La Vuelta 2025 ***SPOILERS***

[mjr]

So who has previously completed the Vuelta and gone onto win the World Champs Road race? Answer me that? and then have a look and see how many other GTs they had done that year?

Remco. Done. No other grand tours that year but come on! The Vuelta used to be accepted prep for the Worlds but less so now with more steep climbs.

There is a reason the triple Crown of Cycling is the Giro, the Tour and the Worlds.

Yes, but that reason is that it used to be impossible to do both Giro and Vuelta because they overlapped, and the Giro is almost 30 years older.

 

[mjr]

I will post a link so folks can read it, but I won’t comment here for obvious reasons.
I suggest others follow suit.

https://www.uci.org/pressrelease/uc...-ciclista-a-espana-2025/sg0nB3573AbWtW5P8JVAw

Well, that's just bizarre. It literally puts the warring countries in the same phrase as Russia without even mentioning how differently they are treating them. And has a pop at one bit of the Spanish state while praising another. Then no signature on the statement. So let's blame Lappartient for that dog's dinner!

 

[misforturob]

I seem to remember in the 2010s a pattern of riding the Vuelta as prep then doing well Worlds 🤔

 

[T4tomo]

I seem to remember in the 2010s a pattern of riding the Vuelta as prep then doing well Worlds 🤔

Riding, and in some cases riding a few stages before abandoning, is very different from contesting the GC. And the Worlds course in the 2010s had significantly less climbing than the 2024 edition in question. I'll assume none of the 2010 winners who warmed up on the Vuelta also rode the Giro and the Tour, which is more the point.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

I seem to remember in the 2010s a pattern of riding the Vuelta as prep then doing well Worlds 🤔

And in the 2000s half the field would usually abandon, as the Vuelta and worlds were placed very close together on the calendar.

 

[KingstonGraham]

I will post a link so folks can read it, but I won’t comment here for obvious reasons.
I suggest others follow suit.

https://www.uci.org/pressrelease/uc...-ciclista-a-espana-2025/sg0nB3573AbWtW5P8JVAw

Anyone know why they are obsessed with the Olympic Charter here?

Also "The UCI strongly condemns the exploitation of sport for political purposes in general" - that's clearly a new stance they are taking.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

And in the 2000s half the field would usually abandon, as the Vuelta and worlds were placed very close together on the calendar.

Shirley the three Grand Tours and the World Champs should be reasonably equally spaced through the calendar, to increase the field strength in each.

But then I hate how money buys the strongest rider lineups to support the likes of Pog and Vin, rather than ranking the top riders of different talents (gc, sprinter, climber etc) and spreading them out equally between teams, to increase the spectacle and competition for different jerseys.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Anyone know why they are obsessed with the Olympic Charter here?

This struck me too. Is there some sense in which "Olympic" is used in a general context, and not specifically in the context of the Olympic Games?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Shirley the three Grand Tours and the World Champs should be reasonably equally spaced through the calendar, to increase the field strength in each.

I think they do their best.

The Tour has July, and as the oldest* / most important event everything else has to fit in around it. It's not moving anywhere.

The Giro and the Vuelta used to both precede the tour but the Giro, as the senior of the two, booted the Vuelta out of that spot in the 90s.

Which leaves the Vuelta and the Worlds duking it out for space in the post-Tour period .

*Ok It isn't literally the oldest of all cycling events, but it's the oldest if these four.

 

[Legs]

They're not even doing that.

But socks, yes. They are defending socks, which ultimately are at the core of what cycling is all about.

What about no socks?

 

[T4tomo]

What about no socks?
View attachment 787221

Wronguns!

 

[M.R.M]

So who has previously completed the Vuelta and gone onto win the World Champs Road race? Answer me that? and then have a look and see how many other GTs they had done that year?

The 24 Vuelta might have had a modest field IYHO, but the World Championship had / always have unsurprisingly a World class field!

There is a reason the triple Crown of Cycling is the Giro, the Tour and the Worlds.

Winning all 3 GT's in one year is greater than winning the WC RR in that year (with the Giro & Vuelta). Pogacar could have very reasonably done that and then gone for Tour + WC RR in this year. That way he'd have had everything. It was already clear back then that the WC course this year would also suit him.
He simply wanted the rainbow bands immediately and prioritized that over the GT grand slam, which is his right, but definitely the wrong decision in terms of achieving historical greatness (since that is what we're arguing, otherwise where is the need to win as much of everything as possible?).

 

[Dorset Boy]

What about no socks?
View attachment 787221

Triathlete

 

[mjr]

Also "The UCI strongly condemns the exploitation of sport for political purposes in general" - that's clearly a new stance they are taking.

I'm sure the Breton mayor in charge of the UCI wants to stop his political rivals buying stage starts and finishes for other towns(!)

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Anyone know why they are obsessed with the Olympic Charter here?

Also "The UCI strongly condemns the exploitation of sport for political purposes in general" - that's clearly a new stance they are taking.

The Olympic Charter is pretty much foundational for modern Olympic sports, and certainly for some of the issues regarding whether you can expel a nation or team or not. Orgs of Olympic sports need to be compliant with IOC regulations. The expulsion of Russian and Belarusian teams by the UCI was on the basis of a recommendation by the IOC, due to Russia violating the Olympic Truce by invading Ukraine in the period between the closing of the Winter Olympics and the opening of the Winter Paralympics.

It's definitely arguable that it's actually the IOC that should have done something earlier regarding IPT as no truce was observed in the run-up or indeed during the Paris Olympics, but they didn't, so the matter is left with the UCI, who didn't act, and the Vuelta, who are powerless.

I do think the UCI follows very stringently the IOC principle that the exploitation of sport for political purposes is abhorrent. Just like the IOC they seem to think that the exploitation of sport should be for financial purposes only....


I hope this isn't too political, I've tried to keep purely to the facts here (other than a general poke at sports ORGs in general always being ready to sell out for a quick buck or million), and it's directly relevant to what happened in the race.