The Scala naturae of the classics.

[El Pistolero]

How they rule me:

1. Paris Roubaix
2. Ronde van Vlaanderen

2.5 Omloop het Volk (or whatever they are trying to make me call it these days)

3. Liege Bastogne Liege
4. Gent Wevelgem v2.0 (was at #7, but I really like what they did with it last year)
5. Worlds
6. Milan Sanremo
7. Amstel Gold
8. Lombardia
9. Fleche Wallone
10. Olympics
11. Tours

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

 

[hrotha]

I'll always call it Het Volk. It's their fault nobody explained to me it was just a newspaper when I learned this race existed.

 

[El Pistolero]

I'll always call it Het Volk. It's their fault nobody explained to me it was just a newspaper when I learned this race existed.

Heh, Het Nieuwsblad is also a newspaper by the way, but you probably figured that one out already.

Het Volk= The People
Het Nieuwsblad= The Newspaper =/

 

[Anonymous]

Ive included all of the classics as a lot seemed to be missing

1 Worlds
2 Paris-Roubaix
3 Liege Bastogne Liege
4 Milan-Sanremo
4 Flanders
6. Lombardy
7 Amstel Gold
8 Fleche Wallonne
9 Gent-Wevelgem
10 Het Neiwsblad
11. Paris Tours
12. San Sebastian
13. E3
14 Dwaars door Vlanderen
15 Schelderprisj
16 Paris Brussels
17 Olympics

I apreciate that some are semi classics, but if paris-tours can be on the list then so can het neiwsblad which is far more prestigious as the season opener.

As far as the olympics goes, the fact that i cannot name a SINGLE former olympic road race champion says something to me about its importance. I ended up looking on wiki out of curiosity.

 

[Izzy eviel]

Ah I see. The figures were for Sydney.

As for the as for paragraph. Yes the UCI Worlds RR.

Its difficult for me to imagine the road race getting 300 million viewers, to just 20 mil a day for the Tour, considering the Tour is considered far far more important.

Also, lets be honest, this thing of ours isnt the biggest sport in the world, which is another reason i am surprised to hear such huge masses watching it. Then again, living in a country where the Worlds RR didnt even make the news, you can see why i might underestimate its popularity.

Im not saying your stats, are wrong but these figures are mostly estimates and in my opinion these things can be exagerated. Though even if the figure was 100 mil it would still shock me.

It's the olympics. People will watch anything. The Archery probably got a 100 million + viewers. Also they tend to be earlier in the day, so they're the first medals of the day.

 

[karlboss]

I generally agree with the rankings in this thread, except for the olympics. The olympics have a short history 4 olympiads. I think their prestige will go up and down depending on the course. If the measure is prestige of the fields and who makes the sharp end of the race, take a look at the olympic top 10 over their history. In beijing, a number of top cyclists made the olympics a targetted race. In other years with a softer course less riders will focus on it, but they may still ride for patriotisms sake. The 4 year thing can work for or against them. Being rare makes a gold medal valuable, but even 1 poor olympics is 8 years between top riders contesting the medals.


Olympics winners. Pascal Richard, Jan Ullrich, Paolo Bettini, Samuel Sanchez
Podiums. Rolf Sorenson, Max Sciandri, Vinokourov, Kloden, merckx, Paulinho, Cancellara, and Kolobnev.

For me the jury is out on where the olympics will find its place. London really screw this.

 

[Runitout]

Heh, Het Nieuwsblad is also a newspaper by the way, but you probably figured that one out already.

Het Volk= The People
Het Nieuwsblad= The Newspaper =/

Why not just Gent-Gent. As it was sometimes called.

The World Champs have risen in stock over the last years, with riders the calibre of Boonen, Bettini, Evans and Hushovd getting the stripes. I think to solidify that rise they need another few GC competitors wearing the arc-en-ceil in the next years. Hence, a hard course. Make it so, UCI.

The Olympics I do not rate above any monument. O'Grady said the same - when comparing an Olympic gold to the Roubaix trophy: along the lines of "there are plenty of gold medals in the world, but there's only one rock."

It certainly is not the blue riband one-dayer.

