Male Cyclist of the year (2014)?

[Red Rick]

which is indeed true.



San Sebastian is just another Spanish (ie not international) race Valverde won, which is what I thought Red Rick meant.

I did forget CSS though, I thought he only won the tt nats

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

For some reason that only God (and Vino) knows, Nibali was stronger this year than ever.

Well, the reason really is pretty easy to figure out. Nibali has been improving steadily every year since he turned pro. Exception 2011, stagnation, actually regression in GTs then. But then his "jump" 09-10 was fairly big. Not everybody is Andy Schleck, Quintana or Sagan, that reach their potential almost immediately. Nibali has improved year by year, so.... why surprising that he was stronger than ever this year? (Actually not sure he was stronger in 14 than 13, he already was up there in 13, and doubt he really can improve anymore)
Uran btw another rider who's improving a bit year by year.


BTW, I'm shocked to find out that the Vuelta is not an international race!

 

[Mellow Velo]

which is indeed true.



San Sebastian is just another Spanish (ie not international) race Valverde won, which is what I thought Red Rick meant.

Silly girl.
That would mean the only international race Bertie won was T-A, wouldn't it?
Luckily, I took it to mean WT.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I did forget CSS though, I thought he only won the tt nats

When you were busy counting up Bertie's second places in stages of a stage race, you also forgot you'd then have to include a little number called LBL.
Came right after FW.

 

[Netserk]

When you were busy counting up Bertie's second places in stages of a stage race, you also forgot you'd then have to include a little number called LBL.
Came right after FW.

Did you forget the original quote?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Silly girl.
That would mean the only international race Bertie won was T-A, wouldn't it?
Luckily, I took it to mean WT.

to be fair that is still better than Roma Maxima

 

[richwagmn]

Why is Tony Martin an option?

Replace Tony with Dan. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Dan Martin in the coming years.

Anways, Contador for sure. Amazing comeback and a great season before the TDF.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Contador is the winner for me. I probably dislike him as much as anyone here, but he deserves a ton of credit for the season-long dominance he showed in 2014. Valverde's slew of podiums makes him second on my ballot.

 

[hfer07]

is it worth mentioning Jens Voigt for his "hour record"?

 

[Mellow Velo]

to be fair that is still better than Roma Maxima

A lot better!
But, isn't it interesting that they include two of the three best long range attacks of the season.

 

[SKSemtex]

I learnt last year from this forum that only wins that matters are GT wins, monuments, WCRR, Olympics. You can have 30 podiums in a year you are nobody without one of these. This new wisdom made me decision very easy.

As we have nobody who has won two of these I will go according the "greatness" of each individual race in my scale.

Nibali,
Terpstra,
Kwiatko
Cance,
Contador
Quintana,
Martin,
Kristoff
Gerrans

Without this wisdom, Valverde by miles - for me absolutely impressive performance this year

 

[damian13ster]

which is indeed true.



San Sebastian is just another Spanish (ie not international) race Valverde won, which is what I thought Red Rick meant.

Well then, if it is true then lets compare wins:

Contador: Vuelta, Pais Vasco, TA, 2GT stages
Valvede: San Sebastian, Spains ITT championship, FW, Vuelta Andalucia, Indurain, Roma Maxima, Vuelta Murcia
Nibali: TdF, Italian RR, 4 GT stages
Gerrans: Montreal, Quebec, LBL, Tour Down Under

In what world Contador's wins are better than Nibali's. He also won much less than Valverde, but here it depends just how much value you put on Vuelta. And Gerrans has most WT races won.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Well then, if it is true then lets compare wins:

Contador: Vuelta, Pais Vasco, TA, 2GT stages
Valvede: San Sebastian, Spains ITT championship, FW, Vuelta Andalucia, Indurain, Roma Maxima, Vuelta Murcia
Nibali: TdF, Italian RR, 4 GT stages
Gerrans: Montreal, Quebec, LBL, Tour Down Under

In what world Contador's wins are better than Nibali's. He also won much less than Valverde, but here it depends just how much value you put on Vuelta. And Gerrans has most WT races won.

Best rider of the year. Nibali was **** all year except in July. Hence Alberto beats him comfortably.

Besides, I'd rate Vuelta, Tirreno, Pais Vasco + 6 stage wins higher than 1 TDF with 4 stage wins against virtually no competition at all

But a Nibali fan will never see that. They are even more blind and deluded than Contador fans.

