2012 Winners and Losers

[hiero2]

I used to post here as LukeSchmid/Luke Schmid accounts which I can no longer access.
I have never physically threatened anyone on this forum even though I was falsely banned for doing so and left this forum because of it.
@lukeschmid on twitter
Formerly Dr.Horrible on velorooms.com

You aren't carrying a torch much, are ya?

I will say this - Jobst Brandt would have respected ya - assuming L Schmid is your real-life name. He never liked it when folks used aliases, thought is was pretty chicken-****(poop). And he wasn't the only one on RBM with that opinion. Meh. Whatever, eh?

 

[Mad Elephant Man]

You aren't carrying a torch much, are ya?

I will say this - Jobst Brandt would have respected ya - assuming L Schmid is your real-life name. He never liked it when folks used aliases, thought is was pretty chicken-****(poop). And he wasn't the only one on RBM with that opinion. Meh. Whatever, eh?

Luke Schmid is most certainly NOT my real name.

 

[greenedge]

I completely forgot JROD as a winner.

Inglinsky also pulled out the Zaugg/ JVS card by winning L-BL.

 

[Leonardus]

Winner and losers is very sharp contrast, there is more differentation possible. So,

Best this season: Wiggins, Rodriguez (even without winning a GT)

Breakthrough season: Degenkolb, Sagan, van Garderen, Moser, ( of course huge talents but proved their class with great performances and wins) Nordhaug

Good/great season: Gerrans, Greipel, Boonen, Froome, Hesjedal, LL Sanchez. Special mention: Valverde and Contador, back after their ban and immediatly back on top.

Good but didn't achieve their full potential: Nibali, Cavendish, Martin, Gilbert

Not bad but disappointing: Basso, Evans, Menchov, Kreuziger, Anton.

Season to forget: Cancellara, Hushovd, Cunego, Scarponi, Farrar, Cobo

Bad season without a doubt: Schlecks

 

[El Pistolero]

I fail to see how Rodriguez' season is any better than Boonen's. When great champions come second or third it's a failure. When Boonen got second in Milan-San Remo, E3 Prijs Harelbeke and the Ronde van Vlaanderen everybody was talking about how he failed and how he's past it. Perhaps you have to ask your self if Rodriguez is a great champion or not. I guess not, and that's another reason why he's not the best.

 

[theyoungest]

Blablabla Boonen is God blablabla.

Rodriguez has won classics, GT stages, podiumed two GTs and finished no. 1 on the WT ranking. He's been on it from March until September. Of course his season is better than Boonen's.

 

[El Pistolero]

Blablabla Boonen is God blablabla.

Rodriguez has won classics, GT stages, podiumed two GTs and finished no. 1 on the WT ranking. He's been on it from March until September. Of course his season is better than Boonen's.

He's won the WT ranking in 2010 as well, big deal. He has lost 2 GTs.

FW is a dumb classic, his Lombardia win was very nice, but it's not enough.

He lost to Ryder Hesjedal for crying out loud.

 

[theyoungest]

Boonen lost the Omloop to Sep Vanmarcke. What a loser.

Look, he has obviously had a great classics run. But to combine winning classics with very strong performances in GTs, that's simply a bigger achievement.

 

[cineteq]

Rodriguez has won classics, GT stages, podiumed two GTs and finished no. 1 on the WT ranking. He's been on it from March until September. Of course his season is better than Boonen's.

+1

Boonen lost the Omloop to Sep Vanmarcke. What a loser.

Look, he has obviously had a great classics run. But to combine winning classics with very strong performances in GTs, that's simply a bigger achievement.

For Boonen to have a shot at Rodriguez's 2012 season he needed to win few GT stages and an Olympic/WC medal.

 

[MellowJohnny]

From a Sprinters point of view I would say Cavendish and Renshaw were big losers this season, them splitting apart did them no favours,

Degenkolb is a big winner,

I would also say Gerrans and Van Garderen are winners, Evans neither as he was not expected to defend TdF well,

Contador got a lot out of the season

The Schelks have gone backwards but I wonder why!

 

[Yingge]

Both Schlecks would be the biggest losers in my book - never got over that day in Grenoble last year, though Andy's crash in the Dauphine didn't help his year of course.

Winners - Rodriguez (missed out on 2 GT's, but livened both up as well as the races he did win), Gilbert, who had a poor start to the year but ended it on a high with the WC and Boonen for his RVV / PR double.

 

[El Pistolero]

Boonen lost the Omloop to Sep Vanmarcke. What a loser.

Look, he has obviously had a great classics run. But to combine winning classics with very strong performances in GTs, that's simply a bigger achievement.

