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Is Simon Gerrans the best ever Australian roadie?

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May 2, 2013
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auscyclefan94 said:
Gerrans' have been as a result of sitting on the wheel and taking advantage of the work of others.

So has the Cav's, Robbie McEwen's etc. He is a bloke who plays to his strength in the selected bunch sprint and wins.

He has shown in many race's he's good at the tough hilly stuff but has been dropped by only a fraction over what his ability enables many a time. In contrast he has a lot better sprint than those guys who are slightly better. Maybe he is smart? but has learned to sit on a bit more when the going gets tough because he can smoke most non-sprinters in the finish.

I believe wheel sucking to sit on if your an equal and don't contribute, not if your skills are different or your on the edge of getting dropped.

What do you expect him to do, sit up and lose each race or attack and die?

On a side note I think the thread is ridiculous.
 
auscyclefan94 said:
Gerrans' palmares will never match Evans' due to the simple fact that Evans's big victories being the TDF, WC, Fleche amongst other victories have been won because he was the strongest rider who rode hard to the finish. Gerrans' have been as a result of sitting on the wheel and taking advantage of the work of others.
Some are (MSR, LBL, 09 Vuelta and '13 TDF Stage wins) some aren't ('08 TdF Stage, 09 Giro Stage, GP Ouest France, GP Quebec, Denmark Tour and his TDU titles).

His biggest wins have come from following attacks but just as many have come from some good attacking/breakaway riding. It can be ugly but you've got to do what you've got to do, especially as a leader.

Having said that, his volume of results pales compared to Evans and Anderson, those two are still well ahead as Australia's 1 and 2. It's great to see Gerrans achieve what his mentor (Anderson) never quite could at Liege.
 
Well of course not. Evans, Anderson, McKewen and probably O'Grady would all be ahead.

But I actually don't see what the relevance of the question really is. Why would the nationailty of the rider matter in the slightest? Why not ask who is the best rider with a name beginning with the letter P? Or some other arbitrary grouping. Hair colour? Who's the best ever rider that uses Selle Italia saddles? Makes about as much sense.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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winkybiker said:
Well of course not. Evans, Anderson, McKewen and probably O'Grady would all be ahead.

But I actually don't see what the relevance of the question really is. Why would the nationailty of the rider matter in the slightest? Why not ask who is the best rider with a name beginning with the letter P? Or some other arbitrary grouping. Hair colour? Who's the best ever rider that uses Selle Italia saddles? Makes about as much sense.

Nationality makes some sense as it is part of a riders background. For example a rider whose last name begins with P isn't going to face the same difficulties as a rider from Rwanda.
 
karlboss said:
Nationality makes some sense as it is part of a riders background. For example a rider whose last name begins with P isn't going to face the same difficulties as a rider from Rwanda.

I'll admit the difficulty of breaking into professional sport is likely correlated to resources available to the rider as a child and junior. Some one who has come from a background of hardship may deserve more respect and recognition as they have overcome greater "odds". But coming from Australia does not automatically place one in that position. Similarly, coming from a poor country does not automatically imply that one has not had access to substantial wealth. There is income disparity in all countries. Does anyone think Froome struggled with family poverty as a child in Kenya?
 
Mar 13, 2009
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winkybiker said:
I'll admit the difficulty of breaking into professional sport is likely correlated to resources available to the rider as a child and junior. Some one who has come from a background of hardship may deserve more respect and recognition as they have overcome greater "odds". But coming from Australia does not automatically place one in that position. Similarly, coming from a poor country does not automatically imply that one has not had access to substantial wealth. There is income disparity in all countries. Does anyone think Froome struggled with family poverty as a child in Kenya?
froome is more south African than Kenyan.

his passport said Kenyan before he got his UK passport.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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winkybiker said:
I'll admit the difficulty of breaking into professional sport is likely correlated to resources available to the rider as a child and junior. Some one who has come from a background of hardship may deserve more respect and recognition as they have overcome greater "odds". But coming from Australia does not automatically place one in that position. Similarly, coming from a poor country does not automatically imply that one has not had access to substantial wealth. There is income disparity in all countries. Does anyone think Froome struggled with family poverty as a child in Kenya?

