Biggest winners and losers of 2011

[Zam_Olyas]

Winners:
Evans, Gilbert, Cobo, Froome, Wiggins, Goss, T.Martin, young Rabos
Losers:
Contador (sorry but winning the Giro against 2nd tier guys is nothing compared to 2009/10), Gesink, Canc, VdB,

2nd tier guys

 

[maltiv]

Winners:
Evans, Gilbert, Cobo, Froome, Wiggins, Goss, T.Martin, young Rabos
Losers:
Contador (sorry but winning the Giro against 2nd tier guys is nothing compared to 2009/10), Gesink, Canc, VdB,

...except that he was so ridiculously dominant he could've taken 30 minutes on them if he wanted to and even if guys like Andy Schleck and Evans were there they would've been completely destroyed. The numbers Contador produced in the Giro were far greater than those of which the TDF riders produced.

 

[richo36]

really in the first stage of the tour coming into the final 10km you should be at the front of the peloton if you are a GC favourite. You know it is going to get messy and Is more than likely to have crashes. Yes at the end of the day it comes down to luck but you are less likely to be in a crash if you ride at the front. Samu was not at the front. So yes he was unlucky like any rider who crashes or has a mechanical failure at the crucial moment but For a gc rider not to be near the front on stage 1 of the tour i feel they are playing russian roulette with their chances of winning. I think this is where evans did well this year. He constantly rode at the front. you always saw BMC at the front. This takes energy do this but evans has learnt from experience that it is worth it.

Anyway back on topic i think Rollands was the standout for me. His tour was amazing. Wiggins proving he can ride a GT (although i still dont think he can win a GT Unless the veulta dont use any steep mountains or the TDF go TT crazy with a huge TTT.). most of the names already mentioned really.

 

[richo36]

Winners:
Evans, Gilbert, Cobo, Froome, Wiggins, Goss, T.Martin, young Rabos
Losers:
Contador (sorry but winning the Giro against 2nd tier guys is nothing compared to 2009/10), Gesink, Canc, VdB,

Did you see the Giro course. it was CRAZY and he smashed it. Out of interest who do you see as a 1st tier rider?

 

[User Guide]

winners...
riders..... Gilbert,Martin,Evans,Wiggins,Cobo,Cav,Froome,Sagan,EBH,TGBM,Poels,Rolland
Teams....BMC,Sky,Rabo
Nations....GB,Netherlands,France,Australia(erg)
Biggest winners overall would have too say France, lots of riders showing potential,good performances and wow their u23/juniors were fantastic in WC's won medals plus the way they won them were always there and knew what to do.
Losers.....Leopard,Frandy,Spartacus,Scarponi,Basso,Italy

 

[boomcie]

winners - australia, GB,france
losers- Italia.

winners...

Nations....GB,Netherlands,France,Australia(erg)

Strange of you all to leave out Belgium.

What the Belgians won:

Strade Bianchi
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Gent-Wevelgem
Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Paris-Roubaix
Brabantse Pijl
Amstel Gold Race
Waalse Pijl
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Ronde van Belgie
National Championships of Belgium TT and RR
Clasica San Sebastian
GP Québec
1 Giro stage
2 Tour stages
1 Stage in Dauphiné
1 stage Tirreno-Adriatico

(2 guys in the top 10 @ Vuelta)


Wait come again, Belgium won all the classics except Milan-San Remo (a race they were also very dominant in)?

Yes they did.

And as I understand it, chances are they will also win Paris-Tours and/or Lombardia with Gilbert?

Yes, this is not unlikely.

That's impressive.

Yes it is.

 

[CobbleStoner]

I think Skil-Shimano came up this year, along with Hot Pants Hoogerland & LoveBoat Kruijswijk.
what is interesting about the season is how well French teams started the season (something to prove with the relegations), had a decent TdF, and still find themselves at the bottom, struggling to keep 1 team in the Pro tour??

Biggest losers of the season, thanks to Pat McQuaid, were the riders as a whole and fans. The rider points system for pro tour team rankings put in place has ruined the basic, age old cycling roles on a team. Everyone now has to ride for themselves to earn points to ensure future contracts and support their family, nobody can be a traditional domestique anymore. This has also caused the increase in crashes, everyone is getting involved in the sprints and going for broke over 15th place etc...
Pro cycling really needs a pro organization running it, leave the UCI to the Olympics, Worlds, amateur, etc...

 

[The Hitch]

The Hitch must have alzhiemers or something, first he's saying Sanchez would win a TDF raced as a TT, and now he's saying that Sanchez was robbed in this year's TDF?

