bigger than the tour de france....''world tour''

[luigiV]

Just been thinking recently seing as now pro cycling has gone global to most continents around the world . And something come to mind, and wonder if the uci would ever consider it..imagine a tour bigger than the tour de france for example the ''world tour '' having just say 3 or 4 stages each in the most prominent cycling continents totalling 22 or 23 stages all up.
for example starting in france then of to usa then england then australia dubai just say finishing back in france...yous get the drift i know with all travelling etc and flights jetlag etc it sounds a little stupid and impossible but if it was done the overall winner would be crowned official world champion or world tour winner and ultimatly be the biggest prize in cycling , in the same way as formula 1 racing is structured after they finish the formula one season visiting all the continents the winner is crowned '' world champion'' but unlike the formula one it wouldnt be over the course of a season, it could run over 24 or 25 racing days total !!..... but obviously with tranfers ,flights, etc the total days on the tour for riders would be like 30 days or thereabouts.

So do any of yous think you would know or have any ideas.... of how a structured ''tour'' ....not a points system,.. but a tour ran like the tour de france could work could it be possible ??
The tour would still be run on lowest accumulated time visiting all the big cycling continents around the world over and whoever has the lowest accumulated time is the winner.
Seeing its not a sport thats just dominated by the french italians these days etc its so global now that it would be heaps good to see something like ..any sugestions

 

[Catwhoorg]

Not so much.

But I would like to see a 3 week grand tour of the Americas (maybe North one year and South the next).

Then work on getting more and more involvement in Asia/Pacific.

 

[Marcus135]

Three grand tours in a year is plenty and there is defiantly no need to move them to another country. Ever.

I don't think a world grand tour would work either. To much traveling and i doubt many riders would want to participate.

 

[Kvinto]

it would be just an another try to reinvent the wheel, the fixed idea that in the end noone really need

 

[rzombie1988]

Three grand tours in a year is plenty and there is defiantly no need to move them to another country. Ever.

I don't think a world grand tour would work either. To much traveling and i doubt many riders would want to participate.

I'd like to see a 4th grand tour. There's definitely time for it and I think if it was more towards the beginning/end of the year, some names would come out for it.

As cycling grows more, there will probably be a real world tour. It's definitely going to come to that someday.

 

[Escarabajo]

No thanks.

The Tour of the Americas idea sounds good.

 

[just some guy]

No thanks.

The Tour of the Americas idea sounds good.

I'd like to see a 4th grand tour. There's definitely time for it and I think if it was more towards the beginning/end of the year, some names would come out for it.

If there will be another 3 week tour then Tour of the America will be it, but where would it fit, I don´t see room for it anywhere

wrote 4 instead of 3 for length of tour -

 

[TeoSheva]

First stage in Madagascar, 2nd in New Zeland and third in Brasile? mmm... I don't know...

 

[ultimobici]

I'd like to see a 4th grand tour. There's definitely time for it and I think if it was more towards the beginning/end of the year, some names would come out for it.

As cycling grows more, there will probably be a real world tour. It's definitely going to come to that someday.

When would you have it?

1 The first part of the year is just after the off season - no one of note is going to be in form.
2 Next is the Classics - similar issue as 1
3 Giro & Tour time - see 1
4 Post Tour time/crit season - see 1
4 Vuelta - see 1 & Tour/Giro lot on beach
5 October - most riders have ended their season

Cycling has one of the longest seasons already with plenty of races crying out for sponsorship already. Why cram more races in and spread that sponsorship even thinner? Also when you've shoe-horned your GT #4 into the calendar, what becomes of the races it clashes with which may be just a few quid away from being unviable to run?

Road cycling and GTs in particular are about recovery. Too many races and the standard drops.

 

[Escarabajo]

If there will be another 4 week tour then Tour of the America will be it, but where would it fit, I don´t see room for it anywhere

Beginning of the year. It won't have the best names on it, but enough riders would be interested just to be ready for the Classics. Colombia and Venezuela have some good races at the beginning of the year. We don't have the seasonal weather problems.

Even La Vuelta a Colombia could be moved. It would probably has to be shortened to 10 days maybe. I hate to see it shortened, but if it becomes more popular then be it.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

You also have to consider a GT carries a lot of prestige and tradition relevant to the host nation. The US has no traditions to speak of; we are pre-teens compared to France, Italy, and Spain. A GT throughout the US would have no distinguishable characteristics and would be entirely about sponsorship revenues. I'd love to see races like ToC, USA PCC, and ToU grow enough to add more stage racing throughout the country (Remember tour of Georgia), Canada and south America, but a 4th GT would not work.

And by the way, a world grand tour is simply impossible because of transfers. You have riders complaining about transfers that last a couple hours let alone a day or more. Could you imagine racing a bike for a couple days, then spending your rest day on a plane leaving Australia for Asia or Europe only to race several more days.

 

[rzombie1988]

When would you have it?

