Vuelta shabby presentation ceremony

[tidean]

I caught the 9th stage of the Vuelta this morning & watched it to the podium presentations & I was surprised at the shambles on the stage!!
First poor old Moncoutie was up & down off the podium a couple of times 'cos the girls did not know what to do with the flowers, there was ****** all crowds 'cos the finish was out in the sticks, & then he broke the cork off the champagne bottle & could not give the podium girls a bit of a champers drenching.
Atmosphere??? there was none.
Spain has some spectacular countryside but they just do not do it justice. As for a show, it is certainly 3rd to the Tour & the Giro. Even the motos & chopper camera coordination following the relevant riders in the last 10kms was very poor, whats up with the organization????

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Actually the main reason for the lack of crowd was they were all out on the climb. The Vuelta's atmosphere has been surprisingly good so far this year. And you can't blame the organisers for Moncoutié having trouble with the champagne bottle.

As for a show, what do you mean by that? The presentation of the Vuelta in terms of TV coverage I'd say is 3rd to the Tour and Giro (but in all honesty, who doesn't already know that?) but in terms of the route and the racing, it's waaaaaay ahead of the Tour. The GTs provide, in general, prestige in the order Tour, Giro, Vuelta, and provide, in general, racing in the order Giro, Vuelta, Tour. Even last year's super-dull Vuelta was better than the Tour by virtue of remembering to have one or two stages where something actually happened, rather than all that was memorable coming from a petty feud between a man who had no chance of winning but the world's media on his side and a man who wasn't interested in fighting but was going to win anyway.

 

[tidean]

Reply

I was talking about the podium ceremony in particular for Montcutie's presentation, it was badly organized/concerted. A winner should get the honour of a good presentation. The podium girls are supposed to be good looking & good chaperone's, on the stage poor old David was up & down & backwards & forwards not knowing what to do a couple of times, he looked confused, it was bad. The crowd may have been on the climb & yes there were a lot of good raucous wild cheering going on up there but the finish area did not look like it was near a town when the chopper cam panned out, hence the atmosphere just was not there at the finish. There are bigger finishes at our Tour down Under which is not a grand tour.
They have been doing it for 65 years, the formula should be well set by now, don't you think

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Er, that's what happens when the finish is on a climb. Did you think there was a big town at the top of the Tourmalet they could use? Or that Alpe di Pampeago was a thriving metropolis? The next town from there is about 15km away - but the climb is one of the most popular and effective in the Vuelta. What are they supposed to do, put together a stage like the 2009 one to Tarbes that completely neutralises the climb, just so the podium presentation can look a bit more pro?

The Vuelta are doing the right thing, in concentrating on improving the important part of the product - the race. The Xorret del Catí finish was identical to last year's and it went down well. The race was a lot better than it would have been with another 15km of flat riding to the finish. The trade off is that they have to have the presentation at an isolated area.

 

[tidean]

Reply

David Moncoutie was treated badly.
On the Tourmalet there are 1,000's of people even in poor weather. This finish appeared to have negative atmosphere it is not only a race it is a show too!!!

 

[timmers]

So the post stage is more important than the race? Who will remember the presentation next year? The stage was yesterday and I can't remember who finished 1st and 2nd loser!
Get real!

 

[khardung la]

David Moncoutie was treated badly.
On the Tourmalet there are 1,000's of people even in poor weather. This finish appeared to have negative atmosphere it is not only a race it is a show too!!!

So, what is your point??? That the Vuelta is the third GT? Thanks for the info.

Yesterday the finish was in the middle of nowhere. The access (by car etc...) is difficult. The people have better things to do on a Saturday than going up to the finish line to cheer the winner. One can just enjoy the beach or a nice meal with the family while watching the Vuelta on Tv.

The climb was pretty packed with cycling fans though, not the in-the-middle-of-nowhere finish line.

I guess you don't imply that professional cycling is not quite huge in Spain. For instance one can hear live the last part of each stage in 3-4 different national radios every day, plus extensive summaries, discussions etc.. in virtually every sport program and newspaper.

Moncoutie is receiving today his well deserved media attention, the ceremony at the finish line is an anecdote compared to that.

 

[la.margna]

as i always turn off after arrival of the first few riders, i didn't see and usual don't follow ceremonies. just observed the huge and great crowd on xorret de cati yesterday. nice.