Hitch, you had been a balanced, measured, humorous poster until these epic fails. You can state your opinion on a thread, but when you are clearly shot down please, just please, be wise enough to admit you're wrong.

I never said Samu would win the tt TDF, rather that he wouldnt be that far behind Cadel, when a bunch of posters were saying Cadel would destroy everyone. I did say Contador Cadel and Menchov would probably beat him.

And i do think he was robbed in this years TDF. People get robbed in sports all the time. This one is no different.

However the decision was come to, it was not right. Put any rider other than maybe Contador 2.30 down and they have lose their chance to challenge. Evans 2009 Tour and Scarponi 2010 Giro are other examples of the same end result.

I appreciate what you say in the rest of the post, but that Sanchez's time loss was very unfair is an opinion I hold and I wont shy away from it.

Winners:
Evans, Gilbert, Cobo, Froome, Wiggins, Goss, T.Martin, young Rabos
Losers:
Contador (sorry but winning the Giro against 2nd tier guys is nothing compared to 2009/10), Gesink, Canc, VdB,

2nd tier contenders? I shudder to think who you would class as 1st tier cotnenders. Contador Andrew and maybe Cadel? Because after that Scarponi Nibali and Menchov are very very much up there and Rujano Rodriguez arent far behind.

 

[Havetts]

Winners: Evans, Tony Martin, Dan Martin, Mollema, Kruijswijk

Losers: The cycling world, with the losses of Wouter Weylandt and Xavier Tondo and possibly the end of the carreer of Juan Mauricio Soler.

 

[The Hitch]

Oh yeah Movistar in a way with pretty much all their gc threats with the exception of Arroyo encountering varying degrees of horror.

 

[pugdog]

Winners: Evans, Tony Martin, Dan Martin, Mollema, Kruijswijk

Losers: The cycling world, with the losses of Wouter Weylandt and Xavier Tondo and possibly the end of the carreer of Juan Mauricio Soler.

Exactly so.

 

[Boeing]

Winner Horner

Loser Horner

 

[Tank Engine]

Strange of you all to leave out Belgium.

What the Belgians won:

Strade Bianchi
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Gent-Wevelgem
Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Paris-Roubaix
Brabantse Pijl
Amstel Gold Race
Waalse Pijl
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Ronde van Belgie
National Championships of Belgium TT and RR
Clasica San Sebastian
GP Québec
1 Giro stage
2 Tour stages
1 Stage in Dauphiné
1 stage Tirreno-Adriatico

(2 guys in the top 10 @ Vuelta)


Wait come again, Belgium won all the classics except Milan-San Remo (a race they were also very dominant in)?

Yes they did.

And as I understand it, chances are they will also win Paris-Tours and/or Lombardia with Gilbert?

Yes, this is not unlikely.

That's impressive.

Yes it is.

Seeing as at half of all that is ascribable to Gilbert (who User Guide did mention), apart from him and the cobbles in the spring, the season doesn't look so great for Belgian riders as a whole. They did have bad luck in the tours as a whole though.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Tony Martin.

Stage win at Paris Nice, Pay Vasco, Dauphine, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana + Gc Algarve, GC Nice, 2nd Tour of Romandie, GC Tour of Bejing+ World TT champion. Not a bad resume

 

[Praetor]

Seeing as at half of all that is ascribable to Gilbert (who User Guide did mention), apart from him and the cobbles in the spring, the season doesn't look so great for Belgian riders as a whole. They did have bad luck in the tours as a whole though.

Even without Gilbert they would still kick the *** of some countries that were mentioned as winners.

 

[boomcie]

Seeing as at half of all that is ascribable to Gilbert (who User Guide did mention), apart from him and the cobbles in the spring, the season doesn't look so great for Belgian riders as a whole. They did have bad luck in the tours as a whole though.

Yeah, but Belgium rarely excels outside the classics in modern day cycling. So how does that make Belgium's season any less great? What did you expect? VDB winning the Tour?

The fact that Gilbert won most of it is an obvious one, but he's Belgian no?

Nuyens, Vansummeren and to a lesser extent Boonen also added to the classical grandeur of this season.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Strange of you all to leave out Belgium.

