How patriotic are cycling fans?

[Ninety5rpm]

Just curious...

1) Who is your most favorite rider?
2) What country is he from?
3) What country are you from?
4) Are the answers to (2) and (3) the same?

Answer the poll, too, please.

 

[Anonymous]

hard to answer as i have many favourites..

Love EbH, but also natural support cav as a brit, think Haussler is a great rider to watch, then so is robbie mcewan. Like Dave Millar, but then also like Thomas de Ghendt..

What was the question again..?

 

[Ninety5rpm]

hard to answer as i have many favourites..

Love EbH, but also natural support cav as a brit, think Haussler is a great rider to watch, then so is robbie mcewan. Like Dave Millar, but then also like Thomas de Ghendt..

What was the question again..?

Who is your MOST favourite rider?

 

[Anonymous]

Who is your MOST favourite rider?

erm.. can we have a dont have one option..

 

[Publicus]

Just curious...

1) Who is your most favorite rider?
2) What country is he from?
3) What country are you from?
4) Are the answers to (2) and (3) the same?

Answer the poll, too, please.

Contador (Spain). I'm from the US. No. My favorite US rider . . . interesting, it use to be Armstrong and maybe it still is. I like VdV as well . . . Levi makes little or no impression (don't hate him) . . . Horner's very entertaining, especially when he stays upright on the bike. Yeah, I'll say Horner is my favorite American rider (but it's a big gap between 1 and 2).

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I'm from the US but don't have any national bias to US riders. Riders I take interest come from all over. Haussler is one of my favorites and he's not even sure where he comes from....

 

[Anonymous]

Haussler is one of my favorites and he's not even sure where he comes from....

I dont think he is..

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I'm from the US, but few of my favorites are. I tend to gravitate to riders whose style I like to watch. Gibo was a favorite over the last several years. Roberto Heras was a favorite too. I'm liking the way Nibali and Kreuziger ride, and Cunego of late. Thor is a big favorite of mine too. I also like David Arroyo, kind of a stealth rider.

Domestically, I'm a big Peter Stetina fan. I also like Mike Creed quite a bit, and support TeamType 1, though I know they've had a lot of internal problems, I like what they stand for.

Though I'm hoping Rahsaan Bahati has a great career, I don't like anything to do with RR, outside of maybe their kit. Ball is a greedy nutcase. He shafted Creed, and owes other people money. Oh, and he doesn't seem to give a rip about doping it seems.

I also like all riders who ride in support of BikePure, regardless of their nation.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

My favourite rider was Italian.

I come from the US, but live in Germany, and became a cycling fan in Germany.

Susan

 

[TheNJDevil]

From the US, but my most favorite is Jan Ullrich. He reminded me so much of myself physically and in riding style.

Thor has been a favorite of mine also. The few times he has raced in the US, he has responded well to the fans during pre-race.

 

[Race Radio]

I'm from the US, but few of my favorites are. I tend to gravitate to riders whose style I like to watch. Gibo was a favorite over the last several years. Roberto Heras was a favorite too. I'm liking the way Nibali and Kreuziger ride, and Cunego of late. Thor is a big favorite of mine too. I also like David Arroyo, kind of a stealth rider.

Domestically, I'm a big Peter Stetina fan. I also like Mike Creed quite a bit, and support TeamType 1, though I know they've had a lot of internal problems, I like what they stand for.

Though I'm hoping Rahsaan Bahati has a great career, I don't like anything to do with RR, outside of maybe their kit. Ball is a greedy nutcase. He shafted Creed, and owes other people money. Oh, and he doesn't seem to give a rip about doping it seems.

I also like all riders who ride in support of BikePure, regardless of their nation.

Rahsaan has a new team and has escaped the Ball chaos. Should be an interesting experiment, I hope he does well.

 

[issoisso]

Most fans are incredibly chauvinistic.


Thankfully there are exceptions.

From my personal experience I nominate the dutch and norwegian fans as the worst. The norwegians at least have the excuse that they don't have many top riders so their enthusiasm is temporary now that they have a few top ones all of a sudden.

The dutch....jesus. Back at the Vuelta when Gesink hurt his knee (perfectly normal injury. There were far worse ones during the Vuelta) and I actually had a dutch guy tell me in all seriousness and all forms of praise that Gesink is a hero for continuing, that he is the only guy in the peloton who would continue riding and that "no one else would have the same mental strength".