1 The first part of the year is just after the off season - no one of note is going to be in form.
2 Next is the Classics - similar issue as 1
3 Giro & Tour time - see 1
4 Post Tour time/crit season - see 1
4 Vuelta - see 1 & Tour/Giro lot on beach
5 October - most riders have ended their season

Cycling has one of the longest seasons already with plenty of races crying out for sponsorship already. Why cram more races in and spread that sponsorship even thinner? Also when you've shoe-horned your GT #4 into the calendar, what becomes of the races it clashes with which may be just a few quid away from being unviable to run?

Road cycling and GTs in particular are about recovery. Too many races and the standard drops.

"Why cram more races in?" - Because I like cycling and want to see more of it, especially during the boring non-cycling winter months. I don't think the cycling season has to ever end. Since riders cherry pick which races they want to do anyway, it won't matter. There's plenty of warm places to run races and plenty of money to be made.

Things might have to change to make it work, but that's how it is. Not everone is going to do the 4th GT anyway(Few people do more than 1 right now anyway), however for the riders that would do it, it would be there. I think people could do the 4th GT at the end of the year and it would have no affect on performances in the the TdF/Giro. I think it would work out well for the Tour peakers.

And a GT in the US could have as many characteristics as one would want. USA is huge. There's no end to all of the stuff you could do in the USA. Anyone who says differently knows nothing about USA.

I think a World Tour is possible, but it is not time for it yet. You can take a few days in each region and take some extra rest days for long transfers. It doesn't have to follow the typical 1 rest day a week format. Also, organizers could choose more logical and easier transfers, instead of like going to USA one day then Japan the next.

 

[Sophistic]

Worst idea ever, this whole going global tour of beijingoman nonsense has to stop. A lot of the fascination of pro cycling comes with its history, you cant just add and add without destroying the character of this sport.
Scratch the Tour of Beijing, the Tour of Poland, atleast one of the two canadian races from the WT calendar and then we can talk about adding the Tour of Cali maybe. And lets be honest, the domination of riders of european heritage is appealing to the euro-usa-aus market.

 

[Parrulo]

this is one really silly idea. so is the 4th GT idea imo

cycling = tradition

 

[ElChingon]

Why do they need to force new races on us and the riders? New races need to develop into something not be made huge at the expense of those taking part or the fans. If a race is so great riders and fans will naturally gravitate to it, not the other way around.

Just look at the great Tour of Dubai (or what ever its called or is), who's planning on going to watch that great tour? It has become a training ride for sprinters and flat stage riders, anyone saying anything different is just off their rocker. I know someone who lives near it and from his pictures there are more fans at your local industrial park crit than that Tour.

Lets keep cycling in Europe where it is, it works there, lets keep transfers down to two per GT and within at least one timezone change and no crossing the equator! I still think each GT should be self contain within the host country!

 

[ultimobici]

"Why cram more races in?" - Because I like cycling and want to see more of it, especially during the boring non-cycling winter months. I don't think the cycling season has to ever end. Since riders cherry pick which races they want to do anyway, it won't matter. There's plenty of warm places to run races and plenty of money to be made.

Things might have to change to make it work, but that's how it is. Not everone is going to do the 4th GT anyway(Few people do more than 1 right now anyway), however for the riders that would do it, it would be there. I think people could do the 4th GT at the end of the year and it would have no affect on performances in the the TdF/Giro. I think it would work out well for the Tour peakers.

And a GT in the US could have as many characteristics as one would want. USA is huge. There's no end to all of the stuff you could do in the USA. Anyone who says differently knows nothing about USA.

I think a World Tour is possible, but it is not time for it yet. You can take a few days in each region and take some extra rest days for long transfers. It doesn't have to follow the typical 1 rest day a week format. Also, organizers could choose more logical and easier transfers, instead of like going to USA one day then Japan the next.

There's 'cross & track when the road season is not running. Cycling is one of, if not the, hardest sports around yet it also has one of the longest seasons on top of that. Part of the doping problem arose because of the demands of a long hard season. Your idea to expect European based riders & staff to race through the winter is ludicrous. They have to have an amount of down time to recharge their batteries.

The boring non-cycling months you speak of make for a sense of anticipation of the next season. What you advocate is akin to summer all year. I love summer but I appreciate it all the more because of winter.

 

[The Hitch]

If there will be another 3 week tour then Tour of the America will be it, but where would it fit, I don´t see room for it anywhere

wrote 4 instead of 3 for length of tour -

He said Tour of AmericaS

I have always said i would like a Vuelta a Colombia as 4th gt in October/November, when weather is still good in Colombia.

It is a race with a huge tradition, 65 years i think now, and huge mountains and most importantly a cycling base there.

Make 6 or 7 of the teams SOuth American, that gives them a big presence in the race, and the other 15 teams are the best european teams. For riders who feel Tour wasnt enough.

 

[ramjambunath]

He said Tour of AmericaS

I have always said i would like a Vuelta a Colombia as 4th gt in October/November, when weather is still good in Colombia.

