Most disappointing riders so far

[Dekker_Tifosi]

lol @ cyclingnews btw, putting Garmin-Cerfailo at the winners section and Rabobank at the losers.

 

[sublimit]

lol @ cyclingnews btw, putting Garmin-Cerfailo at the winners section and Rabobank at the losers.

I havn't read that yet.. doubt if I'll bother if they are coming out with stuff like that.

At least Flecha has had a go and got near the front on most occasions, not riding great is true though.

 

[just some guy]

You would be stupid to expect much from him this year, especially after his injuries. He's barely strung two races together

Funny thing before he joined BMC ( you may not have heard him of course not being a BMC rider) he was often racing seniors and performing very well.

I think he will be very good in the future if he learns how to stay upright on the bike but disappointing this year Very much so.

 

[El Pistolero]

Where does it say that it has to be for only spring classics?

No where, but they had a great start at the season, but then when the spring classic season begun they had no results besides a lucky third place at P-R. Hence they're disappointing.

 

[The Hitch]

I second that. Also I'm a bit disappointed by both Sanchez's and the Italians in general in the spring classics (not referring to for instance scarponi in the TA)

Sanchez is 6th highest in the season in cq rankings. He is above Contador and Voeckler even and only the 5 superstars of the season - Gilbert, Goss, Scarponi Cancellara and Kloeden, all of whom are having the Spring of their lives are above him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

No where, but they had a great start at the season, but then when the spring classic season begun they had no results besides a lucky third place at P-R. Hence they're disappointing.

So the season starts at San Remo for you?

brw, has anyone elses page width gone really skinny in the past 10 minutes?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Bolded victories have nothing to do with spring classics. And compared to last year, they've been disappointing.

this thread has nothing to do with spring classics

anyway on a whole rabo are having a much better season then last year. Don't be ignorant.

Ok they won mSR last year, but amongst the wins acf listed they have a lot of consistent results. CQ rankings display this.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

lol @ cyclingnews btw, putting Garmin-Cerfailo at the winners section and Rabobank at the losers.

lol. Just read the article and it's way off. I don't even get their arguments and reasoning. Take a look at Di Luca named as one of the winners, while the argument is "We barely noticed he was racing. A win all round.".

Also, Boonen among the winners? Uhm, no. Sure, he's made some good results but I doubt that he's happy about them.

And as you mention Rabobank among the losers and Garmin among the winners. What?

 

[El Pistolero]

this thread has nothing to do with spring classics

anyway on a whole rabo are having a much better season then last year. Don't be ignorant.

Ok they won mSR last year, but amongst the wins acf listed they have a lot of consistent results. CQ rankings display this.

February 8 Trofeo Cala Millor UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain Mallorca
February 22 Ruta Del Sol, Stage 2 UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain Córdoba
February 23 Ruta Del Sol, Stage 3 UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain Benahavís
February 25 Ruta Del Sol, Points classification UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain
March 7 Paris–Nice, Prologue UCI World Ranking Lars Boom (NED) France Montfort-l'Amaury
March 16 Tirreno–Adriatico, Youth classification UCI World Ranking Robert Gesink (NED) Italy
March 20 Milan–Sanremo UCI World Ranking Óscar Freire (ESP) Italy Sanremo
April 5 Tour of the Basque Country, Stage 1 UCI ProTour Óscar Freire (ESP)[N 1] Spain Zierbena
April 6 Tour of the Basque Country, Stage 2 UCI ProTour Óscar Freire (ESP)[N 2] Spain Viana

9 victories last year vs 10 now. Fail to see how they've been better. It's actually pretty much the same if you ask me besides a Monument win last year.

CQ ranking also places Sanchez as sixth, but who honestly believes that?

 

[Angliru]

He has roughly the same chance of winning a grand tour as he has of winning Paris-Roubaix or Tour of Flanders. He can't compete in terms of power with Boonen or Hushovd let alone Cancellara and none of those are going away any time soon. This year he couldn't even compete with Ballan.

You do realize that those type of races are his specialty? Should he devote himself to domestique duties at other races for whomever instead?

 

[theyoungest]

lol @ cyclingnews btw, putting Garmin-Cerfailo at the winners section and Rabobank at the losers.

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.

 

[Anonymous]

For this season I'd add: EBH and Cunego.

I'd take Boonen off. Interesting case, will he ever dominate again?

Knee injuries are tough. Haussler isn't the same either.

Good question. There's little confidence there.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Gesink Robert

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gesink Robert

Hilarious.

Do you realise he had his best start of the season ever? He scored almost twice as many CQ points as last year around this time.
Yeah the Ardennes classics weren't good, but he is still a stage racer. And the stage races he did, he finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

And even in average form, he still outperformed your lovely Tony Martin who would do top 10 in LBL

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

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.

+1 - no mention of the humiliation of Vaughters at RVV 'Sprint for third' and being exposed for marketing clothes horse that he is.

 

[jaylew]

How about the most disappointing set of the year be the established sprinters. A great many of the sprints have been won but younger guys and middle tier sprinters. Farrar, Cavendish, Petacchi and Griepel have won maybe 12 times combine. Usually After races like Oman, Qatar and Down under, they would be pushing low 20s.

It's even worse than that. Only 7 wins amongst the 4 of them so far.

Not including the injured crew:
Haussler
LL Sanchez
Porte
Kashechkin
Hushovd
Devolder

 

[boomcie]

Gesink Robert

Hilarious.

