PT Stage races 2010: Stage of the year

[Mellow Velo]

The Dutch mafia will forming a coalition with the fanboy Illuminati, since it was Armstrong's best effort of the year.

 

[Parrulo]

i only say the stage contador won

so i can vote <_>

 

[The Hitch]

i only say the stage contador won

so i can vote <_>

?

You mean the Alpe d huez stage of the Dauphine ? its up there.

Or do you mean Paris Nice stage 4 into Mende? I asked 2 days ago on the GT stage of the year thread if PN stage 4 should replace PN stage 7 and the only person who answered said no, so im sorry it didnt make the cut, though you can write it in if you want.

 

[The Hitch]

I see myself and Mellow Velo think alike. We were 2 of the few who felt Aprica in the Giro was epic and 2 of the few who liked the Romandie Valverde stage.

Lets see if he agrees with me in semi final 3, that Milan San Remo was way the best classic of the year

 

[icefire]

Anyone willing to upset Dutch posters in this thread should register several nicknames and give a massive vote for the Pais Vasco stage where Spaniards worked together to avoid Gesink's win

 

[Winterfold]

Can I just say wrt to Contadors dauphin Alpe win that I did one of the Thursday morning tourist races this Summer and the (I guess) espoor who won it was a minute quicker than AC.

Ok he hadnt ridden 100k beforehand but AC would have been totally protected for that win.

15 riders were under 50 minutes in my little race. At that point it became very clear to me that 4th in a GT for a Brit is a heroic achievement. KOM even more so.

Anyway that Dauphin win is nothing compared to Giro strada bianchi

 

[Ferminal]

No one liked Purito's solo in Basque Country?

I also liked TA stage 5 (4-5-6 were all good).

Voted for TA 6 and Gesink.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Please... I haven't revealed jack-squat. It's not like I've told everyone the location of our secret meeting place in the Scottish Highlands.

Which reminds me. You left your spliff, prostitute and copy of Das Kapital when you last stayed over. I'll return the unused one.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Loved Gesink's win in the Tour de Suisse. Great ride.

 

[The Hitch]

Which reminds me. You left your spliff, prostitute and copy of Das Kapital when you last stayed over. I'll return the unused one.

Brilliant. Comedy genius.

First a bit of humour

spliff,

The predictable second line

prostitute

And the killer.

copy of Das Kapital

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I voted for Gesink's win in Suisse.

Considering there are no GT stages listed here. If there were, I'd either vote for Giro, stage 7 in the mud. Or stage 11's drenching to L'Aguilla when all the favorites cracked.

We could create a poll for the worst. My vote would be the hugely disappointing, and boring Big Bear lake stage in the TOC.

 

[theyoungest]

I voted for Gesink's win in Suisse.

Considering there are no GT stages listed here. If there were, I'd either vote for Giro, stage 7 in the mud. Or stage 11's drenching to L'Aguilla when all the favorites cracked.

We could create a poll for the worst. My vote would be the hugely disappointing, and boring Big Bear lake stage in the TOC.

There was another poll for those, just a week ago I think.

 

[The Hitch]

I voted for Gesink's win in Suisse.

Considering there are no GT stages listed here. If there were, I'd either vote for Giro, stage 7 in the mud. Or stage 11's drenching to L'Aguilla when all the favorites cracked.

We could create a poll for the worst. My vote would be the hugely disappointing, and boring Big Bear lake stage in the TOC.

You can still vote on that here
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=10180

Unfortunately there is no Laquilla option though you can offer it as a write in candidate.

 

[The Hitch]

Since this isnt just a poll but also a discussion, I would like to ask none dutch voters of Gesink stage. What do you see there

That stage had an early attack from Frank, then Andy and Gesink, Gesink got a gap of 40 or so seconds and held it till the finish as everyone else rolled in together. Last 10km no tension. The yellow jersey Tony Martin was no danger on the stage so there wasnt even any tension to see if he could hold on. WIth the tt to come it wasnt the deciding stage either.

Something like Alpe d huez on the other hand had attacks attacks attacks. Contador, Szmyd, Janez all raising tempo then stopping. It was a battle for the yellow, to see if Janez could crack and it was the deciding stage of the Dauphine.

Same with Pais Vasco. Attack from Valverde Horner trying to follow, just managing it. Then Samu and Gesink coming back at them. 2 on 2. Batle for stage win. Battle for Jersey. Tension all the way to the finihsh.

