CNF Award: Most Aggressive Rider of 2013

[Arredondo]

Riblon also deserves a mention here. He rode in several escapes in the Tour(to Gap, Alpe d'Huez, Ventoux, Ax-3 and Semnoz) and won on the Alpe in a nerve wrecking finale. In the Tour of Poland he destroyed everyone in a break as well.

And that's just the races he won, but he was also involved in breaks in the Tours de Suisse and Limousin among other races.

Good one, could actually be the winner. Far more then Pierre Rolland.

 

[Eshnar]

Riblon added. Thx for the feedback guys

 

[jens_attacks]

i gotta go with nibali even if pirazzi is difficult to refuse

 

[Afrank]

Poor guy

I don't see why Nibali is leading this poll. Sure he attacked but others like Pirazzi and Flecha attacked way more often. But Nibali is the forum favorite of course. Not really fair.

Nibali not only attacked a lot, but he got wins through those attacks. He won or placed in the top end through all his attacks, so he made intelligent use of them.

Plus Nibali was facing harder competition. While guys like Pirazzi were mostly facing breakaway companions, Nibali was going up against the guys fighting for the GC of the race (or just the race win in the case of the one days). Guys like Froome, Horner, Uran, Valverde, and others.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Nibali not only attacked a lot, but he got wins through those attacks. He won or placed in the top end through all his attacks, so he made intelligent use of them.

Plus Nibali was facing harder competition. While guys like Pirazzi were mostly facing breakaway companions, Nibali was going up against the guys fighting for the GC of the race (or just the race win in the case of the one days). Guys like Froome, Horner, Uran, Valverde, and others.

I guess we just disagree about the definition of "most aggressive rider" for me, success and opposition are of very little importance in this competition

 

[mewmewmew13]

Nibs

can't get his face out of my mind..cold ...suffering
climbing off his bike
pushing hard uphill…

NIBS !!

 

[The Hitch]

What's the definition of most agressive? The guy who has done the most (useluss) attacks, or the guy who takes a gamble to win actually a race, instead of finishing 3th?

In this case, looking at the vote totals, the definition is - your favourite rider.

Nibali probably is the most aggressive rider in the peloton, certainly 2011 and 12 right up there.

But in 2013, he had maybe 2 or 3 stages with attacks further than 5k out. The TA stage, 1 stage in the Giro (where he and Wiggins crashed) one in Trentino maybe and Angliru.

Not neccesarily his fault since the races he did weren't suited to aggressive riding. The Giro had all the main stages abandoned so he didn't really have the option to attack anywhere but the final climb and usually near the end.
And the Vuelta is the Vuelta. He was definitely far less aggressive at the Vuelta than Chris Horner though.

What riders were aggressive? Dan Martin for one winning Catalunya with an attack that was further out than all Nibali's ones all season put together. + he won a TDF stage with an attack over the top of the last mountain.

Quintana on Pahares was more aggressive than anything Nibali did all season.

Betancur as I mentioned was obviously a million times more aggressive at the Giro than Nibali, attacking every stage with a bump, but also really impressed me because he attacked in suicide territory on Huy and still managed to hold onto the podium and he initiated the final round of attacks in Liege when everyone was looking at eachother.

Id say Sagan was very aggressive as well. Probably number 1 actually. For someone who can rely on the sprint he attacked further out loads of times. The epic GW win, the win in Canada.
In Oman not all of the stages were sprints I remember one he went flying past everyone on the descent.
The TDF stage he won was one of the most aggressively ridden wins of the year even if it wasn't individual, because Liquigas actually pushed all stage in order to drop all his srpint rivals.
Additionally he was always near the front end in case things got broken up and ready to pounce when they did. The TDF echelons stage is a great example, Sagan one of the ones who made it, what else do you expect, and the TA stage that counts for Nibali, again finds away to get to the elite group. He also solo'd in for 2nd in MSB. I cant even remember half the other wins he got but I bet they weren't all sprints.

that right there, is what aggression is.

Not " Active all season long, at the top end in almost every race he did". Under that definition Joaquim Rodriguez was the most aggressive rider every year since 2010

 

[The Hitch]

Nibali not only attacked a lot, but he got wins through those attacks. He won or placed in the top end through all his attacks, so he made intelligent use of them.

Plus Nibali was facing harder competition. While guys like Pirazzi were mostly facing breakaway companions, Nibali was going up against the guys fighting for the GC of the race (or just the race win in the case of the one days). Guys like Froome, Horner, Uran, Valverde, and others.

Under that definition Froome totally blows Nibali out of the water when it comes to aggressive riding. "He won or placed in the top end through all his attacks, so he made intelligent use of them" HELL yes, he won twice as much as Nibali actually. Maybe even three times as much. With the exception of 1 dauphine stage where he placed 2nd just behind the breakaway, and 1 Romandie stage which he gave to Spillack, Froome won every single time he put in an attack. Excluding overalls, Froome won 7 times compared to Nibali's 3 and excluding tts that becomes 6 to 2.

And as you say competition mattters- Froome was doing it against much harder opposition.

 

[del1962]

Under that definition Froome totally blows Nibali out of the water when it comes to aggressive riding. "He won or placed in the top end through all his attacks, so he made intelligent use of them" HELL yes, he won twice as much as Nibali actually. Maybe even three times as much. With the exception of 1 dauphine stage where he placed 2nd just behind the breakaway, and 1 Romandie stage which he gave to Spillack, Froome won every single time he put in an attack. Excluding overalls, Froome won 7 times compared to Nibali's 3 and excluding tts that becomes 6 to 2.

