The least popular Grand Tour

The 2010 Vueltaa Espana, a three-week stage race in Spain, has seven (of 21) more stages to go before it concludes in Madrid yet it seemed that nobody seems to notice it. The youngest of the three Grand Tours (Tour de France and the Girod’Italia), the Vuelta (literally means, “Around Spain”) is also its poor cousin.

Before 1995, this race was held every April but it clashed with more popular events therefore, only the Spaniards came to race it. The Belgians had just finished their beloved classics and are recharging for the rest of the season while the Italians and the French are deep in preparation for their national race are held every May and July, respectively.

At first, some big names joined the Vuelta after it was moved to a new September date but then, these big names would ride the Vuelta not to win it but to use the race to get into race form for the more prestigious World Championships by October.

Of the top 5 finishers of the 2010 Tour, only two are in the race and they have to make their presence felt. Speaking of presence, Tour runner-up Andy Schleck and (used to be) well respected domestique, Stuart O’Grady was kicked out of the race last week by his team director after breaking team policy- going out, having a drink and coming home late.

Denis Menchov, this year’s 3rd placer in the Tour, and 2-time Vuelta winner, is not a factor. Frank Schleck, Andy’s older brother who crashed in the Tour last July, had promised to attack but clearly is struggling with his form.To add insult to injury, Igor Anton, a Basque rider for Euskaltel and the race leader after stage 12, crashed hard during last Saturday’s race at 65kph and broke his elbow.

I think that with the Vuelta’s current date, it would be hard for the organizers to attract the big names and big teams. There is generally a lull after the Tour and for those who had a successful Tour, there is no point in racing in the Vuelta. If it were to be moved back in April, the original problems would also present itself again.

In an ideal cycling universe, the Tour’s date should be on the tail end of the season and all the races of note should be held before it. But how can you move summer from July to October?

Finally, I’d like to wish Jerome Rodriguez and John Gayatin all the luck in the world as they join the Corratec Cycling Challenge in Subic last weekend……I love 4-day weekends!!!......Hello to my good friend Joe Mante of PLDT Jones!......Susana Madarieta, DOH director for Central Visayas said that if dengue cases continue to rise, “a declaration of an epidemic is not far off”. My family resides in Labangon, one of the barangays, along with Guadalupe, who are classified as areas “reaching threshold status”. Yet, I still have to see someone from the DOH doing something visible about the dengue problem. My guess is that once the DOH will declare dengue as an epidemic, the news will hit the mosquitoes so hard that they will be packing their bags pronto and look for some puddle some place else.