Most invisible rider in the Tour (by Cyclingnews reports)

[Finn84]

Well, for the whole Tour I followed live comments and stage reports in Cyclingnews. The target was to see if we can see rider finishing while never getting mentioned in the live report or post-stage report. In the results rider is of course mentioned, but with the results section I limited it to top 10 - either the stage or GC after the stage.

In case of multiple riders not being mentioned, the award goes to rider who finishes best in GC.

In total there were 12 riders without mention. Let's go through them in reverse order of final classification

Fabio Sabatini - what? Very disappointed to see that lanterne rouge didn't get any mention.
Denys Kostyuk - Lampre was quite anonymous, he's not the only one from the team
Maciej Bodnar- Liquigas too, apart from Basso-Szmyd duo in the mountains and Oss in the sprints. They won the team competition, with three riders in the 12.
Mickaël Buffaz - French rider in French team, something didn't go with the plan for him.
Paolo Longo Borghini - he's the third Liquigas rider here.
Brian Vandborg - helping Contador? Not really.
Michael Schär - while team-mate of Tour winner is here it may mean that his team wasn't that strong. And, to be honest, he's not the only BMC rider here.
Matteo Bono - His surname reminds us of famous musician but he wasn't very meaningful cyclist in the race
Grischa Niermann - Rabobank had disappointing Tour but nothing seemed to happen on him

Three riders left, these will come with pictures

He may have won KOM in Paris-Nice, but Amaël Moinard was able to hide in the peloton very well this time. Final position was 65th.

Euskaltel colours are easy to spot and they did well in breaks - however it seemed to be Ruben Perez most times. Gorka Verdugo wasn't flashy, but still managed to take 25th place.

Tour de France - and French winner in this category. One of the riders who have finished both Giro and Tour this year, he took 22th place and beat Verdugo by little over six minutes - Hubert Dupont!

 

[jsem94]

I saw both BMC guys working for Evans quite often actually - especially on the flats.

I saw Brian Vandborg at the back of the peloton all the time... they shoulda had Gustav Larsson on the team instead.

Dupont was there to help Roche a couple of times when he got dropped.

Gorka Verdugo worked for Samu in the valley on their way to Galibier trying to catch Andy.


I didn't even know of a cyclist named Denys Kostyuk until now though, and never heard him being mentioned...

 

[Tuarts]

That's a shame but then there are 198 stories that needed to be mentioned, hard to mention all.

Dupont is a surprise, he was the main mountain helper for Roche, and I presume Peraud in the end. His high position is surely reflective of that.

Gorka Verdugo - "I'm still scared too ride behind him". He was very nervous coming up to that descent as well, apparently Gorka was close.

Moinard - I think the TV showed him going off the back a couple of times.

Vandborg/Schar I'm sure did something but mustn't have been note-worthy.

Apart from his Laterne Rouge notoriety, I think Sabatini helped set up Oss a couple of times, decent sprinter himself iirc

Really though, it just shows you how big the behind the scenes is in a bike race and how it really is only a select few that can finish things off.

 

[The Hitch]

Samuel Dumolain was most invisible to me, by which i mean he was the person i found most difficult to see.

There were probably 100 riders that i never saw on screen though.

 

[daveinzambia]

Surprised by Dupont as he got mentioned several times in the TV coverage. And Bodnar made other live coverage as didn't he have one of the better early times in the time trial.

 

[jsem94]

Dumolain was not the most invisible imo, but I was expecting him to be in countless breaks and stuff.

 

[mortand]

Ah, the invisible rider, a Hubert Dupont specialty. Even during the Giro mountain stages - where he often was quite prominent - the Eurosport commentators couldn't figure out who he was. That's a different kind of invisibility, I suppose, but that's Dupont in a nutshell. Even when he's right there, noone seem to notice him.

 

[hrotha]

Zubeldia achieved the highest invisibility-to-GC-standing ratio. Not the first time he wins that prize.

 

[El Pistolero]

Frank Schleck was pretty invisible to me. Didn't actually played any roll this Tour... Says a lot about the Tour that he still managed to get on the podium.

 

[Tuarts]

Zubeldia achieved the highest invisibility-to-GC-standing ratio. Not the first time he wins that prize.

P+P didn't mention him once on the coverage I saw until the final TT!

 

[unsheath]

Samuel Dumolain was most invisible to me, by which i mean he was the person i found most difficult to see.

There were probably 100 riders that i never saw on screen though.

He was in a couple of breaks. Unless you're alluding to him being a midget.

