We’re into day four of the Six Days of the Giro series, let’s talk trash.
Yes the Tour de France started a few years before the Giro and has always been credited as The Tour to win. You win the Giro, you are a stud. Win the Tour and you are a stud for life. Why is that? Is the Tour longer, tougher, more murderous, more beautiful? In the 2013 edition, the Tour is a mere 25 km longer. The number of stages are the same. The Tour has earned a prestige it will never willingly cede. The Tour is it. Teams send their best riders. No one uses the Tour to train since the world championships were moved to September.
Obviously the maglia rosa is better looking than the maillot jaune, no argument. There is no arguing about podium girls; let us never argue about podium girls. Unless they are dudes, like that overly-politically correct scene where guys were pushed onto the stage a few years back. Either go Chippendale dancers or nothing if you can’t handle beautiful women on the stage. The Giro trophy is much hipper than the Tour fruit bowl. Is a leader’s all pink bike nicer than an all yellow bike? If not tarted up too much a De Rosa pearlescent pink paint job is beautiful. The same can be said for a beautiful yellow frame, but when the hubs, spokes and everything else on it matches the paint, arguing which is nicer is a lost cause.
Is France a more beautiful country to race through? From the rider’s perspective, they might not opine. They are looking at the jersey 1.5 meters in front of them or the next hairpin corner coming up fast. Day to day they might not even know which country they are in. From the high definition helicopter shots it would be a hopeless argument: both countries are incredibly varied and beautiful, like the podium ladies. Pastries, France, café, Italy. Before the advent of traveling team chefs, riders were at the mercy of whichever overworked, disgruntled chef was employed by the hotel. The French are renown gastronomies and renown for the terrible pasta they would serve Tour racers. If one was always fueling up on pasta and rice, one was much happier in the Giro.
What the Tour defiantly has over the Giro is Paris. Yes it is a parade but what a parade route. Riding into Paris and doing laps on the Champs Élysée; that’s how you end a Grand Tour. The Giro doesn’t always end in Milan, like this year’s finish in Brescia. They know the ride around Milan is not something to always be repeating. The Italians are more inclined to send the Giro route over strade bianche, gravel and dirt passes and up viciously steep ski station goat paths. Sometimes they go too far but they deserve credit for their craziness. The Giro has unfortunately always been about long transfers. Couple that with Italian inefficiency and riders may often eat too late and sleep too little. The French can whisk teams around the country in hours on the TGV. The Tour routes are more conservative, hitting the familiar climbs, avoiding the active volcanos.
If the Tour is the big show it’s partially because more money flows there, in almost all directions. There is a long standing fight about how little of that money flows towards the riders. The Giro has started to improve the team’s TV revenue sharing. It’s a smart move, if it benefits the teams financially, they will want to always be invited, they will take it more seriously, the Giro will improve. This could eventually put both the Giro and the Vuelta on a level with the Tour. Then we would really have something to argue about.
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When the Giro began a host on beIN sports referred to the Maglia Rosa as the 'pink shirt' - not even the pink jersey, or leader's jersey. I've been wondering ever since whether anyone from the V - community caught this? Even my VMH was scandalized. [almost as much as with my leg shaving] So I Tweeted her with a pointed correction about 96 years of V tradition. So this morning the words Maglia Rosa rolled off her tongue at least three times - as if spoken by a native.
@Gianni
I have subscribed to uk Eurosport it is £5 per month and can be cancelled anytime or subscribe for a year at half the price, the giro is on live in full every day with the previous days highlights preceding...main issue for guys in the states might be time difference but it starts about 2 here so you should be at breakfast on the east coast about then!
The Giro is like going to see an awesome new band at a local club and just loving the shit out of them and the Tour is like seeing them 10 years later rocking the national stadium. You still love them, but the edge and unpredictability have gone and been replaced by the corporate juggernaut which demands consistency and big numbers.
Having said that, seeing Cav storm the Champs Elysees is just an awesome sight and seeing him led out by the yellow jersey last year near brought a tear to my eye! Though it was the epitome of the corporate juggernaut - leaving the first/favourite/biggest selling hit till the very end so nobody leaves early...
Also, watching the tour on ITV4 is much better than the Giro/Vuelta on the laptop through a shitty live stream.
@Rigid
This photo ran a very close second place for this article. I couldn't really think of a photo that contrasted the Giro and the Tour but this photo seemed to fit the Giro. Riders and tifosi, an easier mix than in France. And this tifosi is wearing proper footwear for spectating on a climb in a bikini. I love the Giro.
The Giro is easier to like for me - I'm Italian, I own a Casati and a Tommasini, and I've been to Italy, though to play futbol, not ride bikes.
But hey, hard not to like Le Tour. It gets everyone talking about cycling, which is pretty cool. Then again, you have to face lots of stupid questions and/or harassment. Doping, Lycra, shaved legs, skinny arms.
I also like Le Tour because it was the first cycling I ever saw on television. In between futbol and lacrosse summer camps I recall seeing it on espn before that fucking station became a total shit show that is more drama than sports. And speaking of that, holy fuck does seeing the Eurosport commercials make me year for a station like that. I don't even like half of the sports they show, but damn, it's better than some stupid fucking story about some stupid fucking NFL arsehole.
Anyway, pink cycling gear Rules, if done with class. Speaking of that, the De Rosa Mr. Gianni linked...that one wee shot of a DT and frame pump sums up the beauty of the sport and of bicycles. Jaysus, I haven't ridden in almost 24 hours and it feels like an eternity.
A bit off topic, but hey...
Visiting the in-laws and they have an insanely large television with the standard amount of stations in the U.S., something like 300 of them. I don't own a t.v. I watch cycling as often as I can via my computer, I watch some movies, a bit of ice hockey, and some international futbol.
I'm here with this big, nice t.v. with all these channels and I can't even be bothered to watch. You can no longer "flick" stations because you get all the preview info bs. Flicking is fun. Despite 300 stations, none of the NHL playoff games are on. Most shows are fucking horrible. And commercials are worse.
When did television become such garbage? Aside from fast food chains, Citizens United, and car culture, t.v. is another nail in the collective coffin. What a depressing waste of time.
Oh well, at least I have some old Giro footage to enjoy...
@scaler911
ECCOLO LA MAGLIA ROSA... EDDY MERCKX!
@scaler911
Outstanding
First bike race I ever watched was a stage of the 2010 Giro while I was living in Sicily. Made me want to get a bike right away.