UKC

Any thoughts on this?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cycling/29594464

Not sure if it will add to, or detract from, the overall standard of competition.......and perhaps by the Vuelta they'll all be so knackered that none will be in contention.

In reply to Removed User:

I see now Tinkoff is saying the Grand Tours are too long! WTF.
That's what make them grand.
Personaly, I think we should go back to 4 week tours... but then I don't have to fide them.

I don't think you can realisticly get away from the top guys focusing on the one GT they think will best serve there sponsers and career.

In reply to Removed User:
Tinkoff is a nutter and this challenge is a joke - one million euros, shared between 4, is small change to these guys. Nonetheless I reckon there should be some prize for the rider who finishes all 3 GTs in the lowest total time - though not sure if anyone but Adam Hansen would go for it.

But I can see Nibbles and Bertie going for the Giro - Tour double - they've both won all 3 now, so this would be the chance to go up a level. For Nibbles it's his home tour, so that's an added pull, plus the course is reputed to be less gruelling this year with fewer summit finishes. But what they don't want is to appear at the Tour, having done the Giro, and face Froome and Quintana fresh as daisies. Even if all four started the Giro, there would always be the sense that someone might be holding back with a view to the Tour.

Obviously the last person to do the Giro-Tour double was Pantani, doped to the gills.

I still reckon they should swap the Giro and Vuelta round, and leave a longer gap after the tour, to encourage people to do the double, but its a huge leap to expect riders to be competitive in all three - legally at least

In reply to Removed User:

I interpreted this as a 1M euro prize for the rider with the lowest aggregate time for all 3 tours. However, reading the link, it mentions sharing between the top 4 riders just for taking part in all 3 tours OR the one rider with the best overall time.
IMHO, if Oleg wants to stump up the cash, it should be best aggregate time for ANY rider in all 3 tours. BUT, its his cash, so he gets to do what he wants.
Simples!

N

In reply to cousin nick:


Bit of a question mark over whether one team owner could legally offer money to riders on another team


No

In reply to Removed User:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/29647353

Put this into the mix and it gets interesting as well!

In reply to JamButty:

It's hard to imagine how Nibali (assumed clean) couldn't see this as a likely scenario when he signed on at Astana. You can only assume the financial package made it worth the risk.