Dumbest Moments in cycling, in the last 2 years?

[nepetalactone]

As much as I hate to say it, Cancellara crashing himself out of the olympic games in London should be up there. Especially considering he's one of the best at handling his bike.

 

[hrotha]

I don't think it was Valverde being a coward

I don't think he was a coward either, I'm just referring to the "he had no legs" thing.

 

[Billie]

Definatly Cancellara crashing out himself at the OS cause he didn't want to lead that group for 50 metres

 

[rainman]

The GB team tactics WC RR 2013. Despite tactical howlers at Olympics and WC 2012 trying to do the same again, working off the Copenhagen model which had no relevance at all this year.

 

[coinneach]

I don't think it was Valverde being a coward, he had every right to sit on and not pull with Rodríguez up the road. The issue was that he was a fool for missing the key move. Costa timed it well in that final bunch of corners, maximising his chance of getting away, but Valverde hesitated too long on whether to answer straight away and stayed with Nibali when he really should have at least tried to go with him. Too much indecisiveness leading to inactivity on his part creeping into his game in recent years. That's why he's ranked 4th in the world on CQ ranking yet hasn't won a race since February.

That is a very generous interpretation of his actions

Do you really think, if Costa wasn't a Moviestar rider, Valverde would have acted the same way?

 

[Alpechraxler]

What upsets me a tiny little bit is everybody complaining about Valverde not marking Rui Costa in the final 3 km. But I haven't seen the attack of Rui Costa out of the chasers group up to now. It happend at the U Turn over the railroads.

 

[InterestedSpectator]

I am surprised that GB even bothered to take part in yesterday's WCRR. It has done nothing for their reputation and I don't even understand what the purpose was in including Cavendish on such a course.

So all in all, a candidate for 'dumb move' possibly.

 

[hrotha]

That is a very generous interpretation of his actions

Do you really think, if Costa wasn't a Moviestar rider, Valverde would have acted the same way?

Costa will not ride for Movistar in 2014.

Now, given Valverde's intellect it's perfectly possible he forgot that, but I don't think it's likely.

 

[Aguirre]

Once again, Cyclingnews continues with their crusade anti-Valverde.

Could anyone explain me this last sentence by Alasdair Fotheringham in the last new? "In 2004 in Verona, Valverde’s work for Oscar Freire in the closing kilometres en route to Spain’s previous gold was exceptional. But since then the Murcia-born rider has come in for criticism, most notably in Valkenberg 2012".


Why not, for example, praise Valverde's ride when Astarloa got the Gold? etc, etc.

On Valverde: "siempre negativo, nunca positivo" as a former dutch Barça coach said once on the criticism the team received

 

[fraserhughes]

The GB team tactics WC RR 2013. Despite tactical howlers at Olympics and WC 2012 trying to do the same again, working off the Copenhagen model which had no relevance at all this year.

+1. In fact any Sky/Team GB tactics in one day races

 

[Eshnar]

Why not, for example, praise Valverde's ride when Astarloa got the Gold? etc, etc.

because it was 2003?

 

[sublimit]

The GB team tactics WC RR 2013. Despite tactical howlers at Olympics and WC 2012 trying to do the same again, working off the Copenhagen model which had no relevance at all this year.

I go with that, Why does Cav feel the need to do that pulling the bunch stuff 2 years in a row, also Rowe too far forward for my liking.. all they had to do was position themselves in the top 30/40 and try to hang on.

 

[Afrank]

Haven't known what to answer for this poll, Valverde at worlds, uran, and Movistar all were equally pretty dumb moments. So I'll just say Valverde, not specifically Valverde at worlds, but Valverde overall and his overall tactics in the big races. Because it seems like he never races for the win.

Sky in one days and the descending of some of them being a close second.

 

[phanatic]

Vuelta '11 is more than 2 years ago :facepalm:

It's still September, though my first instinct was to really relax that standard and include all of 2011 but that would probably be a blowout for Andy and Frank in the Pyrenees.

Also, isn't the Uran choice the same as the Vino option? facepalm

So if we eliminate the old option and the double option, we are left with Valverde in WC or Valverde and team in Le Tour. And the best option (il cobra) was probably Movistar riding for Valverde instead of Quintana. I feel like we're piling on Valverde too much.

I see a three way tie between Froome making a late attack in T-A which cost him the race, Sagan being a clown on the podium, and Pozzato showing up for World's.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Hey, all of you are forgetting the "Girly" Descending from Sir Wiggo in the rain of the Giro. It has to take the prize for the dumbest as at least in all the other examples, people were on podium.

 

[Angliru]

To call Valverde dumb today, one would have to pretend he did something different from what he does in every race. He never tries to win when he can instead sit in and take the sprint for a podium place. What is his deal? Does his contract have a huge bonus based on the number of times he makes the podium? Does he have a thing for podium girls?

He knows his limitations and rides within them. The fact that he was unable to sprint Nibali off of his wheel is maybe a testament to how shot his legs were at that point and would explain his not responding to Costa's attack.

Contrary to your point about Valverde never going for the win when he can sit in on a wheel, his attack of Purito and subsequent pursuit of Contador in last year's Vuelta on the pivotal stage that brought the win to Contador is an example of his willingness to go for the win, although in that case he didn't get the win but he did advance his placing in the gc.

 

[Angliru]

Javier Mínguez, Spain's national coach, disagrees.

Minguez is certainly tapped into the fatigue level of all their riders to know exactly what they have left in the tank at every moment of a race. It's quite easy to say from the sidelines what ideally should have been done. Only Valverde knows for sure what he had left at that moment.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Sorry, but the Orica-GreenEDGE bus getting stuck under the finish line for Stage 1 of the 2013 Tour de France takes the cake for me!