, in terms of profile, theres no comparison between those GTs and the Tour de France.

Doc Daneeka

I reckon there is more of a gap than comparing to The Open or Wimbledon. Any pro in golf or tennis would rank the other majors very close if not higher for some.

Hermy

I just mean that the perception that the Tour [or the Open or Wimbledon] is the most prestigious may have something to do with it's being the oldest.

kincsem

Imo the Giro was not respected because of tifosi pushing the Italians over the climbs, and abuse of foreign riders by the tifosi.

The Vuelta lacked credibility at times. In 1960 the peleton crawled along in protest when their request for an extra feeding station on a very long stage was ignored by the organisers. The peleton arrived at the finish two and a half hours late. This continued for the next four stages.
Federico Bahamontes team-mate was banned for deliberately finishing outside the time limit so he could remain fresh and help his leader on the next stage. Because of his banning on the next stage Bahamontes deliberately finished outside the time limit and was banned also. A fiasco.

funnights74

I remember when Stephen Roche had his great year he commented later that even though the Tour was the most prestigious victory the giro was physically far more demanding of the two. I personally prefer the giro, as this years tour showed a decent big team like sky and banesto in the past can nullify the mountain stages and sow up victory in the tt's. The giro route is also much more imaginative and throws up all kinds of possibilities.
In saying that this years vuelta looks very tantalizing to say the least, Contador, froome and schleck giving it loads and a few hard mountain top finishes, just as a major tour should have. I hardly watched any of this years TdF but i eagerly anticipate the forthcoming vuelta.

davyjose

funnights74 wrote: »

I remember when Stephen Roche had his great year he commented later that even though the Tour was the most prestigious victory the giro was physically far more demanding of the two. I personally prefer the giro, as this years tour showed a decent big team like sky and banesto in the past can nullify the mountain stages and sow up victory in the tt's. The giro route is also much more imaginative and throws up all kinds of possibilities.
In saying that this years vuelta looks very tantalizing to say the least, Contador, froome and schleck giving it loads and a few hard mountain top finishes, just as a major tour should have. I hardly watched any of this years TdF but i eagerly anticipate the forthcoming vuelta.

Roche basically rode alone in that Giro, breaking team orders to win. what he did was incredible. So I'm not surprised it's so difficult.

Why is the tour the most prestigious? Well, because it is. 90% of riders gear their entire training schedule to peak in July, and barring injury or suspension, all of the elite will race it. This doesn't happen in the Giro or Vuelta. So it's really thanks to the riders themselves that this gap remains.

It seems the prestige of the giro relative to the tour has diminished a lot in th last 20-25 years. That's partly down IMO to guys like Armstrong totally foregoing it, and focussing solely on yellow in Paris.

davyjose

Flandria wrote: »

I reckon the purists would consider the Giro the toughest race, something that Zomegnan underlined when he directed the Giro. Le Tour is just simply the race that the whole world knows about, sometimes it's great more often it's a little bit dull and predictable. This year it was like watching wood warp but in fairness the Giro was hardly epic either. Both Il Giro and La Vuelta are prepared to be daring in the mountains (Stelvio, Mortirolo, Gavia, Zoncolan, Angrilu, Mondo Bolo etc.) and go to climbs that Le Tour simply wouldnt bring the caravan and entourage to. Everyone remembers the Tour de France winners though...

The first TT was cracking. The mountains weren't great, but i can't remember a really great mountain stage since Armstrong gave Ullrich "the look" on L'alpe d'huez.

iregk

davyjose wrote: »

The mountains weren't great, but i can't remember a really great mountain stage since Armstrong gave Ullrich "the look" on L'alpe d'huez.

You mean you completely missed Andy's look to Bertie? Even better than the Lance one...

You also missed Evans on a mission last year after suffering chain problems only to grind his way back up the mountain reconnecting with the group close to the top.

Man where have you been...