Evans is a winner, just the big one is f***ing hard

[ellenbrook2001]

well when you have a very good team around you no problems how many time EVANS was left alone in the critical moment in the race so many times hes team let him down???EVANS has too do it the hard way by himself that a true champion not has the others suck the wheel of hes team then had too do only a little work i am sure EVANS will do a very very good french tour .

 

[delbified]

the thing with Bassons is his team mates disowned him for not doping.

not quite. bassons was disowned for speaking out against dopers - i.e. his teammates. there's a big difference.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Creating the defining moment at T-A isn't comparable to doing the same at the Tour, which Evans hasn't shown the ability to do, thus my statement. His opportunity to do that in the final ITT at the 2008 Tour was missed, but was another that Sastre seized upon to punctuate his overall win.

Let me say that I agree with the topic of this thread nonetheless.

Meh, I am not going to reply to some of you as your personal prejudices and favourability towards some riders and not others clearly clouds your judgement.

Let me get this straight. 2008 was NOT a missed opportunity if you look at it after the crash. When you can't do something or can't compete at the level of your competitor physically and tatically, you are beaten. tbh, evans was beten tatically and physically that year because of the strength of csc and sastre ended up being stronger than him. People such as Akzaaf will harp on about him not chasing hard enough, not following sastre or choking in the trial, etc. But I think it is clear that this was not the case. It was impressive in itself that Cadel ended 50 seconds behind sastre after 3 weeks.

I find it unfortunate that Angliru will try to find fault in everything that cadel has done or does. About Aerts, it's nothing nobody really knew. He was super stressed as lotto. Matt Lloyd said something similar about him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

the thing with Bassons is his team mates disowned him for not doping.

Moncoutie is well known not to put anything in not even a vitamin tablet.

Evans has been involved with a lot of 'bad history' team and people. he is riding for the people that ran Phonak and they had Tyler and Landis to name 2 caught for doping.

I hope he rides clean, but he has 'aligned' himself to some dodgy teams and people

My contention still applies.

 

[Benotti69]

not quite. bassons was disowned for speaking out against dopers - i.e. his teammates. there's a big difference.

if you want to be exacting he was disowned for telling the truth whereas all the others lied and continue to lie when asked about doping.

 

[Benotti69]

My contention still applies.

No worries

As i said i 'hope' he rides clean. But in cycling one has to keep one's mind open when rider's win. A sad and sorry state of affairs but to be any other way is ignoring the doping history of the sport.

I thought Evans rode a great TirrenoAdriatico and enjoyed watching him stick it to the Italians who absolutely hate it when a non Italian wins one their races

 

[BroDeal]

Let me get this straight. 2008 was NOT a missed opportunity if you look at it after the crash. When you can't do something or can't compete at the level of your competitor physically and tatically, you are beaten. tbh, evans was beten tatically and physically that year because of the strength of csc and sastre ended up being stronger than him. People such as Akzaaf will harp on about him not chasing hard enough, not following sastre or choking in the trial, etc. But I think it is clear that this was not the case. It was impressive in itself that Cadel ended 50 seconds behind sastre after 3 weeks.

I still think that Evans would have won in 2008 if his DS had been smart enough to tell him to stop farting around with the Schlecks and ride a hard and steady pace up Alpe d'Huez.

 

[BM1979]

Idd, Sastre got his entire win in 1 stage and IIRC Sastre was the first of the GC contenders to attack on Huez. Menchov tried to follow but cracked.
Evans stayed in the Schleck group...
Doesn't really sound like teamed up to me, more like the best rider won.
And everybody is a little sick at the end of a GT.

To be fair though CSC had Frank in yellow if i remember correctly and had two cards to play .

Cadel chose to mark the yellow Jersey which at the time i believed was the correct decision , he did fall for the two card trick from Andy and Frank though once Sastre was up the road instead of riding tempo at his own pace

 

[skippy]

Glad to see that CE is getting the benefit of the doubt from the majority as "mud slinging" seems to be the order of the day in this area !

So far haven't seen a reference to his involvement with the "Dali Lama" , could be a sign that he is seeking "inner peace" to calm his frustrations .

CE doesn't have the charisma of those such as LA, JU, Basso and Sastre but i am sure he has the same aspirations. Looked to me , that he lost one TDF by pushing aside a spectator and the other two "knew" he would react to that situation and that shows that there are some who know where to seize their opportunity to attack .

2009 i knew he would not win the TDF but was delighted to see him pick up and give the Vuelta a good effort thus setting himself up for the worlds in his "backyard" .

2011 has started well but can't see him on the podium this year and it could be his last chance .

As regards the teams he has ridden with , like all racers , he has had to choose from what is on offer and i never saw him as the type to work for anothers victories unless it was a "scratch my back" situation !

 

[webvan]

Go Cadel! Lots of raw talent, remember the 2002 Giro when he was in pink then blew up. Reminds me a lot of Hinault...without Guimard. There certainly haven't been many GC contenders who could win classics.