Perhaps this as a ranking:

1. WC RR*; Liege-Bastogne-Liege
3. Paris-Roubaix
5. de Ronde
6. Milano-San Remo
7. Lombardia, Olympic Road Race
9. La Fleche
10. Amstel
11. Paris-Tours
12. San Sebastian
13. Gent-Wevelgem; E3-Prijs
15. Gent-Gent

* A few years ago, I would have the WC lower.

 

[jaylew]

Worlds
Liège
Roubaix
Flanders
Olympics (hard to rate as it doesn't come around frequently but I thought Bejing was fantastic)
Flèche (fairly boring until the end but my favorite finale in cycling)
Amstel
San Sebastian
Lombardia (would be higher if it was earlier in the year)
MSR
Gent-Wevelgem
Paris-Tours

 

[jaylew]

As far as the olympics goes, the fact that i cannot name a SINGLE former olympic road race champion says something to me about its importance.

How could you not remember Bettini and his gold helmet, shoes, etc...? For me that Olympic-Worlds combo kit he wore for almost two years is one of the most memorable ever.

 

[Marcus135]

1. Worlds
2. Liège
3. Paris-Roubaix
4. Olympics
5. Amstel Gold
6. Giro di Lombardia
7. La Flèche Wallone
8. Gent-Wevelgem
9. De Ronde van Vlaanderen
10. Milano- San Remo
11. Paris-Tours

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

8. Gent-Wevelgem
9. De Ronde van Vlaanderen

WTF?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

1.Worlds - The jersey + Nations is something special imo
2. P-R - so tough and grueling.
3. Flanders - amazing course.
4. LBL - the best of the ardennes imo
5. Lombardia - best italian race
6. Amstel Gold Race - so many short steep climbs
7. Fleche Wallone - I love the ardennes
8. Omloop Het Volk - season starts here

Note: The above are races I absolutely love..

9. Gent-Wevelgem
10. Olympics
11. E3 Prijs
12. Clásica de San Sebastián
13. Dwars dv
14. MSR - never been a big fan
15. P-T
16. K-B-K - deserves a mention after this year

all great races

Canadian races have potential to be in this list one day I'm sure, just lacking some prestige.

I've never seen Strade Bianche, but apparently it is pretty awesome. Prestige applies here too though.

 

[Marcus135]

WTF?

Someone from Belgium complaining i don't like their races
dont really like cobbles but enjoy roubaix for some reason...

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Someone from Belgium complaining i don't like their races
dont really like cobbles but enjoy roubaix for some reason...

I meant: how can you possibly rate RVV below Gent-Wevelgem?

 

[El Pistolero]

Why not just Gent-Gent. As it was sometimes called.

The World Champs have risen in stock over the last years, with riders the calibre of Boonen, Bettini, Evans and Hushovd getting the stripes. I think to solidify that rise they need another few GC competitors wearing the arc-en-ceil in the next years. Hence, a hard course. Make it so, UCI.

The Olympics I do not rate above any monument. O'Grady said the same - when comparing an Olympic gold to the Roubaix trophy: along the lines of "there are plenty of gold medals in the world, but there's only one rock."

It certainly is not the blue riband one-dayer.

Perhaps this as a ranking:

1. WC RR*; Liege-Bastogne-Liege
3. Paris-Roubaix
5. de Ronde
6. Milano-San Remo
7. Lombardia, Olympic Road Race
9. La Fleche
10. Amstel
11. Paris-Tours
12. San Sebastian
13. Gent-Wevelgem; E3-Prijs
15. Gent-Gent

* A few years ago, I would have the WC lower.

Gent-Wevelgem actually has a lot of prestige here in Belgium, a lot more then the E3-Prijs Vlaanderen. I don't really like the race or anything, but since 2010 there have been a lot more hills in the race. It's game over for sprinters in that race. Unless you're name is Boonen, but then you drop out half way anyway.

