2012 Winners and Losers

[MellowJohnny]

I agree De Gendt has had a good season also

I suspect Gilbert has saved his season with the World's

Hushovd is a declining force like Evans

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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.

Rojas is unsurprising. The team last year had no real leader, with lots of strong-but-not-super-strong guys; lots who could put in a good GC showing, but none who could really demand a team shaped around them, so Rojas got plenty of chances to ride in order to help the win count. Sorry, I mean to help the top-5 placements count. And at times when he probably wouldn't have been able to count on team support, the horrible year that Movistar had in 2011 with Tondó's tragic death, Soler's tragic accident, Intxausti's understandable trauma, Plaza's horrible injury and so on meant they had to keep gunning for Rojas and Ventoso all season long.

 

[Richeypen]

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

Cav missed his big objectives but you are brave calling someone with 15 victories including 6 GT stages and a semiclassic one of the biggest losers of the season. Only Greipel and Sagan have had more victories. His performance in MSR and the lack of an Olympic medal mean that his season wasnt a success but he is a long long way from being one of this years losers.

 

[theyoungest]

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 did a decent Tour de Suisse this year again though. Nothing else, I agree.

His season was built entirely around the Tour, where he was caught in the massive crash, which I think affected him more than he thought. Otherwise there's no explanation for his drop in level from Suisse to the Tour.

Next year he wants to do the Giro again.

 

[orangerider]

Winners:

Wiggins - no explanation needed.
Sagan - simply amazing, just dominated
Purito - May not have a lot of absolute wins but he fought hard with a true heart.
Hesjedal - he defeated the odds and won a GT. Not an accomplishment to overlook for someone of his skill.


Losers:

Frandy - poor performing, boring, unmotivated, why are they still racing?
(orders of magnitude difference follows):
Cancellara - sole strategy has become too predictable; poor team support
Hushovd - He's finished.
Evans - No luck.
Menchov - built up for the Tour and failed massively w/o due cause.

Neutral:

Vino - the Olympic gold saved him from the loser list.
Gilbert - ditto, exchange for Worlds.
Cavendish - Only paled compared to his own prior self and not in absolutes, though the loss of Olympic gold really made him look bad in front of the non-cycling world so not a winner.
Contador - obviously did well for what he did but being omitted for most of the season doesn't rank him to the winner list.
Freire - declining but still had a few wins here and there to prevent embarassing himself. Good that he retired.