Mental or random cycling statistics

[rallybanana]

I can't tell if you are trying to make a joke I don't get, or you can't read?

It was a joke that while Geraint Thomas is obviously the greatest Welsh cyclist the question of the greatest Welsh footballer is a little bit more debatable.

Here's a challenge if you want to test your knowledge of Welsh footballers. Can you name all nine Welsh players to ever get a Ballon d'Or vote? I got 8 out of 9 but had to google the Scunthorpe goalkeeper.

Ballon d'Or : Every Welsh Player

Can you name all the Welsh Players who have received a vote in the Ballon d'Or voting?

www.sporcle.com

 

[BigCoward]

It was a joke that while Geraint Thomas is obviously the greatest Welsh cyclist the question of the greatest Welsh footballer is a little bit more debatable.

Here's a challenge if you want to test your knowledge of Welsh footballers. Can you name all nine Welsh players to ever get a Ballon d'Or vote? I got 8 out of 9 but had to google the Scunthorpe goalkeeper.

Ballon d'Or : Every Welsh Player

Can you name all the Welsh Players who have received a vote in the Ballon d'Or voting?

www.sporcle.com

John Charles is clearly the greatest Welsh player. But it wouldn't have worked for the point of the thread.

 

[rallybanana]

One of cycling's unsolved x-files is the stage 15b individual time trial of the 1981 Vuelta..

It took place on a city circuit that criss-crossed and the course may or may not have been properly marked depending on which side of the story you believe.

This reasonable rider with a couple of good wins from breakaways but nothing major, who was certainly no time trialist, set the fastest time by 39 seconds. He had no idea he'd gone fast and he'd even crashed.

Some theorized he'd gotten up from the crash and ridden down the wrong route.....except he was followed by a support car and a commissaires car and the people in both cars said he rode the correct route. Also that he didn't hold on to the car.

The timekeepers were sure they hadn't made a mistake, and apparently had backup timekeeping that also showed the same time.

In the end, the Miko-Mercier team made such a stink that 2 minutes were added to his time. In those days at the Vuelta whatever the foreigners wanted they got. So, of course Miko-Mercier rider Regis Clere was promoted to 1st place with the stage win. Some sources refuse to credit Clere with the win.

Did he win honestly? We still don't know what happened.

Recently he became president of the spanish federation, headed the organization of the 2014 worlds and has held posts with the UCI.

edit: and i forgot his name. duh. Jose Luis Lopez Cerron

Brandon McNulty's KOM jersey on stage 1 of the Giro can be classified under the same x-files.

Did timing errors put Brandon McNulty into KOM jersey at Giro d'Italia?

Closer inspection shows the US rider's time trial splits simply don't add up

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[QueenStagiaire]

TdF winners since 1990 who also rode Scheldeprijs during their careers
G Thomas
Froome
Wiggo
Lance

Evans only rode Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
Contador rode Brussels Cycling Classic
Riis did a bunch of flat Belgian races at least once

It seems to be an anglophone thing for good GC riders to also ride Scheldeprijs.

 

[SHAD0W93]

TdF winners since 1990 who also rode Scheldeprijs during their careers
G Thomas
Froome
Wiggo
Lance

Evans only rode Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
Contador rode Brussels Cycling Classic
Riis did a bunch of flat Belgian races at least once

It seems to be an anglophone thing for good GC riders to also ride Scheldeprijs.

Even weirder, only Wiggins and Armstrong rode it while being considered GC contenders.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Do we now need to decide whether cycling facts are random or mental before posting them?

A case for thread merger perhaps.

 

[rallybanana]

Do we now need to decide whether cycling facts are random or mental before posting them?

A case for thread merger perhaps.

Maybe a new thread called 'random facts and mental statistics' for people who can't decide which of the old threads to post in

 

[rallybanana]

Only 6 of Stephen Roche's 48 pro wins came in even-numbered years.

 

[RedheadDane]

Maybe a new thread called 'random facts and mental statistics' for people who can't decide which of the old threads to post in

But then where would you put random statistics, or mental facts?

 

[rallybanana]

But then where would you put random statistics, or mental facts?

Good question. Maybe the thread should be called "facts and statistics of a random or mental nature"

 

[SafeBet]

The thread title having no capital letters drives me mental so it should 100% be merged to the other.

 

[Finn84]

In the original results of 2002 Tour de France, prologue and first 10 stages saw 11 different teams winning.