Do you realise he had his best start of the season ever? He scored almost twice as many CQ points as last year around this time.
Yeah the Ardennes classics weren't good, but he is still a stage racer. And the stage races he did, he finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

And even in average form, he still outperformed your lovely Tony Martin who would do top 10 in LBL

It's always possible that Bavarianrider (AKA "Tonymartinwillmaketopteninliegebastogneliegetwothousandeleven") expected Robert to do better, hence his disappointment. Bavarianrider is known to have some unrealistic expectations every now and then.

But really, everybody's free to be disappointed in whoever he/she wishes.
Man I'm becoming a diplomat, this is bad.

 

[boomcie]

Haussler by a mile for me.

 

[Francois the Postman]

but really, everybody's free to be disappointed in whoever he/she wishes. Man i'm becoming a diplomat, this is bad.

:d 4567890

 

[Francois the Postman]

but really, everybody's free to be disappointed in whoever he/she wishes. Man i'm becoming a diplomat, this is bad.

4567890

 

[maltiv]

Hushovd has dissapointed me this year, although much of it is due to bad luck. He looked stronger than ever in P-R and through the whole season in general but couldn't get any results from it whatsoever. However, with some more luck, he could easily have ended up winning either P-R or M-SR.

As for EBH, well, in the races he has done without being injured he hasn't disappointed, but then again, that's pretty much only 1 race (tour of oman), whilst he got Achilles problems after that and when he recovered and looked to be closing in on his top shape in RVV he fell and broke 3 ribs. So again, just bad luck.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

February 8 Trofeo Cala Millor UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain Mallorca
February 22 Ruta Del Sol, Stage 2 UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain Córdoba
February 23 Ruta Del Sol, Stage 3 UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain Benahavís
February 25 Ruta Del Sol, Points classification UCI Europe Tour Óscar Freire (ESP) Spain
March 7 Paris–Nice, Prologue UCI World Ranking Lars Boom (NED) France Montfort-l'Amaury
March 16 Tirreno–Adriatico, Youth classification UCI World Ranking Robert Gesink (NED) Italy
March 20 Milan–Sanremo UCI World Ranking Óscar Freire (ESP) Italy Sanremo
April 5 Tour of the Basque Country, Stage 1 UCI ProTour Óscar Freire (ESP)[N 1] Spain Zierbena
April 6 Tour of the Basque Country, Stage 2 UCI ProTour Óscar Freire (ESP)[N 2] Spain Viana

9 victories last year vs 10 now. Fail to see how they've been better. It's actually pretty much the same if you ask me besides a Monument win last year.

CQ ranking also places Sanchez as sixth, but who honestly believes that?

haha... errr...

first off your stats are wrong. Rabobank have 19 wins this season, not 10
TDU stage 3 (Matthews)
Qatar Prologue (Boom)
Oman Stage 1 (Bos)
Oman Stage 3 (Bos)
Oman Stage 4 (Gesink)
Oman Stage 5 (Gesink)
Oman Overall (Gesink)
Oman Youth (Gesink)
Vuelta a Andalucía Stage 4 (Friere)
Vuelta a Andalucía Stage 5(Friere)
Vuelta a Andalucía Points (Friere)
Omloop (Langeveld)
Vuelta a Murcia Stage 1 (Matthews)
T-A TTT (Rabobank)
T-A Youth (Gesink)
Basque Points (Tankink)
Vuelta a Castilla y León Combination (Mollema)
Vuelta a Castilla y León Team (Rabobank)
Rund um Köln (Matthews)

no idea where you got your stats. good job tho

also lol @ you just counting victories. again ignorant on your behalf.

FYI:

TDU
2011 (4th and 5th) vs 2010 (not sure, but not in top 10)
tirreno adriatico
2011 (2nd) vs 2010 (5th)
Paris-Nice
2011 (9th) vs 2010 (45th)
Basque
2011 (3rd) vs 2010 (9th)
Flanders
2011 (5th) vs 2010 (22nd)
Paris-Roubaix
2011 (3rd) vs 2010 (31st)
Vuelta a Castilla y León
2011 (2nd) vs 2010 (9th)
Volta a Catalunya
2011 (10th) vs 2010 (17th)
Amstel Gold Race
2011 (6th, 9th, 10th) vs 2010 (11th)
Fleche Wallonne
2011 (10th) vs 2010 (15th)
LBL
2011 (15th) vs 2010 (13th)
G-W
2011 (9th) vs 2010 (12th)

MSR was much better in 2010 obviously. The only big race which 2010 was a stand out better. LBL the only other result better in 2010 (out of the big races). and wow 13th over 15th.

Omloop probably being the other big (non-PT) race, which rabo won. As for the smaller races, rabo have done similar to last year. Some good results. Maybe even a bit better.

overall a better season then last year. across the board improvement. Much Much better results on paper. Very consistent team as displayed above.
and a pretty decent effort by the team. Shows a lot of depth. Unlike Omega Gilbert.

but hey, great insight pal.

maybe you believe CQ now

 

[Hugo Koblet]

maybe you believe CQ now

Never doubt CQ!

 

[masking_agent]

Carlos Sastre gets my vote.. From his poor defending tour performance in '09 to his dreadful attitude in the documentary "Overcoming" he takes it for me..

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Carlos Sastre gets my vote.. From his poor defending tour performance in '09 to his dreadful attitude in the documentary "Overcoming" he takes it for me..

sastre has been craptacular since 2009 giro.