Pink or Yellow?
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.
All three national “loops” are like children – each different but you love each one.
The stronger, more team revenue making the Giro becomes, the better. ASO has the Tour and Vuelta locked up.
Pink is mo’ romantic.
The prophet won both 5 times. It is therefor a similar debate to Champagne or Chianti.
Pink.
Pink, the racing is better.
Great piece!I think I like the Giro a wee bit better because the Tour does seem to be a bit to self aware of its own importance. Sometimes it really eems that the riders are awed by the “weight”f th Tour; the Giro seems to be more about the riders in a way. The Giro is like the younger sibling jumping up and down in a crazy way saying “look at me!” Sometimes it gets a bit embarrassing with its antics (climbs up ski station roads, etc) but always worth looking at. The Giro doesn’t give a toss about PC with it’s podium girls. They rock.
I do prefer the Maglia Rosa to the Maillot Jaune. Back in the day, my ruby red Colnago got a respray. It was redone i pearlescent pink and white based on the color scheme of the Battaglin bkes Roche rode. Hey, it was the late 80s after all. It was gorgeous.
One word should settle the debate ‘Coppi’. An Italian race contested and won by more Italians than any other other nationality is more bellissimo than yellow. The last French rider to win the the Giro was Fignon in 89, but Andy Hampsten’s 88 win was -and always will be- the most glorious.
Pink. The Giro has a fragility and rawness that appeals to me.
La Corsa Rosa for me, mainly because Le Tour is pretty much the only cycle race most brtish people have ever heard of, at least until wiggins decided to ride the Giro this year. I hate when shit gets too trendy and popular like that. But I still love the TdF.
@wiscot
Yes, you are correct, that’s what I meant to write. Giro is the younger sibling, jumping up and down. That’s perfect.
Absolutely, FFS! Is there a better paint job? Pearlescent pink. Yes please. I’m man enough to ride that bike.
@Gianni
My Cougar TT bike was hot pink (but not my choice – it was bought 2nd hand off a buddy). Still looked pretty fab in that 80s styling kinda way.
The Tour seems to go to script most years while at the Giro, as it has this year, the script often gets thrown out pretty quick making for unpredictable and to my mind better racing.
I like what they’ve done with the Giro this year with the time bonuses and the shorter mountain stages to encourage attacking races.
Unfortunately the Giro takes place in the busiest part of the year work wise for me so I don’t get to watch much of it even though I live here. I don’t generally work in summer so I see all of the Tour.
I’ve made this hackneyed, dated analogy before. The Giro is like the mysterious stranger in the bar – fascinating, sharp and stylish. The tour is the Cougar in the nightclub – predictable, flashy and with a line of 45 year old fund managers lining up to give it a shot. Meh.
I had a rare day off with my just my 2 year old son for company today. He was happily running round playing so i set the trainer up in front of the tv. He ended up sat on the top tube watching the last hour of the race, beauty.
If Wiggo cannot make up his deficit on Ryder using this Triathlete’s wet dream tomorrow, he’s done for.
@TBONE I think wiggins will struggle tomorrow, mentally more than physically.
@itburns
Yeah, and just like children, you love one more than the rest. And I love the Giro more.
Awesome article, except that it shouldn’t even be a fucking question.
Anyone struggling with the right answer need do nothing more than look at the following collection of photos. Case closed.
[dmalbum: path=”/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/frank/2013.05.10.23.06.13/1/”/]
And lets all remember that the Maillot Jaune is just a glorified YJA.
@napolinige
I think it comes down to a question of geography, as I’ve said many times. Mountains everywhere, skinny country and no real chance to avoid them. There is no hope of a week of flat stages where nothing happens a la le Tour; there is a mountain stage in the first week almost without fail and that means no one even showed up with a script. They show up with whatever they provided the actors of Spinal Tap – a loose idea of what is getting covered and then they just make it up from there.
Additional evidence
always worth a watch of this…
Real men wear pink.
@frank
Nice try, Lance.
Has anyone ever looked more utterly fucked than Tiralongo at the finish? Glorious. Hands down, Il Giro.
Based on last year’s racing alone, I would have put the tour last of the three.
Overall I’ve been increasingly impressed with Italian racing of late. Look at some of the races the past two years. Tirreno Adriatico has been much more interesting than Paris-Nice, Strada Bianchi (dare I say it) has been more interesting than Paris Roubaix, and the Giro has been more interesting than the Tour. And the Italian Monuments (MSR and Lomardia) have been Rule #9 fests quite often as of late, especially compared to the French and Belgium compatriots.
I’m especially a fan of the more technically finales. To me, climbers who can’t descend aren’t complete. And being a big guy myself I know that descending well takes just as much skill, if not more, than climbing well does. In fact its my favorite place in the club rides to put the hurt on.
These French guys like the pink and the occasional yellow!
GIRO!GIRO!GIRO!
If you actually go to the races, Le Tour is lock down , very little access to the teams + riders.
At the Giro you can just rock up to the team buses before the start and mingle with the riders, gawp at the bikes at close quarters, be absolutely amazed at how the twig like strands of sinew that pass for the legs of Stefano Garzelli have powered him up the mountains.
FORZA GIRO!
Pink and that De Rosa is beautiful
This may sound petty or snobbish, but for me Il Giro is better not only for the Maglia Rosa, the route and the racing, but because it separates the casual or occasional fan from the more hardcore cycling fanatics (at least here in the states).
We all know dozens (hundreds?) of folks who for 23 days in july change their facebook cover photos to a shot of Lance er Floyd er Levi er Tyler(?) and make time to watch the days stage after dinner on their DVR while doing their best Phil Liggett impersonation. But how many of them got up at 5 am this morning and searched through a handful of feeds to watch a veteran Aussie win the race of his life while thinking “what the heck did Kelly just say?” and fighting off a million pop up ads for Russian brides? My over under starts at 3.
