# Boonen skipping Giro for Tour of California



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

Continuing a theme where the Giro loses more relevance every year. Seeing where the Vuelta ended up (irrelevant outside Spain, barely relevant in Spain), Giro organizers should be worried. The US/California market is tempting for sponsors- especially if you can hit the same Euro market later with the much more popular TdF. 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-to-ride-tour-of-california



> Quick Step and US bike manufacturer Specialized cut ties at the end of last season, but Lefevere still believes that the team’s remaining and new sponsors are still attracted to racing in America, even if it means spreading the team thinly across a number of races.
> 
> “For the sponsors the Tour of California is an interesting prospect. We’ll have a team in Belgium, Giro and California and it’s a lot of work so we have to figure out who is doing what, but Tom Boonen is someone who is motivated to do races that he likes.


----------



## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Coolhand said:


> Continuing a theme where the Giro loses more relevance every year. Seeing where the Vuelta ended up (irrelevant outside Spain, barely relevant in Spain), Giro organizers should be worried. The US/California market is tempting for sponsors- especially if you can hit the same Euro market later with the much more popular TdF.
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-to-ride-tour-of-california


Has Boonen ever started the Giro?


----------



## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

den bakker said:


> Has Boonen ever started the Giro?


 Good point. If I was a sprinter/classics rider I would make the same choice given the option.


----------



## Bianchigirl (Sep 17, 2004)

Of course the really interesting point is that Quickstep will be sending teams to the Giro, Belgium _and_ California. And I thought RS were the strongest team in the peloton


----------



## rubbersoul (Mar 1, 2010)

Coolhand said:


> Continuing a theme where the Giro loses more relevance every year. Seeing where the Vuelta ended up (irrelevant outside Spain, barely relevant in Spain), Giro organizers should be worried. The US/California market is tempting for sponsors- especially if you can hit the same Euro market later with the much more popular TdF.
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-to-ride-tour-of-california


The Giro d'Italia will be viable long after the Amgen Tour of California folds. Remember the Coors Classic?
________
Glass Bong


----------



## a_avery007 (Jul 1, 2008)

sure it wont..


----------



## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

rubbersoul said:


> Remember the Coors Classic?


Touche.


----------



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

rubbersoul said:


> The Giro d'Italia will be viable long after the Amgen Tour of California folds. Remember the Coors Classic?



_Remember the Vuelta_? It *used* to be a Grand Tour, not a warm-up (and then drop out before the mountains) for the World Championships. 

Thus, the point is not will the TofC supplant the Giro (they are different races) _but is the Giro heading the way of the Vuelta_? 

As ASO and the TdF destroyed the value of the Giro for non-Italian ProTour teams? Seems like more B level squads are sent now. Evans is almost an anomaly at this point (and even he is past it as a TdF GC contender). Half the good sprinters who do bother racing it don't even pretend they aren't going to finish. 

Thus maybe the shorter course and more sponsor attractive TofC will continue to steal TdF targeting riders from the Giro.


----------



## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Coolhand said:


> _Remember the Vuelta_? It *used* to be a Grand Tour, not a warm-up (and then drop out before the mountains) for the World Championships.


that's no way to talk about Levis second place


----------



## rubbersoul (Mar 1, 2010)

In my view the decision to compete in the Giro versus other races (or out of competition traiing following Armstrong's historical formula) is more of a factor of the implications for a rider (or team ) for the tour de france in relation to their determined training program. The comment of sprinters / riders dropping out is a function of the difficulty of the race. Of course less riders will drop out of a shorter / easier race. Winning the Giro will always be more prestigious to the pro cycing community than a shorter / less established race such as Tour of California unless you take a limited American team or American principle sponsor viewpoint.


----------



## Bianchigirl (Sep 17, 2004)

Couple of points - the TdF was forced to internationalise its field in the 1970s by the UCI - nothing to do with ASO. The Giro and Vuelta always adopted a parochial attitude until the advent of the ProTour and the obligation on PT teams to compete thus opening up those races to more international fields. The Vuelta used to be the first GT of the season and virtually nobody outside Spain rode it (remember what happened to Millar?) - to classify it simply as a warm up race for the Worlds - like classifying the Giro as a warm up race for the Tour - completely misses the point about the historic standing of those races and their importance to a great champions palmares.

Rubbersoul, I absolutely agree - and I think we'll see the 'Bruyneel model' of TdF preparation fall out of favour as changes like the biological passport and the desire to accumulate decent palmares take hold amongst younger riders for whom 8 straight wins in one race may seem unnecessarily limiting when they can be champions at the other Grand Tours. The Coors Classic has been mentioned - I also seem to remember there was a Tour of Georgia that was going to challenge the great European races. Once focus switched to the ToC that folded. Perhaps the wiser course would be to develop a crop of young US riders capable of challenging on all terrains and in everything from Classics to GTs? Putting all your eggs in one Radioshack shaped basket may not prove sensible come 2011.

