Probably for the same reason that there are fewer people watching the Giro than the Tour de France. Which, of course, doesn’t answer the question. I think part of it is that there’s no clear cut answer — there are a lot of reasons instead of just one.

Perhaps, though, the biggest reason (in my opinion — which is not based on any research, just my experience) is that the world (the cycling world) seems to stop for the Tour de France, but not for the two other grand tours. The only example I can come up with is one relating to tennis. During the four grand slams in professional tennis (Aussie Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open), tennis stops. Of course, this is possible because the grand slams are only two weeks long and the smaller tournaments are a week long.

But in cycling, the races go on — understandably so. Grand tours are three weeks long and smaller races range from a day to a week to a week and a half. The cycling world can’t stop because all top riders don’t go to grand tours (unlike in tennis — where the top players are at the grand slams unless they’re injured). Of course, when it comes time for the Tour de France — it’s almost as if, like I said earlier, cycling stops except for the tour. There are other races during the Tour, but the world (so to speak) only pays attention to France (and whatever countries the tour visits) during those three weeks in July.

So what does this have to do with the Vuelta (and to some extent, the Giro)? A lot. There are plenty of people watching the Vuelta, it just doesn’t seem like it because there are so many other things going on. As great as the Tour of Spain is (and it is great), it doesn’t capture the world the way the Tour de France does. Armstrong (regardless of everything else) didn’t win seven Vueltas. There’s more history (at least popular and well-known) history associated with the TDF than the Vuelta.

Of course, that isn’t the only reason, tradition only plays one part. Another is that the big riders have already race one, maybe two grand tours already — few want to race three. Of course, there have been riders who target all three or target the Vuelta in particular. But they are few and far between. This year’s Vuelta is vastly different because of the withdraws from the Tour de France, cyclists with things to prove, and people who weren’t fit for the TDF or the Giro.

Another reason is that the Vuelta is used by teams for different reasons. Teams often send their ‘kids’ to race in the Vuelta before they go to the Giro or the TDF. It’s a good race to gain experience — though it also implies that it’s easier (and perhaps sometimes it has been), but abandoning in the Vuelta does not have the same implications as during the TDF. Teams also send their top riders so they can prepare for the world championships, which take place soon after the Vuelta is over.
Therefore, riders will go for a week or two (though this year appears to be different — more bigger names are staying, and it could be related to the route in Germany) and then abandon when they feel they are sufficiently prepared.

There are other reasons — but people do watch. I’ve watched for a couple of years — it’s hard here because it’s not on Versus, the channel that covers the Tour on TV in the States. Luckily there are other ways to watch (thanks cyclingfans for showing us the way), so if you really want to watch the Vuelta (and you should), you can.

In reality, there are more reasons why people don’t watch. I don’t know them all — no one does, but to me it seems like there are just too many things working against the Vuelta to make it as popular as the Giro or, of course, the TDF.