In my opinion, Il Giro is a tour for those who are truly in love with cycling.. who are willing to risk being called out at the office for chewing up all the bandwidth until the stage is over, who’s calendar is blocked out by some mysterious morning meeting every weekday in May, or who calls in late with some lame excuse about your wifes car not starting (who would ever do that?).
See you all tomorrow morning @ 5:15…
@LA Dave “who’s calendar is blocked out by some mysterious morning meeting”
So very true.earlier this year,my friend, who has a PA, was asked by her how his meeting with E3 Harelbeke had gone that morning?!
Speaking of the marketing of the Giro, have you noticed that RAI is using English titles such as ‘Front of the race’ instead of ‘Testa della corsa’ and ‘standings’ instead of ‘classifica’ etc. there’s been a bit of grumbling online here. Obviously they’re trying to appeal to the British and American audience but given that most cycling fans are europhiles they’ve probably gone a little too far there.
All very good reasons that make the Giro better than the tour – the race, the course, the fans, the cognoscenti.
The only thing it lacks is that the riders and major teams still treat it as second best.
What are Sky arguing about ? Leadership of the Tour not the Giro. And each year more of the big GC contenders will target the Tour rather than the Giro – to some extent I think they look at the Giro as a place where they can do better with less competition.
It’s a great pity but I think that is why the Tour still rules as the supreme cycling event in the eyes of sponsors and the general public.
Personally I think it is the riding that makes greatness and as @king Clydesdale said last year the tdf was 3rd out of 3 and I think the trend will continue, the tour has become too safe with teams largely neutralising each other. It’s like man utd vs Chelsea in football no-one makes a move in case it results in a mistake. That is why stage 17 of the vuelta last year for me was epic. It did not matter that it was in Spain…to see a gc contender go away from the getgo and stay away is something not seen for a while and something I cannot see happening at tdf, and we are all losers because of it.
this year I am glued to the giro and am looking forward to the vuelta more than the tour. At a point when british cycling is on a high….it just tells me excitement really sits north and south of Paris….this year at least!
@ped
EPIC.
All of the Grand Tours are interesting races to watch. US television really only pays attention to the TDF. Due to the lack of exposure here I know far less about either the Vuelta or the Giro, but it is apparent that both of these races have taken great steps forward in terms of providing a more competitive race. The last couple of TDFs have been sort of ho-hum. Last years Giro was nothing like that. The Vuelta (which seems like the red-headed stepchild of the Grand Tours) has also been more exciting to watch than the TDF. My biggest wish is that there was some way to watch the Giro on TV rather than relying on steraming video feeds. Oh well, perhaps someday if the Giro organizers play their cards right…
@LA Dave Yeah, that Russian bride thing is annoying…
@ped
+1!
Agreed that the racing is more exciting at the Giro, but unfortunately Le Tour said in a french accent is more sexy that Il Giro is in an italian accent
Perhaps this is an unimportant point
I do think the Giro still lacks the pomp and ceremony that the LoF gets, certainly in GBR, where we have analysis shows with Ned Boulding and co at Le Tour, and not that rather dullard Declan Quigley commentating, who just seems to talk for the sake of it, and who Old Seany Boy doesn’t quite patronise as eloquently as he does Dave Harmon during the Big Lap
Fuck it, I love it all, and it makes me very cross that my son won’t stop playing Forza 4 so I can watch the time trial
For what it is worth, Wiggo ain’t going to win this, not due to lack of form, but because he hasn’t got EBH, Porte, Rodgers, and Froome destroying everyone up the big lumps and leaving him to dot and line with the TTs
That about covers it. @Frank handled the rest…………
@frank
Are the other siblings jealous of the Bianchi?
@scaler911
And lets not forget the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. That climb is so brutal, I named my hardest training loop in Seattle the Tre Cime because it hits the three of the “lumps” in Seattle.
Merckx’s only concession to the snow and cold? Gloves.
And some more love.
[dmalbum: path=”/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/frank/2013.05.11.15.49.47/2/”/]
One of my all time favourite photos. Year of Hampsten’s epic on the Gavia, to see him in pink looking so utterly cool, let alone fabulous, as he waited to start the time trial is a vivid memory for me.
Il Giro e la maglia rosa para me, grazie. La Tour is a bigger deal; I won’t argue that. But I’m an italophile from a young age: I’d rather eat italian than french, I aspire to Campagnolo, not Mavic, my first good bike was a Bianchi, not Peugeot, and I’d personally rather ride in Italy than France.
It doesn’t hurt that I got serious about cycling in ’87, just after LeMond’s accident, so Andy’s win in ’88 imprinted on me like any good young puppy/acolyte.
@cognition Campagnolo goes well with Mavic Open Pros.
@Jay
Hell yes, me too. I actually found a channel buried in a “sports package” that carried some of each day’s Giro. Oh, I’m ready, $8 a month. Sign me up. Of course nine of the ten channels all work but the one I need. I could watch collegate softball all fucking day long but no Giro. Had a tech truck come up to trouble shoot. He never gets out of the truck. No, you can’t get that channel on this island. FFS! The amazing thing was once he was told this was the Giro (which meant nothing to him) he remembered another guy a few months ago tried to get the same channel, told the tech he had raced in it last year. So we know Ryder is Not recording the Giro on his DVR.
@Jay
@Gianni
I think it is more the networks screwing up then RCS. I think beIN Sport has rights in USA for RCS races, but actually finding them is impossible. And they wonder why we resort to (illegal?) internet feeds.