Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:
- Tour de France – Tour of France (est. 1903), held in July
- Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy (est. 1909), held in May
- Vuelta a España – Tour of Spain (est. 1935), currently held in September
Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three races are similar in format being multi-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days.
The Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious of all three, and also the world's most famous cycling race. The Giro d'Italia is the second most important and has occasionally been as popular as the Tour (late '40s, '50s, and early '70s). While the Tour de France has long been a household sporting name around the globe, known even to those not interested in cycling, the other two European Grand Tours are relatively unknown outside the continent, where they are familiar only to cycling enthusiasts.
Read more about Grand Tour (cycling): Description, UCI Rules, Grand Tour Winners
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