Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia is Italy's biggest stage race, in terms of prestige and length. It contains 21 stages and used to be 1 of the 3 Grand Tour's (GT) until the 2008 season when the UCI introduced a new ranking system and those races are now classified as normal races, although they are still treated as Grand Tour's by the rider's.
The leader of the race overall will win/wear the maglia rosa, or the pink jersey. This classification is normally won by the best climber that can just about hang on in the time trials.
The leader of the Points classification will wear/win the maglia ciclamino, or the purple/mauve jersey. This classification can be won by a climber or sprinter as in the Giro, points are awarded towards the classification on flat and mountain stages.
The leader of the KOM classification will wear/win the maglia verde, or the green jersey. The winner of this jersey is normally a rider who isn't really riding for the overall GC but to win this jersey specifically.
The leader of the Young Rider classification will wear/win the maglia bianca, or the white jersey. To qualify for this classification, the rider must be 25 years old or younger on January 1st of the same year as that edition. The leader/winner is the highest placed, under 25 year old, rider in the overall GC.
Mario Cipollini holds the record number of stage victories in the Giro with 42 in total, beating Alfredo Binda's old record by just 1 stage.
Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi and Eddie Merckx have all won the Giro d'Italia 5 times each.
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Also known as La Doyenne, or Oldest Woman, this is a one day classic, riding, as the name suggests, from Liège, to Bastogne and back. The terrain is extremely hilly during the 258km course, which makes it an exciting race to watch, as well as making it one of the five Monuments of the cycling calendar.
The Côte de Stockeu is the steepest well known climb at 11.6% for over 1 kilometre. Eddy Merckx has won this race the most times (5).
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Paris - Roubaix
Paris - Roubaix is the most prestigious cobbled classic in the cycling calendar and takes place in France. The winner is awarded the win on his own palmares and a piece of Roubaix rock.
The race is given many different nicknames but the most commonly used is,
"The Hell of the North". The race is one of the oldest on the clendar and was first run in 1896.
It is a very flat course each year but with a tremendous amount of cobble sections. In the 2007 edition there was 28 sections of
pavé. The different sections are given a category rating of difficultness, ranging rom 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult. In the 2007 edition there were 3 secions of
pavé given the maximum difficulty rating, they were the 2400m
Trouée d'Arenberg, the 3000m
Mons-en-Pévèle (after 213 km) and the 2100m
Le Carrefour de l’Arbre (at 244km).
The most famous section is the Trouée d'Arenberg, or the Arenberg Forest. This is the section where most of the decisive splits occur.
It truely is a remarkable race and can only really be summed up perfectly by one mane, Theo de Rooy.
"It's a pile of shit, this race, it's a whole pile of shit ... You're working like an animal, you don't have the time to piss and you wet your pants ... You're riding in mud like this and you're slipping and ... it's a pile of shit, you must clean yourself otherwise you will go mad ... " Dutchman Theo de Rooy speaking to John Tesh of CBS Sports after his breakaway during he 1985 race. Tesh asks, "Will you ever ride it again?", to which De Rooy responds, "Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!"Top
Tour de France
The Tour de France is the most prestigious stage race in the professional calendar. It contains 21 stages and used to be 1 of the 3 Grand Tour's (GT) until the 2008 season when the UCI introduced a new ranking system and those races are now classified as normal races, although they are still treated as Grand Tour's by the rider's. It is of course raced in France although a couple of stages do stray into different countries and generally the prologue and first stage's are hosted by different countries.
The leader of the race overall will wear/win the maillot jaune, or the yellow jersey. This is normally won by a climber who can time trial efficiently.
The leader of the points classification will wear/win the maillot vert, or the green jersey. This is normally won by a sprinter.
The leader of the KOM classification will wear/win the maillot à pois rouges, or the polka-dot jersey. This is normally won by a climber focusing on the classification and not the overall GC.
The leader of the Young Rider classification will wear/win the maillot blanc, or the white jersey. To qualify for this classification the rider must be 25 years of age or younger on the 1st January on the year of that edition of the tour. The winner is the highest placed, under 25 year old, rider in the overall GC.
There is also the prix de combativité, or the most aggressive rider award. It is given to the most active and aggressive rider at the end of each stage and is decided upon by a panel of experts. The winner wears a number printed white-on-red instead of black-on-white in the next stage. At the end of the tour, an award is given to the rider who was most aggressive throughout the tour.
Finally, there is the team classification. It is decided upon by adding up the times of the team's best 3 riders at the end of each stage. The leading team wears numbers printed black-on-yellow instead of black-on-white.
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Vuelta a Espana
Also known as the Tour of Spain, this three week stage race sees riders compete in one of the three Grand Tours of cycling. The race takes the riders across the whole of Spain, and traditionally finishes in Madrid.
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