Most disappointing riders so far

[Dekker_Tifosi]

do you really have to defend gesink at every instance?? it's getting more pathetic than el pistolero

hello mr i defend every south-american that fails

rofl

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I only hype them. I don't have to defend them as their results and showings speak for themselves

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

So being 'off-form' with the climbing, improving your TT by miles and you still say it isnt well done.

Btw, pot meet kettle.

off form says who?? he himself said he wanted to be in form this spring so if he isn't, he sucks even worse as he can't peak anymore.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Why even more?

Isn't it known already for 3 years that Gesink can't peak. He peaks at the weirdest moments.
F.e Suisse and Montreal last year.

 

[sublimit]

Well, Garmin did win a monument... they didn't do much else, that's true. But Cyclingnews will grab every opportunity to kiss the *** of Anglosaxon teams and riders.

English is derived from Anglo Saxon. IE your neck of the woods in Flanders/Saxony/Angle land where it originated.

Garmin got themselves out of jail by getting some riders up there and got a little bit lucky when everybody sat up, but still, Rabo have been OK considering the riders they have - Boom impresses me if he can stop being the macho, off road, cyclocross guy.

 

[El Pistolero]

you clearly miss the point. And if your gonna play that game, then the only wins that were worth mentioning from 2010 are MSR and PN prologue.

And again MSR aside, rabobank have had improvements across the board (much much better in flanders and PR, better in agr, g-w, fleche. Winning arguably the biggest non-WT race. PN and the other Spanish PT races), not just TA and basque. Don't be ignorant, rabo have clearly been much better then last season. It is ok that you posted thoughtlessly earlier, don't try to defend it.

Arguing that one sprint by friere, in just 200m last year (MSR) overrides the massive improvement they have done this year is very impressive argument making

Like I said a team with depth, whom have rode well.

your anti-dutch posts are a bit much at times. You void reason. Only you lose credibility anyway, whatever.



this lol.
You know what gesink was a domestique all season so far. because i say it, it must be true.

my god what a performance considering his domestique duties.

Look at their team roster.

Look at their results in the Ardennes and most stage races. If you call that better than last year than I'm santa claus. With a better team than last year they actually managed to do worse. In the mean time, someone who left Rabo goes on to win his very first Monument. Olé

Their last big win dates back from the Tirreno-Adriatico. Like I said, they started well, but then they dropped the ball completely after the Tirreno in terms of actually coming close to another victory. With the likes of Luis Leon Sanchez, Garate, Robert Gesink, Carlos Barredo, Oscar Freire, Boom, etc you'd expect them to do better in the classics.

They almost did as crappy as Quick-Step. Almost(it's not actually close at all, but oh well.).

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Instead of starting up something new again (suddenly beginning about Nuyens lucky win), try answering some of the arguments listed above.

If you can't, then stay quiet

 

[El Pistolero]

"much much better in flanders and PR, better in agr, g-w, fleche. Winning arguably the biggest non-WT race. PN and the other Spanish PT races)"

If Nuyens his win is lucky than so is weirdname's 3rd place in P-R and Langeveld's fifth place in Flanders

Better in AGR? They were absolutely crappy in AGR. 3 riders in the winning break and still no one in the top 5. Team tactics were a joke and they still got crushed by Phil even though they were all sucking his wheel in their home race.

Fleche? Uhh, didn't notice Rabo at Fleche, sorry. Wasn't Gesink top 5 here once?

P-N? You mean the total failure of Lulu who came second there last year and won it in 2009?

Other Spanish PT races: Ah, Freire gets a stage win and gets DQ because of his very own team messing it up for him. Or do you mean Gesink struggling on the mountain stages where there was always a big group together? Yeah, he did good in the TT, I'll give you that. Gesink was WAY better last year in Pais Vasco before his crash though, but I guess you don't agree with that.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Again, you are talking only about some of your perceptions, not facts, and only digging for the negative (by comparing with 2009 results of LL Sanchez).

Now please try and compare the FACTS... because you still haven't replied to those. The actual results in all of those races are BETTER. In some cases even WAY better...