 

[tidean]

Reply

OK! look I watch all of the race until Tomolaris says good bye. And yes the finish ceremony is only a small part of the race, I guess thats why they spend $100,000's of thousands of $$$ on it. Possibly the advertisers are not as important as the riders actual racing. But what I saw this morning was poor bumbling organization. The champagne supplier will remember the presentation ceremony next year while someone at a triathlon is cracking their product open. Ask Cadel what poor bumbling organization did to him last year. Were I to create a project that failed to present well at the end my clients (read advertisers) may look elsewhere next year.
Anyhow I was only observing the podium ceremony not the race, perhaps they should just hand out the $20, $15 & $10 envelopes and all go down to the local coffee shop & talk a bit of bull**** like we do at our local club races.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So what do you want them to do, relocate the finish to a town and ruin the racing? David Moncoutié won't care, he got his win. The sponsors still got their airtime. And please, compare the audiences for cycling and triathlon in Spain. This isn't the USA, triathlon is far more of a minority concern than cycling.

And as for "creating a project that failed to present well" - if they created a race which was boring and in which most of the mountains were neutralised (as would likely happen if they relocated the finish to a town), then because the Vuelta doesn't have the "biggest race of the year" buffer that the Tour has, fans might not bother to watch. And as we've been discovering, this year parts of the route have been informed by fan and viewer feedback - so this is GOOD for the advertisers, because the product is giving the fans what they want - exciting racing, which means more people will be inclined to watch and more people will see their products being advertised, which means more products will be happy to be associated with it, hence more revenue.

So the podium ceremony was a bit of a shambles. Meh. Would you rather have 50,000 people watching something go well or 500,000 people watching something go a bit stutteringly?

 

[roundabout]

How about poor timekeeping?

Bruseghin is now 8th on GC after it had to be corrected.

 

[icefire]

How about poor timekeeping?

Bruseghin is now 8th on GC after it had to be corrected.

That's a complaint for the judges sent by the sport authorities to the race, not for the organiser.

 

[roundabout]

The organiser is responsible for the General Management and correct development
of the race and is represented during the race by:
The General Manager.
The Technical Directors.
Race circulation controllers.
The Commissaires Panel, in collaboration with the General Management, is
responsible for enforcing the regulations and the sports control of the event, and
is comprised of the President of the Commissaires Panel and the International
UCI Commissaires.
The Commissaires Panel shall be supported by:
The Commissaire-Finish Line Judge and assistant.
The four motorcycle Commissaires.
The Timekeeper-commissaire and assistant.

Not sure that the UCI people can be responsible for the timekeeping

 

[joe1265]

Cycling World Order

1 Tour de France
2 Tour of California
3 Giro
4 Vuelta
5 Tour of Colorado (with a bullet!)

 

[Señor_Contador]

The biggest problem, IMO, is Unipublic.

These people have been sent letter after letter, for many years, by cycling enthusiasts, and they just seem to ignore them. I mean, it took them many years to get the Angliru into the calendar for peace sake! For some reason, year after year, they avoid three regions in Spain that could potentially bring some MEAN climbs into the picture: Galicia, the Canary islands and the Pyrenees as a whole.

I mean, Roque de los Muchachos: 30 kilometers at 7.31%, Teide: 63 kilometers at 3.62%, Pico de las Nieves: 26.7 kilometers @ 6.78%, Ancares, Cabeza de Manzaneda, God knows what could be done on the Pyrenees.

All the while riding through some of the most scenic parts in Europe.

Unipublic is killing the Vuelta.

 

[icefire]

The biggest problem, IMO, is Unipublic.

These people have been sent letter after letter, for many years, by cycling enthusiasts, and they just seem to ignore them. I mean, it took them many years to get the Angliru into the calendar for peace sake! For some reason, year after year, they avoid three regions in Spain that could potentially bring some MEAN climbs into the picture: Galicia, the Canary islands and the Pyrenees as a whole.

I mean, Roque de los Muchachos: 30 kilometers at 7.31%, Teide: 63 kilometers at 3.62%, Pico de las Nieves: 26.7 kilometers @ 6.78%, Ancares, Cabeza de Manzaneda, God knows what could be done on the Pyrenees.

All the while riding through some of the most scenic parts in Europe.

Unipublic is killing the Vuelta.

And who would pay for that?

Sending the Vuelta to the Canary Islands is a huge waste of money. They did it in 1988 when they raced the first 2 stages. I don't see any race organiser having such big mountain stages in the first days of a GT and I can't imagine the complains of riders and teams if they are sent there at the end of 3 weeks of hard racing.

Regarding Ancares and Manzaneda the question is quite clear. Nobody lives there and nobody will pay to have a race there.

There are many things that can be improved in the Vuelta course design, but sending the race to the Canary Islands or to unpopulated areas is just not feasible.

Unipublic received the first letter about the existence of Angliru in 1996. The climb was visited by the Vuelta for the first time in 1998. Clear example of Unipublic ignoring the info they get.