Armstrong (US Postal)
Bertogliati (Lampre-Daikin)
Freire (Mapei-QuickStep)
McEwen (Lotto-Adecco)
TTT (Once)
Kirsipuu (AG2R)
Zabel (Telekom)
McGee (Francaise des Jeux)
Kroon (Rabobank)
Botero (Kelme)
Halgand (Jean Delatour)

 

[lemon cheese cake]

In the original results of 2002 Tour de France, prologue and first 10 stages saw 11 different teams winning.

Armstrong (US Postal)
Bertogliati (Lampre-Daikin)
Freire (Mapei-QuickStep)
McEwen (Lotto-Adecco)
TTT (Once)
Kirsipuu (AG2R)
Zabel (Telekom)
McGee (Francaise des Jeux)
Kroon (Rabobank)
Botero (Kelme)
Halgand (Jean Delatour)

At first I didn't see the word prologue and couldn't understand how in 10 stages there could be 11 different winning teams...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

At first I didn't see the word prologue...

Neither did Delgado back in '89.

 

[gunara]

In the original results of 2002 Tour de France, prologue and first 10 stages saw 11 different teams winning.

Armstrong (US Postal)
Bertogliati (Lampre-Daikin)
Freire (Mapei-QuickStep)
McEwen (Lotto-Adecco)
TTT (Once)
Kirsipuu (AG2R)
Zabel (Telekom)
McGee (Francaise des Jeux)
Kroon (Rabobank)
Botero (Kelme)
Halgand (Jean Delatour)

With all the unstability in top level cycling, it's rather remarkable that nearly a half (want to think it's exactly a half with Mapei) of these teams still sees the world 20 years later.

 

[tobydawq]

With all the unstability in top level cycling, it's rather remarkable that nearly a half (want to think it's exactly a half with Mapei) of these teams still sees the world 20 years later.

The unstability is overrated. Look at the WorldTour 10 years ago. 12 of the 19 teams are still WorldTeams today. One is a ProTeam, one was absorbed by EF, one folded but has reappeared as a ProTeam. Only four of those teams have folded. The last team to do that was Katusha in 2019.

So it really is not as fleeting and unstable as people tend to let on.

 

[rallybanana]

Bryan Coquard might be the only rider to win pro races in each of these four regions:

Arctic - Arctic Race of Norway
Tropics - Tour de Langkawi
Southern mid-latitudes - Tour Down Under
Northern mid-latitudes - The rest of his wins

 

[SHAD0W93]

Bryan Coquard might be the only rider to win pro races in each of these four regions:

Arctic - Arctic Race of Norway
Tropics - Tour de Langkawi
Southern mid-latitudes - Tour Down Under
Northern mid-latitudes - The rest of his wins

Honestly I would have expected Greipel and EBH to have done this as well but both missing one.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Neither did Delgado back in '89.

Candidate for most time lost in a Tour prologue surely?

 

[Bonimenier]

Candidate for most time lost in a Tour prologue surely?

Fons De Wolf missed the start and finished OTL on over 6 mins in the prologue in the TdF of 1985.

 

[Izzyeviel]

speaking of the '89 Tour... the winner of stage 20 has two daughters currently riding for https://www.procyclingstats.com/team/ceratizit-wnt-pro-cycling-2023

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Lennard Kämna has finished every stage so far this Giro between 16th and 23rd including three 22nd places. Impressive consistency considering constant commotion countering competitors.

 

[shalgo]

Along those lines, in the 2020 Giro, Sam Oomen finished between 15th and 50th on every stage, and was 21st overall.

 

[Izzyeviel]

9 British riders have started this year's Giro. The record (i believe) number of British riders in the Giro is 10 was achieved last year. A far cry from the dark times of 2016 when there were ZERO British riders in the Giro. How times have changed.

Anyone know the record for most British starters in a World Tour race?

 

[gunara]

The unstability is overrated. Look at the WorldTour 10 years ago. 12 of the 19 teams are still WorldTeams today. One is a ProTeam, one was absorbed by EF, one folded but has reappeared as a ProTeam. Only four of those teams have folded. The last team to do that was Katusha in 2019.

So it really is not as fleeting and unstable as people tend to let on.

Depend on what your standard of stability is and what sport you compare it to. "Only" 4 top level teams folded in 10 years, guys like Unzue, Lefevre, Vaughters or Madiot knows every crack and keeps going to their last breath, but also every year we have good teams struggle with sponsorship, I don't know if that's qualified as stable or not. After all not many team-based professional sports have cycling's competition/tour model, it's hard to find fair comparison (development clubs for individual sports with smaller money, say badminton in my or maybe your country, live on for nearly a century and has no problem finding sponsors, but that's a completely different world).

But maybe it's really not unstable as what it seems to be, that's why I said it's remarkable.