Greatest year in the last decade.

[Afrank]

LS convinced me, 2010. Enjoyed that year immensely. just a few highlights: Cancellara's domination at RVV and PR, a great edition of the Giro, and a great Tour IMO (really enjoyed Contador and Schleck going head to head in the fog covered Tourmalet especially), Nibs with his first GT win, and plenty others.

 

[Lupi33]

also...

2010 great Giro
2011 great Tour
2012 great Vuelta
2013 disappointing

 

[theyoungest]

LS convinced me, 2010. Enjoyed that year immensely. just a few highlights: Cancellara's domination at RVV and PR, a great edition of the Giro, and a great Tour IMO (really enjoyed Contador and Schleck going head to head in the fog covered Tourmalet especially), Nibs with his first GT win, and plenty others.

It was also the Tour of the track stands uphill though And the Vuelta wasn't that great.

But the Giro more than makes up for it.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

2010. Vinos return, as the best rider in the world.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It was also the Tour of the track stands uphill though And the Vuelta wasn't that great.

But the Giro more than makes up for it.

The Vuelta was shaping up to be great before Igor Antón crashed out though. We got the first win of Mikel Nieve, previously unheard of, and the best and sadly only GT GC result for Xavi Tondó. The Tour also had a really good battle for the secondary jerseys, where even though no genuine contenders fought out the polka dots Charteau earnt his win with Casar and Moreau fighting him all the way for it (Moreau was horrified after being instructed to let Pineau take points to keep the jersey on an early breakaway stage), Caisse doing their crazy many-men-in-the-break job to try to insert LuLu in the GC mix in the St-Jean-de-Maurienne stage as they had done with Arroyo two months earlier, and the maillot vert battle was really good with Thor not strong enough in the sprints but picking up the intermediates, Cav struggling at first before hitting his usual dominant form towards the end of the race, and the old wily fox Ale-Jet gritting his teeth and trying to hold onto the Missile's coat tails, while Renshaw's ejection meant Cavendish proved once and for all that he could do it without his train too.

Also, the sprint in stage 4 was - you will NOT hear me say this often - a thing of beauty. That fully organised, planned out machine that was Bob Stapleton's Joyless Boredom Train was thrown completely off the rails and totally wrecked by Danilo Hondo on his own. Hondo as a leadout in 2010-11 was phenomenal.

 

[Samson777]

2007 for me. Maybe not the overall greatest year, but to me the most memorable. So beware, probably not all objective what will follow.

The riders competing back then was just more awesome Had a more "personal" relation with them back then, than today at least.

First of all TDF: Vino going all in for the overall win was something that excited me, and of course his comment about his Dad testing positive for vodka. when the adventure was over.
Epic chicken vs Contador battle, then crazy end, with the chicken withdrawn, loosing his victory.

Decent Giro as I recall it, with some things to remember: Victory for the Killer. Andy Schleck breaking trough, an "early" one- two for Saunier Dunval on mountain stage, like in le tour

Vuelta: Probably not most exciting Vueta ever. Menchov and Saster as 1 and 2, gives you an pretty good idea I guess


Pretty good monuments: O Grady memorable win on cobbles and Ballan solo win as well.

And just a question, is the world cup not to be taken into consideration? If so, and the same goes for the olympics, Vinos London win, does a lot of good for 2012 in my mind

 

[Jspear]

also...

2010 great Giro
2011 great Tour
2012 great Vuelta
2013 disappointing

See I wanted to respond in a similar fashion, but that's not what the poll asked.

 

[The Hitch]

2010 and 2011 were both great years (Especially compared to 2012, which without the Boonen show, would be the worst year ever).

However I voted for 2007. So much panache _O_

I thought you'd have gone for 05 for sure. Di Luca Amstel and Fleche. Boonen the tripple.

 

[Lupi33]

See I wanted to respond in a similar fashion, but that's not what the poll asked.

sorry
didt realise there was a limit on the discussion

 

[The Hitch]

sorry
didt realise there was a limit on the discussion

You can compare gts, it's part of the op.
But 2011 tdf and 2012 vuelta are not in the same catergory as the 2010 giro. No way Jose.
I rate both higher than many posters here. And they maybe are numbers 2 and 3 of this decade. But the 2010 giro was the eddy Merckx of gts- good at everything, sprints, climbing, 1 spring classics racing, and due to changes in style will probably never be matched again.

 

[Eshnar]

You can compare gts, it's part of the op.
But 2011 tdf and 2012 vuelta are not in the same catergory as the 2010 giro. No way Jose.
I rate both higher than many posters here. And they maybe are numbers 2 and 3 of this decade. But the 2010 giro was the eddy Merckx of gts- good at everything, sprints, climbing, 1 spring classics racing, and due to changes in style will probably never be matched again.

You didn't watch the 2005 Giro do you.
Make it 3 and 4, at most.

 

[Arredondo]

The Giro 2005 was fantastic, just as the edition of 2010. They both had everything, but in 2010 you had a two-dimensional fight. First you had the fight between the big and natural GC man (Basso, Nibs, Scarponi, Evans) which was really good. But the fact that due to a break, Arroyo and Sastre got 10 minutes, did make it even better.

In the mountain stages, you had the excitement of Basso desperatly trying to drop Evans and Scarpa (which he succeded on Zoncolan), but during these battles, you constantly have to remind yourself on the fact: 'Hey, wait a minute, Arroyo is in pink!'. Where is he? How many time will he lose? Is it enough to still be in pink? So like Basso, you had the pressure to drop your big GC rivals, but also to make up the loss on Arroyo.

Combine this tension to the ''sterrato'' stage, the best stage in the last 10 years for sure, and the crazy first couple of days on Dutch ground, and some classical good breakaway stages (L'Aquila, Peio Terme, Cesenatico), i think the 2010 edition is a little bit better than 2005.

