Heroes of the year

[The Hitch]

Meh Im bored. That moron of the year thread wasnt half bad. I didnt know if the alternative should be a genius of the year or a hero or the year, but since its cycling i thought hero is better.

By hero i mean people who this year went beyond the call of duty to provide us cycling fans with a spectacle.

First on the list. Angelo Zomegnan, chapeau sir.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Zomegnan I take of my hat for you, you deserve a bow indeed.
And to you too Fabian Cancellara for some wonderfull shows of strength

 

[The Hitch]

Zomegnan I take of my hat for you, you deserve a bow indeed.
And to you too Fabian Cancellara for some wonderfull shows of strength

Actually Canc would be the opposite seeing as he was SOO good that he took away from the excitement of PR and RVV rather than adding to it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Jérôme Pineau, for being in every break in every Grand Tour.

Alejandro Valverde, for riding every race like it was his last, probably because he knew there was a good chance it was. Seeing Caisse d'Epargne, led by the guy in polka dots, forming echelons in a pan-flat stage, was quite bizarre.

 

[The Hitch]

Jérôme Pineau, for being in every break in every Grand Tour.

Alejandro Valverde, for riding every race like it was his last, probably because he knew there was a good chance it was. Seeing Caisse d'Epargne, led by the guy in polka dots, forming echelons in a pan-flat stage, was quite bizarre.

Yep. seeing him twice woop the 3 time msr and worlds winner in pan flat sprints, then podium 3 of the next 4 stages including a tt and 2 mountains, does fit the descritption of going on beyond the call of duty. And thats just one race. I think if he had continued he could have got some sort of CQ all time record.

Niemiec of course.

And Arroyo for that epic last week performance.

 

[Christian]

Eh, not a big fan of Zomegnan's. I feel like for him it's all about the show, the bigger, more extravagant and more ridiculous the better. It's rather ... italian. (Sorry if there are any Italians on the forum, love you guys)

Other than Fabian Cancellara I'd have to say Cadel Evans. Incredibly successful season, best world-champion in a long time. Great to see him beat Contador in Huy.

 

[The Hitch]

Eh, not a big fan of Zomegnan's. I feel like for him it's all about the show, the bigger, more extravagant and more ridiculous the better. It's rather ... italian. (Sorry if there are any Italians on the forum, love you guys)

Other than Fabian Cancellara I'd have to say Cadel Evans. Incredibly successful season, best world-champion in a long time. Great to see him beat Contador in Huy.

Agree with Cuddles 100%, but for the others look at the description in the OP.

Im talking about providing great racing for the fans. This is why Zomnegan is on the list. He may be an egomaniac or whatver, but as far as this list goes he was behing Giro 2010, and whats more he has given us an epic parcors for Giro 2011.

Cancellara was hardly the instigator of excitement. I think it was exciting in Ronde but nowhere near the same level as say Vino in Liege, and he was behind the dulling down of stage 2 TDF, which is the opposite of providing attractive racing, and as far as this list goes, is unforgivable

 

[El Pistolero]

Eh, not a big fan of Zomegnan's. I feel like for him it's all about the show, the bigger, more extravagant and more ridiculous the better. It's rather ... italian. (Sorry if there are any Italians on the forum, love you guys)

Other than Fabian Cancellara I'd have to say Cadel Evans. Incredibly successful season, best world-champion in a long time. Great to see him beat Contador in Huy.

You call 2006 a long time?

He had a good season, but let's remember he only had 2 wins. Or 3 if you include the Points thingie.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Zomegnan I take of my hat for you, you deserve a bow indeed.
And to you too Fabian Cancellara for some wonderfull shows of strength

On the contrary did you watch stage 2 of le tour?

Jérôme Pineau, for being in every break in every Grand Tour.

Alejandro Valverde, for riding every race like it was his last, probably because he knew there was a good chance it was. Seeing Caisse d'Epargne, led by the guy in polka dots, forming echelons in a pan-flat stage, was quite bizarre.

Maybe it is best if I just leave my response to Alejandro Valverde being a hero to just a shocked emoticon.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Maybe it is best if I just leave my response to Alejandro Valverde being a hero to just a shocked emoticon.

Ah, but The Hitch set out how he was defining 'hero' in this thread as follows:

By hero i mean people who this year went beyond the call of duty to provide us cycling fans with a spectacle.

