Biggest dissapointment in the 2013 Ardennes Classics

[Swarley]

Some riders have been injured, other didn't race all three Classics, but the idea is that they didn't perform in the Ardennes as they should have given the initial predictions and expectations.

 

[Richeypen]

Obvious answer would be Gilbert. Expected more from Uran as well. Harsh on Jrod given his injury and a 2nd at LBL

 

[Afrank]

Gilbert, I was expecting and hoping for a lot better than 5th in AGR.

 

[Pippo_San]

Definitely Gilbert. Touted as the great favourite, completely overshadowed in every race.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Gilbert finished excatly where i expected, outside top 5, he clearly is way off form compared to 2011, and probably won't get back to that level again

Big dissapointment for me is Valverde, he showed to be a big loser

 

[jsem94]

Gilbert. And the lol-option being JTL. Vanendert up there too, got nothing out of this.

 

[Swarley]

Gilbert finished excatly where i expected, outside top 5, he clearly is way off form compared to 2011, and probably won't get back to that level again

Big dissapointment for me is Valverde, he showed to be a big loser

What do you think is the cause for this?

 

[Havetts]

What do you think is the cause for this?

Ibarguren Taus.

 

[Pentacycle]

Kreuziger. He was very good in South-Limburg, but crossing the border with Belgium took its toll. He simply sucked in the Ardennes.

 

[Swarley]

Kreuziger. He was very good in South-Limburg, but crossing the border with Belgium took its toll. He simply sucked in the Ardennes.

Ok, but he took his win. Who cares what happened after that? He is like Ciolek this season, can be truly satisfied with what he did.

 

[Hugo87]

For me Rigoberto Uran, specially because his 3rd place on Lombardia closing last year and becoming a more experience rider after a good 2012 season.
I was excepting this kind of performance from Gilbert, his very good but not brilliant anymore.

 

[jaylew]

Knee-jerk reaction is Gilbert but when I think about it, he did close to what I expected of him. I thought he'd get on the podium in one of the races (probably 2nd or 3rd) and be top 10 in the other two races. IOW, close to what he normally does in the Ardennes. 2011 was an aberration and shouldn't be expected to occur again.

Gave a thought to Nairo but he's never done these races which makes it really hard to do well. Besides, I wasn't convinced that the Ardennes were good races for him anyway.

Voted Sagan based on Amstel as I didn't think there was any way he would be off the podium.

 

[ElChingon]

Cadel Evans, or am I beating a dead horse

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Vanendert. This is the only week of racing he really cares about, but he didn't even get a top 10.

 

[Jancouver]

Vanendert. This is the only week of racing he really cares about, but he didn't even get a top 10.

Just what I was thinking. Gilbert was at least mostly "there" but Vanendert was invisible.

 

[Angliru]

Gilbert finished excatly where i expected, outside top 5, he clearly is way off form compared to 2011, and probably won't get back to that level again

Big dissapointment for me is Valverde, he showed to be a big loser

Two podiums out of three in the Ardennes and he's a loser? You're certainly a tough critic unless it's regarding a certain rider with the initials "T. M."

 

[movingtarget]

Cadel Evans, or am I beating a dead horse

The horse has to be actually in the races before it can be beaten. No pun intended.

 

[movingtarget]

Has to be Gilbert as the Ardennes races are the basis for his entire season.

 

[SKSemtex]

Two podiums out of three in the Ardennes and he's a loser? You're certainly a tough critic unless it's regarding a certain rider with the initials "T. M."

Agreed.

Cycling is not darts. Probably Phil Tylor not being the winner in darts WC could be called "failure".
Sure everybody expected much more from Gilbert, but to call 2/3 podiums in such unpredictable races "failure", is really very critical angle of view. There are hundreds of riders who should be there in the pool instead of him.
If we vote for team, yes, BMC is hot favorite together with Sky.

 

[phanatic]

Moreno Moser. What's the story? He's young; he's not ready for the highest level. I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief.

 

[brilleaben]

Gilbert finished as good as last year. You can hardly call that a dissapointment, no matter how much you want to overrate him and what jersey he rides in. I don't expect Boyssen Hagen to podium, either. The biggest underperformer was undoubtedly Vanendert. This should be his season goal, and he was nowhere.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Vanendert and Uran

 

[will10]

Sagan was the only guy who everyone 'knew' would win a classic this week.

 

[Leonardus]

Obviously Gilbert was a bit disappointing although he was not that bad in AGR. Vanendert was nowhere and I didn't see much from Uran, but Sky in general was disappointing again in the classics. Except for the nice wall climbing performance from Henao in FW.
Also worth mentioning is Astana, strong team with last year winners and what kind of result did they get?

 

[cineteq]

Vanendert and Uran

Besides Gilbert, this! ˆˆˆˆ