 

[luckyboy]

1. Paris-Roubaix
2= Ronde van Vlaanderen/Liège–Bastogne–Liège
4. Worlds
5. Amstel Gold Race
6. Giro di Lombardia
7. Milan-San Remo
8. La Flèche Wallonne
9. Omloop Het Volk (Nieuwsblad)
10. Clásica de San Sebastián
11. E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
12= Giro dell'Emilia/Dwars door Vlaanderen
14. Giro del Piedmonte
15= Paris-Tours/Gent-Wevelgem
17. Flèche Brabançonne
18= Paris-Brussels/Grote Scheldeprijs

 

[Mich78BEL]

1. World Championship on the Road
2. De Ronde van Vlaanderen
3. Paris-Roubaix
4. Liège-Bastogne-Liège
5. Milano-San Remo
6. Giro di Lombardia
7. Amstel Gold Race
8. La Flèche Wallone
9. Olympic Championship on the Road: don't rate this that highly, lacks the tradition of the races ranked higher in this list
10. Paris-Tours
11. Gent-Wevelgem
12. Clasica San Sebastian (also a classic in my book)
13. Paris - Brussel (ditto)
14. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (ditto)

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

1. RVV, PR, Worlds, LBL, MSR
6. Amstel, Fleche, Gent-Gent, G-W, San Sebastian, Olympics, Lombardia

 

[Winterfold]

Luckyboys is about the same as mine

Apologies if this link already came up

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/cosmocatalano/4302351672/

 

[The Hitch]

Luckyboys is about the same as mine

Apologies if this link already came up

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/cosmocatalano/4302351672/

DOnt think the link has been posted (though it doesnt really rank the races) but Cosmo and his blog are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Notices things no one else does. Like that Steegmans rode into the wind for the entire Paris Tours sprint and flew past everyone from 12th position to 3rd. Also the Cav crash he did a video how Flecha ( i think) managed to avoid it.

His "how the race was won" videos are great. A neccesity to watch when he does make them.

Anyone who hasnt seen them and has the time (which you must, seeing as you are on this forum to start with ) should watch them, starting with LBL this year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3rWBvlRLZM

Dont know if he is a poster here but he knows a lot about cycling.

 

[crocycling]

1. Paris-Roubaix
2. Ronde van Vlaanderen
gap
3. Liège–Bastogne–Liège
4. Worlds
gap
5. Giro di Lombardia
6. Milan-San Remo
7. Amstel Gold Race
8. La Flèche Wallonne

 

[Matthijs]

1. RVV It's just the biggest race of the year in this part of the world, from Het Volk everybody's living for this race
- PR nothing is like this race and the first classic I watched on TV ('94 Tsjmil and Ballerini)
- WC-RR everybody competes, and the whole Vuelta living up to this race, getting excited
4. AGR lacks history, but long enough and with more hills then any other race and changing front-groups all the time: more exciting finale especially since they finish on the Cauberg
- LBL more real climbs, very hard
- MSR I do not like the sprinting, but the 300km and the Poggio!!
7. Lombardia also hard, but a seperated from the rest
8. San Sebastian, with everybody from the Tour, not so much history
- Paris-Tours Never won by Eddy!
- Fleche Wallonne short race, epic Mur de Huy
11. Gent-Wevelgem we'll see what happens with the new course (Kemmelberg!) and the longer distance. The organisers want to be longer but the UCI must confirm and the E3 vs GW problem must be solved somehow.
12. Vattenfall/Plouay/Canada/Het Volk

ORR ? somewhere near the top, but depending of how many top classic riders make it their goal?

 

[arnaud]

The olympic road race has nothing to do with this ranking: CIO has been destroyed cycling for many years now, and they haven't the abalities to organise any thing stable in cycling. And precisely, classics need stability.
I could have the same arguments about the world championship - UCI is the CIO's right armed bras- : the selection mode became stupid and unreadeable.
And the race became too tactical for about ten years

Regarding the so called classics, i think the top three are MSR,RVV and Roubaix: they take place in the very season, there are legendary races and there are even part of the history of the humanity (i think UNESCO rated RVV last year)
personally, my favorite is PR , which is even more physical than RVV
So my ranking is: 1.Paris Roubaix
2.RVV
3.MSR

Then 4.Paris Tours
5.Gand Wevelgem
6.Liége , too many climbs which create a closed race
7.Lombardia
8.Het Volk, which increased for some editions

following, any flemish semi-classic with of course E3