Giro's Unluckiest Rider?

[Libertine Seguros]

Bruseghin, for not only crashing out but having to ride half a stage with his backside hanging out his skinsuit.

Or Domenico Pozzovivo, for being punched repeatedly in the face by fortune from the moment he crashed on the prologue to the point at which he retired from his injuries and fatigue just before the start of the stages that were best suited to him.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Apologies, I read is for isn't.

No worries then

Back to the subject - I thought Gadret deserved more from this Giro than 13th place and no stage wins. Also Cataldo did a fair bit to light up the race and looked set for a possible top 10 before having to retire in the final week

 

[auscyclefan94]

5 crashes happened in front of him and brought him down. 3 punctures.
And that was just the first week.

I think Sastre wins this hands down.

Yes but sastre never really had the form going in so I don't think he would of podiumed regardless.

 

[tgsgirl]

Yes but sastre never really had the form going in so I don't think he would of podiumed regardless.

Unless you have a crystall ball or a time machine you can't back that up. Sastre wasn't at his best, and only he (maybe not even he) can know how much of that was because of too many crashes and how much of that was just being out of shape.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Who had control over what team he went to?

Feel bad for him because he made a poor choice..

Some people will never learn...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

learn what, ACF? That Evans NEVER makes mistakes and it's just the wrath of the Gods that BMC were such a weak team that they offered him far less support than even Lotto would have done? (say what you will about Lotto but Lloyd went for the KOM, and Lotto used Bakelants, de Greef and Moreno perfectly to protect Lloyd's jersey)

Evans had a great Giro apart from one bad day. He held form for a surprisingly long time (I expected him to crack more on stage 16 after the efforts he put in on Zoncolán) and he won the strade bianche stage in the rainbow stripes, which will earn him a place in Giro folklore. But considering his 'malchance' was almost entirely related to his lack of team support... signing for BMC wasn't bad luck. That was Evans' choice. Sastre didn't choose to be caught up in five crashes. Vande Velde didn't choose to break his collarbone. Evans DID choose to ride for a team with little support.

 

[Anonymous]

blah blah blah.

so sorry for having an opinion.

 

[Nearly]

Who had control over what team he went to?

Feel bad for him because he made a poor choice..

Agree his choice of team could not be seen as bad luck but surely Ballan's and Santambrogio's apparently unjustified sidelining, Frei's earlier departure and Kobler's injuries & exit in Stage 2 could? OK Santa rode but his preparation would have been seriously distracted.

That said I suspect Cadel's illness had as much to do with his demise (relatively speaking) than the weakness of his team.

On Sastre - yes he had a woeful week one but you would have to say the L'Aquila stage 12 minute time gain did a lot to swing the lady luck pendulum.

Of course bad luck stories abound in a race as tough and challenging as this one ..... and all would have suffered setbacks to one degree or another so perhaps it did not make that much difference in the end. Even the likes of Arroyo and Porte fought very hard to perhaps deserve the luck of their time bonus into L'Aquila.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Nah, Cadel's illness is less to do with it than the simple difficulties of racing at the highest level nearly every day for a month and a half. Having to be in top form for the Ardennes classics made it almost inevitable that he'd suffer a drop-off in the latter part of the Giro. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't make enough gains in the first two weeks to counter that very difficult final week, in which Basso was able to take advantage of the form of those riders who competed in the Ardennes such as Evans and Vino dipping.

 

[luckyboy]

Evans had a great Giro apart from one bad day.

Are you counting when he cracked trying to follow Basso up Zoncolan or the 3 minutes he lost en route to Aprica? Then again, I can understand how it wasn't that bad on Zoncolan seeing as he came 2nd.

 

[valentius borealis]

There is a distinct trend in here of nominating bigger names (Evans, Sastre, VDV etc.) as being the unluckiest.

I'll go against the flow and nominate Martin Kohler because of the circumstances of his crash on Stage 2 which forced him to abandon the race with a broken collarbone.

 

[la.margna]

so sorry for having an opinion.

no worries, the italian commentators were initially with you. personally, me firstly as well, before I thought about it and did put me in their situation.

 

[LukeSchmid]

Of the big names it hasn't been mentioned that Vino lost almost half his team including Paolo Tiralongo who would have been help to him in the mountains.

Overall I think any rider who crashed and had withdraw when they did not cause the crash are the unluckiest.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Are you counting when he cracked trying to follow Basso up Zoncolan or the 3 minutes he lost en route to Aprica? Then again, I can understand how it wasn't that bad on Zoncolan seeing as he came 2nd.

