Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España: Why is TdF the most popular?

[alko]

There are actually 3 races in the Grand Tour: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España.

No doubt, that TdF is the most prestigious. Why? And could possible the other 2 dethrone TdF?

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[Fighter]

History and money involved I guess. Vuelta is well behind Giro too I'd say.

Dethrone the TdF is unlikely in the short or medium term, in the long term who knows. Giro would love to be THE biggest of them all but while History of cycling has been made almost evenly between them (though in the last 15 years with more specific calendars for each rider which implies that he's gonna be in top form for only one between Giro and TdF, the latter has had way more bigger names), money certainly isn't on the italian side given our struggling economy.
If anything the Giro has had way more various and entertaining routes since stage 1 for a lot of years now, while more often than not the first week at the TdF was a snoozefest until the final sprint.
But you ask ANY rider not which one they prefer but which one they would love to win, the answer will always be the TdF, no question.

 

[Albatros]

I think regarding that history part it's also that Giro has a rich history mostly in Italy and became a truly international competition much later.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Money and history.

Giro is the best of the three as far as entertainment goes and it's not close

 

[alko]

How much is Giro followed in Italy? Can it beat football news?

 

[sr edler]

TdF is bigger because France is a bigger and more international country and closer to the Anglo world (US, Australia, GB) than Italy or Spain. Plus money. Plus France is also way closer (culturally) to Belgium and the Netherlands which are nuts for cycling (especially Belgium).

Italy or Spain are better cycling nations than France though, at least in a more modern sense. Gd'I has the best routes and atmosphere.

 

[Fighter]

How much is Giro followed in Italy? Can it beat football news?

To an extent... when italian riders were at the top it was toe-2-toe with soccer. Back in the days of Pantani, Italy was crazy about him... and still he's missed despite allegations and the way he died. Even now if there are big wins in the TdF or GdI the news make big headlines. Cycling is definitely still highly followed, even if at a fair distance from soccer.

 

[Havre]

Same reason the Premier League is bigger than the other European leagues when it comes to football - commercialization.

TdF have been a lot better at building a "product" than the others. Especially the Giro has lost ground. The Vuelta doesn't have the same historical pedigree.

As it is the biggest it is the one everyone want to win and therefore it becomes even bigger. Difficult to stop that spiral for the others.

 

[Jack Straw]

I can't claim to be any kind of cycling historian but I'm pretty sure that back in the day (mid 1900's to maybe the '80s) the Giro was as big if not bigger than the Tour, in Italy. When I started following the sport in the '80s, not that many Italian cyclists competed in the Tour, but they all went to the Giro. Lemond changed the cycling landscape by opening up the huge US television audience to pro cycling. And while he won a bunch of things he focused mainly on the Tour. Lemond's success led to 7-11, Motorola, and eventually Armstrong. And Armstrong concentrated almost exclusively on the Tour. So it was probably a case of the Tour always being the biggest, but not nearly to the extent that it is today. And American TV money just fed the beast and it became more an more important relative to the other grand tours.

 

[AngloHab]

The primary reason in my opinion is that it was the first of the grand tours. As everyone knows the concept of the tour was the brainchild of a French newspaper editors desire to increase the circulation of his publication. Of course there is tremendous cachet in being the pioneer of anything.

The language of cycling is French - derailleur, velodrome, domestique, peloton, cadence, all French terms.

The French have been more important in administrative terms in the sport of cycling and in sport in general. The Union Cycliste Internationale was founded in 1900 in Paris. The first President of FIFA was a Frenchman and it was founded and headquartered in Paris. Jules Rimet was the third President of FIFA, also a Frenchman and the man credited with conceiving the World Cup tournament. The founder of the modern Olympics and the IOC was Pierre de Coubertin, a French aristocrat.

Then there are other political reasons - France is a larger country, with a bigger economy and population than Italy and Spain. Geographically it is nearer to the heart of Europe and it is more important and influential in international affairs - at the time of Napoleon it was the pre-eminent continental European power, it had a very big colonial empire, it is a nuclear power and a permanent member on the UN security council. Lastly, although the Nazis installed a collaborationist regime after the fall of Paris France did not suffer the stigma of the long term association with fascism that Italy and Spain did/do.

 

[kalle wirsch]

In Germany the Tour de France was always the number 1.The other grand tours are hardly mentioned in the press or getting air time in the TV. I guess in other cycling countries like Belgium Switzerland or the Netherlands it is and was the same.

 

[Havre]

I'm not sure if that is an accurate description of history - or rather the selection of events is skewed. Even if I agree the passion for being involved in administration is ridiculously high in France and seemingly always has been.

Campagnolo, Bianchi etc. There are a million legendary Italian brands and hardly a handful French. A lot of the cycling nostalgia is from Italy. The same way the Italian football league was far more prestigious than the English back in the day. The same way it wasn't a given that the English would have the most popular football league I don't think it was a given that the TdF would end up the biggest. In hindsight it might look like it, but...

I used to live in France and I have been to Italy many times. Obviously not very scientific, but in my view cycling is much more of a "religion" in Italy than France. The French are very proud of the TdF, but the passion for cycling seems higher in Italy.

 

[AngloHab]

In Germany the Tour de France was always the number 1.The other grand tours are hardly mentioned in the press or getting air time in the TV. I guess in other cycling countries like Belgium Switzerland or the Netherlands it is and was the same.

I agree. Tour de France winners tend to become household names like tennis players who win Wimbledon.

As a kid I had very little interest in cycling or tennis but Pedro Delgado, Lemond, Indurain, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash even, those names were very familiar to me.

 

[Havre]

That is not always though. That is pretty modern.

 

[AngloHab]

That is not always though. That is pretty modern.

I have no idea what you mean by this.

Wimbledon & TDF winners are pretty well known even by people who otherwise don't pay attention to tennis or cycling. Maybe not in North America but it certainly seems the case in Europe. Whether this is a recent development courtesy of television or media I've no way of knowing but it was at least the case as far back as the 1980's.

 

[Havre]

I have no idea what you mean by this.

Wimbledon & TDF winners are pretty well known even by people who otherwise don't pay attention to tennis or cycling. Maybe not in North America but it certainly seems the case in Europe. Whether this is a recent development courtesy of television or media I've no way of knowing but it was at least the case as far back as the 1980's.

I have no idea how you can misunderstand my post.

Exactly. You have no idea of knowing so what is your point? The claim is that this was "always" the case. It being the case from the 80s and onwards doesn´t make it always. Even including the 80s is rather questionable as the best riders often did both back in those days. Even the TdF legend Indurain won both twice in the early 90s.