favorite rides, 2012

[woodenswan]

What were some of the rides that impressed you the most this season?

Male professional road cycling

keep it subjective

mines:

1. Iljo Keisse, Tour of Turkey, Stage 7! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ru3vGR8nck
2. Contador, Fuente Dé, Vuelta.
3. Boonen, Paris-Roubaix: Boonen pulling a Cancellara, I thought it’s a dumb move and he’d never hold on. Oh well.. Not a huge fan of how that group behind worked together but still.
4. Cancellara, Strade Bianche.
5. Sep Vanmarcke, Omloop Het Volk: Scoring an upset and defeating Boonen. Can’t wait to see him ont he cobbles again!
6. Purito, Giro di Lombardia: a mighty effort, holding onto that few seconds of a gap.
7. Matteo Rabottini, Stage 15, Giro: Rabottini „summons up the power of banana clan” and comes around Purito. Extraordinary.
8. Martin vs Phinney, Worlds ITT. Didn’t expect this to be that close. A nailbiter surely.
9. Nairo Quintana, Giro dell’Emilia
10. Nibali vs Iglinsky, LBL.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Stage 3 - Trentino

 

[The Hitch]

From what i remember

Samu - Catalunya stage,
Nibali Liege
Quintana Route de Soude.
Uran -olympic road race
Rodriguez Ancares
Majka Lagos de Covadonga
Quintana Lagos de Covadonga
Quintana Pajares
Lastras - worlds
Rodriguez Lombarida.

 

[Afrank]

1. Matteo Rabottini stage 15 Giro D'Italia
2. Iljo Kesse stage 7 tour of Turkey
3. Philippe Gilbert world championships (just cause its gilbert and he's been after this one for so long )
4. Joaquin Rodriguez Giro di Lombardia
5. Alberto Contador Fuente De La Vuelta a Espana
6. Boonen Paris-Roubaix
7. Nibbles and Iglinksy LBL
8. Domenico Pozzovivo stage 3 of Giro de trentino
9. Phinney at worlds TT
10. Vino and Uran at Olympics

 

[El Pistolero]

1. Tom Boonen, Paris-Roubaix.
2. Philippe Gilbert, WC Road Race.
3. Iljo Keisse, stage 7 Tour of Turkey.
4. Maxim Iglinsky, Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
5. Alberto Contador, his stage win in the Vuelta.
6. Thomas de Gendt, Mortirolo/Stelvio win in the Giro.
7. Tom Boonen/Niki Terpstra, National Road Race Championships.
8. Fabian Cancellara, Strade Bianche.
9. Tony Martin/Taylor Phinney, WC ITT.
10. Sep Vanmarcke, Omloop het Nieuwsblad.

 

[macnir]

Iljo Keisse at Turkey S7 wins for me
Tony Martin at Eschborn-Frankfurt is massive.

 

[jens_attacks]

good thread, good thread

1.sometimes wildest dreams come true

2.tommeke killing everyone at roubaix

3. kazakhstan shining

4.contador at fuente de. too bad we didn't have earlier images thogh

5.sheer dominance: wiggo at london time trial, crazy

6. tommy voeckler doing bagnerre stage at flat terrain speed and getting first place on every mountain top

7.valverde coming back with a bang at willunga.

8.phil saving his season on cauberg

9. JTL at haut var acting like riis on hautacam. and the lovely commentators, "comme une bombe!"

10.ivailo gabrovski putting a 30 seconds gap fastest since pantani in tour of turkey. good times

honourable mentions:

richie porte on malhao giving birth to the UK Postal age.
wiggo-westra col d'eze showdown
brabantse pijl
alpe di pampeago stage
quintana on joux-plane
italian road championships with delfino and killer
la toussuire stage won by rolland
di luca winning on kitzbueheler horn
sevilla, 3rd stage of clasico rcn


overall, a great season.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Olympics - Vino

Nothing else is even close

 

[Richeypen]

Westra and Wiggins, P-N TT was a brilliant TT stage.

Pinot, stage 8 of the Tour

Noudhaug, Montréal

Canc, Boonen, Flecha Veelers etc, Qatar stage 4

De Gendt, Stelvio

 

[Zam_Olyas]

good thread, good thread


di luca winning on kitzbueheler horn



overall, a great season.

Yeah, i kinda like that too

 

[Echoes]

Cancellara at the Strade Bianche
Cancellara in Milan Sanremo, with Gerrans in the bag
Nibali at the queen stage of Tirreno Adriatico
Teunissen at the Slag om Norg
Vanmarcke at Ghent-Ghent
Kulhavy at the Olympics (it was road for me)
Rodriguez at the Tour of Lombardy
Roth at the Tro Bro Leon

I fail to see other entertaining rides this year.

Oh and let's add Nibali at Liège Bastogne, though it was unsuccessful

 

[woodenswan]

gotta admit, i lked the sight of the yellow jersey leading out Cav in the Tour

 

[Pentacycle]

Cancellara at the Strade Bianche
Cancellara in Milan Sanremo, with Gerrans in the bag
Nibali at the queen stage of Tirreno Adriatico
Teunissen at the Slag om Norg
Vanmarcke at Ghent-Ghent
Kulhavy at the Olympics (it was road for me)
Rodriguez at the Tour of Lombardy
Roth at the Tro Bro Leon

I fail to see other entertaining rides this year.