Please, please, reply to that. Or just concede you were wrong. Because pretty much everyone sees it but you. You are worse than Louis van Gaal for crying out loud

 

[theyoungest]

Seriously Pistolero, they did better than 2010 in pretty much every race except Milan-San Remo. That's just a fact.

 

[El Pistolero]

Again, you are talking only about some of your perceptions, not facts, and only digging for the negative (by comparing with 2009 results of LL Sanchez).

Now please try and compare the FACTS... because you still haven't replied to those. The actual results in all of those races are BETTER. In some cases even WAY better...

Please, please, reply to that. Or just concede you were wrong. Because pretty much everyone sees it but you. You are worse than Louis van Gaal for crying out loud

Hey, all that proves is they were even crappier last year.

But I do know this. If Rabo had to chose between getting this year's results or last year's they wouldn't pick 2011. That's a fact.

 

[boomcie]

Again, you are talking only about some of your perceptions, not facts, and only digging for the negative (by comparing with 2009 results of LL Sanchez).

Now please try and compare the FACTS... because you still haven't replied to those. The actual results in all of those races are BETTER. In some cases even WAY better...

Please, please, reply to that. Or just concede you were wrong. Because pretty much everyone sees it but you. You are worse than Louis van Gaal for crying out loud

That's uncalled for!

 

[El Pistolero]

Seriously Pistolero, they did better than 2010 in pretty much every race except Milan-San Remo. That's just a fact.

They also have a better team roster than last year.

I'm just not believing all this hype anymore in that they're doing way better than last year. As a team, they had a disappointing spring season. Could care less if it was better than last year, it's still disappointing. They're probably one of the only PT teams that didn't get a single win in the spring season(that starts with La Primavera and ends with La Doyenne)

I can think of Quickstep and Vacansoleil(?), but that's about it.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Hey, all that proves is they were even crappier last year.

But I do know this. If Rabo had to chose between getting this year's results or last year's they wouldn't pick 2011. That's a fact.

Dude...let's try this in the lamest and simplest of terms

All results except in MSR where better.
In RVV and PR they played NO role at ALL last year, now they were 5th and 3rd.
The Ardennes weren't great but no worse than 2010.
Only San Remo stands out as a miss.
Which is simply not enough to call 2010 better than 2011. It's total bs.

You are off this world if you truly believe 2011 was worse. But then again, all you ever do is troll

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, winning is more important than a second place or a third place. Ask Leotard. Another disappointing team. And guess what, they did heaps better than Rabobank in the spring season.

I'm jsut saying Rabobank is disappointing this spring season. I could care less if they were even more disappointing last season. The fact that you're pointing at a fifth place as if it's something good says it all.

It's like pointing at Silence-Lotto's 2 second places in the Tour of 2007/2008 as if it's something good. It's not.

The topic of this thread is dissapointing teams/riders so far. It's not talking about compared to last year(although I would rather have last year's results)

They started well and that brings hype. They didn't deliver anymore after T-A hence they've been quite disappointing especially at the Ardennes and P-N. And last year Gesink was also better at Pais Vasco before his crash than he was this year. + they f*cked up Freire's victory.

 

[Havetts]

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

For a team without a real leader (Breschel was injured), I call a 5th place in Flanders and a 3rd place in Roubaix good yeah

maybe in the world you live in you call that bad. But then 99% of the pro teams suck completely according to yo

 

[Cobblestoned]

I see the forum's elite is gathered here - shining bride again and making as much sense as always, while arguing and spreading "love" about their "beloved sport".


And its not a surpise that the "most impressive"-thread is somehow lonely and avoided by the usual "elite".

 

[El Pistolero]

For a team without a real leader (Breschel was injured), I call a 5th place in Flanders and a 3rd place in Roubaix good yeah

maybe in the world you live in you call that bad. But then 99% of the pro teams suck completely according to yo

No just Quickstep(hey they got second and fourth at Flanders!), Astana, Euskaltel, Lampre, Katusha and BMC.

