Best pain-fighter?

[Arnout]

For me its always staggering to see how some guys can ride their heart out. You cannot narrow it down to one or a few riders.

A stand out performance though was Amets Txurruka in that stage in the 2009(?) Tour, the stage won by Haussler. It was a miserable day, no chance of actually catching the group and no one felt like riding as it was cold and rainy. Amets broke away with some French guy who wasn't able to follow after a while and I still remember Txurruka riding like crazy in the last corner (and nearly crashing...) even though he already gained minutes on the peloton and Haussler finished 3 minutes before.

As if he knew that would be the closest he'd ever get to a victory...

 

[Panda Claws]

Guardini, for him every speed dumb is like Zoncolan...The amount of suffering he goes through to just get to the finish line of a flat race is enormous

That brings up an interesting question.

Look, you've got 2 men.

One of them is putting his hand in boiling water and it really hurts.

The other has just bruised his knee but it feels as if his balls are being electrocuted.


Both are still going, which one is the hardest?

The first one feels more absolute pain but does not experience it that way.
While the other may not feel as many pain but it feels like a lot more.

 

[Arnout]

That brings up an interesting question.

Look, you've got 2 men.

One of them is putting his hand in boiling water and it really hurts.

The other has just bruised his knee but it feels as if his balls are being electrocuted.


Both are still going, which one is the hardest?

The first one feels more absolute pain but does not experience it that way.
While the other may not feel as many pain but it feels like a lot more.

Time to go to bed for me. Me not understandz.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

That brings up an interesting question.

Look, you've got 2 men.

One of them is putting his hand in boiling water and it really hurts.

The other has just bruised his knee but it feels as if his balls are being electrocuted.


Both are still going, which one is the hardest?

The first one feels more absolute pain but does not experience it that way.
While the other may not feel as many pain but it feels like a lot more.

think you mean what i tryed to say earlier. 1 man falls and fractures his elbow, but continues, the other one is a pure fighter (voigt) who is the "best"

 

[Panda Claws]

think you mean what i tryed to say earlier. 1 man falls and fractures his elbow, but continues, the other one is a pure fighter (voigt) who is the "best"

I was wondering what you meant.

So one has got extreme pain tolerance.

The other fights no matter how much pain he feels.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I was wondering what you meant.

So one has got extreme pain tolerance.

The other fights no matter how much pain he feels.

yup, thats correct

 

[More Strides than Rides]

This is a silly question. You could say the pain face is a metric for suffering, or you could say its just bad composure while everyone is suffering. Or you could say the most prolific winners endure the most pain (why they are the best), or it is easiest for them because they're the best.

Pain is almost as ambiguous a factor as talent

 

[Quixote]

This is a silly question. You could say the pain face is a metric for suffering, or you could say its just bad composure while everyone is suffering. Or you could say the most prolific winners endure the most pain (why they are the best), or it is easiest for them because they're the best.

Pain is almost as ambiguous a factor as talent

Interesting way of seeing it. Voight seems to move past the pain threshold early and stays there longer than most. But for all I know, maybe he stirs his morning cup of coffee with the same vigor. Regardless, he still gets my vote as the best pain fighter.

 

[Caruut]

Given that we have no idea how much pain they are actually enduring, it's really hard to say. Almost the only thing we have to go by is riding style, pain face and what they say. Voigt's ability to ride for a long time and then blow up enormously suggests a lot of suffering is going on.

Then you've got someone like Andy who wears a weird grin when he's hurting up a climb, so I think we can cross race-face off the list of indicators.

 

[Martin318is]

Definitely give the points to Jens. Barely any debate about it.

That said, with the lists that have been posted, I am quite surprised that nobody has mentioned S. O'Grady. He kills himself in the first 100km of every stage (mostly off camera) and has had some of the most horrific injuries of anyone still actually racing.

Also, people mentioned Tyler's Giro elbow, but what about his Tour collarbone?

Then of course there was Zulle turning up to the Tour with a collarbone that has just been put back together with Meccano a few days before the prologue... (that one was a one of though, he was pretty weak the rest of the time)

 

[auscyclefan94]

Evans - you see him in any race and it seems that he isuffering a lot more than his opponenets.

Can someone explain why Gesink is on the list. tbh I hadn't really noticed him as someone who really is a pain fighter in terms of suffering on the bike.

