Falling Leaves Re-Named: The Last of the Summer Wine.

blazing_saddles

Pat's bid to globalize the sport, (and make lots of Chinese $$$) gives tradition another kick in the balls:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-of ... te-in-2012

LeicesterLad

What is wrong with this turd, i wish Pat would stop digging holes in pro-cycling and start digging his own grave to be honest...

Cleat Eastwood

'However, the race loses its status as final WorldTour race, which will now go to the Tour of Beijing'

the tour of beijing!!! the 5 stage race that was won on the TT on day one. say what you like about fat pat but he's deffo got his finger on the pulse of gets the cycling romantic excited.

andyrac

Bad move, too many sports are ready to ditch long held traditions in search of short term gain. Hope it fails spectacularly....

What next?? Tour of Flanders on Boxing Day, Paris-Roubaix on New Years Day.....

EKIMIKE

Meh, it's still the last race that matters. Everyone knows that.

I guess the idea is that is will become the final battle ground for the World Tour classification. That doesn't count for alot when it's clear, no-one really cares about 'winning' the World Tour.

edhornby

look at this tweet from JVaughters

...@micacquarone HUGE thanks to RCS for listening to the PCC and moving the Lombardia date up a little! You will get a more exciting race!

as much as I despise McQuaid, the date move isn't his work alone.....

dougzz

McQuaid hating aside isn't this a good thing? Closer to WC means all the mortals (who find it harder to maintain form) have a better chance of beating Gilbert. As Ekimike said, it's still the last race that matters. Change isn't always a bad thing.

RichN95.

dougzz wrote:

McQuaid hating aside isn't this a good thing? Closer to WC means all the mortals (who find it harder to maintain form) have a better chance of beating Gilbert. As Ekimike said, it's still the last race that matters. Change isn't always a bad thing.

It seems sensible to me. I've always thought that it was too far out the back of the season and its prestige was suffering as a result. This should give it a bit of a boost.

LeicesterLad

JVaughters telling Inner Ring that the move comes as a suggestion straight from the Teams and Riders. Wouldn't oppose the date move, just id rather the Tour Of Beijing moved as well, no way to end a season with the tour of Beijing.

rick_chasey

RichN95 wrote:

[
It seems sensible to me. I've always thought that it was too far out the back of the season and its prestige was suffering as a result. This should give it a bit of a boost.

This.

It'll still be the 'only if I can be arsed/my season so far's been rubbish' classic, but at least it gets a fighting chance. Hopefully should be close enough still to the worlds for some riders to try and hold their form.

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

dougzz wrote:

McQuaid hating aside isn't this a good thing? Closer to WC means all the mortals (who find it harder to maintain form) have a better chance of beating Gilbert. As Ekimike said, it's still the last race that matters. Change isn't always a bad thing.

It seems sensible to me. I've always thought that it was too far out the back of the season and its prestige was suffering as a result. This should give it a bit of a boost.

What about the knock on effect, though? Has anybody thought how this move effects 3 Hors Cat races in Italy?
Emilia, Giro del Piedmonte and the returning Milano-Torino are all raced as warm up races for Lombardia.
What now happens to them, still presumably stuck in early October, but alone and without a meaningful purpose.

Rick: I presume you won't mind when Pat announces that he's moving Flanders to mid-May to give California an April slot away from the Giro?

Face it. Who was riding in Copenhagen would be of any use in Lombardy?
Which big names will now ride, who previously haven't?
The GT big boys packed up ages ago.

All it does is shorten the season by 2 weeks, when modern climate trends allow for racing into November.

rick_chasey

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Rick: I presume you won't mind when Pat announces that he's moving Flanders to mid-May to give California an April slot away from the Giro?

Lombardia has been suffering recently from it's super late slot. It's become only for riders who haven't done anything in the season yet, or riders who can be arsed (which by then seems to be not very many). A move closer to the worlds might help this problem.

I hadn't given the warm up races in Italy much thought.

But you're right. Bejing should make way for lombardia, not the other way around.

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

What about the knock on effect, though? Has anybody thought how this move effects 3 Hors Cat races in Italy?
Emilia, Giro del Piedmonte and the returning Milano-Torino are all raced as warm up races for Lombardia.
What now happens to them, still presumably stuck in early October, but alone and without a meaningful purpose.

They will carry on as normal. They're mostly ridden by Italians and there are only nine Italians at the Worlds, so it won't have that much impact. Not every rider is at the Worlds.

What reason is there for keeping Lombardy where it is, other than misty-eyed clinging to 'tradition'. They're only moving it by a week or two, they're not moving it to June. The race remains the same.

rick_chasey

RichN95 wrote:

What reason is there for keeping Lombardy where it is, other than misty-eyed clinging to 'tradition'. They're only moving it by a week or two, there not moving it to June. The race remains the same.

