Matteo Trentin sparked discussion about the impact of the coronavirus Covid-19 on the 2020 Grand Tour, combining the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España as "a great way to reunite all people in bicycle racing after this terrible as a "great way to reunite the people" and proposed the creation of a special, single, and unique Grand Tour stage race.

The Italian CCC team riders took up the suggestion, first made by Spanish rider Ivan Cortina of Bahrain McLaren, and created the hashtag #3GTn1 to gather responses on Twitter. In one Twitter poll organized by French Bunch, 57 percent of people agreed.

Trentin suggested that it could be "a one-shot event to get it all back together" before returning to the regular race calendar in 2021, when the Grand Tour will again be three weeks long.

Trentin detailed his idea in a second post, suggesting that the super-sized 2020 Grand Tour would still consist of 21 stages, with seven stages each in Italy, France, and Spain, split by rest days.

"Why not have just one GT this year? Start in Rome, pass through Madrid, and finish in Paris. Start in Rome, go through Madrid, and finish in Paris! #3GTn1," Trentin wrote on social media.

"More clarification. Normal race length. 21 stages, 7 (France), 7 (Italy), 7 (Spain), 2 rest stops, and most importantly, it's a one-shot race. Resume all together, and in 2021 it will be back to business as usual."

Former UCI president Brian Cookson has suggested that all three Grand Tours should be shortened to two weeks, creating an opening in the race calendar after Covid 19 and in 2020. However, neither this proposal nor Trentin's is likely to be accepted by the Grand Tour organizers ASO, RCS Sport, and Unipublic for economic reasons. They depend on the revenue generated from the three-week race, which includes worldwide television rights, start and finish hosting fees, and sponsorship fees.

While it is possible to combine the costs of organizing the Grand Tour into one, the ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, reported a profit of about 45 million euros for the entire 2017 event and will undoubtedly face the biggest revenue drop.

However, Trentin's idea sparked debate on Twitter, with more than 130 messages, 500 retweets, and thousands of likes. It seems to have highlighted people's interest in the Grand Tour being held in some form whenever possible after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic had passed.

What do you think?