And as you say competition mattters- Froome was doing it against much harder opposition.

While I get your point, I can remember 3 occasions where Froome attacked and didn't win, in Canada (Quabec I think), Semnoz and Alpe D'Huez even of the latter two may have been half hearted.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Missing Robbie Hunter in the poll.

 

[TANK91]

Surely Quintana and Froome have to be in here, Quintana(won alot 2) was agreesive in alot of races look at Catalunya and the Tour and many more. Froome was also really agressive(and won from them), Oman, Tirreno he attacked late but i think he made a selection on a hilly stage. Criterium International surely that was mega? Romandie with Spilak, Criterium du Dauphine he was agressive and won and tried winning for Porte, and well i dont see how anyone can win when he did what he did on AX-3 and Ventoux, even Alpe when he sort of bonked Froome made the selection at the foot of the Alpe lol, even stage 2 or 3 he done a lil attack i no it was nothing but he shown he was in showboating mood, Froome was like Contador in years past. 1 winner from me, if Froome or Nairo does not count then i will go for Pirrazi or Nibali or Voigt

 

[greenedge]

Nibali was definitely aggressive but after having teammates work for him too. Therefore i voted for the average rider- Riblon whose Alpe D Heuz stage win was great.

Another addition is for me Talansky- those attacks showed he had courage when he took on Porte.

 

[darwin553]

Surely Quintana and Froome have to be in here,

This is why I abstained from voting. Quintana was the only rider I wanted to see on the list.

 

[Afrank]

Under that definition Froome totally blows Nibali out of the water when it comes to aggressive riding. "He won or placed in the top end through all his attacks, so he made intelligent use of them" HELL yes, he won twice as much as Nibali actually. Maybe even three times as much. With the exception of 1 dauphine stage where he placed 2nd just behind the breakaway, and 1 Romandie stage which he gave to Spillack, Froome won every single time he put in an attack. Excluding overalls, Froome won 7 times compared to Nibali's 3 and excluding tts that becomes 6 to 2.

And as you say competition mattters- Froome was doing it against much harder opposition.

Another factor, attacking and fighting for the win in the face of adversity. Fighting back against Horner at the Vuelta, fighting for the win in worlds even with Valverde and Costa giving him no help. He failed to get the win those times, but even in failure, he goes down fighting.

Froome with his wins barely faced any opposition capable of preventing him from winning in the end. You could say on Alpe d'Huez or Annecy he faced opposition with Quintana and with his hunger knock. But he already had the Tour won by then. He essentially won it on Ax-3, and the rest of the race was about getting more wins and adding to his lead.

Fighting to the end even in the face of failure is another factor I would consider. The only time Froome really did fail to get the win was TA, and he was beaten by Nibali there, so point Nibali there. And the stage following Sant'Elpidio was a TT. And you can't really be more aggressive then another rider in a TT; you just go as hard as you can like everyone else is.

 

[The Hitch]

Another factor, attacking and fighting for the win in the face of adversity. Fighting back against Horner at the Vuelta, fighting for the win in worlds even with Valverde and Costa giving him no help. He failed to get the win those times, but even in failure, he goes down fighting.

Froome with his wins barely faced any opposition capable of preventing him from winning in the end. You could say on Alpe d'Huez or Annecy he faced opposition with Quintana and with his hunger knock. But he already had the Tour won by then. He essentially won it on Ax-3, and the rest of the race was about getting more wins and adding to his lead.

Fighting to the end even in the face of failure is another factor I would consider. The only time Froome really did fail to get the win was TA, and he was beaten by Nibali there, so point Nibali there. And the stage following Sant'Elpidio was a TT. And you can't really be more aggressive then another rider in a TT; you just go as hard as you can like everyone else is.

Right but this is all more an argument for "why I like Nibali" than for aggressive riding.

Aggressive riding is taking the initiative in races, often and from far out.

Romanticize ethereal qualities like heart or resilience all you want, fact remains that this particular year, if we look at "aggressive racing" - the quality being assessed here, there were plenty of riders who showed more of it than Nibali. Maybe not Froome, but certainly guys like Dan Martin, Stefano Pirazi, Peter Sagan, Carlos Betancur. None of these guys had as good seasons as Nibali, or showed as much resilience as Nibali did in the Vuelta, or had as romantic finishes as Nibali on Tre Cime, but they were more aggressive, no doubt.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Betancur very agressive in SOME races with multiple attacks etc.
However Nibali most agressive overall, even if he was a little passive in the Giro where things were going a bit SKY'ish.
His Vuelta was his best race imo, even if he didnt win. That Angliru battle reminded me of AC vs Rasmussen on Peyresourde 2007, so intense!

 

[rainman]

Went with Chavenel, I just remember that orange bike so often at the front or in some break. Ventoux stage TDF in particular.

 

[barmaher]

What Nibali did this year was to bring aggression to the GC battles of the races he entered. Every year we have lads like Riblon and Pirazzi, but it is easier to do I think than what Nibbles did in T-A and the World Championships.

So the Shark for me.

 

[Eshnar]

The most aggressive rider of 2013 is... Nibali!
Thanks to all for voting!