What is Your Favorite Cycling Race??

[jobiwan]

Question speaks for itself.
(Did not find a similar thread, so if this was discussed like 3 months ago, forgive me!!)

 

[Parrulo]

as much as i absolutely love the classics the giro edges it for me. i have been anticipating this giro since even before the route was announced and hope zomegman stays so we can speculate about the route for months like we did last year

about the tour and the vuelta i don't want to sound like an "hipster" but i prefer the vuelta simply because the tour is always the same generic thing and the vuelta usually has a couple of revelations (new young guns i mean) also its very hard to predict the winner even if it is because of a weaker field

so for me it is

giro
monuments/vuelta
tour

 

[hrotha]

Worlds (road race, of course).

 

[DenisMenchov]

My favorite races are Giro and Tour, but I had to vote Giro because Zomegnan. Paris Roubaix and RVV are also great, but I prefer GTs.

 

[jobiwan]

I enjoy all of the races, and obviously in the GT's there are major differences from year to year, so the excitement will vary.
That said, I tend to favor the Tour for a few reasons:

- It's one of the only cycling races on TV in the US, (even though it's Phil and Paul)

- Being the oldest of the GT's, it has the most history, and it's the one I believe most riders would want to win the most. Because of this, the majority of the top GT riders tend to build their entire season on the Tour, which results in more riders racing it at their peak level

- To me at least, because it's probably the most known event in the cycling calendar, it's raced in such a way where generally, the race isn't decided until the 2nd half, and that keeps it interesting until the end.

So if I had a list, it would be:
- Tour
- Giro/Roubaix
- Ronde/Liege/Vuelta
- The Rest

 

[DenisMenchov]

TOUR is definitely THE biggest, not only cycling race, but the biggest event there is in a year without Olympics and Football World Cup (like this year).

 

[Moondance]

Tour of Flanders without a doubt. Great course, great atmosphere, and great racing.

 

[The Hitch]

1 Giro

2 Queen stage of the Giro

3 Worlds Road Race

4 Olympic Road Race (unless its on a crap course like 2012)
5 Tour de France
6 Ronde
7 Vuelta a Espana
8 Major mtf of Giro
9 Major mtf of Tour
10 LBL.

 

[Havetts]

Giro
Worlds Road
TdF - minus all the fricking pancake stages..
-----
Rest

I like GT's the most(who wouldve guessed ) and Worlds Road Race when its not going to be a sprintfest at the end .

 

[The Hitch]

TOUR is definitely THE biggest, not only cycling race, but the biggest event there is in a year without Olympics and Football World Cup (like this year).

Biggest as in most hotels booked or something. But in terms of media coverage the Tour is unfortunately nowhere near the biggest. Any single tennis grand slam gets about 50 times as much coverage as the Tour. The Superbowl, some golf majors. Then theres a ton of soccer games, the world athletics championships, about 1 or 2 boxing matches and since you didnt specify that it had to be sport, then things like f1 and wrestlemania too.

In about 6 or 7 central and western european countries its a big event that gets lots of coverage. In the other 200, its not even the biggest sports story in July, so forget about the year as a whole.

 

[erader]

easily the tour. i'll bet if you asked during the tour you'd get a different response.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah, youd get a lot more Giro fans as people complain about how boring the TOur is. All right im half joking but during the Tour you do get a lot of comments such as
"bore the france" - dekker tifosi among others
"How long till the Giro"- Mellow Velo.
and a lot of other "boring" and "yawn" etc.

You also find a lot of the stage threads are TOTALY off topic such as one where Moondance complained about not getting invited to the Rabo car and we indulged him, one where we just talked about the Wire for about 10 pages and not a single cycling comment.

 

[Archibald]

Tough call, this.

Giro and Paris-Roubaix

Biggest as in most hotels booked or something. But in terms of media coverage the Tour is unfortunately nowhere near the biggest. Any single tennis grand slam gets about 50 times as much coverage as the Tour. The Superbowl, some golf majors. Then theres a ton of soccer games, the world athletics championships, about 1 or 2 boxing matches and since you didnt specify that it had to be sport, then things like f1 and wrestlemania too.

Rugby World Cup?

 

[Moondance]

Yeah, youd get a lot more Giro fans as people complain about how boring the TOur is. All right im half joking but during the Tour you do get a lot of comments such as
"bore the france" - dekker tifosi among others
"How long till the Giro"- Mellow Velo.
and a lot of other "boring" and "yawn" etc.

