World Tour Changes for 2017

[lemon cheese cake]

Re: Re:

I've heard a similar story. Something about that the WT season will start with Paris-Nice and end with Paris-Tours. And that Scheldeprijs and Paris-Tours will join the World Tour in order to make the point system more attractive for rouleurs, classics specialists and sprinters.

I personally think it's a good idea if so. Tour Down Under should be the main race of the Oceania Tour, not a warm-up race of the WT.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...

OK, I'll take a punt - the forgotten language of the Andalucian branch of the Lost Tribes of Wales?

It's the Atlantean language. Libertine is clearly from that place.

Nobody knows Lovecraft?

H.P. lovecraft?

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

I've heard a similar story. Something about that the WT season will start with Paris-Nice and end with Paris-Tours. And that Scheldeprijs and Paris-Tours will join the World Tour in order to make the point system more attractive for rouleurs, classics specialists and sprinters.

I personally think it's a good idea if so. Tour Down Under should be the main race of the Oceania Tour, not a warm-up race of the WT.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...

OK, I'll take a punt - the forgotten language of the Andalucian branch of the Lost Tribes of Wales?

It's the Atlantean language. Libertine is clearly from that place.

Nobody knows Lovecraft?

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange æons, even death may die

 

[dirkprovin]

Re:

I've heard a similar story. Something about that the WT season will start with Paris-Nice and end with Paris-Tours. And that Scheldeprijs and Paris-Tours will join the World Tour in order to make the point system more attractive for rouleurs, classics specialists and sprinters.

I personally think it's a good idea if so. Tour Down Under should be the main race of the Oceania Tour, not a warm-up race of the WT.

Do you actually know anything about the Oceania Tour and what it consists of ?? It's not like the others which run essentially from Feb through to September. For 2015, it runs from 28 January through to .... 28 February and consists of 4 races (2 stage races & 2 one-day races) plus the Oceania Road & TT Championships. Then its National Road Series. The Herald-Sun Tour has some degree of profile outside AUS as has, potentially, "Cuddle's" Ocean Road (one-day) race but the other 2 races are in NZ and have lesser fields.

The scheduling for TdU is a tad problematical but does the UCI really want to drop one of the few races outside the Grand Tours & Monuments that is NOT under major financial pressure ? Drop it from the World Tour and it will "fold", end of story. The state government supported it on it's way up to this level and will continue to do so as long as it has this status but they are highly unlikely to do so if it were to be cut. Likewise with the corporate backers.

 

[WheelofGear]

Dirkprovin, You shouldn't happen to be an Aussie who is emotionally attached to the race? I'm well aware that if it loses its World Tour status, it will drop in popularity. But it will still be the central race of the Oceania Tour. It will still have thousands of spectators.

I don't think TDU derserves to have more WT teams than Tour of Oman or California.

For me, a race is not evaluated on how large its audience is, but on history and prestige. If it were up to me, the World Tour would be renamed to the Elite Tour. And there wouldn't be any races outside of Europe. The America, Oceania and Asia Tour should instead work on strengthening their own respective calendars.

 

[Tragic]

Re:

Dirkprovin, You shouldn't happen to be an Aussie who is emotionally attached to the race? I'm well aware that if it loses its World Tour status, it will drop in popularity. But it will still be the central race of the Oceania Tour. It will still have thousands of spectators.

I don't think TDU derserves to have more WT teams than Tour of Oman or California.

For me, a race is not evaluated on how large its audience is, but on history and prestige. If it were up to me, the World Tour would be renamed to the Elite Tour. And there wouldn't be any races outside of Europe. The America, Oceania and Asia Tour should instead work on strengthening their own respective calendars.

Not sure why you think Oman and Cali "deserve" higher status based on history and prestige. TDU has been going longer, has built up from 2.2 to WT on merit, is financially stable, riders and teams like it as an early, relaxed WT opening (where they can stay in the same hotel every night!). At this point there are more Australian riders on WT teams than either Oman or the US.

Yes, I too like (am "emotionally attached" to) this race, it happens where I live, but I don't quite get that "Elite" cycling should be limited to Europe. Adelaide took on this race, has made it what it is - I'd rather see it change dates and stay on the program. The weather here is lovely in February and March!

