2010:Best Grand Tour Route

[auscyclefan94]

Now that we know all the different routes for the grand Tour's which one is your favourite and Why?

Personally, I like the Vuelta as it gives a reasonable amount of TT and some awesome climbing stages.

 

[Moondance]

Giro, but not by a lot. The Vuelta looks to have almost as many exciting finishes; but when comparing it to the Giro, it ranks slightly lower on the all out bloodbath stages, which are of course the Giro's specialty.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Giro, but not by a lot. The Vuelta looks to have almost as many exciting finishes; but when comparing it to the Giro, it ranks slightly lower on the all out bloodbath stages, which are of course the Giro's specialty.

I think the racing is better generally at the giro but i think the vuelta has a bit more flat tt'ing which makes it a more balanced route plus the 6 mountain top finishes.

 

[phillop]

For a change i like the tour route best.
theres a bit of every thing, cobbles, classics climbs early on, heaps of medium mountains, and the high mountains stages are alot more appealing than usual. I dont like the stages that are just confined to the sprinters 95% of the time, so this route is refreshing as there is so few of them.

 

[Moondance]

I think the racing is better generally at the giro but i think the vuelta has a bit more flat tt'ing which makes it a more balanced route plus the 6 mountain top finishes.

Well, the Giro has 5 mountain finishes, with the TT up to the Kronplatz as well. And if Mountain top finishes can sway you, I present Stage 15:

And just a reminder, the Zoncolan from Ovaro:

 

[Mellow Velo]

I agree with Moondance, the Giro as usual, but not by much.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the hardest course is the Giro, handsdown, you have to be an elite climber to win that.

But my favourite is the Tour, mainly due to a more balanced approach between mountains and time trials.

If the giro had of scrapped the 32km TTT and replaced it with a 32km individual TT, then it would have been my fav.

Interesting that all 3 are very climber oriented this year, but as I said in the Vuelta thread, I would prefer the Tour has 100km individual TT kms and the Giro/Vuelta have at least 60km individual TTs.. that's just my preference tho, for a more balanced GT layout.

 

[eleven]

And just a reminder, the Zoncolan from Ovaro:

My gawd....My legs get tired just looking at that! From the 4th to the 7th kilometer you might need a rope.

 

[benpounder]

Aside from the actual routes, La Gazzetta dello Sport (Giro) has hosted the best website of all three for years. Love their mountain stage graphics and details...

 

[Ferminal]

I think all routes offer enough to say that all three of them will produce great competition, albeit in slightly different ways. The Giro is... The Giro. To me Le Tour seems much more complete for 2010 than it was this year. The Vuelta will keep trying to find the perfect route and in a lot of ways the smaller finishes will be good.

But alas, the spectacle is made by the cyclists. Who is going to attack Menchov, can anyone get close to Contador, and will somone attack in the Vuelta. We can be happy with them today, but come July it could be 2009 all over again.

 

[titan_90]

The Giro as always for me

For you guys that have never seen the Zoncolan here is stage 17 from the 2007 Giro.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I like the TdF route because of the cobbles; I think it will really shake things up early. The route I like the most, however, is the Giro. It has plenty of climbing, seven sprint stages, a TTT , the gravel rodes around Montalcino, and begins and ends with a TT. It's just very well balanced. I'm also a bit bias here because I visited Montalcino while living in Montepulciano. I'm looking forward to that feeling of nostalgia when I watch stage 7.

What happened to the finish in Siena on Piazza del Campo?

 

[Skip Madness]

I don't quite understand the love for the Giro route. In the entire first thirteen stages, only one (Terminillo) is going to see some proper climbing. Granted, it goes insane after that, but it's a bit of a wait and the first fortnight may be a bore.

I voted for the Vuelta, but rethinking it I'd probably say the Tour has the best route for once (I thought the day would never come when I'd wrote those words).

 

[Angliru]

The Giro as always for me

For you guys that have never seen the Zoncolan here is stage 17 from the 2007 Giro.

Thanks for the link!

GIBO BRINGING THE PAIN! Fantastic stage!

 

[auscyclefan94]

i kinda wanna change my vote to the tour as it has a bit more ITTing. i agree with mountain goat that a 32km ITT would be a bit better in the Giro.

 

[auscyclefan94]

How hard is that going to be? That stage is going to be a ripper! - Plan de Corones

 

[Anonymous]

How hard is that going to be? That stage is going to be a ripper! - Plan de Corones

Sweet pic - love the skier guy. He was probably wondering what all the commotion was about, and then realised their was a bike race on!

Good to see some respectable crowds as well. MTF time trials have the potential for some messed up fan to ruin it for everyone

 

[Mellow Velo]

Hah! Many riders took almost four minutes, for that final km!

My great regret is that, in 2006, we didn't get this finish on an actual race stage, due to a day of heavy snow. I think it would have brought a whole new level of grovelling.

 

[guncha]

The Tour of course.

Firstly, Giro has only two short ITTs. 23 km is a bit too less.

Secondly, Tour has GC stages all over the race (Rousses and Morzine in the first week, Mende, Ax3 Domaines, Luchon in the second week, Tourmalet and ITT in the final week) while Giro starts with 14th stage only.

Thirdly, Giro has only two hard MTFs in road stages (Terminollo and Zoncolan) and in none of those stages there are 1st. cat or H.C. before the final climb. However, Giro has some serious climbs before the MTF (Mortirolo in Aprica stage and Gavia in Tonale stage) but as experience has shown those climbs might not be very decisive if they are not followed by hard MTF or short decent. TDF has it all - decent MTFs with at least one 1st cat or H.C. just before the final climb.

Fourthly, Giro has Corones ITT but if there is an uphill ITT then there should be long ITT as well. I would rate Giro higher it had long ITT instead of Corones and final stage would have been without short ITT.

Fifthly, Tour has more stages with decent that could provide GC action (Luchon and St.Jean vs Asolo). A climb in Asolo stage is harder than aforementioned TDF stages but it is located 40km before finish while in TDF they are located 30km and 20km before the line (Asolo is single col stage while St.Jean and Luchon are multiple col stages).

Sixtly, medium MTFs of Tour are harder (Rousses and Mende vs Pejo Terme).

Vuelta could also be criticized that there are too many single col MTF stages but it has more ITT kms than in Giro. Vuelta still has some stages with hard MTFs and hard other cols.