Aprica. He was 2nd on Zoncolán and that time counteracted the time that he gained to Montalcino. He was then able to pick a bit of time back to Kronplatz, and was still within a time range to Basso that he could reasonably have pulled back in an ITT. He may not have done it, but it wouldn't have been unexpected if he had.

 

[Sasquatch]

I feel sorry for Evans, if he had one team mate on stage 3 he wouldn't have lost that 46sec, & would have been only 4sec of the podium after today.

Why?

It's his fault for going to a crap team. It wasn't on luck for Cadel. He just chose a ridiculous team to go to.

 

[High Cotton]

Some people will never learn...

You're right; don't worry though, I'm sure Cadel will at some point.

 

[theyoungest]

Please Aussies, stop complaining about Evans' team. It's getting old. He seems to be on his own no matter where he rides. That's part of the Evans "charm".

 

[Angliru]

agreed, although he maybe didnt have the legs for the stage, he SHOULD have been first over the climb. moment completely lacking in class from Tschopp. The most dissapointing part for me, of what was otherwise a wonderful giro.

I guess there is no place for sentiment in pro cycling, either that or Tschopp is just an arsehole

I'm going to have go with the latter. Sad that Tshopp couldn't allow Simoni that last victory. Quite disappointing for me personally.

Edit: "arsehole' is kind of harsh so allow me to backtrack and simply say I wish in hindsight that he had allowed Simoni to be first over the climb.

 

[Jan the Man]

Tschopp "no gifts"...oh wait...

 

[Angliru]

Good for Tschopp. Simoni wanted to win - he wasn't good enough - end of story. Simoni isn't being a whiney little ***** about it (probably because he'd have done exactly the same) so I'm not sure why everyone on here is

...because I'm a unashamed Simoni fan! I think it is karma of sorts for his chasing down Pantani on the Zoncolan (Giro 2003) when Pantani attacked in an effort to get one last chance at Giro glory. Simoni later admitted his regret in not allowing Pantani to escape. Oh well, I still have my fond Gibo memories.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm going to have go with the latter. Sad that Tshopp couldn't allow Simoni that last victory. Quite disappointing for me personally.

Edit: "arsehole' is kind of harsh so allow me to backtrack and simply say I wish in hindsight that he had allowed Simoni to be first over the climb.

i did say either/or

I think at some point when he's got a couple more wins under his belt, Tshopp may also express some regret.. Simoni's response though was as said before, nothing but class..

 

[saganftw]

do you think simoni would aprreciate if Tchopp would have let him won cima coppi? coz he was cllearly stronger than simoni, i dont think champion of simonis caliber would take that as a gift

remember armstrong-pantani mont ventoux?...in professional cycling you dont just give away legendary stages or in this case mountains (not to mention money that comes with it)

 

[richo36]

Why is everyone so annoyed about Tchopp beating simoni????? Honestly its called racing for a reason. This might be the only win Tchopp gets in his career and who better to beat, something he will always remember. Noone on here would be saying that Tchopp should of let simoni win if hypothetically simoni was Armstrong. Just because they are legends of the sport does not mean they should be gifted wins.

I believe there was more to evans leaving lotto. He was in a team that clearly didnt want him as their goals were different to his. they were not interested in GC but in stage wins and minor classifications. Therefore if cadel really wanted to win a GT he had to leave lotto and go to a team that would support hes goals. At the time of hes decision, BMC was the best choice, Garmin was not avalible as wiggins was still in there squad. it was after cadel signed that wiggans left. Also being Australian Works against him. A europeon based team wants a european based rider to be the team leader, its that simple. So for all you idiots thinking cadel had a better choice than BMC you are so wrong.

But still in saying that i have to go with scarponi to be the unluckest rider. If you dont include any rider who withdrew through injury.

 

[sublimit]

Well i tend to agree with what you said about Tschopp. Simoni has to earn the right to get the climb and he wasnt up to it - he was beaten by a Domestique.

Its bike racing, so you just have to try the whole time and race and not gift people wins or mountain points or whatever. I'd like to have seen Simoni get it but he wasnt good enough.

 

[Barrus]

Why is everyone so annoyed about Tchopp beating simoni????? Honestly its called racing for a reason. This might be the only win Tchopp gets in his career and who better to beat, something he will always remember. Noone on here would be saying that Tchopp should of let simoni win if hypothetically simoni was Armstrong. Just because they are legends of the sport does not mean they should be gifted wins.

the main problem that I have with the behaviour of Tschopp is the manner in which it happened. Tschopp attacked and gotten away from Simoni. Simoni came back, Tschopp immediately let Simoni take over on the front and let Simoni do the most of the front-work for the remainder of the climb, only to retake Simoni in the sprint to the top. To me it doesn't really matter who the other rider was, whether Simoni or someone else, but this was just completely classless.