Edit: Now i will think about which year was the best overall

 

[Roderick]

I enjoyed 2011 the most. Cobbled classics were exciting, Phil Gil destroyed everyone in any race with or without a hill. Berto was phenomenal in The Giro. One of the best Tours in years, especially a very good first week. Vuelta was more than ok with the duel Dawg-Juanjo and a nice Anton win in Bilbao. Only the WC was pretty meh, but with a deserved winner.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

A very good first week? Maybe if you like watching crashes. The 2011 Tour would have made a fantastic Dauphiné. One amazing week in the Alps. Two weeks of crap.

And I must disagree with Arredondo. Great though the Montalcino stage was, it wasn't even the best stage of the 2010 Giro.

 

[Guybrush]

to me is 2011: kickass Gilbert at the ardenes + Berto crushing everyone in italy + an amazing Tour + Froome at the Vuelta in La Covatilla, echelons in a climb LOVE IT!

 

[Arredondo]

A very good first week? Maybe if you like watching crashes. The 2011 Tour would have made a fantastic Dauphiné. One amazing week in the Alps. Two weeks of crap.

And I must disagree with Arredondo. Great though the Montalcino stage was, it wasn't even the best stage of the 2010 Giro.

Which stage do you think was the best? There were so many good stages in that Giro.

 

[BigMac]

2011.

Gilbert's Ardennes campaign was something else... And Andy's Tour de France performance got my crying of joy. I had never witnessed something like the One attack on the Agnello. And even though he did not win the overall, I was happy for Cadel. Costa's beatiful first Tour win on Super Besse and victory in Montréal.

 

[The Hitch]

You didn't watch the 2005 Giro do you.
Make it 3 and 4, at most.

I said "this decade"not "the last decade". This decade is the one we are in - the 2010's. I think there were plenty of better gts in the previous 5 years but in the 2010's I have those ranked 2 and 3

 

[Roderick]

A very good first week? Maybe if you like watching crashes. The 2011 Tour would have made a fantastic Dauphiné. One amazing week in the Alps. Two weeks of crap.

And I must disagree with Arredondo. Great though the Montalcino stage was, it wasn't even the best stage of the 2010 Giro.

So you're saying that Mont des Allouettes, Mur de Bretange, Cap Frehel and to a lesser extent Super Besse and Lisieux weren't good finishes? Or at least that it is impossible for some one to like them?

Compared to the bloody borefest that is normally the first week of the tour it was a pretty good week to me

 

[The Hitch]

The Giro 2005 was fantastic, just as the edition of 2010. They both had everything, but in 2010 you had a two-dimensional fight. First you had the fight between the big and natural GC man (Basso, Nibs, Scarponi, Evans) which was really good. But the fact that due to a break, Arroyo and Sastre got 10 minutes, did make it even better.

In the mountain stages, you had the excitement of Basso desperatly trying to drop Evans and Scarpa (which he succeded on Zoncolan), but during these battles, you constantly have to remind yourself on the fact: 'Hey, wait a minute, Arroyo is in pink!'. Where is he? How many time will he lose? Is it enough to still be in pink? So like Basso, you had the pressure to drop your big GC rivals, but also to make up the loss on Arroyo.

Combine this tension to the ''sterrato'' stage, the best stage in the last 10 years for sure, and the crazy first couple of days on Dutch ground, and some classical good breakaway stages (L'Aquila, Peio Terme, Cesenatico), i think the 2010 edition is a little bit better than 2005.

Edit: Now i will think about which year was the best overall

Like libertine I got to disagree with you about Moltacino being the best stage of 10 years even though I totally agree with the rest.

I'd have Sestrieres 05, Pajares 05, Morzine 06, Aprica 10 and Fuente de all above it - all stages where the gc was decided.

 

[Eshnar]

I said "this decade"not "the last decade". This decade is the one we are in - the 2010's. I think there were plenty of better gts in the previous 5 years but in the 2010's I have those ranked 2 and 3

ops. Misunderstood. Fair enough then

 

[Eshnar]

I'd have Sestrieres 05, Pajares 05, Morzine 06, Aprica 10 and Fuente de all above it - all stages where the gc was decided.

Aprica 06 too

 

[Arredondo]

Like libertine I got to disagree with you about Moltacino being the best stage of 10 years even though I totally agree with the rest.

I'd have Sestrieres 05, Pajares 05, Morzine 06, Aprica 10 and Fuente de all above it - all stages where the gc was decided.

You're probarly right, perhaps i became a little bit to enthousiastic while writing my response

Montalcine in my opinion is in that list, the stages you put into were all amazing. Especially Morzine in 06 was just heaven, thanks to Floyd.

I think Briancon 07 in both the Giro as Tour were really good too. Not in terms of deciding the GC, but race action wise.

 

[Netserk]

I thought you'd have gone for 05 for sure. Di Luca Amstel and Fleche. Boonen the tripple.

2005 was also a really great year, but it's judged by the racing, not the winners I also didn't watch as many races in 2005 as I later have, which means that it's harder to judge.

I said "this decade"not "the last decade". This decade is the one we are in - the 2010's. I think there were plenty of better gts in the previous 5 years but in the 2010's I have those ranked 2 and 3

2010 was last decade (2001-2010). This decade is 2011-2020.

And no, just because most people think 2010 is a part of this decade, doesn't make it any less incorrect

 

[The Hitch]

2010 was last decade (2001-2010). This decade is 2011-2020.

And no, just because most people think 2010 is a part of this decade, doesn't make it any less incorrect

I've heard that before, but for me, 1980 was not the last year of the 1970's.