"I have never liked riders who discard 80% of the calendar to concentrate on something. Cycling is not the Tour de France" - Former World Champion launches criticism
Cycling
Paolo Bettini was a World Champion in 2006 and 2007, seasons where he raced 75 and 82 days respectively. At the time, the Italian already had a preference for large schedules, and he comes out now with sharp words over some of the world's best who put in a lot of focus on the Tour de France specifically whilst doing the same for other races.
"I have never liked riders who discard 80% of the calendar to concentrate on something. Cycling is not the Tour de France," Bettini told BiciSport. It is an emotion that is widely reflected in many fans, however it comes as a result of riders having to focus on every single detail to achieve their best performances in their main goals of the year.
Over the past few years, as the preparation for Grand Tours chance, more and more we see Grand Tour contenders race very little before starting the Giro d'Italia, more and more we also see riders start the Tour de France or Vuelta a España without any racing beforehand.
Bettini's criticism comes mainly from the desire for spectacle all year round, and having the big figures participate with full intent on stage-races and classics not only in the Grand Tours. This seems very evident over his argument on Tadej Pogacar, whom he praises highly for his focus in other kinds of races.
"As a fan, I love Pogačar's interpretation. He has fun, in February he crushes everyone in any race in Spain, goes to Flanders and wins, goes to the Tour and crushes everyone again," he says.
Bettini's words however don't only reflect a pattern in moderns cycling, as during his prime this also used to be the kind of schedule that some of the world's best followed, Lance Armstrong being a clear example with (at the time) his seven consecutive Tour de France victories, where he did not race any other Grand Tour a single time and usually followed shorter calendars.
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Huge battles on the horizon 😀
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) January 14, 2025
The four Tour de France favourites - Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel - have now all confirmed the race is part of their provisional 2025 schedules. pic.twitter.com/he09AuP39X
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- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
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