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Who won the UCI World Tour and does anyone care?

Mark Cavendish is, as always, one to watch. (Image: Omega-Pharma Quick-Step).
Roar Guru
3rd November, 2015
10

A question for you all. Can anyone reading this name the last five winners of the UCI World Tour?

I’ll be very impressed if you can. To be frank I’d be impressed if any casual cycling fans can name this year’s winner without a quick Google search to check.

Philippe Gilbert won in 2011, since then it’s been a Spanish domination. Joaquim Rodriguez won in both 2012 and 2013, and Alejandro Valverde has taken home the crown in 2014 and 2015. The fact that even experts on the sport probably would have struggled to recall this is a damning indictment on the UCI and the World Tour itself.

The issue is that outside of the UCI, and maybe the riders, no one really takes any notice of who’s leading the World Tour. It’s hardly ever mentioned in TV broadcasts or in articles. Riders are rated by their results in previous races, rather than their ranking in the Tour.

Mark Cavendish is a good example of this. The Manxman never scores highly in the World Tour, because what he wins – primarily stages in Grand Tours – aren’t rated anywhere near as highly as a win in a classic, or even a podium at one of the minor stage races.

Despite this, Cavendish is still rightly presented as a legend of the sport. Twenty six Tour de France stage wins are worth much more to a rider than a high-ranking finish at the end of the season.

One of the main issues with the World Tour is the lack of a season-long battle between the biggest riders. The UCI has been trying to address this issue by attempting to reshuffle the calendar, but even if races were spaced out, it is highly unlikely we would see the likes of Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana racing all three Grand Tours in an attempt to garner points. Even more unlikely is Alberto Contador turning up at Gent-Wevelgem in order to snatch an early season lead.

Could more be done on the UCI’s part? Certainly. A jersey awarded to the current leader of the World Tour would do no harm, along with a persistent marketing campaign, letting all the fans know who is leading and who’s closing in.

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But there is an essential problem that unless cycling has a complete overhaul, will not be fixed. Races such as the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix are separate entities. They were never intended to be part of a league, or season-long competition. They were set up, on the most part, to sell newspapers.

The fact that they have ended up in this season-long contest is an indicator of a sport that is trying to modernise, but at the same time being held back by its roots.

The Tour de France will always be more prestigious to a rider like Mark Cavendish than the UCI World Tour. There may be a small monetary prize for winning the World Tour, but it will be nothing compared to the fame, money and sponsorship that comes with doing well in the Tour de France, the sport’s flagship event. I’m willing to bet that Joaquim Rodriguez would swap all the ranking points he’s ever earned to stand on the top spot of the Tour de France.

And so the answer to who cares who won the UCI World Tour this year? Nobody really cares. Except maybe Alejandro Valverde.

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