The Giro, my favourite tour of the year is only 2 weeks....

[T-Bob]

 

The last one is a legendary photo. EC and Whitey after the stage. 

['Dale]

El Chavesta to aim again at Vuelta

What a smile!

['Dale]

The timeless Valverde to now support Quintana at TdF

['Dale]

Dumoulin off to anti' training, I read, as he moves to prep for TdF

[Frosty]

Some "unserious" reading about 5 Yanks at the Giro. And see it you can spot the mistake...

 

APELDOORN, Netherlands (VN) — What does the Giro d’Italia do to a man and to his mind? Ask him directly and he finds it difficult to articulate.

The answer lies in his approach to everyday tasks and duties, in his assessment of his own body, and in the things that seem important to him at a particular moment. So, VeloNews is going to ask the five Americans in the race — Chad Haga, Ian Boswell, Larry Warbasse, Joey Rosskopf, Nathan Brown, and Joe Dombrowski — the same six rather innocuous (and a bit silly) questions four times throughout the Giro.

 

 

Part I

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/05/news/americans-at-the-giro-check-in-1_404804

 

Part II

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/05/news/unserious-questions-for-americans-part-2_405142

 

Part III

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/05/news/unserious-questions-for-giros_405970

 

Part IV

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/05/news/unserious-questions-part-four-the-final-rest-day_407117

 

And the final one, Part V

http://velonews.competitor.com/tag/unserious-questions

[Bonus]

5 Yanks, 6 names . . . .

['Dale]

Some more cool analysis:

 

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) might have won the 99th Giro d’Italia, but the race also served as a platform for a new generation of riders to elbow their way into the established power structure.

Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/05/news/road/five-revelations-2016-giro-ditalia_407983#cplbb4TlUZEkrBeJ.99

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Thats the main problem with the tour....the money.And money brings horsepower...loads and loads of it.The strongest riders in the world in the best possible shape with the strongest possible teams to support them!Horsepower make it difficult to have "flair" and be aggresive.When teams like Sky,BMC,Astana,Tinkof and Movistar line up with the best they have it changes the way guys are able to race.

Thats why I think the true fan will always love the Giro and the Vuelta more..but we will always watch the tour because of the big names.

I would love to see this change and the top 10 riders in the world be forced to ride all 3 tours..but that will be very hard to do. It will change the way they all race.

Interesting thinking and I sort of agree, but one could also argue two other points, in that the TDF has the right time slot, its warmer and Europe is almost, or already on vacation, so this means a lot more fans to support the race, and a lot more spectators means a lot more potential exposure to a sponsor, and so by association, they are prepared to spend more money.

 

We could also argue that (in this case Nibali) but any podium competitor really, can shine in the absence of real competition, (ie) the big name riders, and this tends to leave the average fan thinking "why bother" theres no big names I see on TV constantly so Ill just not bother to watch  because it must be second rate? Big names attract a lot more fans and a lot more money. 

 

Its difficult to find an answer, probably, as you say, the only way would be to compel the big names to race all the tours, but that is hardly going to happen so the Giro and the Vuelta are really doomed to remain as aficionado races for the hard core fans only.   

['Dale]

Hilarious little blog on PEZ

 

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/giroditalia/giroditalia-2016-stage-21-roadside-turin/#.V02ynldVdPw

[Frosty]

So, as many people know, the winner gets this really cool trophy.

http://www.elbalonrosa.com/wp-content/gallery/alessia-ventura/alessia-giro-9.jpg

 

Sorry, got distracted looking for a suitable picture, like this one:

http://www.spoke.ie/wp-content/uploads/Roche-trophy-compressed.jpg

 

So it got me thinking about the trophy design - as the names added would eventually reach the end, the trophy would need to be reworked each time. Turns out it's design is never-ending.

 

Does anyone have more info on this trophy?

 

I then came across a few articles on the trophies from around the world, and surprise-surprise... ASO trophies appear to as boring as their races.

 

https://sicycle.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/the-weird-and-wonderful-world-of-cycling-trophies/

[HappyMartin]

As boring as their races? Is that sarcasm? I love some of those races. Some awful trophies though.

[Frosty]

As boring as their races? Is that sarcasm? I love some of those races. Some awful trophies though.

Yes, the boring race is a sarcastic comment. Sorry - I can't select Comic Sans on my tablet.

[nochain]

Interesting thinking and I sort of agree, but one could also argue two other points, in that the TDF has the right time slot, its warmer and Europe is almost, or already on vacation, so this means a lot more fans to support the race, and a lot more spectators means a lot more potential exposure to a sponsor, and so by association, they are prepared to spend more money.

 

We could also argue that (in this case Nibali) but any podium competitor really, can shine in the absence of real competition, (ie) the big name riders, and this tends to leave the average fan thinking "why bother" theres no big names I see on TV constantly so Ill just not bother to watch  because it must be second rate? Big names attract a lot more fans and a lot more money. 

 

Its difficult to find an answer, probably, as you say, the only way would be to compel the big names to race all the tours, but that is hardly going to happen so the Giro and the Vuelta are really doomed to remain as aficionado races for the hard core fans only.

 

Catch 22...the current structure allow for young riders to grow into grand tour riders.Think of Froome at Vuelta and Quintana at thr Giro.Or our own Meintjes last year at Vuelta.It gives them the chance to ride top 10 and learn.Most win 1 these or at least podium before they shine at the Tour de France.

But on the other side we want to see the best going up against each other all the time.

If top riders were forced to ride all 3..sprinters and GC men..their teams will be more avg in power and freshness so dominating becomes more complicated.

But then they will have to look at budgets and riders quotas also...otherwise you end up with Sky and Movistar buying the best 60 support riders in the world and the rest has to field tired riders all the time.

[Frosty]

Perhaps if the Grand Tours were held over 14 stages instead of 21, they could make it easier for the top guys to race all of them.

 

Example:

Week 1: Sat - Wed

Rest day: Thu

Week 2: Fri - Tue

Rest day: Wed

Week 3: Thu - Sun

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Perhaps if the Grand Tours were held over 14 stages instead of 21, they could make it easier for the top guys to race all of them.

 

Example:

Week 1: Sat - Wed

Rest day: Thu

Week 2: Fri - Tue

Rest day: Wed

Week 3: Thu - Sun

Yah, maybe, never really thought about it like that. However, I think it would take a lot of persuasion to convince the grand tour fans the change might be beneficial, ...old habits are hard to break.   

[Oxter]

I watched OGE latest backstage pass this morning. That guys gonna be a super star. Obviously they only put in the best bits, but it all seems genuine if you look at how the other riders respect him.

 

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk