2nd at Le Tour vs 1st at Il Giro.

[Zam_Olyas]

Well Voeckler couldnt even beat a horse.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/voeckler-loses-out-to-trotting-horse

Gadret did though, which furthers his case for being on the list of best all rounders

Hoogerland against a harness racing horse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twJ_3QL35Dw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDF-g7gjpU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7tK2P8v9Lw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBrgU0WOHjQ&feature=related

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I wonder who won the F1 car or Samu

That's an A1GP or GP2 car, I think. Not quite as exclusive as an F1 car!

 

[El Pistolero]

That's an A1GP or GP2 car, I think. Not quite as exclusive as an F1 car!

Owh, I know nothing about cars and it shows

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Owh, I know nothing about cars and it shows

The national sponsors are typical of A1GP (they tried to be a 'world cup of motorsport' with the cars representing different countries, which was quite a ridiculous aim) but I can't recall a Russian team. Hence why I thought it might have been GP2, if Vitaly Petrov or Mikhail Aleshin brought some national sponsor money with them.

Edit: now checked online - no A1GP Team Russia. So it must be GP2, which would make sense - the team Petrov drove for in '08 was based in Spain.

 

[The Hitch]

The national sponsors are typical of A1GP (they tried to be a 'world cup of motorsport' with the cars representing different countries, which was quite a ridiculous aim) but I can't recall a Russian team. Hence why I thought it might have been GP2, if Vitaly Petrov or Mikhail Aleshin brought some national sponsor money with them.

Edit: now checked online - no A1GP Team Russia. So it must be GP2, which would make sense - the team Petrov drove for in '08 was based in Spain.

Evgeni Petrov?

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Il Giro 1st >> 2nd le Tour, IMO...
even considering all of Poulidor's le Tour 2nd's got him more French love than all of Anquetil's 1st's did for Jacques. I say that because if I was competing I definately would rather win a major like the Giro than place 2nd anywhere else.

EDIT: It's a landslide vote! Still, great question IMO.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Evgeni Petrov?

My mistake, he was with Tinkoff in '08.

He did once ride with a Spanish team though (iBanesto.com in '03)

 

[greenedge]

Poulidor still won a Vuelta at least though.

 

[luckyboy]

Wow thought this poll might've been closer..

 

[theyoungest]

Wow thought this poll might've been closer..

It's a poll among hardcore cycling fans, what did you expect? For the general public it will no doubt be different.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If it was 2nd at Il Giro vs. 3rd at Le Tour, it might have been different.

3rd at Il Giro vs. 4th at Le Tour could have been an interesting one, since only one is a podium.

 

[Swabian Lass]

No question, winning Il Giro trumps 2nd at Le Tour any day of the week. However, if you were to speak to non-core cycling fans in - say - the USA and UK you might get a different answer, because they've only ever heard of Le Tour.

I'd be interested to know, obviously the French think that winning Le Tour is the pinnacle of achievement, I know enough Italians to know that they consider Il Giro comes way ahead of Le Tour in terms of achievement, but do the Spanish feel the same about the Vuelta?

 

[sublimit]

If it was 2nd at Il Giro vs. 3rd at Le Tour, it might have been different.

3rd at Il Giro vs. 4th at Le Tour could have been an interesting one, since only one is a podium.

Winning the Vuelta over a podium at the Tour would be interesting. I still go for the win every time though.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Winning the Vuelta over a podium at the Tour would be interesting. I still go for the win every time though.

I'd still agree on the win being more valuable, but many would disagree.

I would point out that most of us were happy to say that, even before his Tour podium in 2010, Denis Menchov had a better GT palmarès than Cadel Evans until Evans won the Tour, despite Evans' two 2nds at the Tour.

 

[theyoungest]

I'd still agree on the win being more valuable, but many would disagree.

I would point out that most of us were happy to say that, even before his Tour podium in 2010, Denis Menchov had a better GT palmarès than Cadel Evans until Evans won the Tour, despite Evans' two 2nds at the Tour.

