Which is the best of the Grand Tours

[Anonymous]

Well theres polls for everything else, and as a result of crocycling's ridiculous assertion that the giro was the tour de france's poor brother lets argue it out.

Which is the best of the grand tours.

 

[Moncoutie]

Think I know where this one is heading!

 

[El Pistolero]

Another let's hate the Tour and glorify the Giro thread. It's getting old really.

 

[Derrick]

I wonder if anybody will mention the Tour of Britain.{Well it is the silly season.}

 

[Machu Picchu]

I enjoyed both the Giro and the Vuelta more than the Tour this year but overall France is still home to the Grandest of the tours

 

[Moondance]

The Giro has the better course, and usually the better racing as well, but it will never have the glamour or the prestige of the Tour. and so my vote goes to France. Although the Giro's noone 'little brother' if that is indeed what Dim's article implies.

Also, I'm with Pistolero, the Tour-hating has gotten a little silly around here (although it was nice to see the second running of ACF's 'rate the Tour' poll got far better results than the first).

 

[ingsve]

It's doesn't matter how brilliant the Giro course gets of how boring the Tour course is, as long as the atmosphere of the Tour is there then it will always be the best.

Let's see if the vuelta even gets s single vote.

 

[Ferminal]

****, I didn't realise all four Grand Tours were there, can I have my vote back?

 

[pedaling squares]

France. More of the top riders show up and the racing is generally more intense. Recent years have been a letdown due to there being an accepted risk-averse formula to win the race. Could learn something about route selection from the Giro but overall is still the bigger, better GT.

The Vuelta doesn't have a chance when half the riders use it as a prep event.

 

[The Hitch]

For me the Giro is the best. Im a cycling fan. I like watching cycling. Prestige plays a part. The Tour de France is more prestigious, it is our blue ribbon. But prestige is ONLY 1 consideration. The Others would be parcors, calliber of riders, excitement. In calliber of riders the Tour wins big, but personaly for me the calliber of riders is not that important. If a gt has riders who arent the best, then that just means the race will be better because for most of the challengers, it is their best chance. Someones dream will come true. A GT does not lose prestige if a non prestigious rider wins. On the contrary, the rider who wins gains prestige by winning the GT.

In parcors the Giro OWNS the TOur. Terminillo, Gappa, Zoncolan, Kornplatz Mortirolo, Gavia Pass. Thats 6 huge mountains within 30km of a stage finish. COmpare this to 2 - Madeline and Tourmalet in the Tour this year. Take into account that the Zoncolan and Mortirolo are both bigger than anything the TOur has.
Less sprinter stages. A tt doesnt have to be 50km. I prefer 2 exciting 10- 20 km tts rather than 1 long 50k tt. A ttt is always there as well, as are breakaway stages. The less sprinter stages the better.

In excitement the Giro obviously rules. The mountains are more exciting, the sprinters stages are more exciting- breakaways have a chance.

In conclusion the Tour is more prestigious, but its prestige is NOT enough to make up for its lack in excitement.

 

[The Hitch]

Another let's hate the Tour and glorify the Giro thread. It's getting old really.

I think you have misread. The title is "Rate the Grand Tours". Not "bash the Tour"

If you dont like the Giro or they hype it gets on this forum you can counter with your own arguments.

There is another thing that is far more outdated on this thread and that is the joke about TOC. I got the point while it was on, that the organisers have delusions of grandeur. But i think its better for those of us who didnt like the TOC to just ignore it rather than give it more attention by mocking it. For me I dont like it because as a fan of the Tour of Poland i dont like the free exposure the ToC is getting. Any exposure is good exposure. The TOC sucked. There are far better races out there which deserve this kind of exposure. (mainly pologne)

Other things on this forum that fit this catergory (more outdated than Giro v Tour arguments) include arguments about Lance, arguments about Lemond, arguments about Contador and Clen and jokes about Bauke Mollema.

All of these are still ongoing so why shouldnt we be able to once every few months look at the Giro vs Tour?

 

[hfer07]

the only person I know of who calls the "tour of California" a GT is Bob Stapleton and the entire cycling world laughed at him---Did you started the thread Bob?

 

[ak-zaaf]

Tour de France.
It might not always be exciting, but it's the biggest race at the best time of the year.

