Why do so few Brits enter Spain's biggest sportive?
The Other McHoy
Posts: 161
Each year 1000s of British riders try to gain entry to the Etape and the Marmotte, yet only a fraction enter Quebrantahuesos - a 205 km Pyreneen challenge with 3500 mtrs of climbing.
It is a UCI Golden Bike event and ticks all the boxes.
- It is an outstanding route with great history (2011 is it's 21st edition)
- it is superbly organised, nobody does it any better
- it has amazing support and back-up
- it attracts all levels of riders, including 3000 or so who will do it in sub-8rs.
OK, it can be difficult to get a place although that has only started being the case these past 2-3 years. This year 17,000 pre-inscribed for one of the 8500 places but that is becoming standard across all top sportives. I know though, from the organisers, that very few Brits enter into it.
DISCLAIMER: I have a vested interest in the event and I do take small groups from the UK to it. But I am genuinely interested as to why one of the world's top sportives isn't up there as a "Must Do" among British riders. Is it just lack of awareness?
It is a UCI Golden Bike event and ticks all the boxes.
- It is an outstanding route with great history (2011 is it's 21st edition)
- it is superbly organised, nobody does it any better
- it has amazing support and back-up
- it attracts all levels of riders, including 3000 or so who will do it in sub-8rs.
OK, it can be difficult to get a place although that has only started being the case these past 2-3 years. This year 17,000 pre-inscribed for one of the 8500 places but that is becoming standard across all top sportives. I know though, from the organisers, that very few Brits enter into it.
DISCLAIMER: I have a vested interest in the event and I do take small groups from the UK to it. But I am genuinely interested as to why one of the world's top sportives isn't up there as a "Must Do" among British riders. Is it just lack of awareness?
0
Comments
-
Their all on drugs
It’s the most beautiful sport in the world but it’s governed by ***ts who have turned it into a crock of ****.0 -
The Etape is pretty well known even among people who have no interest in cycling. Many people know someone who has done it. The Marmotte is pretty well known among the Tri and Iron Man fraternity. Awareness of these events is snowballing.
You do well to organise tours to Quebrantahuesos. Its not easily accessible and the website is tricky for non-spanish speakers. Almost all of us can wing it in French and sorting out your own entry to the Etape or Marmotte is pretty easy.0 -
Never heard of it and travelling to Spain is nowhere near as easy as France.0
-
Having a name most Brits can't pronounce probably doesn't help. Apart from that the Etape and the Marmotte are so strongly linked with the Tour that they are the natural first port of call when people think of doing a Euro sportive. Now they've established their name it's very difficult for other events to displace them as the most popular - though as this side of the sport grows I do think there is space for other events to join them in popularity.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0 -
Some are very shallow and just want to name-drop and box-tick to impress work colleagues and bore women.
Most are newbies and follow the herd with little imagination.
They only want to go places where rip off english-speaking operators can financially rape you.
They don't speak anything besides menu-french.
Quebrantahuesos is too difficult to say and you'll be ridiculed down the pub for saying a Spanish word that doesn't contain Majorca or Lanzarote.
Have I missed any?When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.0 -
There is a whole series of 'Golden Bike' sportives also why do more UK people not do the Italian and numerous French rides?M.Rushton0
-
Shhhhh, don't tempt the muppet-masses!
Seriously though, I've been interested in the Quebrantahuesos for a couple of years (checked the route in detail on googlemaps and noted the 'free beer' aspect of the finishing pasta party), but as someone else said, the logistics of getting there/accommodation seem a bit less easy than getting to parts of France or Italy, plus outside of the prestigio events such as the Maratona and Nove Colli (etc) there are plenty of Italian events that are not stupidly over-subscribed and are accessible by plane/train. There's probably a degree of 'unknown' factor influencing my reluctance to head to Spain, but I do still have a few granfondos to tick off my list.0 -
Every Friday night I have dreams of a calendar of Euro sportives backed up by my own gleaming white motorhome ... dashed only by Saturday morning reality... and questioning my rash decision to pay even 25 quid for the Spud Riley...0
-
Every Friday night I have dreams of a calendar of Euro sportives backed up by my own gleaming white motorhome ... dashed only by Saturday morning reality...
...or the wife, in my case
0 -
OK - to pick up on some of the points raised:
You can fly direct from the UK to Zaragoza, Pau, Pamplona ec. which are all within 1-3 hours drive of the event although they are not major airport destinations, granted.
I can't debate it is hard to pronounce (try "Ke-brant-a- whezos") and it's website is not easy for non-Spanish speakers. I guess that is because it easily sells out it's places and demand within Spain is huge so no real need to attract outsiders from a commercial perspective.
The route itself includes TdF climbs as it goes from Spain into France and back again and followers of the Tour will know the area well. Somport, Marie Blanque and Portalet are all major tour climbs.
Although all levels of riders participate, including many handicapped riders, the quality of the field is markedly higher than UK sportives. Guys who get top 50 places in UK sportives find themselves with 2-3000 riders ahead of them by the finish. That is not to say there are not plenty of 10 hour+ finishers as well.
Thanks for your feedback, keep it coming.0 -
JGSI wrote:Every Friday night I have dreams of a calendar of Euro sportives backed up by my own gleaming white motorhome ... dashed only by Saturday morning reality... and questioning my rash decision to pay even 25 quid for the Spud Riley...