Quickstep: 2 great classic specialists in their midst and zero big wins. Horrible tactics at RVV.
Astana: well, the whole team hasn't performed at all so far.
Euskaltel: With Samu and Igor Anton they should've done better at the hilly classics and perhaps at P-N as well. Very bad time trial of Samu in Pais Vasco(losing a sprint against Klöden in P-N?)
Lampre: Meh
BMC: Great classics roster yet no podium. Unlucky that Cuddles was injured for the Ardennes, but that's cycling. But they actually did better so far than I expected.
Katusha: one of the best classics roster of all PT teams and not a single classics win... They deserve the biggest fail reward.
Leopard: Can you call this a team? At least not at Cancellara's races. Did good at Criterium International and the Ardenens classics though.

I'm not trolling Rabo because they're Dutch, but because they underperformed at the Ardennes mostly compared to their team roster. And Gesink peaking at Oman is one big WTF. Doesn't the team supervise him? He got the Tirreno-Adriatico victory handed on a silver platter and dropped it.

Teams that did great:

HTC: Math Goss rode brilliantly in M-SR. Also won P-N and Algarve with Tony Martin. Pretty good results for a team that doesn't focus at all on classics and stage races.
OPL: speaks for it self
Saxo: Had a bad team roster yet they managed to win RVV, DDV, Catalunya, Murcia, stage in T-A, stood there as a team in FW(but Contador let them down), etc
Team Radioshack: Winning Pais Vasco again and some nice victories of their young chaps and revival of Klöden. Horner also in good shape. They also had Leipheimer second at Catalunya before he got sick. Won Driedaagse van de Panne with Rosseler. Also won Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. All those victories while everyone called them retiredshack Also a second place at P-N+ stage win and Team classification victories in probably most stage races they entered. A team with a focus on stage races and it's working out for them.

Tjalingi's third place at P-R is a good result yes. For him. He didn't get that result because the team was better than last year. He was lucky. Highly doubt Vansummeren will ever win P-R again, luck as well. But he won because of HIS TEAM. Can't say the same about Tjalingi. The thing to be most proud of is Sebastian Langeveld, he had a great season. All other cyclists of Rabo underperformed for their capabilities imo(besides Tjalingi). Yes, even Gesink.

Instead of calling someone a troll because you think the whole world hates the Dutch, come with real arguments. If you want to compare these results with the one's from last year than you also need to look at the new riders they bought and how they performed on their previous team

 

[FignonLeGrand]

No just Quickstep(hey they got second and fourth at Flanders!), Astana, Euskaltel, Lampre, Katusha and BMC.

Quickstep: 2 great classic specialists in their midst and zero big wins. Horrible tactics at RVV.
Astana: well, the whole team hasn't performed at all so far.
Euskaltel: With Samu and Igor Anton they should've done better at the hilly classics and perhaps at P-N as well. Very bad time trial of Samu in Pais Vasco(losing a sprint against Klöden in P-N?)
Lampre: Meh
BMC: Great classics roster yet no podium. Unlucky that Cuddles was injured for the Ardennes, but that's cycling. But they actually did better so far than I expected.
Katusha: one of the best classics roster of all PT teams and not a single classics win... They deserve the biggest fail reward.
Leopard: Can you call this a team? At least not at Cancellara's races. Did good at Criterium International and the Ardenens classics though.

I'm not trolling Rabo because they're Dutch, but because they underperformed at the Ardennes mostly compared to their team roster. And Gesink peaking at Oman is one big WTF. Doesn't the team supervise him? He got the Tirreno-Adriatico victory handed on a silver platter and dropped it.

Teams that did great:

HTC: Math Goss rode brilliantly in M-SR. Also won P-N and Algarve with Tony Martin. Pretty good results for a team that doesn't focus at all on classics and stage races.
OPL: speaks for it self
Saxo: Had a bad team roster yet they managed to win RVV, DDV, Catalunya, Murcia, stage in T-A, stood there as a team in FW(but Contador let them down), etc
Team Radioshack: Winning Pais Vasco again and some nice victories of their young chaps and revival of Klöden. Horner also in good shape. They also had Leipheimer second at Catalunya before he got sick. Won Driedaagse van de Panne with Rosseler. Also won Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. All those victories while everyone called them retiredshack Also a second place at P-N+ stage win and Team classification victories in probably most stage races they entered. A team with a focus on stage races and it's working out for them.

