Tour of California
 

There will never be anything to rival the Tour de France.

But why can't we at least try in the Tour of California? This state has the climbs and the flats to rival any of the great European Tours.

I don't want to see a yellow jersey on a leader or winner of the Tour of California. That's the Tour de France and we shouldn't copy them as we can see in the Giro de Italian or the Vuelta de Espania.

I suggest a Gold jersey. And I also suggest longer stages and some really hard stages thrown in. Mt. Diablo is certainly a hard ride and that stage was pretty good. But there weren't enough hard stages with a great deal more climbing. Remember that some of the mountain stages in the Tour de France have snow on them. So why isn't the Tour of California putting in stages into the Sierra Nevada as well as the Coastal Range? Why not a stage that starts in Sutter's Creek?

Let's impress the world with history as well as racing of the highest level. And let's be proud of our heritage. Sacramento and San Francisco have been Ameican since 1849 and while that's a drop in the bucket compared to the European nations it is still something to be proud of.

Let's see just how much of a man can wear the Gold Jersey.

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Racers make the race.

If they show up but ride piano, it'll be a boring race.

I also don't think California has the "same" attributes as France in what makes a legendary race.

There is already a thread titled with this header on this same page of the forum.
Coors Classic had to fold because of insurance costs I've read somewhere....And that weren't no TDF.

California! California!
The hills send back the cry!
We're out to do or die!
We'll win the race and know the reason why!

Its getting harder and harder to put on this race in California due to cry babies and government red tape. The ToC will never be a great race simply because the people and governments in this state wont let it happen. There is a reason why business are fleeing California.

cry babies?

the ToC will never be great (hard to ascertain what would make it be considered 'great') because Americans stopped caring about cycling in the early 1900s. Governments <sic> in the state won't let it happen because people stopped caring about cycling in the early 1900s. The ToC is a good early season stage race. That's what it was intended to be. If anyone thinks it's going to rival the grand tours any time soon you should perhaps read some cycling history.