Where does the Olympic Road Race rank in prestige?

[ElChingon]

"Pure sports" - what an absurd concept.

Will then run with no shoes in the buff like in ancient Greece?

Is the pole vault banned because you need a pole?

What about weight lifting, can they lift weights, or do they have to do pull-ups to prove how strong they are?

In the swimming, will costumes, goggles or swimming caps be permitted?

The boxing would have to turn into bare-knuckle boxing, would it?

Now you're catching on, no gloves is a great idea!

The Olympics are turning into a freaking ad show now, just like in cycling all logo's should be removed in all sports.

In swimming why do they need these new fangled suits? Aren't the best swimmers in the world? But they still need a wet suit to "cheat" to win, total bust in proving who's the best in the world, might as well let them dope at that rate.

If you've been watching the Olympic running sports you would of already of seen bare foot runners WINNING GOLD MEDALS! So proof positive right there.

The pole vault competition has already shown that they use pole's (some countries that can afford them) that are springier to improve their vault, another bust in proving who's the best, they should award that gold medal to the manufacture of the pole not the person using it.

 

[karlboss]

May I rephrase the question?

Run Paris-Roubaix and the Olympics over the same parcours and tell all the riders they can choose either, but not both, which do you think they would choose?

Now do the same with all the other monuments, GTs imagine riding the olympics means you can not ride some other big race including the worlds, what happens?

I think for the majority of riders worlds would be sacrificed for olympics. I also think for the majority of riders MSR, Lombardia would be too. The 3 in the middle would be closer, I am saying this as some riders build their season around being in form for RVV, PR, and the Ardennes(LBL). They also do the same for the olympics and worlds if the course suits, not many if any do for MSR or Lombardia.

So in terms of the poll I have my answer. With the other monuments, as it is at least debatable with 3 and beats 2. Where it actually sits...I'm going to say 3rd and make my order PR, LBL, Olympics, Worlds, RVV...others.

With a good route i think it could find its way upwards in prestige. The list of winners would do justice any Monument thus far, Richard, Ullrich, Bettini, Sanchez...just needs a little more history.


PS. There is no question outside of cycling Olympics is bigger.

 

[simo1733]

I think that if Cav wins the ORR then he might be the best person to answer this question. IF (a big if) he wins then he would be the reigning World and Olympic champion and has won a monument in the past at MSR.

Being a home olympics I reckon the mainstream attention he would get would exceed last years world champs win and far exceed his MSR win. I can't say i know enough about the "cycling world" to comment on that but within the "sports world" i reckon the ORR would be more significant.

Well he didn't get SFA attention for winning MSR.In GB at least.

 

[greenedge]

I think the Olympics are not as fun races to watch as the monuments but it is good because it goes to different countries.

I think it ranks as equal as the Monuments/ WC because the riders who win are very good ( Samu, Bettini, Ulrich ) and this one race ( every 4 years ) will go to good cyclists who have prepared and may not win the Monuments/ Gt's/ WC's but are still good.

The fact that it is every 4 years i think makes it as prestigious as a Monument/ WC.

 

[Moviefan1203]

On about the same level as the 5 monuments + WC. I think it's bigger than WC since it is only once every four years.

 

[Caruut]

Well he didn't get SFA attention for winning MSR.In GB at least.

He did get sweet F all attention in the UK. He would have made the sports section of the broadsheets, probably, but not the actual back page. For as big a career achievement as that, that's not much. WRR he made the back page proper, might have got the photo on a couple of the front pages too. That was a big deal.

I think one of the things for casual fans who just sort of hear about it a bit is that terms like "World Champion" and "Olympic Champion" have a more tangible meaning that the names of the other big races, apart from the Tour, which everyone knows.

If he wins the Olympic RR, he'll be a hero in the UK. We love Olympic champions - look what it's done for Chris Hoy, he's been getting endorsement deals for the last 4 years. It would make him something of a superstar with the general public.

Hitch, about it not being black and white - I agree. The amount people respect it is not either one amount or another, it's shades of grey. I think that in general, a more year-round fan will value the monuments+WC, and a more turn-on-the-news-and-at-least-bother-listening fan will value to Olympics higher, and probably not even know about the others.

I also think that there's an element of different between some of the more traditional one-day racing countries (Belgium, Italy, France, Netherlands) and the English-speaking countries and other newbies on the scene. In a country where the general population are more aware of what the other races are, they are naturally more likely to see them as prestigious.

