Rider of the Year 2012?

[Parrulo]

And before 2010 Gilbert was nowhere nearly as good as Valverde in those classics... it's just a matter of what you choose to look at. Valverde's 2010 season didn't seem to have much of a build up, just race everything you can before you get suspended.

Those were also the days of Eyafatnajökull, or whatever that volcano was called, causing him to arrive in Maastricht for the Amstel Gold Race the night before race day.

yes in 2010 valverde raced pretty much all of the first half of the season( till romandie) trying to win as much as possible so during the ardennes his form was already fading imo ofc i think gilbert is better then him now but valverde still has the upper hand on the sprint which will force gilbert to attack and drop him instead of just following the schlecks like he did this year in lbl

 

[El Pistolero]

And before 2010 Gilbert was nowhere nearly as good as Valverde in those classics... it's just a matter of what you choose to look at. Valverde's 2010 season didn't seem to have much of a build up, just race everything you can before you get suspended.

Those were also the days of Eyafatnajökull, or whatever that volcano was called, causing him to arrive in Maastricht for the Amstel Gold Race the night before race day.

Lol, and what are the excuses for him not being competitive in AGR the years before?

 

[El Pistolero]

yes in 2010 valverde raced pretty much all of the first half of the season( till romandie) trying to win as much as possible so during the ardennes his form was already fading imo ofc i think gilbert is better then him now but valverde still has the upper hand on the sprint which will force gilbert to attack and drop him instead of just following the schlecks like he did this year in lbl

And Gilbert didn't try to win every race he entered this year? Excuses. Valverde wasn't very good in 2009 either. He was better in 2010 actually.

The fact that he still won Romandie says all you want to know about his form during the Ardennes: it was still pretty good. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous.

============================================================================================


Anyway rider of the year 2012:

It will be a fierce battle between 3 cyclists.

Mark Cavendish will be very motivated to show of his rainbow jersey in the early season. He'll be unstoppable in Milan-San Remo if he's in good shape. After that he'll win a bucket load of stages in Grand Tours and most likely the green jersey at the Tour de France. At the Olympics he finds him self a course that suits him. It will be harder for him to win there because of the 5-man teams, but he never the less will be the top favorite. So if all goes well, he could win Milan-San Remo, the Olympics, 2-3 Giro stages, 5 Tour stages and the green jersey of said Tour. That will most likely be enough to become rider of 2012 unless Contador or Gilbert do even better.

If Contador is not banned, he will in my opinion be the big favorite favorite for this title. He will be extra motivated to win the Tour de France because of what happened this year. This time however, he will extend his season and ride the Vuelta where he will be unstoppable. With a Tour-Vuelta double he'll have achieved something rare in cycling. With victories in Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco this could indeed become a historical season for Contador. One in which he will become even greater than he is now.

Then there's Philippe Gilbert. He'll be the top favorite in every single one day race he enters. He could very well win Milan-San Remo, the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Olympics, the World championship and the Giro di Lombardia. He now has an even stronger team than in 2011, so he will be a force to be reckoned with. I expect him to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Ardennes treble, the World championships and the Giro di Lombardia next year. Unless Contador wins the Tour-Vuelta double he'll keep his crown of best cyclist of the world for one extra year.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Can we keep this thread on just answering the question, please? For the news article, you know...

Ta.

Susan

I did.


Give my Mami something to be proud of. Oh, wait. Still have no Christmas gift.
So I could say, look mum, my comment is mentioned in an CN article.
And she will say that this was the best Christmas gift she ever received, best gift I ever gave to her, best thing I ever did, and that she is very proud.

Please.

 

[Panda Claws]

And before 2010 Gilbert was nowhere nearly as good as Valverde in those classics... it's just a matter of what you choose to look at. Valverde's 2010 season didn't seem to have much of a build up, just race everything you can before you get suspended.

Those were also the days of Eyafatnajökull, or whatever that volcano was called, causing him to arrive in Maastricht for the Amstel Gold Race the night before race day.

Valverde was never all that good in the Amstel Gold Race. Either way on such a climb there is currently no-one that reasonably hope to beat Gilbert.

 

[gustienordic]

Peter Sagan.

He has the ability to win almost anything besides a Mountain stage. He has the potential to win flats, hills, TTs, short stage races without large mountains (Britain, Eneco, etc). I would expect similar out of EBH, but he will unfortunately be either injured, or will have to work for Cav. Sagan also has Vivani as a sidekick.

 

[just some guy]

rider to shock with great results may not be the rider of the year but a huge year - Alan Davis

 

[maltiv]

Peter Sagan.

He has the ability to win almost anything besides a Mountain stage. He has the potential to win flats, hills, TTs, short stage races without large mountains (Britain, Eneco, etc). I would expect similar out of EBH, but he will unfortunately be either injured, or will have to work for Cav. Sagan also has Vivani as a sidekick.

Sagan still hasn't shown anything in long races though and there's no way he'll be rider of the year without winning a monument, the olympics or worlds.

