Will the Giro ever overtake/gain parity with the Tour?

Lanterne_Rogue

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Strade bianche (not in this Giro) is not OK, but cobbles (in this Tour) are OK?

This is something I thought about earlier - when the TdF does something novel, it's not seen as especially remarkable, when the Vuelta or Giro do it the perception is it's about garnering publicity. I'm not sure why that should be.

Personally, I prefer the TdF as it doesn't often metaphorically jump up and down at me shouting 'FREAK SHOW!' (Yorkshire may disabuse me of that particular notion, mind) - I'm happy for everyone else's mileage to vary though, and will be watching all three.

No_Ta_Doctor

The tour's frist weekend is boring? Just sprints? Personally I like a good sprint, but have you guys never heard of foreplay? The first week builds the tension. As does the period between the alps and the Pyrenees. The tour is more balanced because it usually has decent TT opportunities. The giro might throw some TTing in, but they're likely to chuck in a couple of big climbs which are fun to watch but neutralize their potential to make up ground on the grimpeurs.

I would like to see a bit more middle mountain stuff as well, but don't really see that this could ever influence the GC that much, too many teams looking for a stage win and a chance in a breakaway to let that happen.

As for cobbles, Yorkshire etc. they don't quite scream CIRCUS at me in the same way the giro mountain dirt track (cancelled eventually) did. In the tour everyone knows they're a sideshow, the giro and vuelta make them centre stage.

Lastly, I do like the giro, I think there's some good racing, but I'm not keen on the trend of knocking the tour in comparison. I can and do enjoy both. But I can also see reasons why some teams and riders might not take the giro entirely seriously as a race to really go for -even before looking at exposure and palmares value - and would prefer to focus on the tour.

markhewitt1978

phreak wrote:

Isn't the first week of the Tour usually deadly dull though? I mean the only source of real intrigue is which favourite crashes out.

I kind of like that though, that's it's a slow burn at first, letting the sprinters have their time before the mountains.

Paulie W

Am I the only one reading this and thinking that a non-existent problem is being discussed here? Last year it had Nibs and Wiggins, 1st and 3rd from the 2012 Tour. In 2011, it had the previous year's "winners" from the Tour and the Vuelta (Contador and Nibali).

frenchfighter

Alberto Contador ‏@albertocontador 2 hrs
Today has started the most beautiful race in the world, @giroditalia ,what great memories!

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

Alberto Contador ‏@albertocontador 2 hrs
Today has started the most beautiful race in the world, @giroditalia ,what great memories!

Yet he only did it when he knew (or expected) he was excluded from the Tour.

This isn't a criticism of Contador but it shows that even if he truly believes that it is 'the most beautiful race' he's still not going to do it when the Tour is on offer.

It's a reserve team race.

thegibdog

markhewitt1978 wrote:

TV coverage plays a large part in how prestigious the event is. ITV4 coverage of the Tour de France is especially important. Yet I don't see any coverage of the Giro. (And Eurosport doesn't count, few watch Eurosport!)

I'm not sure this really holds water; without ITV4 coverage the Tour wouldn't be as prestigious?? It wasn't that long ago that UK domestic TV coverage of the Tour was limited to a once weekly highlights show in the middle of the night!

Anyway. Scrap the Vuelta, put the Tour back to August. Job done.

deejay

thegibdog wrote:

It wasn't that long ago that UK domestic TV coverage of the Tour was limited to a once weekly highlights show in the middle of the night!

I remember it well as I go back to Dickie Davies on a saturday afternoon and the only real domestic TV coverage was something called the Olympics.

thegibdog wrote:

Anyway. Scrap the Vuelta, put the Tour back to August. Job done.

Pardon. I've been around many years and do not remember a TDF in August.
The TDF became popular in the last century because it was run in the workers holidays in July and in the main that remains

I do remember the Vuelta always starting a week after the Liege-B-Liege with Tony Rominger riding both.
That is the end of April to finish in May.

The UCI have brought the Giro forward to the beginning of May whereas it used to start in May and finish the 2nd weekend in JUNE. Riders could ride the Giro or the Dauphine but not both.
The Giro now clashes a lot more with the Football season and they loose some of the summer weather.

In 1998 the TDF moved their start to Ireland to avoid the Football World Cup in France and then arrived in France the day after the Football Final. (how they then grabbed the headlines is another matter)

RideOnTime

No. IMO.

thegibdog

deejay wrote:

thegibdog wrote:

Anyway. Scrap the Vuelta, put the Tour back to August. Job done.

Pardon. I've been around many years and do not remember a TDF in August.

I was meaning back as in later in the year rather than back to where it once was.

I think the only way the Giro could ever reach parity would be if there was enough time between it and the Tour to enable the best riders to ride the Giro without it impacting their performance in the Tour.

Turfle

Paulie W wrote:

Am I the only one reading this and thinking that a non-existent problem is being discussed here? Last year it had Nibs and Wiggins, 1st and 3rd from the 2012 Tour. In 2011, it had the previous year's "winners" from the Tour and the Vuelta (Contador and Nibali).

I'm with you.

2nd and 3rd overall from last year's Tour are in this year.