 

[damian13ster]

I dont know how they rate higher, especially since Contador stage wins were against worse competition than Nibalis (unless you count Froome riding right after injury a good competition).
Competition in TA wasnt stronger than in TdF by any means, same in Pais Vasco, Algarve, or Vuelta (especially since hardly any rider atually targets it).'

I am just saying that if only wins counts then there were better riders than Contador this year.
If we are looking at importance of wins, Nibali is better, if we are looking at number of wins, Valvede, Gerrans are better. If we are looking at secondary places as well, Valverde was better.
of course, it could be different in Contador finished TdF (there is a big possibility he wouldnt win it anyway, being over 2 minutes behind Nibali already), but he crashed and by his own mistake.

 

[Pentacycle]

I dont know how they rate higher, especially since Contador stage wins were against worse competition than Nibalis (unless you count Froome riding right after injury a good competition).
Competition in TA wasnt stronger than in TdF by any means, same in Pais Vasco, Algarve, or Vuelta (especially since hardly any rider atually targets it).'

I am just saying that if only wins counts then there were better riders than Contador this year.
If we are looking at importance of wins, Nibali is better, if we are looking at number of wins, Valvede, Gerrans are better. If we are looking at secondary places as well, Valverde was better.
of course, it could be different in Contador finished TdF (there is a big possibility he wouldnt win it anyway, being over 2 minutes behind Nibali already), but he crashed and by his own mistake.

Among the riders who contested TA this year I spotted Péraud and Quintana, who Contador managed to beat by over two minutes. An incredible lead after one week of racing. And the guys mentioned have achieved pretty good results this year during their respective GT participations, which gives an indication about Contador's performance.

Of course the depth of the TdF field is much better, but in terms of top riders who contested the race they're not that different.

 

[damian13ster]

Of course, but in TA the competition wasnt better, even if you can claim it was similar (and in my original post I said it wasn't better, and considering that + prestige of the race, stage win in TdF>>> stage win in TA). Besides, Nibali had over 4 minutes over Peraud after first week of competition, wasnt it? And then he added 5 more despite not being forced to attack at all.

So not sure what your point was, if it was meant to somehow prove Contador's superiority.

 

[El Pistolero]

Peraud wasn't good enough to get second in T-A. Says it all.

 

[Jspear]

I dont know how they rate higher, especially since Contador stage wins were against worse competition than Nibalis (unless you count Froome riding right after injury a good competition).
Competition in TA wasnt stronger than in TdF by any means, same in Pais Vasco, Algarve, or Vuelta (especially since hardly any rider atually targets it).'

I am just saying that if only wins counts then there were better riders than Contador this year.
If we are looking at importance of wins, Nibali is better, if we are looking at number of wins, Valvede, Gerrans are better. If we are looking at secondary places as well, Valverde was better.
of course, it could be different in Contador finished TdF (there is a big possibility he wouldnt win it anyway, being over 2 minutes behind Nibali already), but he crashed and by his own mistake.

Remember AC had a fractured tibia as well. It's not like AC was WAY above CF or anything.

 

[damian13ster]

Yeah, but when they competed together (before crash in Dauphine) Froome was stronger. Anyway, this is not the discussion here, the discussion is who was the cyclist of the year, so thats pretty much comparing palmares. A

 

[Tonton]

Well, the reason really is pretty easy to figure out. Nibali has been improving steadily every year since he turned pro. Exception 2011, stagnation, actually regression in GTs then. But then his "jump" 09-10 was fairly big. Not everybody is Andy Schleck, Quintana or Sagan, that reach their potential almost immediately. Nibali has improved year by year, so.... why surprising that he was stronger than ever this year? (Actually not sure he was stronger in 14 than 13, he already was up there in 13, and doubt he really can improve anymore)
Uran btw another rider who's improving a bit year by year.


BTW, I'm shocked to find out that the Vuelta is not an international race!

So hard work paid off

The data doesn't tell the same story, but that's for another place on CN.

 

[The Hitch]

Well then, if it is true then lets compare wins:

Contador: Vuelta, Pais Vasco, TA, 2GT stages
Valvede: San Sebastian, Spains ITT championship, FW, Vuelta Andalucia, Indurain, Roma Maxima, Vuelta Murcia
Nibali: TdF, Italian RR, 4 GT stages
Gerrans: Montreal, Quebec, LBL, Tour Down Under

In what world Contador's wins are better than Nibali's. He also won much less than Valverde, but here it depends just how much value you put on Vuelta. And Gerrans has most WT races won.