Oh and let's add Nibali at Liège Bastogne, though it was unsuccessful

The Slag om Norg was indeed a good criterium, but every rider there had a good ride. Not just Teunissen.
The Dutch 'Strade Marroni': Race footage and Report

 

[cineteq]

1. Contador, Vuelta S17
2. Keisse, Tour of Turkey S7
3. Rodriguez, Giro di Lombardia
4. Boonen, Paris-Roubaix
5. Nibali, Liège-Bastogne-Liège
6. Pinot, Tour de France S8
7. Rabottini, Giro D'Italia S15
8. Nibali/Sagan, Tour de France S10
9. Cancellara, Strade Bianche
10. Garcia, Vuelta S4

 

[The Hitch]

2. Philippe Gilbert, WC Road Race.

I thought you weren't a fan of uphill sprints.

 

[Afrank]

Some other good ones: Sagan running away from everyone at the tour, and his uphill win at Tirreno.
Cav's 2nd win at the tour, catching Lulu and blasting by him.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

Pinot,Contador,Boonen

 

[gustienordic]

Boonen, De Gendt, Moser (ToP), Contador, Vino, Rodriguez (one day races), Pinot, Gilbert (wc)

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Vinokourov - Olympic RR*
De Gendt - Mortirolo-Stelvio
Boonen - Paris-Roubaix
Contador - Fuente De
Menchov - Bola del Mundo
Quintana - Route du Sud
Quintana - Col de Joux Plain*
Nicki Terpstra - Dutch National Championship RR
Thibaut Pinot - TDF; especially his stage win
Moreno Hofland, Danny van Poppel, Wouter Wippert - stage 2 Tour L'avenir

*these two probably I like best

 

[RedheadDane]

Just off the hat and not ordered!

Keisse, Tour of Turkey
Rabotini, Giro
De Gendt, Giro
Pozzovivo, Trentino
Mørkøv, general, but especially the Tour and especially stage 13, when he went solo from the breakaway!
Chris Anker, Tour stages 11 and 16. + from partly through stage 17 and the rest of the race!
Vino, Olympics
Gilbert, Worlds
Jens, Colorado
Bak, Giro

+ probably a heap of others I can't remember...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Since this is favourite and not best, I nominate:

- Niki Terpstra, Paris-Roubaix. One of the best domestique performances I think I've ever seen in a Classic.
- Jakob Fuglsang, Österreich Rundfahrt stage 4. Went from afar and made it count.
- Thibaut Pinot, Tour stage 8. Such a great ride, and great fun to watch Marc Madiot lose it.
- Evelyn Stevens, Giro stage 3. Her, Luperini and Pooley tormented Vos all day long, with Stevens the only one really able to convert it into a leading advantage over the best cyclist in the world©
- Alessandro Zanardi, Paralympics. Having been a fan of F1 and Champ Car in the 1990s, I've always had a soft spot for Alex, and his return to the Lausitzring in 2003 is one of my favourite moments in sport ever. Seeing him go from that to being a double Paralympic gold medallist was a really tremendous story.
- Matteo Rabottini, Giro stage 15. On first viewing I thought this was a Jalabert-Dietz moment. On second viewing I thought it was not. I don't really care either way, it was an awesome win.
- Alejandro Valverde, Tour de Suisse stages 8 and 9. Given his good GC position I had a feeling Valverde would be used as a Plan B. I didn't expect him to put pride aside and forget about his own GC position for the risky aim of defending Costa's lead.
- Nairo Quintana, anywhere in the Route du Sud and the second half of the Vuelta. This kid has arrived.
- Vincenzo Nibali, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The debates over Il Squalo's genuine talent level may continue to rage, but one thing that can't be denied is his will to win even when not the strongest. Unlike far too many contenders these days, Vincenzo is always willing to risk losing in order to try and win.
- Robert Kiserlovski, Vuelta al País Vasco, stage 5. The race was heading to the conclusion of the worst País Vasco in living memory, when the Croat decided, despite having an excellent GC position, the best policy would be a speculative dart solo over two categorised (and one uncategorised) climbs in the rain, thus generating an actual good race as the chase was on and the field got shredded. Bonus points to Sky for not reading the route book and not realising said uncategorised climb was there, so leading out a sprint that could never be and putting a lot of pressure on people before that climb.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The answer that is expected from me

1) Thomas Dekker in Sarthe (stage 4 i think)
2) Robert Gesink California baldy stage
3) Boom in ENECO -> stage with cobbles
4) Terpstra in dwars door vlaanderen

 

[cineteq]

- Alejandro Valverde, Tour de Suisse stages 8 and 9. Given his good GC position I had a feeling Valverde would be used as a Plan B. I didn't expect him to put pride aside and forget about his own GC position for the risky aim of defending Costa's lead.

I forgot abou this one, very good. I can swap it for my 9 or 10 choice.

 

[maltiv]

The answer that is expected from me

1) Thomas Dekker in Sarthe (stage 4 i think)
2) Robert Gesink California baldy stage
3) Boom in ENECO -> stage with cobbles
4) Terpstra in dwars door vlaanderen

Must be hard to pick with so many great dutch victories to choose from

 

[Izzy eviel]

Matteo Rabottini stage 15 Giro D'Italia

Rides alone in the pouring rain, freezing cold. Crashes on the descent, picks himself up, calmly remounts and carries on. Last 600 metres gets overtaken by one of the best climbers in the business. Most people would've given up, not this dude, fights back. Epic Win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvtNmlTCZP4

If only Carlton Kirby could've called this one!