 

[doperhopper]

Re:

Please, for the love of good racing, keep Strade and Omloop far away from the World Tour.

and for the love of extremely good and entertaining racing keep Scheisseprijs in and ensure we have also others raced accordingly, such as SanRemoprijs or Roubaixprijs

 

[argyllflyer]

Re: Re:

Dirkprovin, You shouldn't happen to be an Aussie who is emotionally attached to the race? I'm well aware that if it loses its World Tour status, it will drop in popularity. But it will still be the central race of the Oceania Tour. It will still have thousands of spectators.

I don't think TDU derserves to have more WT teams than Tour of Oman or California.

For me, a race is not evaluated on how large its audience is, but on history and prestige. If it were up to me, the World Tour would be renamed to the Elite Tour. And there wouldn't be any races outside of Europe. The America, Oceania and Asia Tour should instead work on strengthening their own respective calendars.

Not sure why you think Oman and Cali "deserve" higher status based on history and prestige. TDU has been going longer, has built up from 2.2 to WT on merit, is financially stable, riders and teams like it as an early, relaxed WT opening (where they can stay in the same hotel every night!). At this point there are more Australian riders on WT teams than either Oman or the US.

Yes, I too like (am "emotionally attached" to) this race, it happens where I live, but I don't quite get that "Elite" cycling should be limited to Europe. Adelaide took on this race, has made it what it is - I'd rather see it change dates and stay on the program. The weather here is lovely in February and March!

Is there not a problem with a date change in that it ties in with a local holiday so road closures are much easier?

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Dirkprovin, You shouldn't happen to be an Aussie who is emotionally attached to the race? I'm well aware that if it loses its World Tour status, it will drop in popularity. But it will still be the central race of the Oceania Tour. It will still have thousands of spectators.

I don't think TDU derserves to have more WT teams than Tour of Oman or California.

For me, a race is not evaluated on how large its audience is, but on history and prestige. If it were up to me, the World Tour would be renamed to the Elite Tour. And there wouldn't be any races outside of Europe. The America, Oceania and Asia Tour should instead work on strengthening their own respective calendars.

Not sure why you think Oman and Cali "deserve" higher status based on history and prestige. TDU has been going longer, has built up from 2.2 to WT on merit, is financially stable, riders and teams like it as an early, relaxed WT opening (where they can stay in the same hotel every night!). At this point there are more Australian riders on WT teams than either Oman or the US.

Yes, I too like (am "emotionally attached" to) this race, it happens where I live, but I don't quite get that "Elite" cycling should be limited to Europe. Adelaide took on this race, has made it what it is - I'd rather see it change dates and stay on the program. The weather here is lovely in February and March!

Where did I said that? I have said that I consider TDU to be equal to Cali or Oman. It should be a local race to promote the region, not an elite race. A real Elite calendar should mostly feature the old historic races that anyone want to win. As we races under 60 years as possible.

 

[Tragic]

Re: Re:

Dirkprovin, You shouldn't happen to be an Aussie who is emotionally attached to the race? I'm well aware that if it loses its World Tour status, it will drop in popularity. But it will still be the central race of the Oceania Tour. It will still have thousands of spectators.

I don't think TDU derserves to have more WT teams than Tour of Oman or California.

For me, a race is not evaluated on how large its audience is, but on history and prestige. If it were up to me, the World Tour would be renamed to the Elite Tour. And there wouldn't be any races outside of Europe. The America, Oceania and Asia Tour should instead work on strengthening their own respective calendars.

Not sure why you think Oman and Cali "deserve" higher status based on history and prestige. TDU has been going longer, has built up from 2.2 to WT on merit, is financially stable, riders and teams like it as an early, relaxed WT opening (where they can stay in the same hotel every night!). At this point there are more Australian riders on WT teams than either Oman or the US.

Yes, I too like (am "emotionally attached" to) this race, it happens where I live, but I don't quite get that "Elite" cycling should be limited to Europe. Adelaide took on this race, has made it what it is - I'd rather see it change dates and stay on the program. The weather here is lovely in February and March!

Is there not a problem with a date change in that it ties in with a local holiday so road closures are much easier?

It happens during January summer holidays and usually includes Australia Day. Date change would probably affect interstate visitors and attendance overall, don't know about road closures.

 

[Tragic]

Re: Re:

Dirkprovin, You shouldn't happen to be an Aussie who is emotionally attached to the race? I'm well aware that if it loses its World Tour status, it will drop in popularity. But it will still be the central race of the Oceania Tour. It will still have thousands of spectators.