It's a quick and easy grouping of background, sometimes extremely relevant other times not so much. I agree with Blackcat on Froome, white kid in South Africa is more accurate, for whom it is tougher than a middle class kid from Belgium, but easier than an impoverished kid from Ethiopia. Once Australia's domestic scene more closely rivals Europe it won't be a valid qualification, but for now it's worth something. The fact that Gerrans wasn't fostered as a junior and he's Australian is something as opposed to the guys who get a shot with Jayco AIS.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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karlboss said:
It's a quick and easy grouping of background, sometimes extremely relevant other times not so much. I agree with Blackcat on Froome, white kid in South Africa is more accurate, for whom it is tougher than a middle class kid from Belgium, but easier than an impoverished kid from Ethiopia. Once Australia's domestic scene more closely rivals Europe it won't be a valid qualification, but for now it's worth something. The fact that Gerrans wasn't fostered as a junior and he's Australian is something as opposed to the guys who get a shot with Jayco AIS.

Australia's domestic series is now competitive, to be just below the French pros, and about on peer with the French amateurs. where is gets murky, is a lot of those teams move between the two and Tro-Bro Leon etc.

but when some domestic teams get exposure in Herald Sun Tour, and then they have Warrny, and Grafton Inverell, and the other one-day race to Sydney City, there is potential for those two Praties riders to jump to Garmin.

And South Africa had a better domestic scene that Britain in the early part of the 2000s. inatech challenge, the other tour, then the biggest granfondo in the world by competitor entrants. so they definitely had a strong scene, which allowed john Robertson to build Konica and Barloworld, around the time post-Linda Macartney, and when Dave Mcenzie and his wife had the team iTeamNova, which was basically an amateur team with pros in it.

Cape Agus was the one-day race, and Giro del Capo their old tour that my memory relieved me
 
karlboss said:
It's a quick and easy grouping of background, sometimes extremely relevant other times not so much. I agree with Blackcat on Froome, white kid in South Africa is more accurate, for whom it is tougher than a middle class kid from Belgium, but easier than an impoverished kid from Ethiopia. Once Australia's domestic scene more closely rivals Europe it won't be a valid qualification, but for now it's worth something. The fact that Gerrans wasn't fostered as a junior and he's Australian is something as opposed to the guys who get a shot with Jayco AIS.

Phil Anderson was actually born in the UK, and migrated with his parents to Australia as a child. They were relatively well-off too as he attended a Private School in the 1960's.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Yingge said:
Phil Anderson was actually born in the UK, and migrated with his parents to Australia as a child. They were relatively well-off too as he attended a Private School in the 1960's.
Trinity Grammar in Camberwell or Balwyn or Kew, think the footballer Josh Gibson is out of there too

terribly meretricious part of the world
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Kind of my point blackcat, the Australian program is getting stronger and stronger hence being Australian will mean less and less as the years go by. By the way that other race is Goulburn to Camden...was cancelled last year as NSW police wouldn't close the roads necessary to safely run the race.

Yingee, Where you are born doesn't matter, it's where you grow up, the culture that surrounds you and the sporting opportunities that you come into contact that matter. Hence Anderson is Aussie for this argument.
 
Feb 19, 2014
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This thread should have been called 'Is Simon Gerrans the greatest ever overachiever in Australian road cycling'.

Evans takes the greatest roadie title by some distance,two monuments,some nice one day races and some GT stage wins don't equal Le Tour and Worlds RR.

Surely Evans is one of Australia's greatest ever SPORTSMEN never mind roadie,up there with Ian Thorpe,Laver,Adam Scott and Don Bradman.Just my opinion.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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movingtarget said:
Gerrans is without a doubt Australia's greatest one day rider or classics rider but Evan's achievements re the Tour and the Worlds and multiple podiums is the next level up. That said, Gerrans has a real shot at the Worlds this year.
this is a good thread. kudos to the OP.

OP is nostradamus
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Tournesol said:
This thread should have been called 'Is Simon Gerrans the greatest ever overachiever in Australian road cycling'.

Evans takes the greatest roadie title by some distance,two monuments,some nice one day races and some GT stage wins don't equal Le Tour and Worlds RR.

Surely Evans is one of Australia's greatest ever SPORTSMEN never mind roadie,up there with Ian Thorpe,Laver,Adam Scott and Don Bradman.Just my opinion.
no, its Gerro for me.

he is a winner. And now he has the team support. Good to see Impey back
 

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