 

[hrotha]

I still think that Evans would have won in 2008 if his DS had been smart enough to tell him to stop farting around with the Schlecks and ride a hard and steady pace up Alpe d'Huez.

Agreed. I think he lost because he overestimated his TTing skills and underestimated Sastre's.

 

[movingtarget]

We have heard all this before. Sastre is wonderful. Evans is a psycho, blah blah. He was the most consistent rider in the Tirreno and he won. Gesink had no excuses even though he did ride an excellent time trial. People knock Evans when he wins and make fun of him when her loses. What has personality got to do with it. Hinault was supposed to be an ogre but it did not stop him being a champion. There is no hype or BS about Evans and that is what I like about him. Even his non victory salutes are refreshing. You will never change people's minds about Evans. When he wins he was lucky, when he loses he's a joke, at least in some people's eyes.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Agreed. I think he lost because he overestimated his TTing skills and underestimated Sastre's.

What an absolute load of crap! Seriously? Are you saying he could of gave more in the time trial and Alpe D'Huez? After the time trial he was ****ing blood. I seriously think you are delusional if you think he 'overestimated his abilities'. He couldn't of gave any more. That's how Evans rides.

We have heard all this before. Sastre is wonderful. Evans is a psycho, blah blah. He was the most consistent rider in the Tirreno and he won. Gesink had no excuses even though he did ride an excellent time trial. People knock Evans when he wins and make fun of him when her loses. What has personality got to do with it. Hinault was supposed to be an ogre but it did not stop him being a champion. There is no hype or BS about Evans and that is what I like about him. Even his non victory salutes are refreshing. You will never change people's minds about Evans. When he wins he was lucky, when he loses he's a joke, at least in some people's eyes.

I could not of said it better myself.

btw, can we take this racing talk to the other thread as it is off topic?

 

[Met de Versnelling]

Note on Sastre.

Rode 3 GT's last year, 2 top 10's and 20 in the Tour At the tour, every one who rode the Giro hard ended up below 20th, so Sastre was the best out of a tired bunch. (Although, without the broken arm, i think Cadel would have been top 5 again)

 

[BM1979]

What an absolute load of crap! Seriously? Are you saying he could of gave more in the time trial and Alpe D'Huez? After the time trial he was ****ing blood. I seriously think you are delusional if you think he 'overestimated his abilities'. He couldn't of gave any more. That's how Evans rides.


I could not of said it better myself.

btw, can we take this racing talk to the other thread as it is off topic?

I dont think thats what they were saying. I think they meant if Cadel didnt worry about playing games with the Schlecks following their attacks all the time up Alpe D'Huez and rode his own pace he might have conserved more time on Sastre.

 

[hrotha]

What an absolute load of crap! Seriously? Are you saying he could of gave more in the time trial and Alpe D'Huez? After the time trial he was ****ing blood. I seriously think you are delusional if you think he 'overestimated his abilities'. He couldn't of gave any more. That's how Evans rides.

"Could have". Seriously, learn this already. It's been pointed out to you countless times.

No, I'm not saying he could have given more in the time trial. That's the point. He thought he could just let Sastre go because he could put more time on him in the ITT. He was delusional.

 

[Angliru]

That is a great poster! Thanks for posting that Tubular Bells!

 

[Angliru]

Meh, I am not going to reply to some of you as your personal prejudices and favourability towards some riders and not others clearly clouds your judgement.

Let me get this straight. 2008 was NOT a missed opportunity if you look at it after the crash. When you can't do something or can't compete at the level of your competitor physically and tatically, you are beaten. tbh, evans was beten tatically and physically that year because of the strength of csc and sastre ended up being stronger than him. People such as Akzaaf will harp on about him not chasing hard enough, not following sastre or choking in the trial, etc. But I think it is clear that this was not the case. It was impressive in itself that Cadel ended 50 seconds behind sastre after 3 weeks.

I find it unfortunate that Angliru will try to find fault in everything that cadel has done or does. About Aerts, it's nothing nobody really knew. He was super stressed as lotto. Matt Lloyd said something similar about him.

You've got to be kidding! You're accusing others of having allegiances that cloud their judgement?

You chose to ignore the part where I stated I agreed with the topic of the thread. Maybe I should have put more time into praising Evans for his T-A win but since that isn't the exact focus of the thread I chose to enlighten the forum with a related quote that I found quite interesting from a former Evans teammate. This only confirms our observations of Evans riding strategy while at Lotto, something that was also coursing through the peloton that stuck to him up to about a year or more ago. You in the past vehemently denied this was the case and in your pro-Evans euphoria, did your best to shoot down anyone that had anything negative to say about him as you do now. Only the years change, the story remains the same. Blame it on the team or lack thereof. Sounds awfully similar to the yearly dilemma that befalls your hero.

I can appreciate Evans' performances and have given him credit in the past, although my criticisms of him far outweigh my posts that sing his praises, which is my right since it is my opinion. Plus I figure you do enough of Evans' worshiping for the entire forum.