Romandie was the last stage. Attacks from Anton. 4 riders in break working together to try to maintain a suficient gap over yellow jersey. Inside the break battle for stage win, and battle for yellow itself. Break riders looking for a top 3 placing. It was the last and deciding stage.

Discuss.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I have the stage in avi format and it's not exactly how you describe it. (actually completely wrong). I'll describe it to you.

There was an early break, so far, you were right. Then Andy (not Fränk, but really Andy ) attacked, and a group formed with Gesink, Devolder, Kreuziger, Fuglsang, Andy S. and Carrara.
Columbia kept pace behind but slowly the group was getting further away.

That was the sign for Purito to attack. He dragged along half the group with the RS boys (Klöden, Leipheimer, Armstrong), Zaugg, F.Schleck, Uran, Larsson, Lövkvist, Morabito and some others. Martin at that point was left behind. There were some small attacks and accelerations but none serious at that point. They rode up to the front group.
It fell quiet for a while and then Andy Schleck attacked. There was some hesitation and then Gesink attacked as well.
Behind the group fell apart because RS started chasing and some of the weaker links like Devolder had to let go.
Gesink rode up to Schleck, and together they rode up to the remaining breakaways.
Then Andy blew and fell back. Gesink had 30s at that point. When Andy was caught Fränk attacked together with Zaugg. First they came at 25s after the initial acceleration but after that Gesink only won time. He had a 1'20 lead at the top. Then the (rather technical)downhill followed and he had 42s left.
It was an impressive solo, because they were definately chasing behind him. The RS guys were pulling all the time.

(I described this by re-watching the crucial parts )

anyway back to you Hitch

 

[The Hitch]

(I described this by re-watching the crucial parts )

I cant compete with this kind of research. So well done.

secondly you are dutch. My post was specifically directed at non dutch

Thirdly I guess its funny considering how you gently mocked me when i spent one tenth of this effort scribling down post per stage stats for the giro.

Fourthly - so yeah the Gesink stage wasnt bad. But if you were, with the same passion to do one of these fore the Alpe d huez stage, or the Pais Vasco stage I suspect it would be twice as long

Like i said though. well done.

 

[The Hitch]

Time for the final semi final but i want to run it by others first before i post the poll.

1 day race of the year.

I dont really know what to include.

KBK
Amstel Gold
Liege Bastogne Liege
Classica San Sebastian
Quebec.
World Championship road race.

I need 4 more. I didnt watch cobbles outside RVV and PR this year so dont know which ones to include.

Quebec and Montreal were similar. Should i include them both, just one or have a joint bid?

 

[insideout leadout]

Quebec and Montreal were similar. Should i include them both, just one or have a joint bid?

If you really hate the dutchmen you should drop Montreal.

E3 Prijs should be added, where Cancellara dropped Boonen and Flecha on the flat road.

Brabantse pijl wasn't that great....teams miscalculated the break.

Edit: Where is Fleche? No one of the favorites where missing. Contador, Anton, Evans, J-Rod, Schlecks, Cunego, Valverde, Nibbles....

 

[auscyclefan94]

BTW... You do know that Gesink's win in Switzerland will take this, right? The Dutch Mafia on the forum will insure that. Ditto for Classic of the Year.

Please don't tell me that you are calling thar race in Canada that gesink won a classic? they were good races but peoples form in those races varied.

I guess that means the Down Under Cancer Council Classic is an actualy classic!

I voted for Dan martin because firstly I was thinking that may stop Gesink's victory from getting the most votes and als because Martin's win in Poland was real gutsy and an entertaining race all round.

It would be interesting if they had TGBM's victory in Poland up against Gesink's.

I think Marcus Burghardt's 50km solo ride to victory deserves a mention up there. That was a great, dominating win. Funny to look at the result sheet in that stage and see that 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th will all be at BMC next year!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

ACF94, the starting field in Montreal/Quebec was stronger than in your precious Tour down Under, or, let's take a so called 'classic' Parijs Tours or Gent Wevelgem

The fact that 3 riders of the top 10 of the Tour animated those races says enough.

 

[Moondance]

Please don't tell me that you are calling thar race in Canada that gesink won a classic? they were good races but peoples form in those races varied.

I guess that means the Down Under Cancer Council Classic is an actualy classic!

I voted for Dan martin because firstly I was thinking that may stop Gesink's victory from getting the most votes and als because Martin's win in Poland was real gutsy and an entertaining race all round.

It would be interesting if they had TGBM's victory in Poland up against Gesink's.

I think Marcus Burghardt's 50km solo ride to victory deserves a mention up there. That was a great, dominating win. Funny to look at the result sheet in that stage and see that 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th will all be at BMC next year!