 

[Cult Classics]

I think it depends on what your relationship with cycling is. For someone who likes cycling but for whom cycling is basically just the Tour de France, but who follows all the sports that their country is competing in, winning the gold medal is a massive deal. They may not even have heard of Paris-Roubaix. World Champ or Olympic Champ sounds more impressive to the novice than Tour of Flanders winner, though I know which race I prefer.

For someone who follows the sport of cycling over the whole season, especially the classics, and who has their own favourite riders (and not necessarily based on nationality), I'd say the Olympics RR doesn't quite match up to the level of the monuments. Not to say it's meaningless or unimportant, it is still, but as someone else said the Olympic RR is pretty new to cycling as a professional event, so it hasn't got the history to cycling fans of a San Remo, Roubaix or Liege yet, or of the Worlds, which is its most similar event but has more of a history and that famous rainbow jersey.

That said, certain riders are definitely targeting it as a major goal for the season (for Cavendish it's either top or joint-top priority, and I guess being in the UK there is extra incentive; for Boonen it's high priority, though Flanders-Roubaix was his main aim for the year) so it's definitely very important to some riders, and I think the race will get more overall media attention this year: there weren't many fans and there was hardly any local interest in Athens 2004 or Beijing 2008, but this time there is a home favourite who is becoming a star in a country in which cycling has previously struggled for recognition, and, Brits being Brits who will go out and watch almost anything, there will be huge crowds at this race that you normally don't see at races other than the Tour. So that all adds to the idea that something big is going on.

I'm really looking forward to the race. However, I'm not looking forward to the organisation of it. I'm a Londoner - what are my odds on just walking down to the startline, getting on the barrier and getting some great photos of my cycling heroes? Slim to none, I reckon. I've gone over to France, Belgium, Holland and Italy for grand tour and monument races and managed to do just that very easily, but why do I get the feeling that in the UK I'm not getting anywhere near the start without an access pass or security clearance or something? Otherwise I can try to get a £15 ticket to watch on the hill.... £15 is not cycling. Even the Roubaix velodrome is free.

 

[Caruut]

I think it depends on what your relationship with cycling is. For someone who likes cycling but for whom cycling is basically just the Tour de France, but who follows all the sports that their country is competing in, winning the gold medal is a massive deal. They may not even have heard of Paris-Roubaix. World Champ or Olympic Champ sounds more impressive to the novice than Tour of Flanders winner, though I know which race I prefer.

For someone who follows the sport of cycling over the whole season, especially the classics, and who has their own favourite riders (and not necessarily based on nationality), I'd say the Olympics RR doesn't quite match up to the level of the monuments. Not to say it's meaningless or unimportant, it is still, but as someone else said the Olympic RR is pretty new to cycling as a professional event, so it hasn't got the history to cycling fans of a San Remo, Roubaix or Liege yet, or of the Worlds, which is its most similar event but has more of a history and that famous rainbow jersey.

That said, certain riders are definitely targeting it as a major goal for the season (for Cavendish it's either top or joint-top priority, and I guess being in the UK there is extra incentive; for Boonen it's high priority, though Flanders-Roubaix was his main aim for the year) so it's definitely very important to some riders, and I think the race will get more overall media attention this year: there weren't many fans and there was hardly any local interest in Athens 2004 or Beijing 2008, but this time there is a home favourite who is becoming a star in a country in which cycling has previously struggled for recognition, and, Brits being Brits who will go out and watch almost anything, there will be huge crowds at this race that you normally don't see at races other than the Tour. So that all adds to the idea that something big is going on.

I'm really looking forward to the race. However, I'm not looking forward to the organisation of it. I'm a Londoner - what are my odds on just walking down to the startline, getting on the barrier and getting some great photos of my cycling heroes? Slim to none, I reckon. I've gone over to France, Belgium, Holland and Italy for grand tour and monument races and managed to do just that very easily, but why do I get the feeling that in the UK I'm not getting anywhere near the start without an access pass or security clearance or something? Otherwise I can try to get a £15 ticket to watch on the hill.... £15 is not cycling. Even the Roubaix velodrome is free.

I was pretty annoyed about the cost at first, but then if I went to watch Reading play, I'd fork out £25. When you consider that it will probably be a long time before Britain hosts a one-day race of this calibre, it's not so bad. The main sting is that they're announced it so late and in such a manner that it looks like they were always going to do it, but wanted to circumvent any kind of opposition by selling the tickets before any real pressure could be applied.

