The problem are not the riders coming out of the Tour that will be on the same boat but the ones that will decide to opt out of the Tour early or that will come from a different schedule and so will be rested and acclimatized for the race.Many of the riders will come from the TDF to the Olympics so there is no drama - A rider will not give up a good result in the TDF because the Olympics are one week later.
Hives are a skin rash that can lead to hospitalization. I think an allergic reaction.Why?
Kind of like saying that no top rider should ride País Vasco because it's a smaller race than the concurrent Flanders and Roubaix...
Assuming "hives" is some sort of ailment.
I agree.Olympics are great. Valverde aiming for Olympics, Vuelta and Worlds and ditching the final Tour week is an absolute no brainer for me.
In tennis I feel it's regarded as the cherry on top of the cake, but not necessarily a hole in your resume if you didn't have it. And the only players I see talking down the Olympics are basically ones who completely blew it the last time they played or those who can't win anyway. I feel a lot of players are whining there's no prize money or points for the first 4 rounds, but for the winner it's absolutely big.I agree.
Also, it's probably only football, tennis, road cycling, boxing, ice hockey, basketball and golf of current Olympic sports where the Olympics aren't the absolute pinnacle, so saying that that only goes for small sports without any history of their own might be a little... Shall we say... arrogant on behalf of cycling?
Football, cricket, baseball, American football, basketball, road cycling, boxing, tennis, golf, rugby, etc are the world’s major spectator sports, the sports with real, substantial audiences of their own. And therefore, the Olympics is not the most important event in those sports or even part of their top tier of events if they participate at all. The Olympics is the main event in minor sports, which have to borrow an audience from a general festival of jingoism to register. The Olympics is the pinnacle of dinghy sailing and curling and clay pigeon shooting and bobsleighing and other sports nobody cares about outside of medal tables. I am quite happy to be “arrogant” enough to categorize Road cycling as a sport with a substantial audience of its own and traditions of its own and to resent people who want to treat it like horse dressage and other once every four years trivialities.I agree.
Also, it's probably only football, tennis, road cycling, boxing, ice hockey, basketball and golf of current Olympic sports where the Olympics aren't the absolute pinnacle, so saying that that only goes for small sports without any history of their own might be a little... Shall we say... arrogant on behalf of cycling?
Not much bigger fish, if you're one-day specialist. And especially when a climbing course appears like this year, it's no surprise that some of the biggest names in road cycling makes it a big goal. I mean Valverde and Nibali are among the very best riders in this Century, and the fact that both of them makes Olympics the No.1 goal says a lot on this subject...Top level road cyclists have bigger fish to fry.
It tells you that neither of them can win the Tour at this stage in their careers and both have come to accept that. It’s a reasonable mid season goal for riders who can win hilly one day races and who can’t win the much more important race it semi clashes with.Not much bigger fish, if you're one-day specialist. And especially when a climbing course appears like this year, it's no surprise that some of the biggest names in road cycling makes it a big goal. I mean Valverde and Nibali are among the very best riders in this Century, and the fact that both of them makes Olympics the No.1 goal says a lot on this subject...
I think it's pretty much on par.I suspect an Olympic Games gold medal is not far off winning the World Championship for some riders.
I think “not far off winning the WC” is a fair assessment. Most years there are nine “tier one races”, ranging from the Tour de France way out in first place to Lombardia or MSR in ninth. In an Olympic year, there are ten, but the ORR is marginally the least of them, just behind the Monuments and WCRR. It’s clearly better than winning Amstel or Flèche or GW or Strade.I think it's pretty much on par.
Sorry, Zinoviev, you may feel that way but it's just not the reality for the riders.
I honestly think an Olympic victory is regarded much higher than Lombardia, which nobody ever seems to target specifically.I think “not far off winning the WC” is a fair assessment. Most years there are nine “tier one races”, ranging from the Tour de France way out in first place to Lombardia or MSR in ninth. In an Olympic year, there are ten, but the ORR is marginally the least of them, just behind the Monuments and WCRR. It’s clearly better than winning Amstel or Flèche or GW or Strade.
That said I don’t like the Olympic money/hype machine’s tendency to artificially drag its importance upwards. It’s a one day race that has only ever been won by one great one day racer.