The PT is globalising providing many opportunities for sponsors to advertise in the Americas. But the real point is that, whilst Boonen (for whom the season will be winding down after the cobbled Classics) may be in California, his team are also racing in Belgium and Italy. The ToC is not replacing the Giro for them, they're simply sending a rider _who is no GC threat_ to raise their visibility in the US. Had they sent their Tour A team then perhaps the Giro organisers might be worried :wink:


----------



## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

rubbersoul said:


> The Giro d'Italia will be viable long after the Amgen Tour of California folds. Remember the Coors Classic?


Maybe, maybe not. We'll have to look at this in another 25 years.


----------



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

Bianchigirl said:


> The ToC is not replacing the Giro for them, they're simply sending a rider _who is no GC threat_ to raise their visibility in the US. Had they sent their Tour A team then perhaps the Giro organisers might be worried :wink:


They sent _their best rider_. Oy.


----------



## euro-trash (May 1, 2004)

Boonen has 3 goals this year: the classics, the Tour, and Worlds. Racing 3 straight weeks in May makes no sense for him, and would all but guarantee he's burnt before worlds (assuming he doesn't coke his way out of a Tour invite). This was NOT a referendum on the Giro, it's that Cali is easier for someone in a holding phase of his season.


----------



## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Coolhand said:


> They sent _their best rider_. Oy.


When all one have is a hammer.....


----------



## albert owen (Jul 7, 2008)

As long as the ToC has genuine American contenders then it will be viable. I can't see the ultra-parochial American public watching their boys being beaten up year after year.. Against the best Europeans the current best of the USA don't have a chance in _any_ stage race.Therefore, ironically, as long as the ToC stays small and the best Europeans _don't_ enter, it will do well.


----------



## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

He did California in 2008, right?


----------



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

den bakker said:


> that's no way to talk about Levis second place


LOL- ouch!


----------



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

euro-trash said:


> Boonen has 3 goals this year: the classics, the Tour, and Worlds. Racing 3 straight weeks in May makes no sense for him, and would all but guarantee he's burnt before worlds (assuming he doesn't coke his way out of a Tour invite). This was NOT a referendum on the Giro, it's that Cali is easier for someone in a holding phase of his season.


I agree with everything you said. It isn't a referendum on the Giro itself, but a reflection of the direction of things. In the misty ages of the past, nobody had a decent race scheduled against the Giro. So the good sprinters would show up then drop out after a week or so (did Cippo pioneer this?). Now with the TofC there is another option, a shorter & easier (and probably safer) race, without the super long Giro transfers, that reaches a large market your sponsors are probably keenly interested in. 

I like the Giro and the TofC isn't a replacement for it- they are different races. But the differences are attractive for many teams and sponsors. The TdF over the last 20 years has marginalized the Giro (and destroyed the Vuelta). The Giro lost _all_ the good GC men to the TdF. The TdF also get the best sponsor $$ too. Now a credible race is scheduled against it, one that fits the schedule of TdF targeting riders and teams better in many ways. Not good for the Giro. 

But at least their in better shape than the Vuelta- how much longer will this go before they are forced to make major changes to try and save it (like shorten it at least a week)?


----------



## Bianchigirl (Sep 17, 2004)

Coolhand said:


> I agree with everything you said. It isn't a referendum on the Giro itself, but a reflection of the direction of things. In the misty ages of the past, nobody had a decent race scheduled against the Giro. So the good sprinters would show up then drop out after a week or so (did Cippo pioneer this?). Now with the TofC there is another option, a shorter & easier (and probably safer) race, without the super long Giro transfers, that reaches a large market your sponsors are probably keenly interested in.
> 
> I like the Giro and the TofC isn't a replacement for it- they are different races. But the differences are attractive for many teams and sponsors. The TdF over the last 20 years has marginalized the Giro (and destroyed the Vuelta). The Giro lost _all_ the good GC men to the TdF. The TdF also get the best sponsor $$ too. Now a credible race is scheduled against it, one that fits the schedule of TdF targeting riders and teams better in many ways. Not good for the Giro.
> 
> But at least their in better shape than the Vuelta- how much longer will this go before they are forced to make major changes to try and save it (like shorten it at least a week)?


How exactly has the TdF 'marginalised the Giro and destroyed the Vuelta'? The Giro always had an Italocentric field - the selection policy was all the Italian teams and then a few invitees. If anything, the PT has vastly _improved_ the field at the Giro. This, by the way, has nothing to do with the TdF - and you might like to look at the relevantly recent popularity of that race in markets like the US to find an answer as to why it is now 'the only race the matters'. 

As for the Vuelta, since it didn't move until 1995 I fail to see how the TdF was 'destroying' the race when it was held, pre 1995, in April. I appreciate you may not know this as a relatively recent fan of the sport - or that the ASO, however powerful you might think them, does not arrange the cycling calendar - that is down to the UCI who make decisions based more on dollars than the concerns of either riders or fans. Pre 1995 the Vuelta was the first GT of the season and, again, highly parochial in its team selection. 