You also find a lot of the stage threads are TOTALY off topic such as one where Moondance complained about not getting invited to the Rabo car and we indulged him, one where we just talked about the Wire for about 10 pages and not a single cycling comment.

Don't exaggerate. I think I made three posts in re my uncle having done that which earned him my eternal scorn.

That stage, which number I no longer recall, but it was the Bastille Day stage, was also outrageously boring, and we had nothing to talk about.

 

[riobonito92]

Voted RVV

If I could ever afford to fly to Europe just to watch one day of racing (unlikely but I can dream) it would be that.

On the other hand, my wife wants to go to Paris for the final TdF stage, so . . .

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lots of quality short stage races like the Vuelta a Burgos, País Vasco and Paris-Nice (when it doesn't feature a long ITT and a flat penultimate stage at least) are right up there for me. And of course I have a soft spot for the controversial but super-hard Volta a Portugal.

But from this list, the Giro, followed by the Vuelta and the Giro di Lombardia.

 

[Ferminal]

World Championship.

 

[Parrulo]

Don't exaggerate. I think I made three posts in re my uncle having done that which earned him my eternal scorn.

That stage, which number I no longer recall, but it was the Bastille Day stage, was also outrageously boring, and we had nothing to talk about.

sush that stage was awesome

because paulinho won

Lots of quality short stage races like the Vuelta a Burgos, País Vasco and Paris-Nice (when it doesn't feature a long ITT and a flat penultimate stage at least) are right up there for me. And of course I have a soft spot for the controversial but super-hard Volta a Portugal.

But from this list, the Giro, followed by the Vuelta and the Giro di Lombardia.

oh the volta. . . the most underrated stage race in professional cycling. the dream of getting it back to 15 stages and to make it a pro tour race has vanished long ago

 

[cineteq]

Le Tour but I was looking forward to pick Dauphiné.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Don't exaggerate. I think I made three posts in re my uncle having done that which earned him my eternal scorn.

That stage, which number I no longer recall, but it was the Bastille Day stage, was also outrageously boring, and we had nothing to talk about.

Those three posts were providing us with infinitely more welcome entertainment that anything that the road was throwing our way. All of us who were there can still picture you fuming behind your terminal, getting more bothered with each revelation of how your uncle's day was panning out

I think Hitch was handing out badges of honour there, not pouring scorn. At least, that's how I'd take it

 

[mewmewmew13]

I have to say the Giro, although this year's has been tinged with sadness and it's taken a little of the oomph out of it for me...that, and the fact that Contador pretty much stamped it early.
Last year's Giro was the best...

then, I love the monuments.

and, I do enjoy the Tour when there is a good battle going in the mountains...

 

[TheRossSeaParty]

Honestly it all depends on how it is raced. The classics are my favorite because they are races of attrition, and you only get one shot each year. If you mess up your tactics or are off form, then there is only next year. For me this adds a lot of tension to the race. I think they are all pretty equal with some years being better at some races and not so great a others. But I just love watching the crazy descents and roads in Italy. Sometimes it seems like they are racing down back alleys. So I would pick Lombardia as my #1, because even if the racing isn't exciting there is just a lot of amazing things to look at. Amstel Gold has been growing on me a lot lately, for a lot of the same reasons. A crazy technical course where it seems like anything could happen at any time.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Worlds (road race, of course).

+1

probably;

worlds (rr)
giro-love the course
tour-love the circus
pr
flanders
vuelta
basque/pn/ta
classics
Olympics
other stage races
other one day races

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Honestly it all depends on how it is raced. The classics are my favorite because they are races of attrition, and you only get one shot each year. If you mess up your tactics or are off form, then there is only next year. For me this adds a lot of tension to the race. .

Another reason I love the worlds.

 

[The Hitch]

Rugby World Cup?

Annual

Those three posts were providing us with infinitely more welcome entertainment that anything that the road was throwing our way. All of us who were there can still picture you fuming behind your terminal, getting more bothered with each revelation of how your uncle's day was panning out

I think Hitch was handing out badges of honour there, not pouring scorn. At least, that's how I'd take it

Yes. Moondance seems a bit moody in his recent posts.

As i recall even if it was only 3 posts it moved into other non cycling ground. Something about marriage and ak zaf cheered moondance up with a very humorous scenario of what a conversation with Joop Zoetemelk would actually look like