In my book a 'classic' is a prestigious one-day race. We can moan and be really precise about it and that means we wont have 'new classics' for another 50 years, and a lot of good it will do us.

Meanwhile we've lost one of the old school classics with Zurich, and another old school classics, Paris-Brussels, is now largely irrelevant within the larger scheme of things. Only those among us with a blessed memory will remember that Ventoso won Paris-Brussels this year (it was a very forgettable races is all, and I needed CQ to remember it as well). And yet I think that everyone here will recall Voeckler's win in Quebec and Gesink's win in Montreal.

So what's a classic. A race that was pretigious 20 years ago, or a race people think is prestigious now?


P.S. Good showing for BMC on the recruitment front indeed. My dad always said the mark of a great rider is the ability to get into a long breakaway in a Tour of Switzerland stage held the day after a tough mountain finish. With that type of talent BMC is sure to crack 5 wins next season.... For sure!

 

[The Hitch]

If you really hate the dutchmen you should drop Montreal.

E3 Prijs should be added, where Cancellara dropped Boonen and Flecha on the flat road.

Brabantse pijl wasn't that great....teams miscalculated the break.

Edit: Where is Fleche? No one of the favorites where missing. Contador, Anton, Evans, J-Rod, Schlecks, Cunego, Valverde, Nibbles....

I hesitated to add Fleche as i already have the other ardennes classics and it was won in the last km.

Looks like E3 Prijs and Brabantse pijl have to make the list seeing as theres no other suggestions.

 

[The Hitch]

KBK
E3 Prijs
Brabantse pijl
Amstel Gold
Flech Walone.
Liege Bastogne Liege
Classica San Sebastian
Quebec
Montreal
World Championship road race.


Any arguments? (the cobbles might not be in chronological order. i know)

 

[auscyclefan94]

ACF94, the starting field in Montreal/Quebec was stronger than in your precious Tour down Under, or, let's take a so called 'classic' Parijs Tours or Gent Wevelgem

The fact that 3 riders of the top 10 of the Tour animated those races says enough.

in the tour down under this year we had a 7 time tour de france champion, current world champion and previous tour of spain winner plus we had the guy who won 19 races in the prior season. But I guess that means it is a classic. You only think it is a classic because you and your dutch friends are Gesink fanboys! You or Moondance ever going to quote someone else who had the same opinion as me? A little inconsistent you both are! I have never said Tour Down Under is the best race in the world so I don't see where that is coming from.

In my book a 'classic' is a prestigious one-day race. We can moan and be really precise about it and that means we wont have 'new classics' for another 50 years, and a lot of good it will do us.

Meanwhile we've lost one of the old school classics with Zurich, and another old school classics, Paris-Brussels, is now largely irrelevant within the larger scheme of things. Only those among us with a blessed memory will remember that Ventoso won Paris-Brussels this year (it was a very forgettable races is all, and I needed CQ to remember it as well). And yet I think that everyone here will recall Voeckler's win in Quebec and Gesink's win in Montreal.

So what's a classic. A race that was pretigious 20 years ago, or a race people think is prestigious now?


P.S. Good showing for BMC on the recruitment front indeed. My dad always said the mark of a great rider is the ability to get into a long breakaway in a Tour of Switzerland stage held the day after a tough mountain finish. With that type of talent BMC is sure to crack 5 wins next season.... For sure!

Define Classic...

I've got a definition!
Classic: The word classic means something that is a perfect example of a particular style, something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality.

It is it's first edition (Quebec and montreal), NOT A CLASSIC!

P.S. My Dad also told me to not try to be funny unless you are actually funny.

 

[Moondance]

Define Classic...

I've got a definition!
Classic: The word classic means something that is a perfect example of a particular style, something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality.

It is it's first edition (Quebec and montreal), NOT A CLASSIC!

P.S. My Dad also told me to not try to be funny unless you are actually funny.

Sure, your stance is perfectly valid, and certainly not 'wrong' in any way. Perhaps classic is indeed the wrong word to use, although, like I said, I prefer to measure classics in terms of prestige.

And, like I said before, I think most people would rate Voeckler and Gesink's victories in Canada higher than Ventoso's victory in Paris-Brussels, even though Paris-Brussels is a traditional classic. If people think the Canada races are worth more than Paris-Brussels, even after only one year, why do we have to be stingy with what terms we use? That's my opinion although I certainly won't begrudge anyone disagreeing with it as you do.