 

[biopass]

"Could have". Seriously, learn this already. It's been pointed out to you countless times.

No, I'm not saying he could have given more in the time trial. That's the point. He thought he could just let Sastre go because he could put more time on him in the ITT. He was delusional.

Or maybe he decided to follow Franckies wheel on that day. Sounds like CSC knew what kind of character he was back then.

 

[Ferminal]

Remember there is an existing thread in the PRR which is more or less the latest thread for discussing Evans in a non-doping context:

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=12583

We will make sure there are no overlapping discussions between the two threads.

Discussion of non-doping aspects of cycling are not strictly banned from The Clinic and are often needed to build a doping context. The OP is a doping statement (the fact that it wasn't an opening to discussion is probably the cause of problems in this thread...). We can continue to discuss 2008 and its associated issues in this thread (as it is not being discussed in the PRR thread), but if it continues to be the sole plot line and in a non-doping context I will consider splitting it into a new thread in the PRR.

But for now, continue as things were (except with fewer comments on other posters/moderation) and I will see how things develop.

 

[simo1733]

Remember there is an existing thread in the PRR which is more or less the latest thread for discussing Evans in a non-doping context:

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=12583

We will make sure there are no overlapping discussions between the two threads.

Discussion of non-doping aspects of cycling are not strictly banned from The Clinic and are often needed to build a doping context. The OP is a doping statement (the fact that it wasn't an opening to discussion is probably the cause of problems in this thread...). We can continue to discuss 2008 and its associated issues in this thread (as it is not being discussed in the PRR thread), but if it continues to be the sole plot line and in a non-doping context I will consider splitting it into a new thread in the PRR.

But for now, continue as things were (except with fewer comments on other posters/moderation) and I will see how things develop.

I'm sure that cuddles is a great guy to be around but haven't a lot of his roomates crashed out during GT's,
As for doping I think that some people just assume he must have done a shed load of HGH to end up with a head like that.
Same reason Roger Hammond never got offered a place with SkY.Really unfair imho

 

[Ildabaoth]

It wasn't just Evans who thought he could recover the lost time in that TT. It was a long one, more than 50 km, and Sastre isn't a top time trialist. I was mostly convinced that Evans had won the Tour after l'Alp d'Huez. He didn't choke at the TT. Actually, he got almost the exact same time than Menchov, for example, and to be beaten by Cancellara or Schumacher is pretty much normal. Sastre, on the other hand, managed to deliver a great (and also highly suspicious) TT that year. And about l'Alp d'Huez, it was Sastre, one of the best climbers in the world that year. So I don't follow the logic: Evans sucks in climbing and is a wheelsucker, Sastre was one hell of a climber ergo Evans should and could have followed him . On the other hand, it wasn't just Evans. Menchov had to protect his podium aspirations, and he lost the same time at that stage. So in my opinion, yes, Evans had a great shot at winning the Tour that year, but I don't believe he made a huge mistake. That combo Schlecks-Sastre was formidable (barred the TTs, they could have even got a 1-2-3 that year), the whole Saxo Bank were great, Sastres' TT was excellent and Evans lacked of a good team. No much could have been done.

 

[rata de sentina]

But for now, continue as things were (except with fewer comments on other posters/moderation) and I will see how things develop.

I can't see any posts about moderation perhaps you could point them out to me?

 

[BroDeal]

I really cannot understand how people can think that Evans is clean. The jingoistic naivete is depressing. "It's our clean aussie boy battling the dopers!" Did most Australians just fall out of the kangaroo pouch? Evans rivals Vande Velde for the rider who has ridden for the most doped up teams. Unlike Vande Velde, Evans was competitive while he was on those teams.

If Evans is clean then he is the dumbest mofo in the peloton. If he can compete clean, a boost of a few percent would turn him into a legend.

 

[Galic Ho]

I really cannot understand how people can think that Evans is clean. The jingoistic naivete is depressing. "It's our clean aussie boy battling the dopers!" Did most Australians just fall out of the kangaroo pouch? Evans rivals Vande Velde for the rider who has ridden for the most doped up teams. Unlike Vande Velde, Evans was competitive while he was on those teams.

If Evans is clean then he is the dumbest mofo in the peloton. If he can compete clean, a boost of a few percent would turn him into a legend.

That's the deal right there. Never thought of it like you painted in that last paragraph; that if Cadel is clean (I sure as hell don't think he is), then he's an idiot because the slightest doping would have given him that little extra he's lacked on so many occasions.

I went on the SBS site today. Saw the Evans Terrino win and looked at the comments. One sucker wrote that this is what happens when Evans rides clean and dopers (Valverde was mentioned) aren't there to beat him. He wins. 36 thumbs up, not one thumbs down. That is Australia for you. Oblivious. I need only look at our political parties in Govt to understand the mentality. Too many Aussies are thick as two planks to know any better.