I suppose, as well, that if they're going to ticket it due to demand outweighing space, then charging makes sense. Free tickets would see lots of punters just go "might as well throw my hat in the ring" and then not show up. Would be pretty poor seeing an empty hill.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

There's a huge difference in how important it is for the rider to win it and how important it is for the country.

 

[El Pistolero]

There's a huge difference in how important it is for the rider to win it and how important it is for the country.

Exactly. People don't care in what sports they get a gold medal in, as long as their countrymen get gold medals. These people that Hitchens seems to adore don't care if they win a gold medal in track cycling or in the road race. Does this mean Geraint Thomas or Bradley Wiggins have some of the best palmares in this sport of ours?

Or is track cycling not as important as road racing? Try to explain that to the millions of people watching and who have no clue at all about both sports.

As for Samuel's welcome home after he won the Olympics... Never been to Balen when Boonen won Roubaix huh?

 

[Echoes]

Insignificant and it should also be scrapped from the pro calendar just like it was before 1996.

I you think it's unrealistic because the amateur category no longer exists, than just give it to the U23, like they do for ball-with-your-feet.

This has to be my whipping race, even more so than Bore de France. Just a huge moneymaker, turning the calendar upside down every four years. We have enough prestigeous race in the calendar. We don't need that sh*t.

 

[The Hitch]

Exactly. People don't care in what sports they get a gold medal in, as long as their countrymen get gold medals. These people that Hitchens seems to adore don't care if they win a gold medal in track cycling or in the road race

Or is track cycling not as important as road racing? Try to explain that to the millions of people watching and who have no clue at all about both sports.

Pff, what a extraordinarily weak post.

Where is your proof for these wild generlizations.

By what right do you speak for millions of people around the world to declare that all of them, every last one doesn't care for the race itself, just the medal.

By what right do you speak for the athletes themselves

You by your own admission don't even watch much of the olympics, and yet you claim to know what passions and thoughts, millions of people who do, experience.


Ok. So there are millions of people who dont understand the sport. Billions even.

We get it. We understood you the first time, and moreover we didnt even need you to tell us, we already knew.

now let it go and ignore the millions of people who dont understand cycling.

There are millions of people also who do care about cycling, and who watch the tour and do understand road cycling.

They say the tour can get up to 200 million viewers worldwide for stage, probably a huge exageration so lets for the sake of argument say its only 80 million.

Now of those 80 million poeple how many dont really watch cycling outside the Tour.

Lets be generous again, i do have a lot of millions to play with, so lets kindly say that its half and half, only half of the (generous) 80 million figure dont watch much cycling out of the tour.

But since they watch the tour they do understand cycling. Right?

You agree with that?

ok so of those 40 million fans, who watch the tour, don't watch any other races, but do understand the sport, how many watch the olympics.

Even if its only a very small %, say 10-15% (and its probably way way way higher), thats still millions of people who fall outside the catergory you keep bringing up.

In other words, millions of people DO in fact exist, contrary to your protests, who DO understand cycling, who DO know the names of many riders, who DON'T watch the whole cycling season, but DO watch the olympic road race.

So millions of people therefore, for whome the olympic road race will therefore be more important than the shooting or aquatics or pentathlon etc.

Thats just looking at it from a tdf perspective and not taking into account the other factors of prestige that can make people see the road race as one of the key events of the olympics .


So you think we can drop the whole "but they dont understand cycling" "but they probably dont know the difference between road and track" "but they probably only care about whether someone wins a medal" etc etc etc lines?

 

[El Pistolero]

I know all to well what the general view is of the Olympics. Countries just want gold medals, they don't care in what sport it is. Why else do you think Great Britain and Australia have invested in track cycling. Let me guess, because of their love for the bicycle? Don't make me laugh. The Olympics is just a **** measuring contest between nations.

People who don't care about cycling will not care about cycling after the Olympics. They'll just be glad that someone from their country won and that's where it ends. They don't love the sport, they love the Olympics.

The people who care about cycling will realize there are bigger things in the sport than the Olympics. They know that in this sport history is very important. Hence why 47% on this forum voted that the Olympics aren't even as good as winning a Monument.

 

[The Hitch]

I know all to well what the general view is of the Olympics. Countries just want gold medals, they don't care in what sport it is.

