CNF Award: Most Surprising Winner of 2013

[Eshnar]

The guy who no one saw coming. Discuss and nominate

 

[BigMac]

Can't be Costa at the worlds, because Descender saw that coming. I'll go with Gesink in Québec, impressive stuff.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Ciolek _O_ though I did see it coming with a few km to go

 

[Eshnar]

Can't be Costa at the worlds, because Descender saw that coming. I'll go with Gesink in Québec, impressive stuff.

ok I'll add him

 

[Carols]

Horner...I'm still having difficulty believing it!

 

[Arnout]

Although Rui Costa was a surprise, if someone said beforehand Costa had a chance of winning the race, noone would slap your face to see if you were sane. Horner on the other hand...

 

[del1962]

Was Gesink that big a suprise, he had already finished 2nd in the same race in 2011, what about A Schleck's 2013 that was a suprise though

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Amets Txurruka actually profiting from one of his attacks!

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Although Rui Costa was a surprise, if someone said beforehand Costa had a chance of winning the race, noone would slap your face to see if you were sane. Horner on the other hand...

my brother actually said after the ttt that Horner would win. I laughed at him. My life has been a living hell since the Vuelta

 

[trevim]

Rui Costa was a surprise but not that big. After Liege we all knew he could compete and the Worlds always are a bit of a lottery and he just got the golden ticket.
Kreuziger had shown something before at the Ardennes; worse riders than him have won bigger races, so yeah it was half a surprise.
Ciolek it is; nothing he had done in the past few years suggested he could pull that one off aganst freakin' Sagan.

 

[icefire]

The guy who no one saw coming. Discuss and nominate

Horner was unexpected at the beginning of the Vuelta, but everyone saw him coming since at least the stage to Formigal. On the other hand, Sagan dind't see Ciolek coming.

 

[Afrank]

Definitely Horner. Kreuziger, Rui, Gesink, Ciolek all have the skill set and past results that make them perfectly capable of creating a upset in the races they won this year. But if you told me Horner would win the Vuelta beating guys like Nibali, Purito, Valverde, and others; I would have laughed. Top 10/5 I would have been able to see as realistic, but 1st, that I wouldn't have believed.

 

[Pippo_San]

It's clearly Kreuziger. I mean what the hell? The one who failed every single race since 2009?


Jokes aside (I still believe he's a moron tho)...

To me it's Ciolek. The guy got so lucky with that win...Papy Horner on the other hand clearly always had it in him

I repeat - ALWAYS HAD IT IN HIM.

 

[movingtarget]

I Will say Ciolek. Kreuziger not far behind.

 

[Peter von]

For me it was Horner, before the start of MSR i talked with one of my friend about how Degenkolb or Ciolek could ruin everything for Sagan even if he did get rid of the pure sprinters. Things like that are to be expected in classics, not so much in GTs.

 

[Gloin22]

Even though nominated for U25 category Kwiatkowski should be here as well.

Also there should be a best neo - pro award..

 

[maltiv]

Even though nominated for U25 category Kwiatkowski should be here as well.

Also there should be a best neo - pro award..

For what victory, his national championship?

 

[GP Blanco]

I would say Ciolek because Horner at least won/podiumed some one week races in the last years whereas Ciolek became worse by the year.

 

[Arredondo]

I said Horner could finish on the podium in the Vuelta, but winning? So he's a surprise.

Gesink not, because he always does well in Canada (or in North-America).

But i'l take Kreuziger.

 

[Pentacycle]

Horner was always putting the pressure on himself of being a GC contender, and from that stage win onward I was always inclined to believe him, since he'd had all year to peak for la Vuelta like Cobo in 2011.

Kreuziger did well before in AGR, it was more a surprise because of his relatively bad form in Pais vasco. But he seems to be a rider who always does better in good weather.

Ciolek impressed me in the Omloop, where he could follow easily on the climbs and even put in an attack. His campaign prior to San Remo also was far from bad. Good placings in the sprints in Tirreno, and a strong race in Laigueglia coupled with a stage in West-Flanders. He was one of the guys who I was looking for to follow the chase of Sagan and Cancellara behind Chavanel and Stannard on the Poggio.

Costa's WC win has to be the least surprising here, considering the form he had throughout 2013 and also in the build-up to Firenze.

Gesink was IMO the most surprising, since he was bad most of the year, seemed tired after the Tour and he was also a little bland in that break in Alberta. But only a few days later he outsprinted everyone in a dominating manner while being a non-sprinter, it meant a huge increase in form which to me was unprecedented. The only unsurprising thing here was that he again did well on N-American soil.

 

[jens_attacks]

ciolek

papy horner was obvious he will win it

 

[skidmark]

my brother actually said after the ttt that Horner would win. I laughed at him. My life has been a living hell since the Vuelta

So has Horner's

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I had bet some money on Ciolek to win MSR, so he wasn't really a surprise for me. I'll go with Horner.

 

[karlboss]

For me it's Horner, but it is more as it was a 3 week race than one day. The others are all good riders and in a one day race anything can happen. GTs you generally need to be the best over 3 weeks and horner was, before now I'd have rated him capable of 5th at best. So even if i was picking a top 10 and the others wouldn't have been in the conversation and horner would have been, i'm still more surprised for him to actually take top spot.

 

[manafana]

Ciolek at MSR was a nice suprise he got their but in final km I had an idea it might be his day.

Roche winning a Vuelta stage was a huge surprise given his past mess ups.