Giro's Unluckiest Rider?

[richo36]

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.

At least he attacked, He didnt just wheelsuck the whole time. Yes it isnt the classiest thing to do but it worked didnt it. If simoni was that desperate for the win he would of attacked wen he caught back up to Tscopp.

 

[Barrus]

At least he attacked, He didnt just wheelsuck the whole time. Yes it isnt the classiest thing to do but it worked didnt it. If simoni was that desperate for the win he would of attacked wen he caught back up to Tscopp.

What do you call what he did after Simoni catched up to him again, that is the definition of wheelsucking, something that, if I recall correctly, he also did prior to his attack.

 

[ScottyMuser]

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.

Evans IS european based (he lives in Italy) so you probably meant to say European-born. In which case, why should that matter? Cycling is NOT a nationalist sport, and sponsors will go for people who will get them either a) wins, or b) gets them air times by enlivening races; neither of which Evans did with any sort or regularity pre-Worlds. Also, the way in the past he has treated his team in interviews, being whiney etc is not good for the image of the team or the team morale Heck, even Cav is more gracious in interviews than Evans usually was in the past. A combination of these things, along with very few teams with GC ambitions not having a GC rider already, meant that there were few options, and in hindsight, the right choice WAS to stay with Lotto; the issue was he had clearly alienated his team, which is why he left for a new team.

If he had stayed with Lotto, then he wouldn't have had to tire himself out singlehandeldy to get 1 result in the Ardennes (would have had team support, so could still have got the win without as much effort I mean), would have had the option of doing either the TDF or GIro as they would have had other riders, meaning he could properly concentrate on getting that 1win, and had better mountain domestiques to help him.

However, lets not forget that he has still had his most succesful year to date in terms of actually *winning* things (both a classic AND the points jersey in a GT), and ridden the hardest Gt course for years, one not suiting him particulaly, well to get 5th and the points.

 

[richo36]

What do you call what he did after Simoni catched up to him again, that is the definition of wheelsucking, something that, if I recall correctly, he also did prior to his attack.

He at least attacked is what im saying, Yes hes attack and failed and he resorted back to wheel sucking but he attacked. He atleast tried something. Considering this would of been one of the first times he had been in a situation like this u cant be to hard on him. Simoni has noone to blame but himself. If he attacked Tschopp would of not been able to wheelsuck.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

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.

agree on all of this.

Some people will never learn...

Ironic.

---

Tschopp did nothing wrong.
Maybe his attack at that point made the diff. in him taking the stage, and being caught by evans.

 

[Archibald]

Who had control over what team he went to?

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

to be fair, the team roster could have been better but ToC did interfere with that.
he could have kicked up about it to management, but who knows what happened behind the doors...

 

[joe_papp]

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

Quit being an obnoxious **** about it. 1) You have no idea what Simoni "probably" would have done, other posters already having reminded us of the fact that Simoni came to regret chasing down Pantani during his last bid for Giro-glory. 2) The original Gibo'poster is free to describe Tschopp in whatever light he sees fit. You can disagree with that notion but by pretending to be able to ascertain Simoni's true feelings about the incident - and not just the words he offered-up for public consumption - and then attacking the individual poster for expressing his opinion, you add nothing of value to the thread.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

to be fair, the team roster could have been better but ToC did interfere with that.
he could have kicked up about it to management, but who knows what happened behind the doors...

to be fair, evans knew he was signing for an American team, and knew the ToC would be on at the same time as one of his major goals for the season. And to be fair, evans must have known this team had a major lack of depth.

BMC wasn't a great choice. But then again there wasn't a lot going... (Garmin seemed like the logical choice obviously, but we can't assume garmin even wanted evans) but he had to get out of lotto.

 

[BroDeal]

to be fair, evans knew he was signing for an American team, and knew the ToC would be on at the same time as one of his major goals for the season. And to be fair, evans must have known this team had a major lack of depth.

BMC wasn't a great choice. But then again there wasn't a lot going... (Garmin seemed like the logical choice obviously, but we can't assume garmin even wanted evans) but he had to get out of lotto.

After Evans signed for BMC, Vaughters said that he wished that he had known Evans was on the market. It looks like Evans' manager did not explore many, or even more than one, possibility.

