Just heard about this on Velo News. Over 4000 miles with 14 stages over 200 miles. I don't care how much prize money they offer no major teams or riders are going to do it. If they just offered the $11 million and made it the normal grand tour difficulty and length I would think it would have a chance. I would like to see it but not as planned.

http://www.velonews.com/race/dom/articles/13387.0.html

http://waninggibbous.com/index.php?opti ... e&Itemid=1

_________________
"Really fast people are frustrating, but they make you faster. When you get faster, you might frustrate someone else."

2009 Trek Madone 5.5 Project One SRAM Force 16.4 lbs w/pedals and cages.
2007 Bianchi 928 Carbon Lugged- SRAM Rival-17 lbs.

Givin whats going on with sponcers pulling out due to doping, UCI and the pro tour fights and lets not forget the TDF contoversy this may be the Pros best bet for steady employment . I for one would love it. The logistics are mind boggling however. I was planing a one time trip for charity accross the country but my sponcer pulled out after the TDF This will be hard to pull off but I wish em luck

_________________
WW Velocipedist Gargantuan

If this actually happens then it would be interesting..

im wondering what teams will becoming and how hard the high caliber people are going to be trying to win it... I also wonder when it would happen...

I hope this will be successful...

_________________
My CAAD 9 BB30

I saw the news on cyclingnews.com yesterday but they were talking about 30 days event and I thought that was quite insane.

While now you guys here report 14 days, that sounds much more realistic.

Anyway, I guess that's what McQuaid wanted and it seems he's gonna get it.

It's stupid. I'm all for more cycling in America but c'mon! Their schedule conflicts with the Vuelta, the Worlds, and the Tour of MO. (ok the ToM isn't such a big deal compared to the fomer two) Who would show up? For this to be a true "Grand Tour" wouldn't you need the best the world had to offer trying to get in? They're shooting themselves in the foot before they even start.

_________________
This board and the world in general would be a much nicer place if everyone could just take themselves a little less seriously.

I agree: It's a great idea but, as gerald says, the course has a large number of excessively long stages (think of how much doping that will incite) and, as drjones says, the proposed timing is totally off.

(And it's not 14 days, but 14 stages that are over 200 mi/320 km, with two stages at 250 mi/400 km. Overall, they are talking about 27 stages over 30 days.)

Maybe they will get enough feedback to make it more sensible.

_________________
"I can't understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I'm frightened of old ones." -- John Cage

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/phpBB ... 928#126928

So it was right what I saw at first.

Well...if McQuaid is gonna support this...he's totally id*ot!
At first he was talking about reducing Grand Tours cause too long (long event seems to obbligate riders to dope, by his words) and also some other guys (perhaps some german, can't remember who) was saying that races should be around 100kms, like if that would help to stop doping (image a 100km event with a 55km/h average speed.

Just crazy idea.

I'd be amazed if this ever took place. They tried to get a Quebec - Boston race going this year and shelved the plans because they couldn't get the various states all on board.

On http://thetourofamerica.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=29 , they say there are 7 mountain stages, and 2 (individual, not counting prologue) time trials. However, on http://thetourofamerica.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=33 , they say there are 5 mountain road stages plus a(n 80 mile long) mountain time trial, so there is an inconsistency.

The final stage, 130 miles from San Jose to San Francisco, is long enough to not be a "direct" route between those cities. Therefore, it is a disappointment that it is not listed as a mountain stage. They could/should be going up at least Page Mill and Kings Mountain (down La Honda in between) on the way to San Fran if they were to do justice to the area.

400km stages is pure lunacy - the Warny at 300km's is the longest UCI event, and from all accounts (riders I've talked to who've raced it) it's something that ends peoples seasons due to the severity and time it takes to recover. While for a pro, it isn't a killer, but its something that isn't taken likely either. To ask someone to ride multiple 400km days, thats lunacy.

_________________
This board would be a nicer place if everyone would take themselves less seriously.

I almost miss Mr Search...

I might take this more seriously if their website didn't look like a 1995 Trek catalogue. From what I can see, these guys know very very little about the sport.

There's no way they're going to fit a long tour like that in between 3 grand tours and the Worlds. Moving it to an earlier date doesn't seem plausible, nor does moving it to a later date. And as others have mentioned a lot of the stages are too damned long.

If there's going to be a North American tour, then it's gong to have to be no longer than any of the three Grand Tours. The seed of a great tour is there, in the idea, but it definitely needs some massaging.

The Giro and the TdF are great and likely always will be. The Vuelta, though, seems to suffer through anonymity relative to the other two, as well as relatiive to the Classics and the Worlds. So given that, I think eventually--hopefully sooner than later--the Vuelta will be replaced with something else. Maybe a North American tour could do the replacing. That would be interesting. The weather would be best. That would allow picking mountain stages without weather concerns. With all the big teams here, it would likely beat pretty well the Vuelta's viewer ratings.
Of course, it would require sacrificing the Vuelta....

I guess spanish chicos might not like it!

You might be right, but judging by attendance at and TV viewership of the Vuelta, the number of upset "Spanish Chicos" would be pretty small.

80km long individual TTs?? Doesn't the UCI have rules governing maximum distances for sanctioned events.

This Tour is either a pie in the sky idea by someone without a clue, or a scam.

_________________
Nice bike... you ever take it off any sweet jumps?