Most overrated rider

[Greyhound Velo]

Levi, at least in the US. 105th with 35 points (behind Julian Dean even) is pathetic when compared to the hype he gets in Velonews, etc. And people accuse Tom Danielson of not living up to his "potential"...

 

[shouldawouldacoulda]

Juan Antonio Flecha.

He's constantly talked about by many, many cycling commentators as being a "big threat" in classics races, but never materialises apart from his 4 major wins in the last ten years.

good one. Maybe the best so far.

 

[delbified]

Renshaw seeing as Cav manages well enough without him?

that's unfair - you get the feeling renshaw could win more races if he wasn't made to start his sprint 500m too early. how can a leadout man be overrated anyway?

 

[blaxland]

Valverde,Ballan and Ebh....and also Gerrans.

 

[hrotha]

Juan Antonio Flecha.

He's constantly talked about by many, many cycling commentators as being a "big threat" in classics races, but never materialises apart from his 4 major wins in the last ten years.

How is he not a big threat? No one ever talks about him as the top favourite. "Big threat" sounds about right.

 

[Altitude]

I heard Pozzato won't ride his bike for a week following his perm. Same goes for his facial. And manicure. Can anyone verify this?

 

[delbified]

it's part of the Rules of the Eurocyclist, which are printed out Facebook somewhere.

 

[The Hitch]

Valverde,Ballan and Ebh....and also Gerrans.

Valverde? No one treats him as one of the all time greats, and yet hes done it all. Classics, monuments Gts, Stage race after stage race after stage race.

Wins bunch sprints. Wins time trials. Wins mtfs.

Id say underated.

 

[blaxland]

Valverde? No one treats him as one of the all time greats, and yet hes done it all. Classics, monuments Gts, Stage race after stage race after stage race.

Wins bunch sprints. Wins time trials. Wins mtfs.

Id say underated.

But in my opinion,would he win without P*d's?Not as much...

 

[VinoRoche]

Damiano Cunego of course.

 

[hfer07]

Valverde,Ballan and Ebh....and also Gerrans.

Valverde= 1 Vuelta, 2 L-B-L , 2 Dauphine, 1 Flecha Wallone, 1 San sebastian, couple one week races in Spain, twice white jersey & 3 stage win in the TDF and nevertheless twice UCI Protuour best rider.
Ballan= 1 Monument Tour of Flanders, 1 2007 World champion. 1 Tour of Poland 1 tour De Panne

...however -I agree with the other two...

 

[hrotha]

But in my opinion,would he win without P*d's?Not as much...

In this kind of debate, and actually in this subforum altogether, it's better to leave the PEDs out and just take all non-busted performances as they are. For Valverde, 2007-2010 is kosher. He's underrated in that regard.

 

[ingsve]

that's unfair - you get the feeling renshaw could win more races if he wasn't made to start his sprint 500m too early. how can a leadout man be overrated anyway?

Of course a lead out can be overrated. What that means is that he's overrated as a lead out. He is constantly rated as the best lead out in the world and how important he is to whoever he leads out.

I can perhaps agree that he is slightly overrated. Julian Dean and Brett Lancaster are both also very good lead outs and they usually don't get near as much attention as Renshaw.

 

[pedaling squares]

... I'll vote Hincapie - most over hyped current pro. At least as far as english cycling media is concerned.

I'm looking forward to when he retires so I don't have to hear how "he's a major threat to win Roubaix" ever again.

Damn straight. He's my choice as most overrated, at least over here.

Levi, at least in the US.

Another good choice, although at least he has had some recent GT podium presence. Lately he targets small races and this year didn't succeed there either.

But in my opinion,would he win without P*d's?Not as much...

If we take that route this whole thread needs to be revisited and relocated.

I'm going to add Cadel Evans. Overrated as a GT rider, while he is still very good he can't win if all the top guns show up in form. He should focus on hard one day races and finish his career in style. He could do very well there.

 

[ingsve]

Juan Antonio Flecha.

He's constantly talked about by many, many cycling commentators as being a "big threat" in classics races, but never materialises apart from his 4 major wins in the last ten years.

Flechas problem is that he can't sprint even if his life depended on it so while he is very often strong in races and always in contention he can't finish the job unless he goes solo. That makes him forgettable a lot of the time.

 

[luckyboy]

In this kind of debate, and actually in this subforum altogether, it's better to leave the PEDs out and just take all non-busted performances as they are. For Valverde, 2007-2010 is kosher. He's underrated in that regard.

Can't count 2010 results though.

 

[insideout leadout]

Devolder (outside Belgium)

Fränk Schleck (as in important to Andy)

 

[hrotha]

Flechas problem is that he can't sprint even if his life depended on it so while he is very often strong in races and always in contention he can't finish the job unless he goes solo. That makes him forgettable a lot of the time.

Flecha's actually pretty fast, he won the Meisterschaft von Zürich in a reduced bunch sprint beating guys like Bettini. The problem is you're not going to look fast if you have to duke it out with the likes of Boonen and Hushovd, although I suppose it's possible that he's lost some of his punch by now.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

It's a good thing Pippo stayed celibate until after the Worlds, otherwise he really might have underperformed.



You know, I really think this calls for a follow-up interview.

 

[Altitude]

No wonder Pozzato never takes a pull. Do you know what wind does to a fresh perm?

 

[ingsve]

Flecha's actually pretty fast, he won the Meisterschaft von Zürich in a reduced bunch sprint beating guys like Bettini. The problem is you're not going to look fast if you have to duke it out with the likes of Boonen and Hushovd, although I suppose it's possible that he's lost some of his punch by now.

Well I haven't payed very close attention to him before this year but from what I've seen this year he hasn't been that fast.

That Zürich win was six years ago so it's possible he was faster in the past.

 

[simo1733]

Well I haven't payed very close attention to him before this year but from what I've seen this year he hasn't been that fast.

That Zürich win was six years ago so it's possible he was faster in the past.

i think flecha was sky's best signing.What does that say about the rest of them

 

[For The World]

How is he not a big threat? No one ever talks about him as the top favourite. "Big threat" sounds about right.

If you're a big threat, then you would (by my reckoning) be someone who could win on the day - not just be there and cause a ruckus. Boonen, Devolder, Cancellara - these guys can threaten each other because they all know they're capable of winning, and have the track records to prove it. Flecha has a sparse palmares over a longer career and as such, I don't see him as being even a big threat. More of just an opportunist.

 

[staubsauger]

well cunego was dealt as intendend tdf champion and the new italian topchamp/ pantani for years while collapse again and again under this pretentions. he was a high-class classics rider during that time, but now he even isn't that anymore. so when i recognize how experts prognosticate damiano's future in 2004 he is THE overrated rider of this decade.

levi isn't really overrated for me, is he???? maybe he was in holland during his rabo time, but i haven't seen anybody else really talking about him as a real tdf contender, except from 2006 but that was a special situation. he had strong results in 2007 and 2008, so he was a gt contender in 2009 and struggeld in the giro, but rode a good tdf till his crash. should we really call this overrated?

 

[ingsve]

i think flecha was sky's best signing.What does that say about the rest of them

I agree, or at least one of the best. I'm not the one saying he's overrated. I just said that because he's not that fast he doesn't win that much so people tend to forget that he always seems to be up there in a lot of classics.