Finally I'm not quite how the logisitcs of transporting an entire cycling team to the US for 9 days makes more sense than transfers lasting a few hundred kilometres in Italy? I'd wait and see just how sustainable the ToC is after Armstrong retires again and whether it ever attracts fields as strong as the Giro.


----------



## rubbersoul (Mar 1, 2010)

Bianchigirl said:


> How exactly has the TdF 'marginalised the Giro and destroyed the Vuelta'? The Giro always had an Italocentric field - the selection policy was all the Italian teams and then a few invitees. If anything, the PT has vastly _improved_ the field at the Giro. This, by the way, has nothing to do with the TdF - and you might like to look at the relevantly recent popularity of that race in markets like the US to find an answer as to why it is now 'the only race the matters'.
> 
> As for the Vuelta, since it didn't move until 1995 I fail to see how the TdF was 'destroying' the race when it was held, pre 1995, in April. I appreciate you may not know this as a relatively recent fan of the sport - or that the ASO, however powerful you might think them, does not arrange the cycling calendar - that is down to the UCI who make decisions based more on dollars than the concerns of either riders or fans. Pre 1995 the Vuelta was the first GT of the season and, again, highly parochial in its team selection.
> 
> Finally I'm not quite how the logisitcs of transporting an entire cycling team to the US for 9 days makes more sense than transfers lasting a few hundred kilometres in Italy? I'd wait and see just how sustainable the ToC is after Armstrong retires again and whether it ever attracts fields as strong as the Giro.


+1 Does Bianch girl have PHD in cycling / cycling history?Her arguments are incredibly cogent. Europe has a a long, beautiful history of pro cycling as exeplified by the three most important grand tours, the TdF, Giro and Vuelta, the later celebrating its 75th runnuing this year. Cycling is increasing its globakl reach which is great. However, to say that this year's scheduling of the ToC in May, a 1 week stage race propped up by the participation of a rider or his team in the fading twilight of his career is marginalizing the international or European significance of the Giro, is a very skewed perspective. The Giro has done quite well for its 100 year history and I'd argue will continue to do so for the next 100 years. Watching the Eurosport coverage of last year's Giro, I can only say what an amazingly beautiful race.
________
Inocentcouple live


----------



## euro-trash (May 1, 2004)

albert owen said:


> Against the best Europeans the current best of the USA don't have a chance in _any_ stage race.Therefore, ironically, as long as the ToC stays small and the best Europeans _don't_ enter, it will do well.


I disagree here. It's not the TdF, so the Euro guys won't be fully burying themselves. Levi at his peak can beat anyone not at their peak. Even some domestic riders like Ben J-M can compete with euros who are competing but aren't focusing on the ToC. Garmin has a couple of guys too--they aren't going to win a 3 week Tour with substantial mountains but they can compete in Cali.


----------



## Bianchigirl (Sep 17, 2004)

euro-trash said:


> I disagree here. It's not the TdF, so the Euro guys won't be fully burying themselves. *Levi at his peak can beat anyone not at their peak* Even some domestic riders like Ben J-M can compete with euros who are competing but aren't focusing on the ToC. Garmin has a couple of guys too--they aren't going to win a 3 week Tour with substantial mountains but they can compete in Cali.


Especially with the assistance of his friendly neighbourhood commissars who do like to apply the rules so a local boy wins :wink:

I enjoyed some of the racing from ToC last year - it's always enjoyable when riders and/or teams have a point to prove. Can't compare to what unveiled over 3 weeks at the Giro - apples & oranges and all that - but I do think that the ToC course is disappointing (no wonder it's more attractive to Boonen than the last week of the Giro!). I thought it was moved so that the ski stations would be open and an MTF made possible? If ToC wants to stand comparison with some of the European week long stage races (let alone the GTs) then it really needs to step up with the quality of the parcours.


----------



## the mayor (Jul 8, 2004)

With Boonen's entry...they have changed the name of the race from the Amgen ToC to the Coke Classic


----------



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

*LOL- not transparent at all*



rubbersoul said:


> by the participation of a rider or his team *in the fading twilight of his career* is marginalizing the international or European significance of the Giro, is a *very skewed perspective*.



Gee, whatever could you mean? What rider could you be talking about- Boonen certainly isn't in fading twilight. Then what rider and team do certain posters obsess over. Starts lots of pointless arguments. 

Hmm. I know- its *Levi* right! Leave Levi alone! Male pattern baldness is a big enough burden without this adding to it.


----------



## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

the mayor said:


> With Boonen's entry...they have changed the name of the race from the Amgen ToC to the Coke Classic


Bazinga!


----------



## rubbersoul (Mar 1, 2010)

Coolhand said:


> Gee, whatever could you mean? What rider could you be talking about- Boonen certainly isn't in fading twilight. Then what rider and team do certain posters obsess over. Starts lots of pointless arguments.
> 
> Hmm. I know- its *Levi* right! Leave Levi alone! Male pattern baldness is a big enough burden without this adding to it.


Hey levi is ok, he can always stick with his GUNN, Odessa that is!


----------