Get across the Channel and this guy could give you a good deal:
http://www.dirkhofman.be/0 -
McHoy
I can tell you why I'm doing the Marmotte this year even though I considered the Quebrantahuesos and did actually try and persuade a few people to do the Ardechoise. It's because the vast majority wanted to do the Marmotte - so I had a choice of going down there with a group of 10 or so or doing something a little less well known on my own. That might be part of it - it's easier to get a group entering something that's well known.
Same thing goes for UK sportives - take the Fred Whitton - it's a good event but there are lots of other good events that can't charge £40 a go and still sell out straight away. We had lots from the club put entries in for the FW but it's hard to get a decent group to some equally good sportives.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0 -
Well I'm doing it - again 8)It doesn't get any easier, but I don't appear to be getting any faster.0
-
bll*x ... again
0 -
Tom Butcher fully understand that it is a lot easier to get a group together to do something that is so well known. And I'm not knocking those events - in fact I will be doing the Marmotte two weeks after I do this year's QBH. I'm really looking forward to it. I don't expect (or want) QBH to become like the Etape which is turning into a corporate event. I was just interested to know if there was some reason as to why more weren't interested in doing it from the UK-
So far, the answers on here suggest some people think Spain is difficult to get to compared to France but as Ryan Air fly to Zaragoza from London then it is not exactly problematic to arrive near the event. In the same vein, the Etape has been in the same area as QBH a few times, including last year when it did the Marie Blanque. And I'm guessing that people weren't put off by having to go to the Pyrenees.
As I said early, the event is huge, it sells out faster than the Etape and the Marmotte and doesn't need to raise its profile any higher. I was just intrigued as to why it remains off the radar for UK sportive riders.
The most apparent reason seems to be that most people just don't know anything about it which is as good a reason as there can be 0 -
Was thinking of doing the etape last year but the prices are such a rip-off that decided to do the QH instead. Great organisation but just my luck it poured with rain, the previous year they were treating people for heatstroke while in 2010 the were wrapping people in themal blankets!
It is very well organised and lots of marshalls and crowds cheering you on, even in the pouring rain, so well worth taking a look if the marmotte has become boring and the etape is too expensive.0 -
I cant wait not long nowTraining for the Cycle to Spain and the Quebrantahuesos
www.seeyouinspain.co.uk0 -
Call me perverse but the fact that QBH is not the Etape or Marmotte is what attracted me to looking at entering this year (together with a well informed recommendation from someone who has done all three who said that QBH is their favoured event because the feed stops and support just don't run out)
So what stopped me? Try getting a flight out of the north of England to any airport close to the event and any operators seem a bit woolly when it comes to meet and greet or transfers unless you are part of a big group. Recommendations please.
In the meantime I continue with UK sportives.0 -
Tom Butcher wrote:Having a name most Brits can't pronounce probably doesn't help. Apart from that the Etape and the Marmotte are so strongly linked with the Tour that they are the natural first port of call when people think of doing a Euro sportive. Now they've established their name it's very difficult for other events to displace them as the most popular - though as this side of the sport grows I do think there is space for other events to join them in popularity.
Quebrantahuesos ("Ke-brant-a- whezos") is a Bearded Vulture that has a curious technique of flying up high with carrion and releasing above rocks or stones to help break up the meal.
Hope it's not a habit that catches on during the sportive. :?
I did L'Ecureuil sportive (french for squirrel) in the Limousine region of France in 2007. No doubt food for a Quebrantahuesos ("Ke-brant-a- whezos").
Oh, by the way there are a few other names for the Quebrantahuesos (Bearded Vulture) such as Lamb Vulture, Lammergeier, Lammergeyer or Lammergeir all names but Bearded Vulture are being phased out you will be pleased to here. :roll:0 -
The UCI have links with a tour company that would organise your travel and accommodation, take a look on the Golden Bike page of the UCI website. I suspect it won't be cheap however.TL0
-
Its really oversubscribed this year. Anyone got a ticket to sell?!Fitter....healthier....more productive.....0
-
I did it last year.
I took the ferry Portsmouth to Santander, and drove to Sabinanigo in about 4 hours. Some others doing it just drove through France, and had an opportunity to get some of the other climbs in on the way down.
As for the event, it was pretty epic. The change in conditions on the French side of the Pyrenees was amazing, freezing cold and I was shivering on the descents There were about 1500 no shows or retirements due to the conditions. I did ok, but the standard is noticeably higher than the UK. (I came 670th in QBH, then 12th in Dartmoor classic the following weekend)
I haven't done the Marmotte or the Etape to compare, but I have to echo the comments earlier, that non-cycling people seem to know way more about the Etape.0 -
Just digging this thread up since it's this weekend. I'm going up on Friday so hoping for better conditions than last year! This is my first bash at it, having lost out in the lottery the last two years, but last year's weather was legendary ;-)
It does seem odd that it's largely ignored/unheard of by non-Spanish or French riders. I live in San Sebastian and it's kinda the first thing you chat about when you meet another cyclist... what's your best time in QH?! Some clubmates have done all 20 editions :shock:
Anyone else going?0