What the Belgians won:

Strade Bianchi
Dwars door Vlaanderen
Gent-Wevelgem
Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Paris-Roubaix
Brabantse Pijl
Amstel Gold Race
Waalse Pijl
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Ronde van Belgie
National Championships of Belgium TT and RR
Clasica San Sebastian
GP Québec
1 Giro stage
2 Tour stages
1 Stage in Dauphiné
1 stage Tirreno-Adriatico

(2 guys in the top 10 @ Vuelta)


Wait come again, Belgium won all the classics except Milan-San Remo (a race they were also very dominant in)?

Yes they did.

And as I understand it, chances are they will also win Paris-Tours and/or Lombardia with Gilbert?

Yes, this is not unlikely.

That's impressive.

Yes it is.

oopps sorry boomcie, u are right...belgium did have a great year.miighty glad that it was not one pistol who corrected me.

 

[Moncoutie]

Tony Martin.

Stage win at Paris Nice, Pay Vasco, Dauphine, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana + Gc Algarve, GC Nice, 2nd Tour of Romandie, GC Tour of Bejing+ World TT champion. Not a bad resume

A touch premature, but correct nonetheless!

 

[Anonymous]

breif thing on the samu incident. Yes he crashed outside the 3km mark, but then he was held up further by an incident that happened inside the 3km mark. The second half of that situation is unfair.

Anyway

Winners:

Wiggins and Sky as a whole. Dauphine, podiums in Paris Nice and the Vuelta, second in the win rankings, and all this with Eddie Boss missing another chunk of the season due to injury, illness and hypocondria

Evans - Finally got his Tour win

Contador - destroyed the giro, and won a lot of fans for his never say die attitude in the tour despite injury.

Nuyens/Riis - they must have absolutly ****ed themselves after defeating Cancellara in Flanders. What goes around, comes around.

Which brings me onto.. Losers:

Leopard Trek - From the lay-oh-pard and capitalisation memo, to the neckerchiefs, to the crap kit, to their dominant machine not winning a major classic, to going into the tour with two top contenders and still managing to screw it up, the debut season was worse than anyone expected.

Cycling - a number of riders sadly lost this year, and even one of our forum members. One of the worst years for tragedy in a long time.

 

[Tank Engine]

Yeah, but Belgium rarely excels outside the classics in modern day cycling. So how does that make Belgium's season any less great? What did you expect? VDB winning the Tour?

The fact that Gilbert won most of it is an obvious one, but he's Belgian no?

Nuyens, Vansummeren and to a lesser extent Boonen also added to the classical grandeur of this season.

I didn't expect VDB to win the tour. For example, Boonen also had bad luck which meant that he couldn't do anything much outside the Spring Classics or in PR itself. I'm just saying that it was a great year for Gilbert, rather than a great year for Belgian cycling as a whole. I didn't say it was a bad year for them.

 

[Angliru]

I'd add Sagan, Goss, and Kittel to the winners list
and to the losers, I'd add Lui Leon Sanchez, aside from a tour stage win, and the spanish TT championships, he's done nothing

That would be a whole lot of nuthin' for most riders. Granted his results leading to his Spanish TT win were lacking but a national championship and a Tour stage win would make most rider's season.

 

[Angliru]

Rolland a winner too, and Cobo for same reasons as Froome. Been a good year for Levi too, when you think about it...

Not sure how the OP could've forgotten Cobo.

I would put Thibaut Pinot on the list of winners just for his huge potential and the fact that he's French. I'm hoping to see him as major force in the hilly classics and stage races.

Losers would be the Leopard-Trek consortium and Radioshack's Tour.

 

[TRDean]

Winners: Kittel...what a great neo season...SKIL! 25 wins on the season...sure most by Kittel..but a handful by van Hummel, and some of the other younger riders. Definitely winners!

 

[Angliru]

I don't even think acf would call it sabotage from the organizers tho. Just bad luck.... myabe he would

as for the 3 stage wins. IMO no way enough to consider them one of the big winners (movistar, htc and garmin also did this).

I'd say they had a succesful tour. A decent giro. And a poor vuelta all things considered. On a whole I can't view euskatel a winner this season. I like them and all, but they were not a standout.

Weren't there 4 (Anton & Nieve at the Giro, Sanchez at the Tour and Anton at the Vuelta)? Not to mention Castroviejo's prologue win at one of the weeklong stage races over some quite impressive competition.

 

[Angliru]

Winners:
Evans, Gilbert, Cobo, Froome, Wiggins, Goss, T.Martin, young Rabos
Losers:
Contador (sorry but winning the Giro against 2nd tier guys is nothing compared to 2009/10), Gesink, Canc, VdB,

How can a rider win a grand tour and be slotted in the loser's column? Makes no sense.