Wigans had been trying to weasel out of this Garmin contract for months before Evans signed for BMC. This was well known. It was incompetence for Evans' manager not to see if a deal could be made with Garmin.

 

[richo36]

Evans IS european based (he lives in Italy) so you probably meant to say European-born. In which case, why should that matter? Cycling is NOT a nationalist sport, and sponsors will go for people who will get them either a) wins, or b) gets them air times by enlivening races; neither of which Evans did with any sort or regularity pre-Worlds. Also, the way in the past he has treated his team in interviews, being whiney etc is not good for the image of the team or the team morale Heck, even Cav is more gracious in interviews than Evans usually was in the past. A combination of these things, along with very few teams with GC ambitions not having a GC rider already, meant that there were few options, and in hindsight, the right choice WAS to stay with Lotto; the issue was he had clearly alienated his team, which is why he left for a new team.

If he had stayed with Lotto, then he wouldn't have had to tire himself out singlehandeldy to get 1 result in the Ardennes (would have had team support, so could still have got the win without as much effort I mean), would have had the option of doing either the TDF or GIro as they would have had other riders, meaning he could properly concentrate on getting that 1win, and had better mountain domestiques to help him.

However, lets not forget that he has still had his most succesful year to date in terms of actually *winning* things (both a classic AND the points jersey in a GT), and ridden the hardest Gt course for years, one not suiting him particulaly, well to get 5th and the points.

1.Cycling is NOT a nationalist sport, but the teams are. Eg Liquigas, Italy. Yes they are not all from that country (the riders) but if you are for example an Italian based team, An italian leader looks better to the sponsers, note that most of the sponsers will be italian. Thats what i meant by that. Evans doesnt fit that mould being australian born. Evans Pre worlds was still very successful rider and would be rated in the top 5 riders in the world, especially if you include his Clean image.

2. I do agree with you about his image when it comes to interviews and his whineyness. But that can easily be fixed. Still your right there.

3. He rarely had support at lotto. Yes he would of saved alittle more time this giro being with lotto but at the same time come mountains he would still not had the support of other riders get, if at all. I think the need for change as well was a factor. He had to leave lotto, to start fresh. A new start and like you said how succesful has he been.

 

[davidw]

Evans IS european based (he lives in Italy) so you probably meant to say European-born. In which case, why should that matter? Cycling is NOT a nationalist sport, and sponsors will go for people who will get them either a) wins, or b) gets them air times by enlivening races; neither of which Evans did with any sort or regularity pre-Worlds. Also, the way in the past he has treated his team in interviews, being whiney etc is not good for the image of the team or the team morale Heck, even Cav is more gracious in interviews than Evans usually was in the past. A combination of these things, along with very few teams with GC ambitions not having a GC rider already, meant that there were few options, and in hindsight, the right choice WAS to stay with Lotto; the issue was he had clearly alienated his team, which is why he left for a new team.

If he had stayed with Lotto, then he wouldn't have had to tire himself out singlehandeldy to get 1 result in the Ardennes (would have had team support, so could still have got the win without as much effort I mean), would have had the option of doing either the TDF or GIro as they would have had other riders, meaning he could properly concentrate on getting that 1win, and had better mountain domestiques to help him.

However, lets not forget that he has still had his most succesful year to date in terms of actually *winning* things (both a classic AND the points jersey in a GT), and ridden the hardest Gt course for years, one not suiting him particulaly, well to get 5th and the points.

Evans lives in the Italian-speaking portion of Switzerland, actually, and is married to an Italian. Also, at least here in Italy, cycling is a *very* nationalistic sport. I mean, most fans aren't jerks about it, but they are certainly happier to see Italians win things. Even the TV commentators will root for the Italian guy in a break.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

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.

This isn't what happened. They shared the work for 3kms before the last 700m which is fairly flat at which point Tschopp put Simoni on the front and Simoni didn't seem to be reluctant to be there. Entirely legit as opposed to "completely classless" and the type of 2-up sprint you see all the time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCBTswdyXCc&feature=related

 

[scribe]

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.

They should award a sentimental pink jersey to the rider who should have won it in the first week. Punctures clearly took away this GT victory from Sastre. He is the real winner!

 

[carrai]

What about Catalunya's second place and stage winner in Paris-Nice Xavier Tondo? He was in a good position after L'Aquila but an illness made him retire...