Sometimes the suggestions of cycling enthusiasts are far from realistic when you put money into the equation. Adding riders behaviour into that is even more difficult. Want an example? Last year Vuelta had three consecutive hard mountain stages: Velefique, Sierra Nevada and La Pandera. Regardless of other considerations about their detailed design, riders just took the first one at cyclotourist pace. More mountains doesn't necessarily means better racing.

 

[movingtarget]

I caught the 9th stage of the Vuelta this morning & watched it to the podium presentations & I was surprised at the shambles on the stage!!
First poor old Moncoutie was up & down off the podium a couple of times 'cos the girls did not know what to do with the flowers, there was ****** all crowds 'cos the finish was out in the sticks, & then he broke the cork off the champagne bottle & could not give the podium girls a bit of a champers drenching.
Atmosphere??? there was none.
Spain has some spectacular countryside but they just do not do it justice. As for a show, it is certainly 3rd to the Tour & the Giro. Even the motos & chopper camera coordination following the relevant riders in the last 10kms was very poor, whats up with the organization????

I tend to agree. The presentation seemed to be total confusion. There was plenty of atmosphere on the climbs and good crowds but knowing where the riders are on the road is confusing and the time checks are hit and miss, a bit like the Giro, although the Giro is generally much better organised. The ASO taking a bigger role can only help.

 

[theswordsman]

OK! look I watch all of the race until Tomolaris says good bye. And yes the finish ceremony is only a small part of the race, I guess thats why they spend $100,000's of thousands of $$$ on it.

Are you saying that they spend multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars on finish ceremonies for the entire race, or do you expect us to believe the Vuelta spent over four million dollars (21 x 2+ 100,000) to hand out jerseys? Link please. I'll stay out of the rest of the conversation.

 

[khardung la]

Cycling World Order

1 Tour de France
2 Tour of California
3 Giro
4 Vuelta
5 Tour of Colorado (with a bullet!)

Ha, ha.. that was a good joke. I guess you are joking....

 

[khardung la]

Maybe it would be nice to:

1-Ask Moncoutie and the other riders if they feel mistreated at the prize ceremonies

2- To estimate how many people watch on Tv the ceremony

In my opinion it is not the first time in this forum that someone complains about traditional aspects of cycling, while comparing it with other sports. For my taste the glamour and bull**** could stay in F1, NFL, golf etc... I am Spanish and I apreciate the possibility I have (as opposed to the TdF) to enjoy the pre and post-race at few meters of the riders. The ceremonies are cute, simple and straightforward. There is no big hype and no Hollywood show is needed.

I would put my eyes in other organizational aspects, like the route designed, security, etc..This year everything is going perfect, and the competition is impressive.

 

[icefire]

The organisation is learning from their own mistakes. Today's winner has been given an open bottle of champaigne

 

[khardung la]

The biggest problem, IMO, is Unipublic.

These people have been sent letter after letter, for many years, by cycling enthusiasts, and they just seem to ignore them. I mean, it took them many years to get the Angliru into the calendar for peace sake! For some reason, year after year, they avoid three regions in Spain that could potentially bring some MEAN climbs into the picture: Galicia, the Canary islands and the Pyrenees as a whole.

I mean, Roque de los Muchachos: 30 kilometers at 7.31%, Teide: 63 kilometers at 3.62%, Pico de las Nieves: 26.7 kilometers @ 6.78%, Ancares, Cabeza de Manzaneda, God knows what could be done on the Pyrenees.

All the while riding through some of the most scenic parts in Europe.

Unipublic is killing the Vuelta.

I agree partly with Ancares, and completely with the Pyrinees (and Western Gredos, Palencia mountains, Cuenca, Soria, Teruel...). They could make an amazingly hard and beautiful race, breaking some well-stablished topics about the Vuelta.

I think the key aspect in the discussion would derive from the knowledge of how important are for the Vuelta the fees paid by the cities where the stages start and finish. If they would not be that important maybe it would pay-off to race in more unpopulated and beautiful areas and try to get the income by increasing the appealing of the show to the Tvs etc...

However for example today's stage (to Alcoy) was first class, not only beautiful but hard and full of possibilities for the riders.

