In athletics, swimming, rowing etc.. the Olympics is the pinnacle but in international football it’s mickey mouse.

So for road cycling in terms of prestige or Palmares, how do you rank the Olympics against the Grand Tours, Tours, Classics, or number of stage wins etc.

Does it come in under the Tour but above the Giro? Or are some of the Classic more desirable than Gold?

I guess it depends on who’s asking the question. As Joe Bloggs will not even have heard of Paris-Roubaix, the Olympics is far more important to him…but for the sake of this discussion we are all die-hard cycling fans.

So for me Paris-Roubaix edges the Olympics

What d’you reckon?

For me the Olympics is below GTs, World Champs and the Monuments, probably equal with the other classics. I’m sure that others will disagree 😀

name me the last 5 Olympic champions without resorting to wiki/google.
most people wouldn’t even know who the current champion is.

it’s because it’s at ‘home’ that Cavendish desires to win it, that and being called ‘world and Olympic champion’

Pretty high, I reckon.

But, for all those who don’t medal, they’ll claim they were saving themselves for the Vuelta/Tour of Lombardy/cross season….

It’s difficult to rate because road cycling isn’t really one discipline. Grand Tours are like the marathon, whereas as the Olympic Road Race and the spring classics are probably more like the 1500m, you don’t really expect the same people to be competing for both.

Probably less important than the top classics races for cycling purists, but more important in terms of general interest and commercial success/sponsorship. Also with the domination of commercial teams in cycling, riding for your country might have a bit more pride in, but it kind of jars with enthusiasts who might support a particular team.

Can you remember the last few ORR champions? Can you remember the last few TdF winners?

I think that should answer the question.

Just above silver?

The Olympic RR is a bit of a sideshow really, no one in cycling actually cares about it, and you probably wouldn’t get a contract or improve your wages because of it.

most people wouldn’t even know who the current champion is.

Sami Sanchez?

I don’t think it’s that high, certainly not as high as the Worlds, but Cav is desperate to win as he’s never won an Olympic medal. He was the only member of the Beijing squad to return empty handed.

name me the last 5 Olympic champions without resorting to wiki/google.

Well there have only been four since professionals were allowed to take part in 1996. Without resorting to google or wiki, my recollection is

1996 Casartelli(?) (the Motorola rider who died in the Tour de France)
2000 Ullrich
2004 Bettini
2008 Sanchez S

The quality of the winner of the worlds has improved in recent years but there were some rum years so I would say it is equal to the cycling community and greater for the general public and therefore more important.

EDIT: Fail

The problem for games like Football and sports like Road Cycling is that for the other 3 years and 48 weeks between Olympics’s there is no ‘Team GB’ (other than for the cycling world’s), so it looks like a team’s been thrown together for one event which makes it pretty meaningless in the scheme of things.

Add to this the fact that Football and Cycling are established enough in their own right so don’t need to rely on the ‘Olympic’ tag to attract attention.

I also think that certain sports aren’t considered ‘proper’ olympic events for some reason.

No wiki, but that chubby swiss guy, Pascal Richard?

I’d also guess at Sanchez (Euskaltel)

Within the peloton it’s below GT’s/WC/Monuments as someone else posted but in terms of a pro cyclist’s career/earnings potential I think it’s getting more much important these days. Being able to bling up your stuff with gold for 4 years like Sanchez has done is pretty cool to (if gold bits were cool anyway, Sanchez just about pulls it off, not sure it would work with a blue and black colour scheme…)