 

[ElChingon]

Well no one mentioned all the riders who fight and do stay in the race even though it does not suit them. The riders who are climbers yet have to keep their sprinter in contention, the sprinter types who have to keep their climbers in contention. They are usually out of the camera by the time the action starts but they were there keeping their race leaders/contenders in well contention before they totally fell out the back but now must keep riding to not be TC. Anyone who has been in this situation knows the pain one must endure to stay in the race, cramping, exhausted, bonking... man that pain endured is much more than the pain seen by the riders who the race suits and just end up tanking in the finali.

 

[Swabian Lass]

I think there's two classes here. There's the guys like Jens!who will turn themselves inside out for their team leader and then there's the guys who are in with a chance of winning the race. I guess if you're a contender then the adrenalin carries you through to an extent. And then the TT guys who just suffer for km after km - thanks, Hitch, hadn't really thought of that before.

I'd put Voight at the top of the list. Vino has to be there, also I think that Wiggins can suffer plenty. And when it comes to TTs I guess it has to be Fab and Tony M.

I hadn't particularly noticed Gesink in these terms either, but I'm willing to be convinced.

 

[just some guy]

People who show pain - probably not the best pain fighters imo

I agree Martin Tylers collarbone much more impressive than the Elbow-

 

[Caruut]

Evans - you see him in any race and it seems that he isuffering a lot more than his opponenets.

Can someone explain why Gesink is on the list. tbh I hadn't really noticed him as someone who really is a pain fighter in terms of suffering on the bike.

Really? Evans? The guy doesn't seem to suffer to me, he's just a diesel. Can't match the super-fast accelerations, but can match over the who climb, that's not suffering, that's just having a different climbing style.

Let's be honest, if Evans was always attacking or jumping right onto attacks, you'd say that makes him a sufferer. When he slowly rides himself back to someone's wheel, that makes him a sufferer too.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'll have to say Jens as well. "Shut up body!"

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I'm surprised Voeckler has only been mentioned once...

 

[Quixote]

Really? Evans? The guy doesn't seem to suffer to me, he's just a diesel. Can't match the super-fast accelerations, but can match over the who climb, that's not suffering, that's just having a different climbing style.

Let's be honest, if Evans was always attacking or jumping right onto attacks, you'd say that makes him a sufferer. When he slowly rides himself back to someone's wheel, that makes him a sufferer too.

I've got to agree here. Evans doesn't seem to wear that "mask of pain" that some others have...maybe it's part of his game. On the other end of the spectrum, Chris Horner, even on a summit finish, always looks like a happy kid riding to the local gelato shop.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Actually, it was Tyler's shoulder that was broken in the 2002 Giro. Apparently the pain was so bad during the race he gnashed his teeth badly enough during the race to need dental work afterward.

The 2003 clavicle break is pictured below, and had to have been excruciating when standing on the pedals.

As far as today's riders, I too will vote for Jens.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Fabian Wegmann?

I'd go with Toothy Tyler, although that was riding while broken.

 

[theyoungest]

Fabian Wegmann?

"This is pain."

 

[The Hitch]

No **** Sherlock, it's not meant to be taken seriously. Everyone that finished that day deserves a mention in this thread.

Still dont get the joke. Seems to me you are just trying to turn this into a Gilbert thread by yet again praising his Giro Lombardy win from 2010

 

[auscyclefan94]

Really? Evans? The guy doesn't seem to suffer to me, he's just a diesel. Can't match the super-fast accelerations, but can match over the who climb, that's not suffering, that's just having a different climbing style.

Err...why can't diesels suffer? I don't see how style of rider has anything to do with pain threshold. Hypothetically Alberto Contador could be a good pain fighter because he is able to go harder than other competitors while enduring an increased level of pain. Evans is well known as a sufferer or someone who is seen to be suffering/working harder than his opponents through his style on his bike and his facial expressions.

 

[The Hitch]

Evans .

Yet know doubt 2 or 3 weeks from now you will start complaining about how everyone else on the forum is a fanboy (of whichever rider happens to be not to your liking at that point)

 

[theyoungest]

Still dont get the joke. Seems to me you are just trying to turn this into a Gilbert thread by yet again praising his Giro Lombardy win from 2010

He has three options: Gilbert, Contador, or Boonen, and of those three, Gilbert could be the one who looks to be suffering a little

Yet know doubt 2 or 3 weeks from now you will start complaining about how everyone else on the forum is a fanboy (of whichever rider happens to be not to your liking at that point)

But in this case Evans definitely makes sense. He never seems to be at ease, definitely has a labouring style which could be called painful. To watch, at least.