 

[tidean]

Reply

Yes of course the racing is the most important part of the bike race.
I actually think Spain is probably the best country in Europe having done a few big road trips there in the past & were you to give me a free lunch ticket to travel in Europe again Spain would definitely be part of my agenda.
But France is so well presented by the tdf & I think the Vuelta is not doing Spain justice. There are some massive tour stages to be had in Spain, the tdf seems to use Spain or at least the Pyrenees as much as possible. The organizers of the Vuelta are not creative enough imho.
Poor presentation does not do your product any good. The fans like me will watch as much racing as possible but to improve bike racing as a whole one has to present, show your product to the widest audience. I have a mate whose wife generally does not give hoot about cycle racing but she stays up late at night to watch the tdf. And when it comes to holidays he has no trouble getting her to France, she hangs out in the ambiance created by the race & he gets to the tdf with no hassles & gets a bit of riding done aswell.
Its all good for cycling - the race is good - France extra dollars from tourism & therefore supports the race well - an old cyclist gets to do some cycling - everybody is happy.
Maybe 'cos Spain is winning so much sport these days the Vuelta is down the list.

 

[Señor_Contador]

And who would pay for that?

You know what? I don't know and I don't care! And... who or what pays for the Vuelta is not something ANY fan should have to worry about.

Sending the Vuelta to the Canary Islands is a huge waste of money. They did it in 1988 when they raced the first 2 stages. I don't see any race organiser having such big mountain stages in the first days of a GT and I can't imagine the complains of riders and teams if they are sent there at the end of 3 weeks of hard racing.

Well, Unipublic already knows what doesn't work. Yes, the Canary Islands are far away from mainland Spain, but certain things could be done. I

Regarding Ancares and Manzaneda the question is quite clear. Nobody lives there and nobody will pay to have a race there.

And who the hell lives atop the Angliru or the Lagos de Covadonga? Mr. Pedro and his 500 sheep? Talk about double standards! Not only that, someone actually lives on Cabeza de Manzaneda, there's a ski area there. There are small towns scattered all over the place.

There are many things that can be improved in the Vuelta course design, but sending the race to the Canary Islands or to unpopulated areas is just not feasible.

Well, that's the # 1 problem, the "not feasible" part. I mean, is it "not feasible" because the Vuelta organization is a financially inviable entity? Is it in business to make a profit or to spread the cycling bug? What's Unipublic's mission statement? You pay, you get to see cyclists? "Course design" ought to be changed to "Cour$e de$ign". It's not as good as it could be. And it is getting worse. The Vuelta looks repetitive every year. I mean... how do the Giro and the Tour manage? They do go through unpopulated areas... and no one cares. People just show up. How do you explain to people in the Canary Islands that there's not enough money to go there... only to start the Vuelta off from the Netherlands? Are you fvcking kidding me?

Unipublic received the first letter about the existence of Angliru in 1996. The climb was visited by the Vuelta for the first time in 1998. Clear example of Unipublic ignoring the info they get.

No, it was done in 1999. 3 full years before Unipublic did anything. In any case, doesn't Unipublic have scouts looking around for nice climbs and routes? The answe is: not many. And the only few, my suspicion is, show up at the town halls asking the town mayors how much they're willing to fork up. What? You no pay? Fine! You no get to see Vuelta my friend!

Sometimes the suggestions of cycling enthusiasts are far from realistic when you put money into the equation. Adding riders behaviour into that is even more difficult. Want an example? Last year Vuelta had three consecutive hard mountain stages: Velefique, Sierra Nevada and La Pandera. Regardless of other considerations about their detailed design, riders just took the first one at cyclotourist pace. More mountains doesn't necessarily means better racing.

No, but at least they get to see the scenery. Which is why the Giro goes through the Gavia and the Stelvio or the Tour through the Galibier or the Croix de Fer. And this is something Unipublic doesn't get.

What Unipublic should do is concentrate more on the cycling than the money. And yes, cyclists are to blame too, I'm not going to deny that. But the organization is the # 1 problem.

Going back to my initial comment... Wouldn't it make sense to, for example, do a prologue in La Palma or Tenerife. Follow it up with a full stage in Fuerteventura or Lanzarote. Get on a 2-hour ferry to Agadir (Morocco) and do 1/2 mountain stages there. Be creative. Then go on the península and start off from... I don't know, Huelva and work your way around Spain, counterclockwise mind you, through Portugal into Galicia, going through Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country, Navarre and the Pyrenees. Then go down to Barcelona and Zaragoza and bring it to a close through La Mancha into Madrid.

Just a thought.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I always thought it would be quite cool to have a prologue in Melilla, then go to Ceuta for a circuit race - with Monte Hacho at one end (perhaps finish there?) and going over the Ctra del Serrallo at the other end it would be quite lumpy and give plenty of opportunities to break things up. You could feasibly draw a circuit that was about 25-30km long, and do it 5 or 6 times to create a good stage. Then transfer over to Algeciras and you can start a sequence of stages similar to the ones we had near the start of this Vuelta, or maybe even, like 2007 with Lagos de Covadonga, put in a proper mountain stage in the first week, though maybe no MTF, more like the original plan for stage 3 this year.