Thursday, September 01, 2005
ProTour Rolls On
Contrary to persistent and pernicious rumors, George Hincapie’s victory last Sunday at the GP Plouay did not send me into such frenzy that I was unable to blog. Nice to see that George didn’t have to rely on the cheap tactics that scored him a Tour stage win this summer – although he certainly did benefit from a lack of pure sprinters in the race. Most of the big guns in the fast finishes were instead in Spain contesting the Vuelta and finalizing their preparation for the sprinter-friendly World Championships course in Madrid.
Even with the concurrent running of the Vuelta, the GP Ouest France was able to attract a respectable, if not consistently marquee-name filled, field, largely thanks to its inclusion in the ProTour. The race was not part of the former World Cup series, and the last time it attracted a truly star cast was in 2000 – when the World Championships were held on almost the identical course several weeks later. Nice that a smaller race with a lot of character – like the Boston Marathon, the finish line in Plouay is marked 365 days a year – makes it into the big leagues.
Ironically, while the Vuelta a España similarly stood to benefit from the ProTour, as the series had the potential to help the race find a role in the cycling milieu. The Tour de France is clearly the be all and end all in modern cycling, while the Giro had a similar heritage, if somewhat less prestigious for non-Italian riders and teams, to draw upon. Since it’s move from the early spring to the fall, the Vuelta has of late been used for a tune up for the World’s, last ditch races for riders seeking to salvage their seasons, or an opportunity for teams to ease younger riders into the rigors of the three-week grand tours.
While the ProTour does bring all 20 of the top teams to the race, many bring their B-squads. On the margins of the D-Tour, a team manager from Gerolsteiner – which was dominating that certainly second-tier race – commented on the Vuelta “yeah, we’re riding along in that one, too.” Clearly lower ambitions. And a sentiment likely shared by many of the other ProTour teams. (Let’s not forget that in addition to the national tour organizer’s protest against the ProTour, the teams earlier complained about the requirement to ride all three three-week races.)
Whether by design or not, it could very well be that the core of the Vuelta organizers’ dispute (along with the Tour and the Giro) with the ProTour – the rigidity of the ProTour team licenses and their four-year duration – could form the basis of a solution to the Vuelta organizer’s attempts to attract a better field. A system of promotion to the top cycling rank – and relegation out of it for underperforming teams – would put an important emphasis on the Tour of Spain, particularly for teams on the cusp. All that would seemingly be needed is a more rational ranking system for the ProTour teams.
In the meantime, Roberto Heras will face a decent – if not top flight – field in his search for a record fourth win in Spain. And as usual since the retirement of Tony Rominger, his main adversaries will all be Spanish riders. Although given that he is a core of my fantasy team, I’m hoping Menchov will be able to reclaim the gold leader’s jersey in Madrid. And as the first week continues on, Pettachi, Hushovd and others with ambitions of a different sort for a different date in Madrid will also be turning the screws.
Even with the concurrent running of the Vuelta, the GP Ouest France was able to attract a respectable, if not consistently marquee-name filled, field, largely thanks to its inclusion in the ProTour. The race was not part of the former World Cup series, and the last time it attracted a truly star cast was in 2000 – when the World Championships were held on almost the identical course several weeks later. Nice that a smaller race with a lot of character – like the Boston Marathon, the finish line in Plouay is marked 365 days a year – makes it into the big leagues.
Ironically, while the Vuelta a España similarly stood to benefit from the ProTour, as the series had the potential to help the race find a role in the cycling milieu. The Tour de France is clearly the be all and end all in modern cycling, while the Giro had a similar heritage, if somewhat less prestigious for non-Italian riders and teams, to draw upon. Since it’s move from the early spring to the fall, the Vuelta has of late been used for a tune up for the World’s, last ditch races for riders seeking to salvage their seasons, or an opportunity for teams to ease younger riders into the rigors of the three-week grand tours.
While the ProTour does bring all 20 of the top teams to the race, many bring their B-squads. On the margins of the D-Tour, a team manager from Gerolsteiner – which was dominating that certainly second-tier race – commented on the Vuelta “yeah, we’re riding along in that one, too.” Clearly lower ambitions. And a sentiment likely shared by many of the other ProTour teams. (Let’s not forget that in addition to the national tour organizer’s protest against the ProTour, the teams earlier complained about the requirement to ride all three three-week races.)
Whether by design or not, it could very well be that the core of the Vuelta organizers’ dispute (along with the Tour and the Giro) with the ProTour – the rigidity of the ProTour team licenses and their four-year duration – could form the basis of a solution to the Vuelta organizer’s attempts to attract a better field. A system of promotion to the top cycling rank – and relegation out of it for underperforming teams – would put an important emphasis on the Tour of Spain, particularly for teams on the cusp. All that would seemingly be needed is a more rational ranking system for the ProTour teams.
In the meantime, Roberto Heras will face a decent – if not top flight – field in his search for a record fourth win in Spain. And as usual since the retirement of Tony Rominger, his main adversaries will all be Spanish riders. Although given that he is a core of my fantasy team, I’m hoping Menchov will be able to reclaim the gold leader’s jersey in Madrid. And as the first week continues on, Pettachi, Hushovd and others with ambitions of a different sort for a different date in Madrid will also be turning the screws.