I don't think TDU derserves to have more WT teams than Tour of Oman or California.

For me, a race is not evaluated on how large its audience is, but on history and prestige. If it were up to me, the World Tour would be renamed to the Elite Tour. And there wouldn't be any races outside of Europe. The America, Oceania and Asia Tour should instead work on strengthening their own respective calendars.

Not sure why you think Oman and Cali "deserve" higher status based on history and prestige. TDU has been going longer, has built up from 2.2 to WT on merit, is financially stable, riders and teams like it as an early, relaxed WT opening (where they can stay in the same hotel every night!). At this point there are more Australian riders on WT teams than either Oman or the US.

Yes, I too like (am "emotionally attached" to) this race, it happens where I live, but I don't quite get that "Elite" cycling should be limited to Europe. Adelaide took on this race, has made it what it is - I'd rather see it change dates and stay on the program. The weather here is lovely in February and March!

Where did I said that? I have said that I consider TDU to be equal to Cali or Oman. It should be a local race to promote the region, not an elite race. A real Elite calendar should mostly feature the old historic races that anyone want to win. As we races under 60 years as possible.

Sorry, I did mis-read. Guess the question is should there be a global competition at the highest level or not. It's been fun to have all the big teams here for a "season opener", but I can see good arguments for some shake-up. I actually wouldn't mind seeing more races with national teams (?TDF?).

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

Why not adding both Milano-Torino and Piemonte to the calendar? Having a couple of pre-races would only make Lombardia appear greater. The fall version of the Ardennes classics

But I agree with you about everything. The Canadian neo-classics have to go back to the America Tour. I'd prefer a traditionalist calendar with old, historic races for the WT.

In: Strade Bianche, Züri-Metzgete, Milano-Torino, Piedmonte, Scheldeprijs, Paris-Tours, a new warm-up race for the Vuelta (perhaps Burgos)
Out: Tour Down Under, GP de Québec, GP de Montréal, Vattenfall Cyclassics

Agree on removing those races, except Vattenfall. On new races, I would have liked an august classics season with big one day races on 3-4 consecutive weekends. For instance upgrading 1-2 of those Italian races. Upgraded versions of Giro del Veneto and Giro Dell Emilia could also be an alternative. Both these regions are very hilly. 230km+ races here could be great.

So you want the European Tour to be called the World Tour?

 

[staubsauger]

Can't they just finally kick Poland and bring back Course De La Paix as a 2 week tour for the 2nd tier riders between TdF & Vuelta!?

(One may dream).

 

[jens_attacks]

Re:

Can't they just finally kick Poland and bring back Course De La Paix as a 2 week tour for the 2nd tier riders between TdF & Vuelta!?

(One may dream).

it's called volta a portugal.
and it's bloody awesome.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Can't they just finally kick Poland and bring back Course De La Paix as a 2 week tour for the 2nd tier riders between TdF & Vuelta!?

(One may dream).

it's called volta a portugal.
and it's bloody awesome.

Oh, but, both of those are among my absolute favourite things in cycling.

Perhaps we could tier the Europe Tour races the way the WT races are (I don't mean .HC, .1 etc. but keep those with their present entry requirement styles). Have only 15 WT teams & the rest wildcards. Have around 25-30 ProConti teams duelling, and automatic promotion of top ProConti team to WT the following year (and demotion of bottom WT team) to give incentives to race more - some ProConti teams will get more wildcards than others, admittedly, but this is part of the fun as WT teams also can do smaller races. Then have a few Europe Tour "monument" type races that give more points than other Europe Tour races in the same way as the Monuments give more WT points than the other Classics and smaller one day WT races. Omloop, Brabantse Pijl, Strade Bianche, Emilia and Paris-Tours make a good quintet for the role I think, but you could argue for TVV or Milano-Torino instead of Emilia I guess. Then you could have Portugal and the Peace Race as focal two week races that act as the GTs of the second tier (you could perhaps also do this for California in the America Tour) - the Friedensfahrt between the Giro and Tour and the Volta between the Tour and Vuelta. The fields would be lesser but there would be a lot of points available so they would be important, and they're both very historic races.

Never happen in a million years though. Cookson is more interested in ruining what's already good than making what isn't good better.