Originally Posted by oneradtec
No one said there are never exceptions. Secondly, don't fool yourself.........with all due respect, the Vuelta is not the Tour de France.
If the Vuelta was on the level of the Tour then the Spaniards wouldn't win practically every year. Why can Heras dominate the Vuelta...and yet get crushed in the Tour de France?
Every year some Italian or Spaniard wins the Vuelta or Giro and is tagged as the next big challenger in the Tour de France. Year after year these pretenders do nothing but disappoint when they go to France. Let's look at some of the more recent past Vuelta and Giro winners....Tonkov, Simoni, Garzelli, Casero, Heras, Gonzales, Gotti, Salvodelli etc. I don't believe that any of them have found the podium of the Tour de France...although most of them have tried.
The Tour is different. Just because you win the Giro or the Vuelta doesn't mean you can win the Tour. Pantani was an exception........because he was perhaps the greatest pure climber of all time(in his prime). That said...he only won one tour..and that was in 1998 when the field was shattered from the doping scandal.
Yes I agree with you that generally the tour seems to be a tougher race, but I think this is more because for whatever reason it draws the best riders. But I dont think its harder because of the time trials, winds, stage topography, etc..
If you took the entire tdf start list and had them ride the Giro course or Vuelta, would those races be easier? thats hard to say, and probably impossible to determine, but I would think no. the riders make the race.