The people who care about cycling will realize there are bigger things in the sport than the Olympics. .

Right, you heard it here first people.


There are 2 types of people in this world.

On the 1 hand people who watch the entire cycling season.

On the other hand people who dont watch cycling at all and at the olympics only care for the medals.

As pisti explains There is absolutely no middle ground. There are no shades of grey.

Everyone either watches cycling 100%, or they watch it 0%.

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm obviously talking about non-cycling fans only. They only watch the Olympics and sometimes the Tour. These people then stap away again after the Olympics are over. Maybe a tiny percentage get sucked into this sport, but that's insignificant.

Do you really think a Brit that doesn't care for cycling is going to watch the Giro d'Italia?

 

[Arnout]

I think its a rather pointless question. I think most "which is bigger..." questions are rather pointless. In the end, does it matter if someone in a faraway country, in front of a blurry stream, sees Gasparotto and Sanchez race together, to which he says "Gasparotto's / Samu's win was more important?"

In the end, most cyclists race because they love it, and because it makes them money, not because they want to please the fans (hence the defensive riding nowadays, it may indicate that money is getting the better of the loving thing).

Who cares about what one achieved? Isn't it just a line in the history books. There's always someone winning a race, it isn't a Martin Luther King moment. The more important thing is: how did they achieve it, are they proud if it and do they look back on it with good memories? That's why a domestique can be more satisfied with what he's done in his career, or in a significant part of his life for that matter, than someone who won some Tour stages, a monument and a lot of smaller races. In the end, those are just lines and those are without emotion.

 

[The Hitch]

I'm obviously talking about non-cycling fans only. ?

Why?

Why are you talking about non cycling fans?

Why do you keep talking about non cycling fans?

What relevance do they have to this discussion?

Yes well done einstein, non cycling fans do exist. Thousands, maybe even millions of them around the world

So what

 

[El Pistolero]

They watch the olympics and build statues for Samuel Sanchez

You're basing your argument over the fact that who ever wins the Olympic road race gets a "great welcome home" when they return to their country. What if someone from let's say... Serbia wins the Olympics... He would also get a "great welcome home" and be treated like a hero for a short while in his home country. Yet almost no one in Serbia cares about cycling... They DO care however that someone won an Olympic gold medal for their country. Hence why I call the Olympics a **** measuring contest between nations. USA USA USA!!! Like I said, these people don't care about cycling, so why should the cycling community care about them?

 

[The Hitch]

Like I said, these people don't care about cycling, so why should the cycling community care about them?

How do you know that these people "dont care about cycling"?

 

[Cult Classics]

OK. enough. The Hitch v Pisti - Hell in a Cell. The winner gets to ride along the Olympics course on the back of a motorcycle, ahead of the race, shouting encouragement/abuse at the gathering crowds as they see fit.

Is that worth £15?

 

[Zam_Olyas]

OK. enough. The Hitch v Pisti - Hell in a Cell. The winner gets to ride along the Olympics course on the back of a motorcycle, ahead of the race, shouting encouragement/abuse at the gathering crowds as they see fit.

Is that worth £15?

I would gladly pay £20 .

 

[Fetisoff]

OK. enough. The Hitch v Pisti - Hell in a Cell. The winner gets to ride along the Olympics course on the back of a motorcycle, ahead of the race, shouting encouragement/abuse at the gathering crowds as they see fit.

Is that worth £15?

Add DT in there as a guest referee for more DRAMA

 

[bicycle_rack]

Somewhere above TDF yellow and below ATOC KOM

 

[karlboss]

That said, certain riders are definitely targeting it as a major goal for the season (for Cavendish it's either top or joint-top priority, and I guess being in the UK there is extra incentive; for Boonen it's high priority, though Flanders-Roubaix was his main aim for the year) so it's definitely very important to some riders, and I think the race will get more overall media attention this year: there weren't many fans and there was hardly any local interest in Athens 2004 or Beijing 2008, but this time there is a home favourite who is becoming a star in a country in which cycling has previously struggled for recognition, and, Brits being Brits who will go out and watch almost anything, there will be huge crowds at this race that you normally don't see at races other than the Tour. So that all adds to the idea that something big is going on.

The difference in Cavendish is the favourite to win the olympics, Boonen is an outsider due to the course.

 

[El Pistolero]

Considering Cav's track record in one day races this year I wouldn't call him the favorite just yet.