Britain still doesn't understand road racing...

[auscyclefan94]

A yellow jersey in paris V a world championship? I would certainly take the yellow jersey by far. stupid journalist.

 

[El Pistolero]

A yellow jersey in paris V a world championship? I would certainly take the yellow jersey by far. stupid journalist.

You're only saying that cause Evans won the Tour!

Oh wait never mind

 

[Echoes]

The Brits trashing Bore de France. Love it ! Clap Clap, Well done, take that, Frenchies.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Green + 5 stage wins > Yellow > WC

Let's face it, somebody wins the yellow jersey and the WC every year. Green with 5 stage wins is once in a generation stuff. I'd put winning P-R somewhere between yellow and WC.

 

[badboyberty]

The journalist has a point. There's only one World Championship, but there's five grand tours each year, Le Tour of France, the Tour of California, the Tour of Down-Under, the Tour of Britain and that one Bradley Wigans won in June.

 

[ramjambunath]

It's not surprising at all for a British journalist to make such a statement especially when the newspaper in question does not even cover the World championships. Well, at least they now know that there is a World championship now.

As for the BBC, they had in the past said that Evans was 2010 world champion.

It's not worst statement from a journalist though, remember England always become one of the top favourites prior to any football tournament only to dish out dross.

 

[sublimit]

The British Empire will be back, mark my words.
Wiggins wins The Tour De France year Cavendish the Olympics And Thomas the World Championships.



But I love the way the Americans have a World series for Baseball... with only 2 countries participating.

 

[Dancing On The Pedals]

A yellow jersey in paris V a world championship? I would certainly take the yellow jersey by far. stupid journalist.

I don't think it's quite that straight forward. Winning any GT is an incredible achievement, and obviously yellow in Paris is about as high profile as the sport gets, and is also what many cyclists base their entire seasons around.
On the other hand, the world's, whilst not having the longevity of some of the monuments, in undeniably one of the top one day races in the calendar, and wearing the rainbow stripes is very prestigious for any cyclist. I guess it depends on what type of cyclist you are, but given that the vast majority of the peloton are ever going to get near winning a GT, the wearing the stripes would be what they aim for. However, if it were me, I think I'd want to be a multiple GT winner (hypothetically of course!)

 

[MartinGT]

The journalist has a point. There's only one World Championship, but there's five grand tours each year, Le Tour of France, the Tour of California, the Tour of Down-Under, the Tour of Britain and that one Bradley Wigans won in June.

Oh how I laughed

Cycling in this country (Britain) is seen as a nuisance on the road and whilst we have the likes of Jeremy Clarkson etc saying things like "knock cyclists off their bikes" we will always have this problem.

Hopefully though we can have more journos getting educated in the sport. How many times have people read a football report or rugby report and its absoloute rubbish? A lot more than cycling I would say?

 

[El Pistolero]

Green + 5 stage wins > Yellow > WC

Let's face it, somebody wins the yellow jersey and the WC every year. Green with 5 stage wins is once in a generation stuff. I'd put winning P-R somewhere between yellow and WC.

Winning the yellow is 100 times more prestigious than the green jersey even with 5 stage wins.

 

[ramjambunath]

Oh how I laughed

Cycling in this country (Britain) is seen as a nuisance on the road and whilst we have the likes of Jeremy Clarkson etc saying things like "knock cyclists off their bikes" we will always have this problem.

Hopefully though we can have more journos getting educated in the sport. How many times have people read a football report or rugby report and its absoloute rubbish? A lot more than cycling I would say?

Clarkson never says anything sensible and he believes (misguidedly so) that he is funny.

 

[pmcg76]

Oh how I laughed

Cycling in this country (Britain) is seen as a nuisance on the road and whilst we have the likes of Jeremy Clarkson etc saying things like "knock cyclists off their bikes" we will always have this problem.

Hopefully though we can have more journos getting educated in the sport. How many times have people read a football report or rugby report and its absoloute rubbish? A lot more than cycling I would say?

I wonder what Graham Watson will have to say, now we know he is impartial but I happened to be flicking through an old issue of Cycle Sport and came across this, some excerpts on the 09 Vuelta and Valverde.

"The Spaniard finally won a GT, but considering the unimaginative, unchallenging course..."this was no Vuelta victory to shout about"...."But in such an easy Vuelta"....."Overall this Vuelta did little for me in racing terms"

Oh my, how will he describe Cav's victory, I am sure it will be in slightly more glowing terms.

I stopped buying cycling magazines so dont know if Watson still has his photo piece but can someone let me know what he has to offer.

 

[Irish2009]

One World Champion a Year really?, think Tony Martin(TT), Stybar(CX), Kwok Ho Ting(Track scratch) and countless others would beg to differ, this however dosent take from the Worlds jersey. But there is only one yellow Jersey winner (but many can hold it for a few days). If it's rarity then less people can say they won a GT's final classification than a worlds jersey, but both have enormous value and both should be valued by all cyclists. As for self perception I would agree that Irish people have a perception of themselves far removed from what others actually think of them.

