So now the Tour of California is going head to head calendar-wise against the Giro d'Italia which is not to be confused with the kind of gyro you can get at the food court in the mall. I've been following both races. I have opinions about each. I have opinions about everything. Fortunately, since I am the one writing this blog, MY opinions are the ones that matter and all other opinions are total crap.
Looking at both races, a few obvious things come to mind. The Giro is old, the Tour of Cali is not. The Giro is 3 weeks of racing, the TOC is only 1 week. The Giro has SERIOUS mountain stages while the TOC has yet to come up with a decent mountaintop finish (Big Bear does not count).
Given the above statements, you might think the Giro totally outclasses the TOC. Bu, as you probably suspected, you are wrong. The TOC is showing itself to be a fantastic race with the quality of riders every bit the equal of the riders in the Giro. The TOC is becoming a showcase event for the top US Continental riders and the big teams use the TOC for recruiting. No doubt Rory Sutherland gets a big fat contract soon with a major world player.
I'm happy with the TOC right now. Yeah, they do stupid shit like "no painting the roads" and they still haven't come up with a decent mountaintop finish. But man, a time trial in downtown Los Angeles is just cool. That is a wonderful idea that the promoters of the TOC were able to bring to life. Sure, the nutcake at the Giro would probably rather have a TTT in Venice with each team pedaling gondolas, but that's just gimmicky. I'm hoping the downtown time trial at the TOC becomes a yearly fixture in the race.
The only bad thing about the TOC so far is the length. When they are able to take the event to 10 days, then I think it will be better than the Giro. Just think about it: 10 days of racing in California in May. No doubt the riders would love it. And with American riders performing so well these days, the chance to get 10 hard days of racing in the States with 6 weeks before the Tour would be very appealing. Those 10 days would be 10 great days of promoting American cycling. Nothing wrong with that.
Are you kidding? The Tour of California is easily the most boring bike race in the world. It's so boring that Levi Leipheimer won it 4 times in a row. And we all know how boring Levi is - he's so boring he wears his RoadID(tm) to parties just so people remember who he is.
ReplyDeleteThe ToC is so boring that after 5 stages the top 15 on GC were separated by 30 seconds. It's so boring that only 37 riders could even be bothered to finish the damn thing.
Ever launch the tour tracker app? The first thing you see is some weepy woman whining about cancer - talk about a downer - a boring downer. And then you have to listen to Paul and Phil drone on and on trying to fill up all that dead air that the race provides because it's so goddamn boring.
It's so boring that on one stage, rather than finish the broadcast, Versus astutely switched to a Hockey pre-game show. Even they couldn't take the boredom any longer.
So yeah, it sucks, and is boring, and you're out of your mind if you think it in any way compares to the Giro.
I kinda got bored with Anonymous saying, "...boring...," so much.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I knew there were some idiots that read this blog, but I always figured they were to stupid to be able to type. I have to give more credit to our readers, especially the boring ones.
ReplyDeleteSo let me get this straight: a race that is undecided until the last rider crossed the line on the last day is determined to be boring. By that logic, a race where the podium is decided on the first stage and by several minutes should be deemed exciting.
Here's a thought: the next time you feel like posting something, please run it past a 10 year old girl. If she thinks its intelligent, if she thinks it makes sense, go ahead and post it so I can laugh at you some more.
Furthermore, Levi "The Toadie" Leipheimer won the race 3 times in a row, not 4, you fucking moron. God, I hate smug, self righteous people who get the facts wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd I realize who the author is even if he's hiding behind the "anonymous" veil...
Basta
Yeah, well yours works harder than his. So it's all good!
ReplyDelete