UCI: Tour of California could be Tour de France caliber

I don't see a ToC ever competing directly with TdF because of tradition and prestige -- but one could plausibly challenge the Giro or the Vuelta. The scheduling of the Vuelta has been juggled pnly recently.

The ToC could easily be two weeks and held at a time when it would be possible to hit some of the Sierra peaks without undue likelihood of snow.

One of the main problems is that there are a lot of places in the Sierras where the only connector seems to be 395, and that would be difficult to close.

TBV

Wayne wrote:

<quoted text>
The TdC is very young, and it will take time to grow into an event to rival the Giro, the Vuelta, the TdF. However, it would be great to see a superior system that could show WADA/UCI the way. We tifosi could get back to enjoying cycling rather than this depressing Landis/Ullrich/Basso witch hunt that never ends.
I would NOT like to see the TdC compete directly with the Tour de France in terms of schedule, however.......I think earlier is better.
---Wayne---

Good points Wayne. The time slot that the TdC currently holds is great and I believe that by the show of the foreign cycling teams (CSC, T-Mobile, etc) there at the TdC that they agree as well.

The TdC running in July would be no good. Would anyone like try riding through "Death valley" during July? Not me!

My Opinion_El Paso_TX wrote:

<quoted text>

The TdC running in July would be no good. Would anyone like try riding through "Death valley" during July? Not me!

Well, it's not in July, but you could try this:
http://www.the508.com/

If you want to do something there in July, you could always try this: http://www.badwater.com/

Cheers

The battles between Discovery Channel and CSC were great to watch, culminating in only a 21 second difference between 1st and second place on the GC.

I believe last year's TdC was only a 29 second difference between 1st and 2d place. If this is true, then I think that the TdC will be known for the difficulty in trying to obtain and keep the yellow jersey.

There's really no need to compete with the TdF.

For a young tour, the TdC has certainly caught the attention of the international pro circuit. It's great starting the racing year with a great race like the TdC!

Curious wrote:

The battles between Discovery Channel and CSC were great to watch, culminating in only a 21 second difference between 1st and second place on the GC.
I believe last year's TdC was only a 29 second difference between 1st and 2d place. If this is true, then I think that the TdC will be known for the difficulty in trying to obtain and keep the yellow jersey.
There's really no need to compete with the TdF.
For a young tour, the TdC has certainly caught the attention of the international pro circuit. It's great starting the racing year with a great race like the TdC!

Totally agree with you Curious and the TofC race organizers are already looking to the future in developing various routes and slowly lengthening this race.