 

[ultimobici]

Can someone explain why the Tour of California is on the list? Last time I checked there were 3 Grand Tours, and if anything the Tour de Suisse is more prestigious and should be 4th.

 

[The Hitch]

Can someone explain why the Tour of California is on the list? Last time I checked there were 3 Grand Tours, and if anything the Tour de Suisse is more prestigious and should be 4th.

Its a joke which imo plays right into the hands of the TOC because they get so much exposure.

If you dont like something IGNORE IT.

 

[jaylew]

Also, I'm with Pistolero, the Tour-hating has gotten a little silly around here

Agreed.

Historically I was always a Tour-Vuelta guy. As the years went on, I've gotten into the Giro more and the Vuelta a bit less, mostly due to their timing - there's nothing like that 1st GT of the year!

Though the racing is often more exciting at the Vuelta and Giro, I have to say I'm more excited to watch the Tour every year. I like having the best climbers, the best sprinters, the best TT guys, etc... all at one race. I enjoy the grandeur of the whole thing. Also, the Tour is the most international of the three. I like that everybody targets the Tour rather than the Giro where most of the contenders are Italian and the the Vuelta where most of the contenders are Spanish. It just "feels" more like a true championship.

Living in the States, I have to say coverage has an effect too. The Tour is on television 15-20 hours a day. I can sit back comfortably and watch on a big screen TV versus the Vuelta and Giro that I have to watch on a small computer screen, often with foreign commentary.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Giro > Vuelta > Tour

But I voted for Vuelta since it looked a bit lonely with only one vote.

 

[ultimobici]

Living in the States, I have to say coverage has an effect too. The Tour is on television 15-20 hours a day. I can sit back comfortably and watch on a big screen TV versus the Vuelta and Giro that I have to watch on a small computer screen, often with foreign commentary.

So use it as an opportunity to learn another language!

As for the Giro being an Italian affair - Evans & Lloyd won the Points & Mountains and Richie Porte won the young rider classification. That's 3 of the four jersey winners being native English speakers! The Tour didn't have one!

Plus scenes like these

Wipe the floor with the Tour and its formulaic routing. At least the Giro and Vuelta go out and find new climbs to enliven their races. When did the Tour actually use a new climb?

 

[scribe]

I love it that El Pistolero threw ToC a bone.

 

[jaylew]

So use it as an opportunity to learn another language!

I know a little French but that's it.

As for the Giro being an Italian affair - Evans & Lloyd won the Points & Mountains and Richie Porte won the young rider classification. That's 3 of the four jersey winners being native English speakers! The Tour didn't have one!

Frankly, I don't care if native English speakers win jerseys. Most of my favorite riders aren't.

Wipe the floor with the Tour and its formulaic routing. At least the Giro and Vuelta go out and find new climbs to enliven their races. When did the Tour actually use a new climb?

Totally agree.

 

[Barrus]

So use it as an opportunity to learn another language!

Not even necessary, you can always watch British Eurosport, I thought they showed 2 or 3 hours of coverage each day, in HD

 

[jaylew]

Not even necessary, you can always watch British Eurosport, I thought they showed 2 or 3 hours of coverage each day, in HD

Most of the time, but not always in the US. Anyway, watching bent over a laptop, usually very early or in between working is not the same as being able to watch on a couch in front of a big screen at any time of the day.

Edit: Are you talking about British Eurosport on TV? We don't get that here.

 

[ultimobici]

Most of the time, but not always in the US. Anyway, watching bent over a laptop, usually very early or in between working is not the same as being able to watch on a couch in front of a big screen at any time of the day.

Edit: Are you talking about British Eurosport on TV? We don't get that here.

Live streaming

 

[The Hitch]

Since we are on this point, how many hear live in a country where the Tour (or any cycling race) is live on one of the main 4 or 5 tv channels. Not cable, not extra channels, but on the main ones, like BBC, France 1 etc.

 

[Barrus]

Since we are on this point, how many hear live in a country where the Tour (or any cycling race) is live on one of the main 4 or 5 tv channels. Not cable, not extra channels, but on the main ones, like BBC, France 1 etc.

Tour is on NOS (one of the Dutch public channel), Sporza (Flemish public channel) and Eurosport over here. Everyone get all those channels, at least as far as I know.

Giro and Vuelta is live on the last two