How popular is Vuelta in your country?

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

John Degenkolb's stage wins got him little one-paragraph articles in local German newspapers, but apart from that no one cares for this race (and never did, except for the Ullrich editions '99 and '00, where we even got live coverage on the main public TV channel). Even in the cycling community the interest is way beyond Tour or Giro, more on the Paris-Nice level.

 

[jens_attacks]

no one ever heard of it .

except me

 

[Carols]

Put it this way, besides myself there isn't one person I know that is watching it currently

I know two; my brothers. It's a family thing .

 

[SafeBet]

In Italy the RAI haven't got the budget to broadcast the Vuelta - the commentators say they really want to though. Thus it is less popular here than the Giro/Tour

But it'll be broadcasted in 2015, maybe a sign that cycling is gaining audience back? Not sure.
It used be on RAI until a few years back anyway.

 

[fantomas]

I think it's been on national TV (TV2 the biggest commercial station in the country, basically every household has this channel) since 2010.

It was on in 2001 too. I remember specifically because they had to abort the transmission due to 9/11. I don't remember if they have been broadcasting it every year since.

 

[Netserk]

It was on in 2001 too. I remember specifically because they had to abort the transmission due to 9/11. I don't remember if they have been broadcasting it every year since.

Before my time

I know they had it on Zulu for some time as well.

 

[SergeDeM]

La Vuelta is rather big here in Spain

Seriously though, in Colombia it's always been just about as big as the Tour and there's always some TV channel broadcasting at least some stages live. The Giro OTOH has only gained popularity recently thanks to the obvious successes of RU, NQ and even FatCat.

 

[fantomas]

Before my time

I know they had it on Zulu for some time as well.

That's right, they did. I think it's fair to say that it's bigger in Denmark than in most countries. But still it's mostly for aficionados.

 

[hfer07]

La Vuelta is rather big here in Spain

Seriously though, in Colombia it's always been just about as big as the Tour and there's always some TV channel broadcasting at least some stages live. The Giro OTOH has only gained popularity recently thanks to the obvious successes of RU, NQ and even FatCat.

I reckon Señal Colombia had made a deal with Sporza to broadcast La Vuelta, as it happened in 2010- which BTW was superb. Do you if it still the case nowadays?

 

[SKSemtex]

Slovakia.
Not as popular as the Tour of course, but similar to Giro. Unfortunately it is not on national TV either. But as Sagan is in race now we have quite comprehensive coverage.

 

[Jagartrott]

In France, popularity depends on French riders participating and winning.
Nowhere near as popular as the Tour of course.

In Belgium, where I live, it gets a fair amount of attention - live broadcasts and always in the news (whoever wins).

 

[forumlurker]

People in Spain think Vuelta is not really popular in foreign countries. So tell us about the popularity of Vuelta in your country, if you can watch Vuelta in a national TV channel and if Vuelta has become more popular that it was or not.

i'm an american and lived in california all my life. i'd guess >90% of americans aren't aware that there is a tour of spain and >98% aren't aware that it is occurring right now or that an american is last year's champion. if you asked someone about the vuelta, they would probably respond, 'oh, is lance racing?' you can't watch the vuelta on any national tv channel here - you might get some coverage of the tour de france. in california, the tour of california gets some coverage.

 

[SergeDeM]

I reckon Señal Colombia had made a deal with Sporza to broadcast La Vuelta, as it happened in 2010- which BTW was superb. Do you if it still the case nowadays?

I think all the GTs are on ESPN now but I'd have to ask to make sure.

 

[Narce_]

I live in Hungary, and as I see, even the Tour is barely mentioned anywhere (except unusually big news, like when Contador abandoned). The Vuelta is - as if it doesn't exist. Last year, we got new commentators on Eurosport, and I think they didn't even know there was a three-week-race in Spain before they actually had to talk about it. (They were horrible, I've since gven up listening to them.) So, except for cycling fans, no one even knows, and only hard core fans care about it.

 

[pastronef]

newspapers and news? a few lines every day about who won.

since no Italian is wearing the leader's jersey or high in GC, there's nothing to report.

If Aru will fight for the podium maybe we'll have some nice articles about his girlfriend, his clean stance, his Pantani or Alberto images in his room wall and so on.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Even here in spain, some people has no idea about la vuelta, however they know something about le tour. There are also other people that believe that the vuelta and the cycling in general is good only for sleep and to take a rest after the lunch.

 

[Echoes]

French-speaking broadcasters in Belgium don't cover it - never did - and I don't think there are a lot of articles about it in the written press. They don't even care about Decraene's death.

However they do care about the classics. As it should be. We've always considered the Tour of Spain as the little sister of the Tours of Italy and of France. In 1981 Marc Jeuniau from RTBF said that the basic structure of the cycling calendar consisted of the major classics, the two great national tours (which ones d'you think?) and the Worlds.

We'll always remember that sprinter/all-rounder Freddy Maertens smashed this race with 13 stage wins.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

not popular at all in netherlands. it's only shown live on weekenddays for a few hours.

 

[Pentacycle]

not popular at all in netherlands. it's only shown live on weekenddays for a few hours.

And only when there's a chance of Dutch riders doing well. NOS were expecting guys like Kelderman to shine.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I thought in most continental European countries the coverage for the Vuelta would be less than the TDF but still significant. It seems from reading a few posts like the Vuelta isn't much more popular in Europe than it is outside of Europe.

in europe there is eurosport that broadcasts basically any cycling race there is live and it can be viewed all over europe. so coverage is a lot better than outside europe I'm sure off. also many interviews there and also programs around cycling like greg lemonds show

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

But it'll be broadcasted in 2015, maybe a sign that cycling is gaining audience back? Not sure.
It used be on RAI until a few years back anyway.

in rai it all has to do with whoever is director of it. don't know if he still is but I think bulbarelli? was direct of rai sports and a cycling nut so basically anything on 2 wheels and no engine was shown on rai sport throughout the year costing them a lot of money.

 

[msjett]

I don't know the level of popularity of the race in Australia but SBS are showing a number of stages, on free to air tv, and on Foxtel - if you have eurosport you can watch the whole thing...but you have to put up with the English commentary...argh!!!

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

La Vuelta is rather big here in Spain

Seriously though, in Colombia it's always been just about as big as the Tour and there's always some TV channel broadcasting at least some stages live. The Giro OTOH has only gained popularity recently thanks to the obvious successes of RU, NQ and even FatCat.

in colombia indeed the vuelta has been histroically as popular as the tour and after those 2 races tour avenir I say follows shortly and then after a looooong time the giro. not counting local races btw which are very popular in colombia. much more than european races. 3 biggest ones nationally: vuelta colombia, clasico rcn and vuelta juventud(vuelta colombia for u23)

for some reason in colombia youth cycling has always been very popular and that's why races like tour avenir and vuelta juventud are very big in colombia.

 

[inri2000]

As a Dane living in Spain I noticed there is pretty much equal coverage in both countries at the moment but up until two years ago the Danish TV coverage was inconsistent.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

And only when there's a chance of Dutch riders doing well. NOS were expecting guys like Kelderman to shine.

yeah that's always hilarious to see how nos always expects dutch riders and they fail all the time