Most prestigious one-day races

[Salvarani]

What exactly am I supposed to be ignorant about? You do realise that the uniqueness of any given event can also be its weakness too. The cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are what makes it famous and unique, but also the reason why riders avoid it like the plague and why many pros regard it as joke race. It is a perfectly legitimate criticism, but it is still probably the most famous/icevonic one day race in the world.

Lombardia is a beautiful race, and part of that is down to when it is held, but that has also led to many people skipping it. Each monuments has characteristics to attract the various types of riders, but to me Lombadia has struggled the most at getting the riders whose characteristics it should suit, down through the years. Easiest example, Moreno Argentin, super Italian one day rider on hilly routes who won Lombardia in 87, but barely even rode it afterward and focused on the Spring Classics even though Lombardia suited his abilities perfectly.

This is a ranking after all so there has to be reasons for how we personally rank them. If you don't like that reasoning, but you do like tradition, I can always point out that Lombardia is the Monument whose route changes most frequently and in a major way.

My post was not in a response to you, but maybe you felt hit by it?

Its placement on the calendar, as you worded in your post in which I responded to, does not in any form whatsoever weakens it as a race. The placement of the race is integral to the character of the race, and even has its nickname because of it. The race of the fallen leaves. How would that by any means be a flaw to lessen its importance?

That certain races suits different type of riders, wow, how groundbreaking of you to point that out. That we rank them individually in a certain order by preference is also not a very shocking thing to say. Of course we do.

Every monument has had it route changes, multiple times. Flanders has had so many route changes, I cant even remember. L-B-L has had them as well. PR has put in new sectors over the years. That is not something that supports your argument very much.

You also said MSR was 15 min of action and thats it. L-B-L a bit boring. I dont know why I am entertaining this discussion, and yeah I would say you are pretty ignorant now.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Lombardia is a beautiful race, and part of that is down to when it is held, but that has also led to many people skipping it. Each monuments has characteristics to attract the various types of riders, but to me Lombadia has struggled the most at getting the riders whose characteristics it should suit, down through the years. Easiest example, Moreno Argentin, super Italian one day rider on hilly routes who won Lombardia in 87, but barely even rode it afterward and focused on the Spring Classics even though Lombardia suited his abilities perfectly.

Why do Argentin's program decisions 30+ years ago matter for the race's prestige in the current age? As far as I can see, Lombardia's fields are usually on par with the other monuments, the only recent exception was when it got squashed into an awkward place in the Tour buildup in the post-Covid 2020 season. Yes, Evenepoel was missing this year, but almost every monument had that kind of hole in the startlist this year (e.g. Ewan and Stuyven in Sanremo, Van Aert in Flanders, Pogacar and Roglic in Liège). In fact, it was one of only two monuments where the defending champion started!

 

[pman]

I like that this post includes two different list- one for prestige and one for enjoyability. They are two different animals for sure. Though they get grouped together and draw similar fields, I don't think Montreal and Quebec are on the same level in terms of enjoyability. Quebec seems like a race that often gets won in a sprint, sometimes a breakaway takes it but in general it seems like a race which 9 times out of 10, is pretty easy to control by the strong teams. Montreal seems like one of the tougher races on the calendar to control. For my money, it's one of the most enjoyable races on the calendar. Didn't they make it tougher this year as well? I also think it's on it's way to becoming more prestigious than Quebec. Eddy Merckx and Pog won there. It's scheduled to join an exclusive list of 2x hosts of the World Championships. Plus the even more exclusive list of 2x host of the Worlds, an Olympic Road Race plus a regular stop on the UCI. I'd place Montreal in the category with San Sebastian for enjoyability and potentially in terms of prestige too. I think it gets degraded a bit in terms of most people's minds because it's two days after a weaker race plus, it's not in Europe. If a European race had it's kind of history, it'd be a highlight on the calendar for sure. I'd call it the most underrated race on the calendar. Not my favorite by any means but one that is undervalued by most fans.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I would take a wet Paris-Roubaix above any other race but sadly less and less chances of this.

 

[42x16ss]

Scheldeprijs
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[tobydawq]

Scheldeprijs
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I think it lost a bit of its magic with the way it played out this year.