Haimar Zubeldia: The Anonymous One

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

I don't know why everybody is happy with this... he won't be seen on the tv!!! And he will have full coverage of all tour's stages!!!

Is 'portugal11' bitter that Cordoso (from Portugal) was caught for EPO and that Zubeldia's replacing him?

I think he's just making use of a well known forum joke.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Zubeldia and Mollema, the ultimate ninja squad, in support of Contador..

 

[Tonton]

Too bad that Maxime Montfort is skipping the Tour. I could imagine a Maxime vs. Haimar thread . The rumble in the rubble...

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Damn, that is a good ninja skill - no one even expected him to be there.

Not even picked to ride, but still gets a top 10 spot? That would be real ninja skills.

 

[deValtos]

Re:

Zubeldia and Mollema, the ultimate ninja squad, in support of Contador..

They should use their secret power to infiltrate a break on a key stage.

Contador can then attack in what looks like a pointless waste of energy before a previously unseen Haimar emerges from behind the breakaway's three french continental riders to provide assistance.

 

[vedrafjord]

Part of me hopes he's on screen at some stage, but the broadcaster hasn't updated their start list, and the caption says Cardoso. Hiding in plain sight...

 

[movingtarget]

You will see him on the start line at least........................

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Oh no But to be fair, Cardoso, his competitor for the spot I assume, was just a tiny bit better in Dauphiné

LOL. I guess he made a phone call to the UCI anonymously.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

Zubeldia and Mollema, the ultimate ninja squad, in support of Contador..

They should use their secret power to infiltrate a break on a key stage.

Contador can then attack in what looks like a pointless waste of energy before a previously unseen Haimar emerges from behind the breakaway's three french continental riders to provide assistance.

In the valley before Chat. Contador has caught the breakaway and is apparently doing all of the work, but then a statistic comes up on screen stating that Contador has done 0% of the work in the group.

We immediately know what is going on

 

[yaco]

Zubeldia will do his job for the team. Whether he will named or highlighted in the coverage is unimportant.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

 

[DNP-Old]

The man, the myth, the legend.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Here is Zubeldia's own shadow in action (Prudhomme can't believe it himself): https://twitter.com/AlexandreBardin/status/878328793781252098
(is it bad to do my account publicity?)

 

[kingjr]

Believe it or not, apparently Marcel Wüst doesn't have the most recent version of the startlist, so he didn't mention Zubeldia at the team presentation but Cardoso instead. Has anyone here watched Fargo season 3? (It makes sense in context)

 

[markene2]

Re:

Here is Zubeldia's own shadow in action (Prudhomme can't believe it himself): https://twitter.com/AlexandreBardin/status/878328793781252098
(is it bad to do my account publicity?)

I loved that stage! It was super exciting when i watched it! Zubeldia was a beast on certain stages in the 2003 Tour

Also glad to have him riding this Tour, one of the few old guards left in the peleton.

 

[portugal11]

The ninja strikes again, I didn't see him in the presentation

 

[shalgo]

You are all, sadly, deluded. Zubeldia has been dead for years. As I posted on another thread years ago:

We all like to joke, but the story of Haimar Zubeldia is actually a sad and dark one.

Once, long ago, there was a young and talented rider named Haimar Zubeldia. In 2000, he showed his promise by finishing second in the Dauphine, joining Hamilton and Armstrong on the podium. Later that year, he rode his first GT, finishing tenth in the Vuelta.

He was an exciting, aggressive, attacking rider. In the 2003 Tour de France, Zubeldia was his usual aggressive self. In stage 8, on the Alpe d'Huez, he led the chase after Vinokourov attacked: https://youtu.be/1-y38WZAtgc?t=368

Then came the fateful stage 13 to Ax-3 Domaines. Sastre is up the road; behind him is a very select group of Armstrong, Ullrich, Vinokourov, Basso, and...Zubeldia. Then Zubeldia attacks: https://youtu.be/SJyZ7X_b7Ww?t=2013. Basso is dropped and Armstrong struggles to respond. A couple of minutes later, Zubeldia attacks again: https://youtu.be/SJyZ7X_b7Ww?t=2123. After this, the attacks keep coming, and eventually Armstrong is dropped. This is the stage where Armstrong almost lost the Tour to Ullrich.

After the Tour, Armstrong, furious with Zubeldia, asks some friends to "talk with" the young rider. Rumour has it that things escalated and Armstrong's friends soon had a dead body on their hands. Even with Armstrong's connections, this was too much. He quickly reached an agreement with Zubeldia's family: the death would be kept secret, but in exchange, Armstrong and the UCI agreed that Zubeldia's name would continue to appear in the results of UCI-sanctioned races, and that Zubeldia's family would receive the prize money earned by the "ghost" rider.

Thus is explained the sad truth behind Zubeldia's frequent top-10 finishes without ever being seen on camera.

 

[Leinster]

So rather than the Ninja, Zubeldia is actually the Walrus?

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

There's a camera following him?

 

[Alexandre B.]

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There's a camera following him?

Following who?

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

There's a camera following him?

Following who?

I see the Omerta is still alive and well...

 

[fantomas]

A Danish broadcaster aired a feature on Haimar yesterday. It's probably geo restricted, though.

https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/tour-de-france-2017/-/aftentour-2017-8-etape-dole-station-des-rousses-187-5-km#!/17:45

 

[jmdirt]

"Haimar Zubeldia moving up towards the front of the bunch with Alberto Contador and teammates to congratulate the points and mountains classification leaders Michael Matthews and Warren Barguil.

Zubeldia is one of two riders competing in their final Tour de France today."

 

[jmdirt]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/zubeldia-gets-custom-trek-madone-for-final-race/

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/zubeldia-gets-custom-trek-madone-for-final-race/

It would have been hilarious if they had put a camouflage pattern on that bike