Vuelta a España Too many mountain etapes. Why not try to reach MOUNT EVEREST.

[RedheadDane]

Also remember the Grand Tours also seem to try to make their routes suitable to try to favor their home riders. Last year was a great example of that for the Vuelta with a course that fit Valverde extremely well.

Tour this year.

 

[tobydawq]

I would pay good money to see him take on the Mont Ventoux Desnivelée Challenge.

Well, to be fair to him, he has finished a Vuelta and won stage 18 in a Giro. It's actually a bit strange, because looking at PCS he seems to have completed stage 20 on the Stelvio in 2012 as well but is not listed as having participated on the following day's TT?

Guys like Pelucchi and Mareczko are worse climbers.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Well, to be fair to him, he has finished a Vuelta and won stage 18 in a Giro. It's actually a bit strange, because looking at PCS he seems to have completed stage 20 on the Stelvio in 2012 as well but is not listed as having participated on the following day's TT?

Guys like Pelucchi and Mareczko are worse climbers.

He was DQed from the Stelvio stage for hanging on to cars.

 

[ice&fire]

This whole parcours thing is an interesting discussion.

The TdF led the diminishing ITT K's because they did not have a French rider who could take advantage.

If a new Hinault shows his face then we will be back to 150k's of ITT per Tour.

As for the flat stages and bunch sprints you have to keep them because so many teams invest big money in sprinters and lead-out men.

One stage win makes a TdF for so many teams so if a few can land a sprint you are saving the industry and helping keep teams alive via the subsequent sponsorship exposure.

Race organisers keep an eye on TV audience data and take that into account for race design. Even before races were live on TV race organisers did things such as adding Poggio to MSR or search for old farm roads to use in Roubaix or Flanders because changes in the peloton or road surface had turned those races unselective.
Sponsors should also be aware of this and follow the audience. Somehow, that's why they throw their money at the road instead of the track, forcing track specialists to move to the road.

 

[Matt92]

It's not fair that 98% of the riders have not a chance to win anything. Next year move the race to Nepal and go for Mount Everest. Then only 0.1 % can win. This is not a fair competition and not exiting for any wievers. Suggest 50% mountains and 50% no mountains. This is more fair for all the riders and will be much more exiting for us to see.

50% mountains? That's actually something that not even Angelo Zomegnan in his golden era has dreamed of.

Generally speaking, I don't really see why GTs should favor classics guys. They already have the classics. Pure climbers don't really get to win a lot outside of GTs.

I'm also not sold on the idea that having plenty of classics-style stages would really give more exciting racing. Riders would still identify a few decisive stages and soft-pedal the others. In most cases, they would also soft-pedal the decisive stages because of the following decisive stages. Finally, they would soft-pedal the final decisive stage because it's too late and you can't afford to lose your GC placement with an attack from far out.

I also believe every race has its own dna. Saying that - for example - the Giro should have an edition with little to no mountains, so that guys who can't climb can win it, is like suggesting that Paris-Roubaix should skip the cobbles every now and then, so that guys who can't ride on cobbles can win it.

 

[VO2 Max]

It's not fair that 98% of the riders have not a chance to win anything even #2 or #3. Next year move the race to Nepal and go for Mount Everest. Then only 0.1 % can win.

Not sure why everyone's missing the central brilliant idea here. Realistically you probably have to finish at Phaplu Airport which is still a long way from Base Camp and only 2500m altitude, but your final climb is like 20+km going up over 3000m so you're bound to get some GC action there.

 

[SafeBet]

Not sure why everyone's missing the central brilliant idea here. Realistically you probably have to finish at Phaplu Airport which is still a long way from Base Camp and only 2500m altitude, but your final climb is like 20+km going up over 3000m so you're bound to get some GC action there.

But are you bound to have some Sepp Kuss action?

 

[md1975]

That has always been the way of road cycling, whether they ride on flat, hilly or mountainous terrain.

Exactly. The races that include mountains are going to be won by riders that are training and good at climbing. The only real even type terrain is cobblestone. Yet even they have certain riders that have an ability to ride them better than others