In the Evans discussion, there was always the question whether this guy would ever win a GT, because for some reason it just never worked out. And then the example of Menchov, arguably less talented but a 3 time GT winner, was an easy one to use.

On the other hand, Menchov gave the impression that he'd finally proven a point (at least to himself) when he made the podium at the Tour.

 

[sublimit]

I'd still agree on the win being more valuable, but many would disagree.

I would point out that most of us were happy to say that, even before his Tour podium in 2010, Denis Menchov had a better GT palmarès than Cadel Evans until Evans won the Tour, despite Evans' two 2nds at the Tour.

Depends if your analyzing the palmares overall but ultimately 2nd places get forgotten by most people even if they are worthy, Chris Froome will be yesterdays news soon despite a heroic ride as a super domestique during the vuelta.

Jan Ullrich is remembered for constantly finishing second to Armstrong in the Tour despite one win overall and I'm not so sure he's proud of that particularly.

 

[The Hitch]

No question, winning Il Giro trumps 2nd at Le Tour any day of the week. However, if you were to speak to non-core cycling fans in - say - the USA and UK you might get a different answer, because they've only ever heard of Le Tour.

I'd be interested to know, obviously the French think that winning Le Tour is the pinnacle of achievement, I know enough Italians to know that they consider Il Giro comes way ahead of Le Tour in terms of achievement, but do the Spanish feel the same about the Vuelta?

In the UK- stage of Tour> Giro d'Italia.

 

[Descender]

Disagree. I can guarantee you that Andy Schleck got more publicity for his 2nd in TDF than Cobo got for his Vuelta win. The Vuelta is not nearly as prestigious as the Giro.

Who said anything about publicity? The talk is about prestige and importance.

 

[McLovin]

For most cycling fans/telespectators is like this:
Tour winner
Cavendish
Tour Podium
Thor Hushovd
Cancellara
Polka Dot
That guy who was hit by a car
That guy who won al Alpe d'Huez
..
The guy who got caught
..
Sean Kelly (or the comentators of their country)
..
Kenny
....
Giro Winner

 

[theyoungest]

In the UK- stage of Tour> Giro d'Italia.

I guess in every country except France and Belgium. In Holland we barely get to see the Giro.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

I guess in every country except France and Belgium. In Holland we barely get to see the Giro.

Sigh it's such a shame. Althoug I did read somewhere the VRT wanted to cut back on cycling coverage to reduce costs. Now that would suck big time

 

[Descender]

I thought we were talking about knowledgeable fans.

 

[theyoungest]

Sigh it's such a shame. Althoug I did read somewhere the VRT wanted to cut back on cycling coverage to reduce costs. Now that would suck big time

That would suck indeed, because now there's still the possibility for us Dutchies to watch it on Sporza.

I thought we were talking about knowledgeable fans.

Depends on how you define "prestige". To me personally, an Oscar isn't very prestigious, but it is the most prestigious prize in film.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

That would suck indeed, because now there's still the possibility for us Dutchies to watch it on Sporza.


Depends on how you define "prestige". To me personally, an Oscar isn't very prestigious, but it is the most prestigious prize in film.

Wasn't that the 'Palme d'or' from Cannes?
Most movies that win a few oscars are really good though.

 

[The Hitch]

I guess in every country except France and Belgium. In Holland we barely get to see the Giro.

Also Italy

I hear its big there

Also in Spain Giro was big especially as Contador was doing it. El Pais had the Giro as one of its 3 main stories on the website every day during the race. Veo7 one of the main channels - which does Barca Real games, covered it.

In my country when they were advertising the TDP they said it was now one of the big races (WT status) like The Tour de France, The Giro d italia and Paris Roubaix.

Denmark or at least the one town is forking out 2 mil to stage the Giro. I know its not big in Holland but that Amsterdam prologue had some of the best crowds ive ever seen and then they said they had 800 thou spectators for the 2nd stage too.

So it is definately bigger in mainland europe.