Biggest Upset in Cycling History

[Echoes]

Re:

According to me, the biggest upset is Dirk Demol in Paris-Roubaix 1988

It's obviously the first one that would cross my mind but according to the majority here, it's too easy to create such an upset because Paris-Roubaix is cakewalk.

 

[Guillaume33]

Re: Re:

According to me, the biggest upset is Dirk Demol in Paris-Roubaix 1988

It's obviously the first one that would cross my mind but according to the majority here, it's too easy to create such an upset because Paris-Roubaix is cakewalk.

I have not read all the answers, but in the same way you also have Marc Gomez in Milan-San Remo 1982

 

[hrotha]

"Cakewalk". Hmm.

Trolling, or just full of it! You decide!

 

[dacooley]

Re:

Hayman PR was a pretty big upset, if we talk classics

GT, Pereiro, Horner, Cobo.. but personally the biggest upset for me was Froome's breakthrough, from ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE, in the Vuelta 2011. You can say whatever you want, but none of his results before the Vuelta suggested he could do anything like this. And don't come with a 29th place in a Tour mt stage.

It would be like, I dunno, Cyril Gautier suddenly being able to climb like a god and doing a podium TT performance. And even Gautier showed more than Froome before that Vuelta.

froome has already been winning (podiuming) grand tours and other big races during 5 last seasons. so if it's just a negative sentiment alright. however if someone really thinks froome doesn't work as hard as nibs, bertie, nairo, pinot... or deserves to win big events in lesser degree, it's kind of discrimination. dawg doesn't make cycling worse, though if one supports other contenders wholeheartedly, the temptation to think so is pretty big.

 

[veji11]

Re: Re:

According to me, the biggest upset is Dirk Demol in Paris-Roubaix 1988

It's obviously the first one that would cross my mind but according to the majority here, it's too easy to create such an upset because Paris-Roubaix is cakewalk.

come on dude... This is baiting, pure baiting and should garner you a reprimand. You are trying to start something that isn't there : No one said one day races are cakewalks, what some have said is that in a stage race there are many more chances for a return to the mean, ie big guns winning, with 21 stages including 6/10 decisive ones (ITTs, Mountain) whereas on a one day race a scenario far out of the mean could developp (like on an individual stage) and not be corrected because the race is over at the end of that day.

No one except you, and only you, has been saying that GTs are superior or that classics are boooh...

Stop the baiting man, it sucks.

 

[portugal11]

Tour 1999-2005 without a winner

 

[SKSemtex]

I wonder what was the bet on Vinokurov to win the OG RR or Champs-Élysées stage

 

[gospina]

Re: Re:

You guys are all wrong. By far, the biggest upset had to be the 1989 Tour De France. France's own Laurent Fignon (RIP) is leading by 52 seconds in the final stage. Only time ever (since I was born, anyway, 1974) that it was a final stage TT to the Champs-Elysees. A 25 km stage, mostly flat/downhill. Everyone knew it was just a formality. Now, Greg Lemond uses that funny stuff from triathlons, aerobars, aero helmet. Fignon had his pony tail and an aero wheel. Greg Lemond had done a kickass job at the Giro's final stage, also a TT (50km). Some say he also had the same "iron injection" he had in Italy that day. Regardless, no one believed he had a chance, including me, watching it on TV, as the commentators where busy talking about Fignon's career and how he deserved it and how hard he worked. I never really liked Fignon and really liked Lemond, how had to struggle in French teams to be accepted in the peloton. He was coming back from being shot in that hunting accident, mind you.
Anyway, watching Lemond go and listening to the commentators continuing to ignore Lemond, it was shocking he was making up the time. At the end, Lemond's celebration was great, the stereotypical american yell ("Wooho/Yahoo") when he won was just as emotional as Fignon's collapse and cry. 8 seconds. He won by 8 seconds. Biggest upset ever. France was devastated as well. Never again will they do a final stage TT to the Champs-Elysses. The Giro has done it a few times since (loving the entrance to the Colosseum, btw) but France still feels the pain of Fignon.

TL;DR; Lemond beats Fignon.

First of all, this never happened, this is some painful propaganda. Fignon won the tour in 89 and the worlds and that's all there is to it....

Second, this is more like the "most upsetting ending in cycling history" than the "biggest upset" to me... God still a painful memory, I cried like a baby and cried again a few times that week. Was 9 years old a the time and can still remember hearing it all on the radio and going from beaming with happiness little kid to devastated little boy.. my mom even tried to cheer me up by buying me a water pistol !

