The ProTour Is Shite and the World Cup Should Be Brought Back

[Skip Madness]

The thread title should be fairly self-explanatory, but I am interested to find out what the level of feeling is about the men's World Cup and its successor, the ProTour.

I should make it clear that I can see the arguments for some of the reforms proposed in the name of the ProTour even though I broadly sided with the Grand Tour organisers (GTOs) in their dispute with the UCI. Using a system where the top teams are guaranteed invites to certain events provided they comply with ethical procedures is a good incentive for teams to be as rigorous as possible in their organisation. Having said that, I think they should be able to turn down invitations, and there should be no more than 14 teams along with a promotion/relegation system.

I am not hostile to some reform of cycling. What I cannot understand is that after the UCI basically lost the fight with the GTOs, we seem to be situated in limbo - the ProTour organisational structure is in place but does not include the races that were meant to be its centrepieces. Liquigas are being invited to top events while squatting all over the Code of Ethics. And in the place of the World Cup - a meaningful competition highly valued - we have a tinpot trophy called the ProTour. Some will say that once the big events are back on board the ProTour will take shape again, but I think the mixture of stage races and one-day races has none of the identity of its predecessor.

There was an essential coherence to the World Cup (which can still be seen in the women's event) - it was like one big stage race involving the greatest one-day classics in the world. It had meaning for that reason. It was about being able to meet the demands of one-day races time and again throughout the season. Some people complained that it did not truly represent the best riders in the world - of course it didn't. It wasn't meant to. We had the world rankings for that, and most people glanced at those and gave an opinion and then stopped caring. That is because cycling fans appreciate that the notion of a world's best rider is too subjective from person to person to be able to codify in any serious way.

Then the World Cup parted way for the ProTour, the proper Cycling Premier League. Except immediately people were annoyed that stages in stage races got too few points, one day classics got too many points, yadda yadda bloody yadda. Complexity ruined what was previously a beautifully simple competition. All of a sudden we were all comparing the worth of fundamentally different races with fundamentally different dynamics. The stupid thing was, we were already having those arguments about the old world rankings anyway. Even when the GTOs were part of the ProTour, did anyone treat the winner of the ProTour as the best rider in the world? No more so than the old number one-ranked rider was under the old system. So all that had happened was that we had lost a competition with real character to one which we bickered over and, ultimately, no-one seemed to give a rat's ass about anyway. Remember when Cadel Evans was awarded the ProTour after Danilo Di Luca was disqualified for something or other? You had forgotten that until I just reminded you of it, hadn't you? That is because you did not care, and you did not care because it was rubbish.

The last men's World Cup was run in 2003. These were the events that comprised it:

Milano - Sanremo
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Paris - Roubaix
Amstel Gold Race
Liège - Bastogne - Liège
Hamburg Cyclassics
Clásica San Sebastián
Züri Metzgete
Paris - Tours
Giro di Lombardia

Stick in a bunch of stage races and you have a competition that loses its identity, I think. That is not what it is about.

Should we scrap the ProTour competition and bring back the World Cup? Do you think that actually the ProTour is a perfectly good successor to, maybe even better than, the World Cup? Maybe you think it gives added meaning to the smaller stage races. If the World Cup was brought back, what events would you add/remove from it?

 

[Dave5N]

Probably. The title sounds about right but your essay was far too long and boring for the internet generation.

 

[Keith Oates]

To me the name is not so important but I agree that mixing the one day and stage race disciplines to identify a world champion is not really very successful. I would say the World Cup should be made up of points gained in the top one day races, very similar to the list you have made Skip Madness and forget the Stage race results in that competiton.

As all racing is really down to team work I would favour a team competition covering all of the road racing scene with a simple 1 point for being the top team in each event and then rising as the position works down the list and the team with the least points at the end of the year are the winners.

 

[mondobongo]

The World Cup sounds better than the Pro Tour, the list from 2003 looks about right.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I wouldn't have either.

The major classics are big enough to stand on their own merits, they don't need a season long league of any sort.

 

[Skip Madness]

The World Cup is not about propping up the classics - it is just about rewarding consistency among them.

Is the men's Züri-Metzgete planning to come back? Not sure. The Cyclassics seems to have a fair few detractors too although I have never actually seen it. I think the Monte Paschi Eroica would have to become part of a returned World Cup, but I am struggling to think of any other contenders. Any good one-day races on other continents that would fit the bill?

 

[Ludwig]

The world cup is probably only of significance to the odd bike racing nerd. Most punters with an interest in cycle racing will watch the classic tours and some of the smaller ones like the Paris Nice. The governing bodies need to sort things out or will will see things degenerate like they have in other sports.