Major Road Bikes Cycle Races
Alastair Hamilton
The major professional road bikes riders ride the major cycle
races, and they are grouped together into the UCI Pro Tour and
all the best races are included
The Best Riders Ride The Best Races.
The major cycle races in the world of bike racing are now all
part of the UCI Pro Tour Races, this is quite a big list, which
you can find below. All of the twenty Pro Tour teams have to
ride them along with other teams invited by the organizers, who
are usually local teams or the best of the lower ranked
Continental Tour teams. All the races have a complicated points
system that would take too long to explain here.
The Pro Tour Races are split into sections, which are: -
• The Spring Classics,
• The Major Tours,
• The Autumn Classics,
• The Shorter Tours,
• The World Championships,
And then there are the other important but not so famous races.
The Major Tours.
The BIG three, the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the
Vuelta a España, they are all three weeks long and are the
hardest races on the calendar and are the major cycle races of
the year. All three go over the biggest mountains in their
respective countries and venture in to neighbouring ones,
sometimes for a few days. Until recently all bike racers rode
the “Big Three”, now they specialise and pick and chose their
objectives. The organisers are not too happy about the UCI Pro
Tour as they feel they are losing some of their power over
their own races and were only included at the last minute this
year and are still arguing over next year.
The Spring Classics.
The Spring Classics are the monuments of the one day races, all
are held in the more northern European countries, apart from the
first one, Milan-San Remo, but which is in the north of Italy in
March and can get bad weather, like the others. The Tour of
Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix are all ridden over
the worst road conditions possible, with short sharp hills and
cobbles, when it rains these roads turn into mud baths and are
as easy to ride on as an ice rink. The others are more hilly
and more suited to Tour riders and the better climbers, all
these races are a must to see as anything can happen, but it is
always a hard man who wins a major cycle race in the spring.
The Autumn Classics.
The Autumn Classics start just after the Tour de France, before
and after the Vuelta a España and around the World
championships. All these races have different characters and
are held in different countries around Europe. The best known
are the Classic San Sebastian in Spain, which is hard and
hilly, the Paris-Tours, which is mostly flat and to round off
the season, the Giro di Lombardia, which is the last big race
of the Pro Tour and is held, like Milan-San Remo, in the north
of Italy.
The Shorter Stage Races.
These shorter stage races are dotted around the season and
around Europe, some are used as training races for the stars to
tune there form for the big stage races, but all are very
important and carry much prestige for all. Paris-Nice is the
first and is always a good pointer to a riders form for the
Spring Classics or the Giro d’Italia. Then the more hilly races
like Pays Vasco, Tour de Romadie, Tour de Swiss and the Dauphine
Libere are a good build up for the Tour de France. They are all
hard fought for wins in themselves and never easy.
The World Championships.
The World Championships are now held very late in the season
(September) and the big stars of the Tour de France don’t
usually ride, but for the single day specialists its still the
race to win, and never won easily. The rainbow jersey is the
jersey all riders dream of wearing for a year and will fight
hard for it. The “Worlds” are the only races that riders
compete for their country and not their sponsor, so there can
be some strange allegiances.
Other Races.
There are other races on the Pro Tour calendar that are very
important but not so well known, everyone wants to win these
also, and in the end a win is a win. The Pro Tour teams can
also ride in the lower Continental Tour races, some of these
are well known and very prestigious, they carry less UCI points
but are hard fought over, there is never an easy win in
Professional cycle sport, especially in the major cycle races.
About The Author: Alastair Hamilton publishes regularly
technical articles on road bikes (
http://www.bike-cycling-reviews.com/road-bikes.html ) to some
cycling online magazines. Reach further reviews on bike
components and cycling news at
http://www.bike-cycling-reviews.com
<<---------------- End of Free Reprint Article ------------->>
Find More Free Articles
Index of All Automotive & Truck Articles
Index of Motorcycle & Off Road Articles
Index of All Free Reprint Articles