Tjalingi's third place at P-R is a good result yes. For him. He didn't get that result because the team was better than last year. He was lucky. Highly doubt Vansummeren will ever win P-R again, luck as well. But he won because of HIS TEAM. Can't say the same about Tjalingi. The thing to be most proud of is Sebastian Langeveld, he had a great season. All other cyclists of Rabo underperformed for their capabilities imo(besides Tjalingi). Yes, even Gesink.

Instead of calling someone a troll because you think the whole world hates the Dutch, come with real arguments. If you want to compare these results with the one's from last year than you also need to look at the new riders they bought and how they performed on their previous team

Didnt Boonen win Gent-Wevelgem?

 

[El Pistolero]

And you think that's good?

G-W is the weakest of the classics. Next year will be better though, course will be 235km again with more hills in the final.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

what riders they bought? 90% is the same, you act like they have a whole new team or something

for the classics, only Breschel is 'strengthening', and he was injured.
The rest is the same... LL Sanchez was mainly there to help in the Tour, so is Barredo. What did they ever do in the Ardennes?

The rest nearly all performed better than last year especially the cobbled guys. Langeveld, Boom and Leezer

 

[K-0tic]

Leopard was just unlucky, they were up front in most of the races but didn't win anything. They've been top-3/top-4 in most cases but it wasn't good enough. They'll be doing good soon enough.

 

[c&cfan]

what riders they bought? 90% is the same, you act like they have a whole new team or something

for the classics, only Breschel is 'strengthening', and he was injured.
The rest is the same... LL Sanchez was mainly there to help in the Tour, so is Barredo. What did they ever do in the Ardennes?

The rest nearly all performed better than last year especially the cobbled guys. Langeveld, Boom and Leezer

i am trying to study because i have a really difficult as f*ck exam next Friday. however, after reading some posts, i really need to step in and put some order here.

dekker tifosi, sometimes i disagree with you, but not in this topic. in my humble (godlike ) opinion rabo (in portuguese this word means *** BTW) is having a very nice season, especially if you consider "expectations".

expectation is very important here.for example: due to my own expectation, quickstep is having a very bad season, the same can be said about leopard trek.

as a team, leopard has failure written all over it. they have the strongest cyclist in the world, capable of podium 3 monuments without any tactic. just pure strength, fueled by his huge ego, ambition and the most amazing human powered motor that i ever seen. still, no team around him. i just hope he goes to another team. as my nick says, i am his fan. then they have the shlecks, great athletes, but not at canc's level at all. obviously canc's is giving them some nice results by himself, and is mostly thanks to him that leopard will give some results. will shlecks take care of our expectations? i don't think so.. and yes, 2nd and 3rd at liege and at the tour isn't enough. its a failure. keyword: expectations.

 

[El Pistolero]

what riders they bought? 90% is the same, you act like they have a whole new team or something

for the classics, only Breschel is 'strengthening', and he was injured.
The rest is the same... LL Sanchez was mainly there to help in the Tour, so is Barredo. What did they ever do in the Ardennes?

The rest nearly all performed better than last year especially the cobbled guys. Langeveld, Boom and Leezer

Langeveld was stronger in the RvV of 2008. Way stronger.

Both Lulu and Barredo have won the Clasica San Sebastian. If that's no indication you can do well in the Ardennes classics then I don't know what is. Lulu was leader in Paris-Nice and I expected a lot more from him there as well. And Lulu at least could have done some domestique work for Rabo at the Ardennes, but he barely could even do that.

Lars Boom hasn't done anything out of the ordinary this season. Was there in the final of Paris-Roubaix this year, but then again, a lot of others were there as well. Your whole argument of Rabo doing so much better seems to come from the results at the cobbled classics. Think we all agree that the cobbled classics were very anti racing this season. They all rode against Fabian Cancellara who didn't have a good team. That's why a big breakaway group could survive this year and why the big guns didn't race full out. Langeveld's result this year might be better than in 2008, but he sure was stronger back then. I fail to see how he improved at the RvV.

Breschel of course has done nothing as well, but that's no one's fault.

Next year the cobbled classics will be totally different. Think Fabian learned his lesson this season. If not, then more fool him.