 

[Jeanne]

Frank Schleck was pretty invisible to me. Didn't actually played any roll this Tour... Says a lot about the Tour that he still managed to get on the podium.

This. I was asking myself exactly that, how can he be on the podium. I only remember him coming in third on stage 12.

But the good thing for him is that for once he was not visible in any crash.

 

[Frosty]

I think Niermann's job was to look after Gesink.

 

[Frosty]

Samuel Dumolain was most invisible to me, by which i mean he was the person i found most difficult to see.

There were probably 100 riders that i never saw on screen though.

I actually thought he stood out more by being shorter than everyone else. Its the average height, tanned guys with short dark hair that are harder to distinguish IMO

 

[YoRUsh]

I think Niermann's job was to look after Gesink.

Yeah, Niermann rode like he always rides, totally invisible, but conidering the fact that he gets selected into every tour I can only assume that he plays a good role in the team.

I also remember Schär taking a fair amount of leading the peloton in the days BMC was (unexplicably) up there

 

[Anonymous]

Buffaz was in an early failed breakaway towards the later part of the race, I definately reported on him on teamskyfans live text coverage. Maybe we started earlier in the day than CN or just named more riders.

We also mentioned Sabatini on several occassions. Think CN are just slackers

 

[L'arriviste]

Kostyuk appeared briefly at the front in a pre-breakaway split on the Champs-Elysées. I particularly remember this because on RTBF Beenkens called out "Flecha et Kostyuk" and I thought 'Flecha and who?'

 

[Le breton]

Well, for the whole Tour I followed live comments and stage reports in Cyclingnews. The target was to see if we can see rider finishing while never getting mentioned in the live report or post-stage report.
Mickaël Buffaz - French rider in French team, something didn't go with the plan for him.

I didn't read the live report all that much, but I did see Mickaël in the group that took off at the beginning of one of the alpine stages, he was even mentioned by the commentator on French TV (France2, Thierry Adam, who mispronounced his name, which should be pronounced Buffa, not Buffazz)

He was in the team specifically to help Samuel Dumoulin, managed to avoid all major falls and to finish his first TdF, which is quite an accomplishment for a pro cyclist and I would dare say that nobody in his amateur cycling club here would have imagined he would ever reach such a result.

He was good as an amateur, but so many guys were more gifted than him and never got a pro offer.

Anyway, here is what the VERY LOCAL weekly had to say last friday (No doubt they will say more next friday) :

http://www.lepaysgessien.fr/Actualite/Sport/article_1436398.shtml

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, Niermann rode like he always rides, totally invisible, but conidering the fact that he gets selected into every tour I can only assume that he plays a good role in the team.

I also remember Schär taking a fair amount of leading the peloton in the days BMC was (unexplicably) up there

Yeah, but considering it's Rabobank who knows what kind of reasoning they use.

 

[luckyboy]

I had never heard of or seen Perrig Quemeneur before stage one of this Tour which I thought was weird.

 

[Narce_]

And what about Simon Gerrans? I realised that he is at the Tour during the stage when Geraint Thomas attacked, and just because the commentators confused their names...

 

[Angliru]

That's a shame but then there are 198 stories that needed to be mentioned, hard to mention all.

Dupont is a surprise, he was the main mountain helper for Roche, and I presume Peraud in the end. His high position is surely reflective of that.

Gorka Verdugo - "I'm still scared too ride behind him". He was very nervous coming up to that descent as well, apparently Gorka was close.

Moinard - I think the TV showed him going off the back a couple of times.

Vandborg/Schar I'm sure did something but mustn't have been note-worthy.

Apart from his Laterne Rouge notoriety, I think Sabatini helped set up Oss a couple of times, decent sprinter himself iirc

Really though, it just shows you how big the behind the scenes is in a bike race and how it really is only a select few that can finish things off.

How about the rider that you quote in your signature, Richie Porte? Expected to be of help to Contador in the mountains, he was virtually invisible. Apparently he was saving his energies for a high placing in the stage 20 ITT, because he certainly had much energy for that stage. The only time he was visible was being spit out the back on the climbs and on stage 20's ITT.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yeah, Niermann rode like he always rides, totally invisible, but conidering the fact that he gets selected into every tour I can only assume that he plays a good role in the team.

I also remember Schär taking a fair amount of leading the peloton in the days BMC was (unexplicably) up there

Niermann failed.

His job is to keep Gesink safe. But every time they position him at the side of the road where people fall and Gesink gets caught up behind the crashes