Is Valverde morally reprehensible? Sure. But his call of duty this year was to get banned. By riding he automatically went beyond the call of duty. And in nearly every race he was in he enlivened it by trying things. Therefore, in the definition Hitch asked us to go by, Valverde fits the description.

Describing him as a 'hero' with all the implications the word has, that's a much tougher thing to do.

 

[Skip Madness]

If we're not going for soppy sentimental choices like Matteo Pelucchi, then the hero of the year was Igor Antón. Quite aside from his stupendous racing exploits, he went beyond the call of duty when he refused to allow crashing horribly out of a Vuelta he looked on course to win, shredding his clothing and covering him in cuts and bruises to be an excuse to not make sure his hair was still looking suitably dolled-up and presentable for his fans in the Euskaltel car's rear-view mirror. The word legend gets bandied around, but there...

 

[The Hitch]

If we're not going for soppy sentimental choices like Matteo Pelucchi, then the hero of the year was Igor Antón. Quite aside from his stupendous racing exploits, he went beyond the call of duty when he refused to allow crashing horribly out of a Vuelta he looked on course to win, shredding his clothing and covering him in cuts and bruises to be an excuse to not make sure his hair was still looking suitably dolled-up and presentable for his fans in the Euskaltel car's rear-view mirror. The word legend gets bandied around, but there...

I just allowed myself the treat of watching the epic 2010 recap 10 minute video (again) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVVyxDkxezg

I saw that incident again and thought exactly the same thing as i always do when i see it. Handles himself greatly. He understands that in this world we live in, crashing out of a cycle race is no big tragedy.

Whats more in the interviews afterwards he was positive, said that he had been "living a dream" for 14 days, and could not wait to come back and do it again.

Top top attitude right there.

 

[Mambo95]

Max Sciandri, Bjarne Riis, Mark Cavendish and Bradley McGee

For all the support that they gave to Jonny Bellis after his accident.

 

[jens_attacks]

zomegnan,basso,vino,contador,valverde and above all of them carlito sastre.

 

[L'arriviste]

+1 for Zomegnan.

* The talking up of Pineau reminded me of Sylvain Chavanel. The man fractured his skull in LBL and came back to do the Tour of his life. A hero of mine this year anyway, even if he can't open an oyster properly.

* Philippe Gilbert, who seemed to save the Lotto team's behind this spring. Until he won the Amstel Gold, people were seriously questioning Sergeant's majors. Then he went on to perform consistently well for the rest of the season and even found time to get married in between.

* The 26 finishers of this year's hellish edition of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

 

[Archibald]

+1 for Zomegnan.

* The talking up of Pineau reminded me of Sylvain Chavanel. The man fractured his skull in LBL and came back to do the Tour of his life. A hero of mine this year anyway, even if he can't open an oyster properly.

beat me to it. Definately Chavanel

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Meh Im bored. That moron of the year thread wasnt half bad. I didnt know if the alternative should be a genius of the year or a hero or the year, but since its cycling i thought hero is better.

By hero i mean people who this year went beyond the call of duty to provide us cycling fans with a spectacle.

First on the list. Angelo Zomegnan, chapeau sir.

For me, this is a tough subject. I remember the days of Hinault, Fignon, Indurain, Kelly, to name a few. Many of them and some I did not list were a different breed... they rode a lot of different kinds of races instead of JUST specializing in one event like the Tour. Today's racers are more robotic, programmed for one event. So my pick is a guy who was probably considered a little crazy by today's standard for trying to do too much:
Carlos Sastre 2010:
- 8th Overall Giro
- 20th Overall Tour
- 8th Overall Vuelta

 

[The Hitch]

Oh Mosquera obviously.

Tried 3 times.

3 In Lagos Covadonga he tried but Kreuziger was able to contain him, and he failed. Great effort though and hats off for trying

2 Not to be put off, in Bola del Mundo he brought us excitement from about 5k out. Lesson to andy schleck, thats what you call a risky attack on a mtf, not riding hand in hand with your opponent. The fact that he was able to create great racing, but unable to get himself a win, only makes him more of a hero.

But of course, the king attempt of them all

1 Andorra. On his own made a potentially boring stage into a great, probably the best of that gt. Weve been over this before, but that was balls. TO ride 5k on the front without a care in the world that 2 of your opponents are slipstreaming behind you.

Chapeau.