The other 3 week races

[Lupetto]

I confess I miss the old Voltas a Portugal in 3 weeks that really had stages from south to north of the country, with those more than 200km stages with 40ºC in Alentejo, but I reckon that's impossible in these UCI days.
I think we're having a few very few Portuguese riders, a sign of the times indeed.
Cycling is the most popular sport in Portugal apart from football of course, so I guess we deserved a bit better but with professional riders with an average pay of 1500 euros, it's hard to find new athlets for road cycling, apart from some guys taken from MTB

Taking this as a start, I'm looking for more three week stage races from the past.

I know there was the Tour of the Philippines/Marlboro Tour, which was held between two and three weeks for quite a while. Today it is 4 stages with 2.2 classification. In 2003 Mexico hosted Vuelta a las Americas. It was a one-time thing. In 1939 Germany had a 20 stage race.

Are there more, who have disappeared or have been reduced to little UCI 2.2/2.1 stuff?

 

[Magnus]

The peace race comes to mind though it was only 16 stages at most:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Race

 

[Escarabajo]

Vuelta a Colombia.

Started in 1951 with 10 stages and 1157 kms. From 1955 until 1970 increased to between 18 to 20 stages. The distances ranged from 2100 kms to 2611 kms. The longest Vuelta a Colombia was in 1967 with 20 stages and 2611 kms.

The Vuelta a Colombia has had its difficulties because of a weak economy in Colombia, but the fervor in cycling continues on. La Vuelta a Colombia finally settled for a 2 week tour with around 14 stages.


Here is a short history.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuelta_a_Colombia

You can find details year by year here:

http://members.fortunecity.es/pedalear/

You can even listen to some Colombian music.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The Peace Race needs to come back. Lots of good climbs in the Carpathians they could use even if we say they're restricted to the Czech Republic and Slovakia (which they shouldn't be since they used to use Poland and East Germany of course, and the awesome cobbled hill of Meerane used to be one of the signatures of the race).

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Vuelta a Colombia.

Started in 1951 with 10 stages and 1157 kms. From 1955 until 1970 increased to between 18 to 20 stages. The distances ranged from 2100 kms to 2611 kms. The longest Vuelta a Colombia was in 1967 with 20 stages and 2611 kms.

The Vuelta a Colombia has had its difficulties because of a weak economy in Colombia, but the fervor in cycling continues on. La Vuelta a Colombia finally settled for a 2 week tour with around 14 stages.


Here is a short history.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuelta_a_Colombia

You can find details year by year here:

http://members.fortunecity.es/pedalear/

You can even listen to some Colombian music.

the pedalear database is legendayr and unfortunately gone from the internet. I wonder though even more. is there any place to listen to that music again? I miss it so much