 

[Jan the Man]

Winning the yellow is 100 times more prestigious than the green jersey even with 5 stage wins.

Exaggeration. Winning x 5 stages and the green is less prestigious than winning the yellow but very presitigous in its own right. When one looks back into the history books in 20/30 years that sort of achievement will be remembered and highlighted.

As for this discussion in general. The Worlds is a very prestigious win and the publicity it brings throughout the course of the year would be similar if not more than the Yellow jersey. Its value is probably pretty close.

Personally I prefer the worlds but that is because I like one day classics more than I do Grand Tours.

Having said that i would dream of winning Roubaix more than both the WC and Yellow in Paris- each to their own.

 

[Sneekes]

It's not worst statement from a journalist though, remember England always become one of the top favourites prior to any football tournament only to dish out dross.

It always surprises me that non-English think that English football fans think we're going to win the World Cup every time around. What happens is that the media whip up a frenzy, some English people bet on England with English bookmakers which shortens the odds, and then we get knocked out. Most intelligent football fans however have known all along that we lack the quality or spirit to win. Don't confuse getting excited about a tournament, with thinking we're going to win it!
That's why we all remember Euro 96 so fondly, I've never seen a nation so surprised to perform well.

I'm surprised you find us chauvinistic Bavarianrider, from what I've read or heard of non-Brits coming to live in Britain (Dara O'Briain, Bill Bryson) they remark on the self-deprecation of the British more than almost anything.
Perhaps we're just chauvinistic to Germans?

My opinion on the article - Winning the TdF is better than winning the WC, the journalist is wrong, but the rainbow stripes is a cooler jersey.

 

[ramjambunath]

It always surprises me that non-English think that English football fans think we're going to win the World Cup every time around. What happens is that the media whip up a frenzy, some English people bet on England with English bookmakers which shortens the odds, and then we get knocked out. Most intelligent football fans however have known all along that we lack the quality or spirit to win. Don't confuse getting excited about a tournament, with thinking we're going to win it!
That's why we all remember Euro 96 so fondly, I've never seen a nation so surprised to perform well.

I'm surprised you find us chauvinistic Bavarianrider, from what I've read or heard of non-Brits coming to live in Britain (Dara O'Briain, Bill Bryson) they remark on the self-deprecation of the British more than almost anything.
Perhaps we're just chauvinistic to Germans?

My opinion on the article - Winning the TdF is better than winning the WC, the journalist is wrong, but the rainbow stripes is a cooler jersey.

I never said anything about fans, I've read enough from fans to know that they aren't that senseless. My comment was Pertaining to the fact that journalists can lose their minds in nationalistic fervour, and it's not just there the Indian media gets into a collective whine when the cricket team loses (this year's England tour) and when they win they try to rub the opposition noses in it.

 

[boomcie]

Green + 5 stage wins > Yellow > WC

Let's face it, somebody wins the yellow jersey and the WC every year. Green with 5 stage wins is once in a generation stuff. I'd put winning P-R somewhere between yellow and WC.

Yellow>WC>P-R>Green+5stage wins

That's how I would rate them on my own fictional palmares.

The green jersey itself is still a little overrated IMO. 5 stage wins is a lot in one year, but mildly impressive over a whole career (for a good sprinter).

In the perspective of an entire career the fact that those stages were won in one year isn't very significant, unless of course you do a Freddy Maertens Vuelta '77 type thing.

That's the way I see it.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

When Cavendish wins the Tour that will definitely be a greater achievement than his WC win

 

[Anonymous]

The most prestigious titles a sprinter can win are the world title, and green jersey.

As said before, the journalist in question is just trying to put the world championship in perspective for all the british readers that dont follow cycling that closely.

Cant beleive this thread has made it to page 2.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The most prestigious titles a sprinter can win are the world title, and green jersey.

As said before, the journalist in question is just trying to put the world championship in perspective for all the british readers that dont follow cycling that closely.

Cant beleive this thread has made it to page 2.

From a professional cyclists perspective, yes. From a general fan or cycling lover, I would disagree.

 

[patterson_hood]

From a professional cyclists perspective, yes. From a general fan or cycling lover, I would disagree.

Disagree with what? There doesn't seem to be anything in that post that can be disagreed with.

 

[Sneekes]

I never said anything about fans.

My bad. Sorry

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Britain still doesn't understand road racing.

It is true though. Crap article by a crap journalist in a crap paper notwithstanding.

Doesn't one of the Fotheringtons write for them?

 

[ramjambunath]

William Fotheringham writes for them but the paper has a real anti Contador bias though and loves andy schleck.

 

[rhubroma]

A few hours after Cavendish's win on Sunday, the Guardian had a drool-piece where their cycling correspondent wrote:



Oh, dear.

Steve

I rest my case.