There's a difference between the value of the race you won and being the best cyclist. Due to the luck of some crashes Nibali won the better race. There was nothing Contador could do about that. That doesn't make Nibali the better cyclist.

When judging the best cyclist one shouldn't just ignore what actually happened then look up the results on wikipedia and decide who would be happiest with their season.

The actual performances also matter. Contador on the Tirreno stage was one of the best performances in the history of the sport. He had a number of performances throughout the year where he took on the top gt riders on stages and beat them in very impressive fashion.

That also matters. And clearly the people who decide the award agree with me as they gave it to Contador over Nibali.

 

[Red Rick]

There's a difference between the value of the race you won and being the best cyclist. Due to the luck of some crashes Nibali won the better race. There was nothing Contador could do about that. That doesn't make Nibali the better cyclist.

When judging the best cyclist one shouldn't just ignore what actually happened then look up the results on wikipedia and decide who would be happiest with their season.

The actual performances also matter. Contador on the Tirreno stage was one of the best performances in the history of the sport. He had a number of performances throughout the year where he took on the top gt riders on stages and beat them in very impressive fashion.

That also matters. And clearly the people who decide the award agree with me as they gave it to Contador over Nibali.

Lots of this, Hitch speaking truth once again

 

[damian13ster]

There's a difference between the value of the race you won and being the best cyclist. Due to the luck of some crashes Nibali won the better race. There was nothing Contador could do about that. That doesn't make Nibali the better cyclist.

When judging the best cyclist one shouldn't just ignore what actually happened then look up the results on wikipedia and decide who would be happiest with their season.

The actual performances also matter. Contador on the Tirreno stage was one of the best performances in the history of the sport. He had a number of performances throughout the year where he took on the top gt riders on stages and beat them in very impressive fashion.

That also matters. And clearly the people who decide the award agree with me as they gave it to Contador over Nibali.

Actually, he could not make a stupid mistake by not having both hands on the steering wheel when descending....
Being able of riding smart and not to take dumb, unnecessary risks is also a part of being a cyclist


Also, you are missing out on the fact that Nibali at that point already had stage win and huge advantage over Contador + he dominated later in the mountains which didnt really bode well for Contador making up that time. (and dont start with Contador apparently putting Nibali in trouble over a small hill because that is not a good indicator on who would do better on long climb, it just shows who has better acceleration)
And yes, results do show who was the best rider in this year, which is not equivalent of being the best rider overall (over entire career or when both are at 100%).

 

[Jspear]

Actually, he could not make a stupid mistake by not having both hands on the steering wheel when descending....
Being able of riding smart and not to take dumb, unnecessary risks is also a part of being a cyclist

Stage 10 of the Tour had many mountains. It is common for cyclist to use a hand to grab something to eat on a descent. AC isn't new to cycling, he isn't new to descending. Now in this exact situation was he being careless? I don't know if anyone can say definitively yes. There is still some doubt surrounding that situation since the crash wasn't actually caught on video. Even if he was being completely stupid and the crash was entirely his fault and there was no bad luck involved, I don't really see how that changes anything in the current discussion. He had a GREAT spring season - Beating plenty of great riders in the process. Then he crashed - unfortunately many riders crash (Nibbes crashed a couple of times recently as well....I wonder what that says about his level of carelessness. ) But then he came back and won a gt in spite of his injury. AC has won races all through out this season in spite of a bad crash. Before the crash, after the crash.

Nibbes on the other hand didn't have any bad luck of that sort (except for towards the end of his season) and still could only manage to do well over 3 weeks of the season. That does NOT make him worthy of the cyclist of the year award.

 

[damian13ster]

Well, he did great over 3 most important weeks of the season. Also, he wasnt careless at any point of it, plus his weak form at the beginning had probably something to do with being a father. Anyway, when it counts he showed up. Won his national championships, got himself huge advantage over first half of the Tour, didn't make any mistakes over entire race, quadrupled that advantage over 2nd part of the Tour.

I think that definetely warrants calling him best rider of the year, as opposed to someone who showed good form in preparation races, fell behind by well over 2 minutes in his target race, screwed up remainder of the major race of the season (from what I heard there was noone else involved in the crash so its all on him), and then came back to win a consolation race (lets face it, the likes of Horner target the Vuelta, not the most accomplished riders).