How is it hard to combine the Ardennes classics and Lombardia with GTs?

Most of them have been dominated by climbers. They are climber races after all.

Omloop het Nieuwsblad is a warm up race. Do you really want to compare the Giro with that?

Boonen won most of his goals this year. Rodriguez achieved only 2 of them as far as I'm concerned. The guy got out-climbed by Boonen on the freaking Cauberg. That's like Rodriguez dropping Boonen on the Carrefour de l'arbre.

 

[hiero2]

Luke Schmid is most certainly NOT my real name.

Well, then, I guess I have to take that back about Jobst's respect, eh? He would have been flaming you as just another a-non-e-muss chicken poster!

Cheers!

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Winners:
Vino
Wiggo
Sagan
Boonen
Iglinsky

Loosers:
Canc
AC
Cav
AS
Hushovd

 

[barmaher]

Winners:

Wiggins
Sagan
Boonen
Valverde
Rodriguez
Gerrans
LL Sanchez
Vino

Losers:

Van den Broeck
Gesink
Frank and Andy
Cancellara
Hushovd
Scarponi
Basso
Leipheimer
Cunego
Evans

I also liked the progress made by Moser, Pinot, Demare, Westra.

Gilbert and Martin were rescued by events in Limburg...Prior to that they had lost a lot of ground relative to 2011.

 

[MellowJohnny]

I put Scarponi in the same bracket as Evans, they weren't really cut out to defend there titles and did well (in different ways) to get them in the first place,

Wouldn't have Van Den Broek as a particular loser, I think he's had a good year to build on things for 2013

 

[barmaher]

Maybe I am harsh on VDB2. I am a fan.

I just think he is running through his prime years quite quickly.

He is nearly 30, and I think his stage win in last year's Dauphiné is his only victory in the last 4/5 years.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Maybe I am harsh on VDB2. I am a fan.

I just think he is running through his prime years quite quickly.

He is nearly 30, and I think his stage win in last year's Dauphiné is his only victory in the last 4/5 years.

Perhaps he needs a stronger team and or strategy behind him?

I don't know a great deal about Lotto but I assume VDB lost rider support for the lead out for Greipel?

 

[Gloin22]

Not a looser, but dissapoitment.

Steven Kruijswik. Didn't see him at all this year. Last year did great Giro and Tour de Suiise, showed lot of potential. But this year he's shown nothing like in 2011.

 

[Pentacycle]

Not a looser, but dissapoitment.

Steven Kruijswik. Didn't see him at all this year. Last year did great Giro and Tour de Suiise, showed lot of potential. But this year he's shown nothing like in 2011.

He rode too much in 2011, that's the problem. But it's not an uncommon issue for young Rabo riders.

Also Rojas and Goss haven't had a very good follow-up of 2011.

 

[barmaher]

Actually decided to post specifically to list Goss and Menchov in the bad list, but forgot them.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Maybe I am harsh on VDB2. I am a fan.

I just think he is running through his prime years quite quickly.

He is nearly 30, and I think his stage win in last year's Dauphiné is his only victory in the last 4/5 years.

You are partly right. His stage win in last year's Dauphiné is his only victory in his carreer except for some criteriums and other small, unimportant races.

 

[guncha]

This year is not over yet. Cannot fully answer to this question.
As of now, this has been the year of disappointment - due to horrible route TDF crap; Vuelta was better but due to too many MTFs majority of them were not spectacle; Giro was the best but field of riders were not impressive.
But the biggest blow to cycling was LA saga - cycling will become a joke if someone's titles can be stripped 13 years after the race has finished...

 

[Caruut]

This year is not over yet. Cannot fully answer to this question.
As of now, this has been the year of disappointment - due to horrible route TDF crap; Vuelta was better but due to too many MTFs majority of them were not spectacle; Giro was the best but field of riders were not impressive.
But the biggest blow to cycling was LA saga - cycling will become a joke if someone's titles can be stripped 13 years after the race has finished...

Is the Tour of Beijing going to make or break anyone's season?

 

[Caruut]

Winners:

JRod
Boonen
Wiggins
Gerrans
Albasini
Sagan
De Gendt

Losers:

Cancellara
Schlecks
Scarponi
Cunego
Hushovd
Menchov

There are others like Cavendish and Gilbert who have huge disappointments such as MSR and the Olympic RR for Cav and the Ardennes for Gilbert tied with big wins elsewhere.

Not really convinced putting people who just seem to be advancing in years in the losers or new prodigies making a breakthrough in the winners really tells us anything, so I've tried to avoid cases where I think that's pretty much the only major difference on the previous year, like Leipheimer or Moser.