Jebus.

 

[Deagol]

I'm American
Favorite rider has got to be Zabriskie. It's the personality..

 

[ak-zaaf]

I'm Dutch, my favorite rider is Vinokourov.

I have a few riders I really like and in some cases I wouldn't mind if they take a win over a Dutch guy, but in most cases it's chauvinism all the way.

The Gesink example issoisso gave could have came from any country, but I agree us Dutch are chauvinistic in the worst way.

 

[Polish]

Le Chouchou

I am Patriotic depending where the Race is held.

I like to see Italians win the Giro, Spaniards win the Vuelta, Belgians win Flanders, Californians win ToC, Aussies win TdU, and a FrenchMan win the TdF.

 

[Anonymous]

Most fans are incredibly chauvinistic.


Thankfully there are exceptions.

From my personal experience I nominate the dutch and norwegian fans as the worst. .

But what is wrong with that.. why shouldnt fans be partriotic..

Round here patriotism tends to be frowned upon, you become a fanboy so clouded by partiotism that you cannot see the "truth"..

 

[Anonymous]

I'm from the U.S. My favorite rider in general is Contador, but on any given race day, it's the guy fighting to stay away on the break, or attacking on a tough climb. Years as a tennis fan broke me of any sports nationalism I might have had.

 

[Angliru]

I'm American and my favorite riders are usually Spaniards with Simoni being one of the exceptions. I've grown to appreciate Christian Vande Velde to the point that I root for his success. Leipheimer, Armstrong, and Hamilton are the root canals of cyclng to me, although at one point I was a big Armstrong supporter and to this day I still respect his talent. My favorites right now are a toss up of Simoni, Valverde and Contador with a dash of Petacchi's sprinting grace thrown in for variety. I've grown to respect Evans steadiness although I could never root for someone that always blames others for his failings. Admittedly I was touched by his tears on the podium after his WC win.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

1) Geraint Thomas (local lad)
2) Wales
3) England (but west of the river severn so might as well be welsh)
4) good as

Will be interesting to see what Mr Thomas can do now he is on a 'proper' team. I think this time next year we will be able to say the boy done good!

 

[Tugboat]

If I really had to pick one from a number of riders that I get a buzz from watching then I'd have to pick Cancellara.

But I'm a Kiwi and there's so few riders from New Zealand on ProTour teams (5 this year!) that I'll root for each and every one of them with exactly the same passion.

 

[bianchigirl]

I'm a Brit who loves the sport above any particular rider - it's the history, the parcours, the legends, the exploits, the panache that do it for me, not whether a rider speaks the same language as me

 

[pmcg76]

I would have to admit that I like the Irish guys the best, when I started following cycling, we had Kelly/Roche but I liked Matin Earley because he was a lesser guy. Charly Mottet was also a favourite for some reason, proud of that choice now. I would also have been a fan of Lance when he turned pro.

From 1994 until the mid 00s, Ireland didnt have any pros at the top level in Europe, I didnt have any real favourites, I just enjoyed the sport but since we have started producing pros again, I will back them. Philip Deignan would be my favourite but then if you couldnt back a guy that came through the same club that you once rode for, then I dont really know what to say.

I never actually knew Deignan because I have spent a big part of the last 15 years living abroad. I have now talked to him a few times at races and hs is a very normal down to earth, straight guy. I actually spoke to him at the Vuelta a few days before he won his stage and he gave me a pass for the start village. Very cool.

Its strange because I have lived in 6 different countries and would consider myself very open-minded and unpatriotic but when it comes to sport, it just comes out. Outside of the Irish guys, I dont have any favourites, just one rider I really dont like I like to see the underdogs win.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Where are the Aussies?

Curious that we have no Australian votes yet, but then I realized it is still early (Thursday) morning over there...

 

[Big GMaC]

1. Greg LeMond
2. United States of America
3. United States of Amercia / United Kingdom (Dual)

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I want to add this is the only sport where I don't have national bias. In tennis, I will always want root for Roddick or Blake.

In cycling though, I like riders regardless of country. I will say though in certain races, I'm rooting for the American. I consider Cavendish my favorite sprinter, but if he and Farrar are sprinting for the finish at Worlds, I'm hoping Farrar gets there first. In the Tour, however, I want Cav to take the Green Jersey. I'm not sure why there's that dichotomy.