It is a race with a huge tradition, 65 years i think now, and huge mountains and most importantly a cycling base there.

Make 6 or 7 of the teams SOuth American, that gives them a big presence in the race, and the other 15 teams are the best european teams. For riders who feel Tour wasnt enough.

Unfortunately, the UCI has no iota of sense and have hacked the Vuelta Colombia off the Americas tour.

 

[User Guide]

Adding more races=more racing??? I think not;as has been stated lots of races are just deemed training rides by a large part of the peleton. Better to give meaning and value to the races we have.There is "pro tour" races, do we have a pro tour champion?
The womens peleton has a world cup with a champion
MTB has too and a champion
Triathlon same thing including a champion
the ToC,TdU,Tour of Biejing,Qatar et al will never carry any real value(apart from native riders) other than showing up too appease sponsors+Uci and training.
What about tour champion best Xn results are counted say 10 points winning week long race, double or treble for a grand tour(maybe extra for le tour)
Same with one day races, best X number of races count with bonus points for monuments.
Maybe this way we wont see talented riders only going at it once or twice a year.Plus people new too cycling dont really get the mish mash we have now.People like to know who the best is, they like champions.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

3 GTs is enough. The only countries that can sustain a 3 week GT are those that already have the cycling tradition that means they can guarantee the audience and the interest. Other places should concentrate on establishing one week races and one-day races first. The US is doing well with the Utah-Colorado mini-season. I'd hate to see them give up on that straight away for a 3-week Tour of the Rockies. You could create a great parcours, but it would be too hard for the lack of prestige and history. Besides, what we've seen from many races in "expansion areas" (ie those countries without established cycling history) is the need to ensure a good fan turnout by keeping the finishes close to or in urban centres, which has often resulted in disappointing parcours. Stretch that over 3 weeks and it becomes difficult to justify the GT tag.

Even those really hard races WITH history have problems. The Volta a Portugal, for example, has trouble attracting teams. Why? Because with the Iberian péloton struggling for teams, with several in both Spain and Portugal folding in recent years, they're reliant more and more on outside teams, and unless that race has full WorldTour points, teams are reluctant to put riders through the suffering and hard work that is eleven days in the baking heat of Portugal in August to gain the same number of points as they can get from a relatively simple race like Paris-Corrèze, that lasts 2 days and lets them then enter some more races afterwards.

And if you make your prospective 4th GT WorldTour, then something needs to give, because you're asking the same teams to do yet more with the same 30 riders. Either team size needs to increase or a whole bunch of WorldTour races would need to be jettisoned to make room.

The only real long race we need to see return is the Peace Race. Give a focal point to that Eastern European calendar, although I fear it would suffer from the same problems that the Volta has been facing.

 

[hfer07]

If I was going to envision a "World Cycling Tour"- i'd say-hypothetically & thinking progressively/outside the box............. wouldn't be a global competition with an elimination process like the "Football* World Cup" to make it work & worth having it?

*PS: Football as in "soccer" for the USA readers

 

[Pippo_San]

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

...there was this famed UCI Road World Cup...then, some retards decided to create the UCI ProTour and here you go.

Ok you want a GT, but it's unnecessary really...just a few corrections to the old formula would've been enough to grant a REAL world champion...

 

[El Pistolero]

Phil would have won it 3 times by now

 

[rzombie1988]

There's 'cross & track when the road season is not running. Cycling is one of, if not the, hardest sports around yet it also has one of the longest seasons on top of that. Part of the doping problem arose because of the demands of a long hard season. Your idea to expect European based riders & staff to race through the winter is ludicrous. They have to have an amount of down time to recharge their batteries.

The boring non-cycling months you speak of make for a sense of anticipation of the next season. What you advocate is akin to summer all year. I love summer but I appreciate it all the more because of winter.

Couple of points:

- I don't watch track or cross. I watch road cycling and I can't watch it when there are no races.

- Dopers dope whether it's a hard year or an easy year. That's why they are called dopers.

- I hate winter and would love summer all year. You can enjoy freezing and not being able to go places because there is ice all over the road. I'll enjoy wearing shorts and going wherever I please. Remember, there are other places outside of Europe and not all of them get cold during the winter. I'll take riding in 50 degree weather in florida during the winter than 85 in France during the summer anytime.

 

[El Pistolero]

Couple of points:

- I don't watch track or cross. I watch road cycling and I can't watch it when there are no races.

- Dopers dope whether it's a hard year or an easy year. That's why they are called dopers.

- I hate winter and would love summer all year. You can enjoy freezing and not being able to go places because there is ice all over the road. I'll enjoy wearing shorts and going wherever I please. Remember, there are other places outside of Europe and not all of them get cold during the winter. I'll take riding in 50 degree weather in florida during the winter than 85 in France during the summer anytime.

The fun only begins after Lombardia
Cyclocross is a very great sport to watch.