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

[Nielsa]

- 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.

Problem is no top athlete can do a 11/12 month season. The NHL season (82 games + playoffs) is considered very very long, and they have a 4-month break.

Are you proposing, in fact, the possibility for some road racers to race say july-april (TdF->autumn season->new winter races->the usual spring races) instead of jan/feb-october?

 

[rzombie1988]

Also, not to be a snot, but I really do enjoy GT's. That's why I want to see more of them. I think it's great to have something to follow everyday for 3 weeks straight.

 

[rzombie1988]

Problem is no top athlete can do a 12/12 month season. The NHL season (82 games + playoffs) is considered very very long, and they have a 4-month break.

Are you proposing, in fact, the possibility for some road racers to race say july-april (TdF->autumn season->new winter races->the usual spring races) instead of february-october?

I agree that the NHL and moreover the MLB seasons are too long, but then again, one game of theirs is too long for me.

Well, if there were winter races, I think the pros could have the option of a different schedule like the one you mentioned. The people who peak for the tour should be more than well refreshed around winter time. They could do the race and it would have no affect on their tour performances. What would also be good about a 4th GT is that it would give different people chances to shine. If there was no Vuelta this year, Froome might not even have a ride for the next year, yet alone a multi-year contract. It could also mean more spots for more riders since there would be new races, which would lead to more contenders and more exciting races.

 

[cineteq]

A world GT is logistically impossible nowadays, maybe possible when we have access to teletransportation (beam me up Scotty!).

Seriously, a 4th GT will be fantastic in the Winter time (northern hemisphere). Have you heard of the fourth grand slam, the Australian open for tennis? Too bad Australia doe not have big mountains, otherwise it would be a perfect place. So the only place left seems to be Colombia: nicer weather, fans and interesting parcours. I can't see another country hosting a GT during the Winter time.

 

[rzombie1988]

A world GT is logistically impossible nowadays, maybe possible when we have access to teletransportation (beam me up Scotty!).

Seriously, a 4th GT will be fantastic in the Winter time (northern hemisphere). Have you heard of the fourth grand slam, the Australian open for tennis? Too bad Australia doe not have big mountains, otherwise it would be a perfect place. So the only place left seems to be Colombia: nicer weather, fans and interesting parcours. I can't see another country hosting a GT during the Winter time.

USA can easily. Tons of mountains and hills out in las vegas in the desert during the winter, plus parts of texas, california, florida and some other states.

 

[luigiV]

well yeh i know cramming another tour in the season is such a long shot basically impossible in a way, and not to take anything away from the prestige of all the grand tours or pro cycling in general, but yeh i think maybee the uci will eventually go down that path to adding a tour like this in the future just because how cycling is heading so global atm it would only benefit the uci financially and in heaps of other ways...well you cant say the uci doesnt change theyre system and they arent scared to introduce new things they introduced the uci world cup leader jersey for the pro tour for example going back a few years. But yes keep the sport in europe it always will be a european sport but just would be good to see a world champion crowned '' the world champion '' after visiting different continents and countrys or whatever then the last part of the tour or last stage would be finished back in europe and winner is the world champion.

anyways yeh all thoughts just thinking a little outside the box thats all.. any different ideas or thoughts keep em coming

 

[clipperton]

Too bad Australia doe not have big mountains, otherwise it would be a perfect place.

off the top of my head i can think of 4 climbs (baw baw, donna buang, buffalo and falls creek) that classify as hc within about 3 hours drive of where they hold the tennis. we may not have big mountains, but we have some tough climbs.

that said, the idea of trying to do anything at a serious level down here that involves going uphill for a long time is not gonna work. we've not got a big enough market to justify hauling the top teams down here for anything other than a sunny warmup session in january.
that said, if prize money ever overtakes tv revenue and marketing obligations as the motivator for pro teams' schedules, except major events victoria to come veritably roaring in at the tdu's precious pro-tour status.

 

[BroDeal]

off the top of my head i can think of 4 climbs (baw baw, donna buang, buffalo and falls creek) that classify as hc within about 3 hours drive of where they hold the tennis. we may not have big mountains, but we have some tough climbs.

that said, the idea of trying to do anything at a serious level down here that involves going uphill for a long time is not gonna work. we've not got a big enough market to justify hauling the top teams down here for anything other than a sunny warmup session in january.
that said, if prize money ever overtakes tv revenue and marketing obligations as the motivator for pro teams' schedules, except major events victoria to come veritably roaring in at the tdu's precious pro-tour status.