In fairness, it's misty-eyed tradition that pretty much determines the entire calendar and which race is considered big and which isn't.

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

They will carry on as normal. They're mostly ridden by Italians and there are only nine Italians at the Worlds, so it won't have that much impact. Not every rider is at the Worlds.

What reason is there for keeping Lombardy where it is, other than misty-eyed clinging to 'tradition'. They're only moving it by a week or two, they're not moving it to June. The race remains the same.

I would beg to differ, since last year Emilia was won by Robert Gesink, and in 2009, all fell to Phil Gilbert.
OK, this year Emilia was won by a Colombian on an Italian team, but most of the field comprised of PT teams. They were there for a reason, that won't be around, next season.

One man's misty eyed Italians is another's 100 years of tradition, now struggling to keep afloat.
Still, we are taking about Italian races here, and I know they don't rate much with you.

deejay

Rick Chasey wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

What reason is there for keeping Lombardy where it is, other than misty-eyed clinging to 'tradition'. They're only moving it by a week or two, there not moving it to June. The race remains the same.

In fairness, it's misty-eyed tradition that pretty much determines the entire calendar and which race is considered big and which isn't.

The Tradition is the end of season "Italian Races" that last for two weeks.

Sod the greedy Irishman, he really should go to Northern Italy in October to see some real racing.
Instead of his Crit around the Block, like they have in the USA.

The last race of the Falling Leaves will have to be "Giro Del Piemonte"

frenchfighter

Did any of your guys watch it last year. INCREDIBLE race. Pure racing and survival. Looking at the result sheet will give you an indication.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5q1MXgm ... -container

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpRNg8bIzIE

moray_gub

RichN95 wrote:

dougzz wrote:

McQuaid hating aside isn't this a good thing? Closer to WC means all the mortals (who find it harder to maintain form) have a better chance of beating Gilbert. As Ekimike said, it's still the last race that matters. Change isn't always a bad thing.

It seems sensible to me. I've always thought that it was too far out the back of the season and its prestige was suffering as a result. This should give it a bit of a boost.

+1

much over reacting us usual in the forum reckon this will attract a stronger field and everybody knows this is the last major race of the season.

iainf72

Moray Gub wrote:

much over reacting us usual in the forum reckon this will attract a stronger field and everybody knows this is the last major race of the season.

Another +1 from me.

Win for everyone the way I see it. Riders can stop a bit earlier, fans don't have hang around for 2 spaced out races post worlds etc.

frenchfighter

dougzz

Blazing Saddles wrote:

What about the knock on effect, though? Has anybody thought how this move effects 3 Hors Cat races in Italy?
Emilia, Giro del Piedmonte and the returning Milano-Torino are all raced as warm up races for Lombardia.
What now happens to them, still presumably stuck in early October, but alone and without a meaningful purpose.

Rick: I presume you won't mind when Pat announces that he's moving Flanders to mid-May to give California an April slot away from the Giro?

Face it. Who was riding in Copenhagen would be of any use in Lombardy?
Which big names will now ride, who previously haven't?
The GT big boys packed up ages ago.

All it does is shorten the season by 2 weeks, when modern climate trends allow for racing into November.

I honestly don't know enough about the other 3 races to judge this in full, I'm a bit of a big time Charlie in my attitude to sport, tend to follow the main things rather than the more 'feast for the connoisseur' events. I don't mean that in a sarcy way, just being honest. But you can't link it to a single year's WC, how often is the RR a course like Copenhagen? You could argue that in 09 and 10 it would be linked perfectly to Lombardia I'd have thought (OK, apart from the plane ride back from Aus).

blazing_saddles

Giro dell'emilia boss reckons that the race will be gone in 2 years.and all the races organised by gs emilia group, (Giro dell'Emilia, GP Beghelli, Memorial Pantani, Classica Sarda,Settimana Coppi e Bartali,Giro di Sardegna) along with it.

http://www.cicloweb.it/articolo/2011/10/11/l-intervista-e-anche-l-emilia-sparira-amici-fra-due-anni-chiudiamo-un-altro-disa

moray_gub

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Giro dell'emilia boss reckons that the race will be gone in 2 years.and all the races organised by gs emilia group, (Giro dell'Emilia, GP Beghelli, Memorial Pantani, Classica Sarda,Settimana Coppi e Bartali,Giro di Sardegna) along with it.

http://www.cicloweb.it/articolo/2011/10/11/l-intervista-e-anche-l-emilia-sparira-amici-fra-due-anni-chiudiamo-un-altro-disa[/quote

Isn't he using moving Lombardy as an excuse for the general malaise in the Italian racing calendar just now ? think its more to do with simple economics than when Lombardy is raced .

blazing_saddles

A pretty good startlist for a warm up race.
http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/GiroPie ... rtenti.pdf