Over rated races

[roundabout]

You get 2 live stages (Kitzbüheler Horn and Grossglockner) and 20 minutes of higlights for the rest in the Tour of Austria so it's not quite the same.

 

[The Hitch]

You get 2 live stages (Kitzbüheler Horn and Grossglockner) and 20 minutes of higlights for the rest in the Tour of Austria so it's not quite the same.

All right then, scrap that. You still have Paris Nice, TA, Dauphine TDS. I personally like having TOC after Giro. Its not the most interesting race, but its still cycling, gives US teams a chance, I dont mind Backsted Kirby commentary and most importantly, it finishes around 11 oclock UK time so watch it before bed.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Also, while Poland may be "mostly flat" so is France. There are 2 mountain ranges in Poland Karpaty and Sudeten, and difficult mountains can definately be found. Starting in flat Warsaw gives the sprinters stages for first 3 days, before hitting climbers territory, kind of the way all stage races go these days.


Paris Nice, Tirreno Adriatico. Dauphine, Tour de Suisse. VUelta, 2 canadian races. Tour de France, Tour of Austria.

The Carpathians and Sudeten mountains do offer some climbing, but it's not quite to the scale of the Alps and Pyrenées. Nor should it be, mind. I'm just meaning that you can't really have a constantly hilly route in Poland and still utilise more than a fraction of the country. I quite enjoy the Tour de Pologne, I'm not doing it down. But it is what it is, people aren't doing it down because of it not being in a cycling homeland, they're doing it down because it's got that ProTour status but it hasn't really caught on with the big names. That doesn't mean you shouldn't like it - I do. Hopefully Niemiec being on Lampre might give a hometown guy willing to put in the effort to win on bumpyish territory. This year's route was a definite improvement, and the race was much better accordingly.

Also, for that one week in May, it is so cool to watch the Giro and then the AToC. DoubleHeader Week. That does not happen on that scale any other time during the yearly schedule.

Paris-Nice/Tirreno-Adriatico, Dauphiné/Suisse.

Catalunya/Coppi e Bartali/E3/Critérium International/Gent-Wevelgem

Ronde van Vlaanderen/País Vasco/Scheldeprijs

Trentino/Flèche Wallonne

La Rioja/LBL/Apennino

Romandie/Asturias/Frankfurt

Belgium/Bayern/Giro

Vuelta/Britain

The best of them all, however, is week 1 in August.

San Sebastián/Colombia/Denmark/Burgos/Poland/Portugal

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I don't think that the Tour of Poland is overrated. If anything it's underrated by a lot of fans. You can quibble about it's PT status, but it's necessary to have PT races outside of the traditional cycling heartlands and it's a pretty good contender as far as those races are concerned.

It's a race with a longish history. And this year at least they had a good route and lots of good racing. Even the sprint stages were unusually exciting. Plus, in the GC you had a couple of highly touted young guys (TGBM, Martin) and a very talented rider who had rarely had the chance to ride for himself before (Bole) shooting it out.

It isn't as if the Tour of Poland is being described as the "Fourth Grand Tour" or anything, but it can be a very decent race.

 

[scribe]

Biggest = Best. There's a stereotype in there somewhere

That's what she said.

 

[Altitude]

How is the ToC overrated? Nobody claims it to be a better race than the Giro. I think people mostly take it for what it is-- a great way to prepare for the Tour. Not sure I understand this hatred for the ToC. The people who say it is overrated are perhaps expecting too much from it?

LMAO at those saying the TdF is overrated-- you guys are so different

 

[auscyclefan94]

California, Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, Criterium International, Tour Upside Down immediately spring to mind.

I'd also say Gent-Wevelgem and the Hamburg Classic... Although I don't actually think anyone seriously rates those races anyway.

So nobody seriously rates those races but you think they are over rated?

Gold Race.

Sundays in April have Vlaanderen, Roubaix, LBL and that thing.
Good race but nowhere near those 3.

How could you say that against your national race which is generally very good! Mortified!

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I like gold race, but it's only overrated if you put it up against the other sunday's in April. Stupid organizers put it on a saturday dammit

 

[craig1985]

How is the ToC overrated? Nobody claims it to be a better race than the Giro. I think people mostly take it for what it is-- a great way to prepare for the Tour. Not sure I understand this hatred for the ToC. The people who say it is overrated are perhaps expecting too much from it?

LMAO at those saying the TdF is overrated-- you guys are so different

Quite possibly because the ATOC puts up this rhetoric on how great their race is, and Bob Stapleton (ie, the boss of HTC-Columbia), actually described the race as a "4th Grand Tour". When in reality it isn't, and often that the racing begs to differ. Hopefully we will see some fireworks on Mount Baldy next year, and we can put this in a different category.

As for the Tour, nobody disputes how big the race is, but in terms of the course and the actual racing itself, it doesn't compare to the Giro.

 

[The Hitch]

LMAO at those saying the TdF is overrated-- you guys are so different

Overrated means - over rated means - rated to highly. Something is over rated if the hype doesnt match the reality.

The Tour de France is rated very highly. Very very highly. Riders base their entire seasons, their entire careers on it. Medias which dont know the first thing about cycling report on it. Its treated like its the only event in cycling, bigger than cycling in fact.

And yet the race, the parcors, the excitement, the battles, all relatively disapointing. And even if they werent, even if every stage was contested, there was no soft pedalling on day after stages, the mountains bigger, the tts longer, the breakaways more succesful, even then one could still make the argument that it is overated, because, you see, the race is rated that highly.

Whats wrong with calling a race which is rated so highly, but in all other aspects is mediocre, overrated ?

 

[soOpOSMthanks!]

cant stand cobbles sorry but flanders and roubais are ****, theres mountain biking if you want rough surfaces, there such gimmicks fair enough to have them but i dont believe they should be held in high esteem

That's just dumb. Like, omgsewdumb.

 

[Matthijs]

thats easy: California (and Gila, Missoury and so on)
The problem is not the rating, but the over-exposure in the media. I understand that American-based journals give them so much space in their columns, but why do European journalist follow...?
But I must say Cali is a good race on the level as Eneco, Pologne. Maybe even Tireno-Adriatico but that one has history.

Other overrated races: Brittain, TDU (I'm happy there is racing in Jan., but some people take it too seriously).
Some European races aren't that interesting, Eneco was mentioned. But this one has the excuse it's preparation for Vuelta.