No problem, mate. We'll just move the tour to New Zealand. Ya'll sound alike to americans anyway.

 

[clipperton]

No problems, mate. We'll just move the tour to New Zealand. Ya'll sound alike to americans anyway.

having managed to read the op of this thread i can't imagine that sound is anything you'd be aspiring to. pardon me, anything "yous" would be aspiring to.

tour de south island of new zulland would be spictucular!

 

[Mshengu]

Instead of trying to go Big, its better to vigorously develop cycling in the different continents by creating good races and raising money/sponsorship for continental teams and races and development programs. If we put efforts in making races outside Europe to be "world class" ie European standard, we can have competing federations almost like in soccer. So basically lets follow a soccer type of model in continental cycling and maybe, we can have something better.

 

[auscyclefan94]

off the top of my head i can think of 4 climbs (baw baw, donna buang, buffalo and falls creek) that classify as hc within about 3 hours drive of where they hold the tennis. we may not have big mountains, but we have some tough climbs.

that said, the idea of trying to do anything at a serious level down here that involves going uphill for a long time is not gonna work. we've not got a big enough market to justify hauling the top teams down here for anything other than a sunny warmup session in january.
that said, if prize money ever overtakes tv revenue and marketing obligations as the motivator for pro teams' schedules, except major events victoria to come veritably roaring in at the tdu's precious pro-tour status.

A lot of the climbs in Victoria are very shallow in gradient and aren't at an overly high altitude.


Donna Buang 16.6km @6.2%
Lake Mountain 20.6km @4.3%
Mt Baw Baw 6.6km @11.3%
Mt buffalo 18.2km @5.5%


Baw Baw is rather short. Donna Buang has similarites to Ventoux as it is quite windy but isn't overly steep. Lake Mountain is Long but not steep. Buffalo is long but not overly steep. None of these climbs go above 1600m in altitude.

 

[clipperton]

A lot of the climbs in Victoria are very shallow in gradient and aren't at an overly high altitude.


Donna Buang 16.6km @6.2%
Lake Mountain 20.6km @4.3%
Mt Baw Baw 6.6km @11.3%
Mt buffalo 18.2km @5.5%


Baw Baw is rather short. Donna Buang has similarites to Ventoux as it is quite windy but isn't overly steep. Lake Mountain is Long but not steep. Buffalo is long but not overly steep. None of these climbs go above 1600m in altitude.

well yeah, but i'm fat.

 

[Escarabajo]

It looks like people have no idea about the popularity of cycling in Colombia.

La Vuelta a España started in 1935. La Vuelta a Colombia started in 1951. For a lot of the years until the present day we even had had 2 to 2.5 weeks of hard racing in the mountains. And let me tell you about the crouds. Without Europeans people go to the street in masses. And even without marketing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuelta_a_Colombia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_(cycling)

Just think about what a little marketing and some Europens teams can do to the crouds in Colombia. Remember Duitama 1995. The crouds were spectacular. In the 80's before the Pro-Tour almost killed our beloved cycling we attracted quite a few stars to Colombia. The trainning in high altitude worked for a lot of them: Lemond, Hampsten, Hinault, Fignon, Pascal Simon.

I am not saying making it equal to the GT in Europe, but give it a little support, do some fine tunning, some marketing, better broadcasting, shorten it a little bit and you'll have an excellent environment for a race. This would probably has to be at the beginning of the year.

These are some pictures of our traditional Vuelta a Colombia:
http://forodeciclismo.mforos.com/30823/7703288-imagenes-epicas-de-la-vuelta-a-colombia-2/

"Esta es una imagen de 1963 y corresponde a una etapa conocida como Doble a la Unión..."

"La vuelta a Colombia 1959 "intenta" salir de Pereira hacia Cali."

A classic battle in the Mountains: ... Pacho Rodriguez,Patrocinio Jimenez,Henry Cardenas, Argemiro Bohorquez, Alfonso Florez....Vuelta a Colombia 1979....

Patrocinio rode in the first Tour de France in 1983 and was 17th I think. Alfonso Florez won "Tour de L'avenir" in 1980. All of them became pro's in the 80's.

More crouds awaiting for the riders to come.


And you thought there was no cycling euforia in Colombia. I can assure you that the crouds would go crazy with a good marketed Vuelta a Colombia.

 

[jordan5000]

I'd honestly like to see the tour they had in America (forget the name but it had a lot of mountains) and maybe add onto that, it was pretty good and America is a big market.