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Hierarchy of races

Apr 17, 2014
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This is something that I have wondered about for a while. If you were a professional cyclist (don't tell me you don't all dream about it), what order would you place these races in order of what you want to win?

The races being: The 5 monuments, WC RR and Olympic RR. Obviously I know it sometimes depends on the course (for WC and ORR), but in general what order do you think cyclists would desire to win them?

I would go:
1. WC RR
2. Paris-Roubaix
3. ORR
4. Flanders
5. Milan San Remo
6. Liege
7. Lombardia
 
Jul 4, 2015
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fungusbear said:
This is something that I have wondered about for a while. If you were a professional cyclist (don't tell me you don't all dream about it), what order would you place these races in order of what you want to win?

The races being: The 5 monuments, WC RR and Olympic RR. Obviously I know it sometimes depends on the course (for WC and ORR), but in general what order do you think cyclists would desire to win them?

I would go:
1. WC RR
2. Paris-Roubaix
3. ORR
4. Flanders
5. Milan San Remo
6. Liege
7. Lombardia
1- Paris-Roubaix
2-Liege
3-WCRR
4-Flanders
5-Lombardie
6-Milan San remo
7-ORR
 
1. Olympics
2. WCRR
3. PR
4. Tour of Flanders
5. Liège-Bastogne-Liège
6. Milano-Sanremo
7. Il Lombardia

Olympics is the most prestigious one and it's not even close. WCRR is the second most prestigious one and that one isn't close either. The most coveted monument has to be Paris-Roubaix, but Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège are pretty close in terms of prestige I think. Lombardia is the least desirable for sure.
 
Apr 17, 2014
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Re:

Hugo Koblet said:
1. Olympics
2. WCRR
3. PR
4. Tour of Flanders
5. Liège-Bastogne-Liège
6. Milano-Sanremo
7. Il Lombardia

Olympics is the most prestigious one and it's not even close. WCRR is the second most prestigious one and that one isn't close either. The most coveted monument has to be Paris-Roubaix, but Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège are pretty close in terms of prestige I think. Lombardia is the least desirable for sure.

tbh I agree with that, the only reason I bumped the olympics down is because it has less history (and the WC has that beautiful rainbow jersey)
 
Apr 17, 2014
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Re:

Red Rick said:
1. ORR
2. WCRR
3. Ronde van Vlaanderen
4. Paris Roubaix
5. Liege-Bastogne-Liege
6. Giro di Lombardia
7. Milano-Sanremo

I watch a lot of cycling on the Flemish channel though, so I'm probably a bit biased toward RVV over PR.
Just curious- why Milan Sanremo last?
 
If I try to be objective and ignore how some of these have been raced as of recently:

- World Championships
- Paris - Roubaix / Liège
- Milano - San Remo
- Vlaanderen / Lombardia

I won't consider the Olympics since it hasn't go much pro history to go by and it's impossible to rate it prestige wise. I think it can go inbetween any of the above depending on a particular year's parcours, quality of racing etc...
 
In my book it should go:

PR
RvV
ORR
WCRR
LBL
MSR
GdL

Was unsure of where to put LBL though. PR and RvV for me are unquestionably top level achievements. LBL has a lot of status but I never quite felt the same way about it as most people. I still view the ORR as being bigger than the WC due to scarcity as I've said in the other thread.
 
Apr 1, 2013
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1. World's road race ... you get to wear a special jersey all year long (or as Sagan put it: if don't have yellow I have green and if I don't have green I still have a nice jersey)
2. I am not quite sure about a ranking amongst the Monuments: Roubaix and RvV seemed to have had the most fiercely competition in the last decade or so, LBL has the longest history and is (or at better was) considered the most eliminatory (which however wasn't truly the case in recent years, and it's perhaps to early for a Giro-contender to built his form for LBL), MSR is perhaps the easiest (you mainly need endurance an sprint quality) and Lombardy is too late in the season, a lot of riders seem to be on vacation already .... so from today's perspective I would put RvV and Roubaix a tick higher than the rest ...
3. Olympics Road Race ... not much history there, however a gold medal is a gold medal
4. the classics with a longer history (i.e. Gent-Wevelgem, Flêche Wallone)
5. the classics with a shorter history (i.e. E3, San Sebastian, Fourmies)
6. all other WT-races
7. non WTclassics (Paris-Tour and the like)

btw. does anyone still remember the epic Bordeaux - Paris race?
 
Aug 31, 2012
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Suppose you are a mid twenties cyclist without a big win yet. Winning which of those increases your expected lifetime earnings from cycling related sources by the greatest amount?
 
for me.

PR
RVV
....
....
WCRR (Firenze type)
ORR (Rio typ )
Canadian double ( Montreal and Quebec win in the same year)
GDL, MSR (with Pompeiana - will never happen probably )
LBL , MSR (with Le Manie), Strade Bianche (what a pity that the race is not a monument)
MSR ( present parkour)
Any other non monument spring classic but Scheldeprijs
WRR, ORR ( finished by big peloton bunch sprint ) , Scheldeprijs

Palmares are not everything. As Galic ho said "Real memories and results worth remembering are made by how you win.
I do not care about palmares I care about epic racing)

One more thing. In 2013-2014 I was chasing Sagan all over the Europe. MSR and GDL were quite big disappointment in terms of atmosphere. Especially MSR. If it is not "monument" for italians why should be for others.
If you want to fall in love for cycling forever you have to visit RVV.
 

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