Shortly after people invented a bike they wanted to compete with each other so the races were organized. Over time more and more cyclists were interested in racing and also spectators were plenty so staged tours were introduced. They became more and more popular and everyone wanted to compete in the tours. Among many races the biggest three attracted most attention, have become famous and started being called the Grand Tours. Launched every year since they were first staged except of World Wars years, tours gained lots of fans. They are Le Tour de France (since 1903), Giro d'Italia (since 1909) and Vuelta a Espana (since 1935). They are similar in technical point of view, they are multi-week races and they have daily stages. 21 days of riding and two days of rest. The whole event takes a little bit more than 3 weeks. But these races are completely different by organization, it's history, culture and traditions.These races are so famous that fans go a week before and camp near the route to have the best view. They support their idols and favourite teams. It's part of life in those countries.
I will write more about those tours in next post.
Sources?!
ReplyDeleteWe used to have our own Wyścig Pokoju in 'olden days', which excited the whole nation. We also used to have great champions who won World Championships (Szurkowski, etc).