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Oleg Tinkov determined to push Grand Tour challenge

Vincenzo Nibali is looking good. (Photo: Team Sky)
Expert
14th October, 2014
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There’s nothing like dreaming big, and when you’re used to getting your own way, why let a little media skepticism get in the way.

A few hours after The Roar published last week’s piece on Oleg Tinkov’s plans for a one million Euro, Grand Tour ride-off between Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali, I received a direct message from Team Tinkoff-Saxo Bank on Twitter.

They wanted my email address.

My instant thought was that they were unhappy with something I’d written and were planning to send me a “please explain” letter.

I was certain I hadn’t written anything that crossed any legal boundaries but regardless, I was pretty keen to see what would lob into my inbox when they pressed the send button.

Late on Monday, I was put out of misery when an email from Team Tinkoff-Saxo arrived. Thankfully, there was no hint of legal action but instead a reasonably lengthy explanation as to why Oleg Tinkov thinks his idea has merit.

The release said that the team is “convinced” that having the “world’s best four riders compete in the three Grand Tours will be beneficial to the sport of cycling”.

Pointing to 2015 being a year where there is no Olympics, no World Cup or major tournament, Tinkoff-Saxo believes their idea carries more than just novelty value. They argue it can reach beyond the popularity of the fans and cycling media with a historic clash of the titans in the “world’s three most prominent races”.

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Tinkoff-Saxo thinks this can be the biggest sports story of 2015.

As I said last week, it would be wonderful to see all the best riders in the biggest races, and while it may be possible to at least see them all there, what can we expect from a racing perspective?

One of the team’s veterans offered his thoughts in an interview published last night. Dual 2014 Grand Tour stage winner Michael Rogers is saying all the right things about Oleg Tinkov’s plan.

“I have been encouraged also by the other teams, who have jumped in on Oleg’s offer,” Rogers said.

“It is creating positive vibes within the sport. I think that is a fantastic thing.”

The interviewer, Shane Stokes from Cyclingtips, suggests that Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Bjarne Riis floated the idea of Contador winning a historic three Grand Tours in one year when the Spaniard signed for the team.

Now it seems Tinkov has embellished it. Veterans like Rogers though know what the real result of a challenge like this will be.

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“Having such an ambitious plan always poses a risk of doing all three Grand Tours at a very ordinary level instead of doing two or one perfectly,” Rogers said.

“I think we need exciting people in cycling. The way Oleg is going about it might be wrong, but it could be right too.”

Perhaps the Giro has taken the first step to making the challenge possible by unveiling a 2015 course that is the least demanding we’ve seen for a while. Next week we’ll see what the ASO think when the Tour de France parcours are unveiled. But it’s hard to imagine them going easy to accommodate what is nothing more than a publicity stunt, even if the intentions are honourable.

Tinkoff-Saxo admits its plan is a “very physically demanding undertaking” and in their media release suggested the one million Euro purse “could also be matched by sponsors”. Perhaps this is to increase the allure.

Tinkoff-Saxo cite improved race recovery and training techniques, more stringent anti-doping testing and fuller utilisation of the World Team squad as reasons the Grand Tour challenge is possible.

:With 30 riders in their squads, the big teams can schedule their season in order to have a fresh group that will help its captain in each Grand Tour,” they said.

“In addition, training is done much more scientifically now compared to the past and even if they aren’t at 100 per cent of their potential, the world’s top riders can have a serious shot at winning.”

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Surely though, no World Tour team has a majority of its riders capable of riding and finishing a Grand Tour. A squad contains riders suited to all types of racing, not to mention a mix of ages, where the maturity of everyone to complete a Grand Tour cannot be assumed.

The debate around this idea has rumbled around the cycling media for the past week, many pointing out that riding the three GTs is one thing, but winning all three is another matter altogether.

Riis admits there are only a “very few people” who could win the three Grand Tours in one year but declined to say who they are “because we have never had the opportunity in the past. That’s the beauty of this challenge”.

Riis seems to want it to happen but it’s hard to be positive, even more so given the comments by one of the big four, Vincenzo Nibali in an interview on Cyclingnews.com.

If the challenge does get off the ground, maybe there will only be three riders taking part.

“You feel each of those races in your legs and your head, they stay with you,” Nibali said.

“You’d have to wipe out everything else, like Tirreno-Adriatico and the Classics… It would be race-training camp, race-training camp, race-training camp – in short, you’d be cut off from the world.

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“And what about your family? Where does it end?”

Indeed, where does it end? Maybe right where it is now, on a piece of paper.

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