I can see how people cried when this happened. I was both happy and upset. I also remember thinking: and right now, very few people in the US know that this even happened. Big news in Colombia

 

[Libertine Seguros]

While the overturning of the time gap on the last day and his form after a disappointing season to that point may have been a surprise, I don't really see how somebody who had already won the race before and had already won two stages is more of a shock than e.g. Mauri.

 

[VO2 Max]

To be fair we don't yet know if this is Leicester's Froome-August-2011 moment; they could press on from here to win a load more stuff, and within five years or so their fans, management and commentators will be telling us it's all normal and was to be expected all along.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

To be clear, I wasn't thinking about age, but about the rainbow jersey in particular. On further reflection, Camenzind, Vainsteins, and Brochard are probably more surprising world champions than the two men from the Low Countries.

Weeks before the '81 RRWC, Freddy had dominated the sprints at the TdF. So his win didn't come as a surprise. And what a sprint that was BTW...

The sprint at the '88 (iirc - Fondriest) RRWC was a big upset...for the spectator. What a mess!

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

According to me, the biggest upset is Dirk Demol in Paris-Roubaix 1988

It's obviously the first one that would cross my mind but according to the majority here, it's too easy to create such an upset because Paris-Roubaix is cakewalk.

Are you seriously trying to suggest that someone winning a one day race against the odds is possibly a bigger upset than someone doing the same over 21 days?

 

[gunara]

Often times I only felt the real magnitude of an upset in GT in hindsight, because when I was experiencing the three weeks itself, I was usually getting used to the upsetter's newfound qualities, except when it involved some 2006 Tour steals. Horner and Hesjedal no longer surprised me when eventually they won, but when I looked back now, I realized how surprising their victories were.

But in classics, when Iglinskiy and Hayman won, I felt funny right away.

 

[RedheadDane]

Guess when it comes to GTs it goes something like that:

"That guy's never gonna win!" (Alternatively he's not even been thought of as any sort of outsider)

"Huh... he's really good!"

"It really makes sense that he won."

"This guy was never even mentioned as a pre-race favourite!"



(When you think about it; Contador winning the 2007 TdF could be considered an upset, before that his best (and only) GT result had been 31st in the 2005 TdF.)

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

Guess when it comes to GTs it goes something like that:

"That guy's never gonna win!" (Alternatively he's not even been thought of as any sort of outsider)

"Huh... he's really good!"

"It really makes sense that he won."

"This guy was never even mentioned as a pre-race favourite!"



(When you think about it; Contador winning the 2007 TdF could be considered an upset, before that his best (and only) GT result had been 31st in the 2005 TdF.)

OTOH the PN victory was pretty strong showing,but it was kind of an upset.


Off topic: Gratz to Leicester!!!!! So great!

 

[chiocciolis_calves]

Take your pick from Paris-Roubaix. I'll go with De Mol.

From recent years, Ciolek emerging from the wilderness to win MSR before walking back into the wilderness was a major surprise.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Take your pick from Paris-Roubaix. I'll go with De Mol.

From recent years, Ciolek emerging from the wilderness to win MSR before walking back into the wilderness was a major surprise.

I bet he would win this so it was not that of an upset.
Plus he was good in Tirreno.

 

[Echoes]

Re: Re:

According to me, the biggest upset is Dirk Demol in Paris-Roubaix 1988

It's obviously the first one that would cross my mind but according to the majority here, it's too easy to create such an upset because Paris-Roubaix is cakewalk.

Are you seriously trying to suggest that someone winning a one day race against the odds is possibly a bigger upset than someone doing the same over 21 days?

Yes. Anything wrong, doctor?

 

[Bushman]

If Roglic had ridden half a second faster he would have been a candidate for this thread.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Zubeldia Tour de l'Ain 2010 victory

 

[Tonton]

I'm surprised that (unless I missed a post) the '75 TdF wasn't mentioned.

Good documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWaioX6Ycrw

 

[Akuryo]

Biggest upset? Michael Rasmussen not finishing on the podium of the 2005 Tour when he changed his bike/wheel 4 times and also crashed a few times in adition to that in the last ITT.

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

If Roglic had ridden half a second faster he would have been a candidate for this thread.

I can assure you that from now on, he will be sprinting at the end of every TT like a madman.

 

[jsem94]

Re:

Guess when it comes to GTs it goes something like that:

"That guy's never gonna win!" (Alternatively he's not even been thought of as any sort of outsider)

"Huh... he's really good!"

"It really makes sense that he won."

"This guy was never even mentioned as a pre-race favourite!"



(When you think about it; Contador winning the 2007 TdF could be considered an upset, before that his best (and only) GT result had been 31st in the 2005 TdF.)

Contador to in 2007 Tour was 40/1. I remember it clearly. I rated him to go and do special things in that Tour from the onset, but didn't see him winning the whole thing.