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CNF Award: Most Surprising Winner of 2013

Most surprising winner of 2013

  • Gesink

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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.
 
Sep 21, 2009
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Eshnar said:
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. :D
 
Aug 16, 2011
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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.
 
It's clearly Kreuziger. I mean what the hell? The one who failed every single race since 2009?
:rolleyes:

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. :rolleyes:
 
Aug 16, 2013
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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.
 
May 28, 2012
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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.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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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.
 
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