 

[Boeing]

Peter Sagan: He has been bubbling over for a few years now. This is the year where the next step is the classics. I see him being a major player in the Ardennes, Milan-San Remo, perhaps even Flanders before moving onto the Tour where he can take a stage and then the Worlds.
P.S. Answer subject to change mid-January.

+1 Peter Sagan: consistent rider with quality finishes all season start to finish and a mix of climbing and sprinting

It is a tough question at this point really with out knowing all Riders schedules and most default will go the the GT riders. I am not one to give rider of the Year to a TDF winner alone. However it is an Olympic year so a TDF podium and along with a Gold would qualify IMHO (I do not include Sagan in the GT s)


With the Classics and Worlds and assuming Peter rides to win the Olympic Road the season is set nice for him.

I'd like to see him enter the BMX in London this year too. then its game over

 

[just some guy]

Also until mid Jan it is very hard to discuss riders of 2012 there is that rather large pink elephant in the corner

 

[The Hitch]

Alejandro Valverde.

With his compatriot and closest contender from both 2008 and 2009, likely inelegible, the man who was cq ranking number 1 for over 100 straight weeks right up to his suspension in June 2010, is ready to rejoin the peloton right back where he left it. At the top.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Also until mid Jan it is very hard to discuss riders of 2012 there is that rather large pink elephant in the corner

And that is exactly why I asked it now.....

Susan

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

And that is exactly why I asked it now.....

Susan

The article will be published after the Contador verdict, though, right?

 

[Tank Engine]

He won't do the Ardennes, but I hope you're right nonetheless

Re EBH. Of course, I was getting more ridiculous as I went on. A win at MSR is possible. GW is the most likely of the predictions. Apart from that he'll win a couple of semi-classics and week long tours with no more than a hilly parcours. I think he will get a real big win though. Rider of the year? I just wanted to pick someone decent who hadn't already been chosen and I like.

 

[The Hitch]

Fabian Cancellara.

Spartacus always manages to dominate a few major races every season, and with Monuments, tts a flat olympics and a hilly worlds to choose from for 2012, it might take the entire peloton again, to stop 2010 Velo d'Or winner from retaking the prize.

 

[Angliru]

Valverde was never all that good in the Amstel Gold Race. Either way on such a climb there is currently no-one that reasonably hope to beat Gilbert.

...and yet on stage 4 of this year's Tour, a stage described as one ideally suited to a rider of Gilbert's attributes, he was beaten to the line by Evans and Contador, finishing behind even Uran and Vino. Nothing is guaranteed and no one is unbeatable. As we've witnessed with Cancellara and Boonen, dominance is shortlived, it's not eternal. If no one has a reasonable hope of defeating him what's the point of staging the race at all?

Sorry Susan, I was sidetracked in my posting.

I'm going to go with Contador. He'll likely have 4 stage race wins by the time the season ends (Tirreno-Adriatico, Pays Basque, The Tour and The Vuelta) along with a podium in the WC ITT. He will return to the Tour with chip on his shoulder and a bit of tension needing to be released. After his epic attack in this year's Tour, he realizes that with more rested legs, he can attack much earlier in a stage and still have something left in the coming stages to defend the time gained. His mission: to entertain the fans in the mountains with his climbing prowess and regain his Tour and Vuelta titles. (Susan, this paragraph is my submission. The rest is for my own entertainment. )

This will draw out Andy whose ITT training hasn't left him with the improvements that he and Johann hoped, making it necessary for him to shadow Contador at every turn. Unfortunately this won't be the Contador from 2011 but the one from 2009 that left Andy muttering nonsensical quotes to the media after getting dropped that he's "The best climber in the world!". His effort to follow Contador initially is seen as a boost to his efforts to move up in the gc, but unable to maintain Contador's torrid pace on the steeper grades he is dropped and left in limbo. Frank is back in the peloton and can't help, Kloden is up the road in a break about to be reeled and likely dropped by Contador and Fuglsang is having issues, yo-yoing off the back of the peloton that includes Monfort, Evans, Basso, Menchov, Wiggins, Sanchez and a soon to be dropped Danielson who is in the same boat as Fuglsang.

 

[El Pistolero]

...and yet on stage 4 of this year's Tour, a stage described as one ideally suited to a rider of Gilbert's attributes, he was beaten to the line by Evans and Contador, finishing behind even Uran and Vino. Nothing is guaranteed and no one is unbeatable. As we've witnessed with Cancellara and Boonen, dominance is shortlived, it's not eternal. If no one has a reasonable hope of defeating him what's the point of staging the race at all?

Boonen was top dog from 2005 to 2009. Short lived?

 

[El Pistolero]

Fabian Cancellara.

Spartacus always manages to dominate a few major races every season, and with Monuments, tts a flat olympics and a hilly worlds to choose from for 2012, it might take the entire peloton again, to stop 2010 Velo d'Or winner from retaking the prize.

It only took Tony Martin to dethrone him as best time trial specialist(not the entire peloton).

 

[Reuell]

Boonen was top dog from 2005 to 2009. Short lived?

That was so not the point El Pisto!
Did he hit a nerve there?

 

[Panda Claws]

...and yet on stage 4 of this year's Tour, a stage described as one ideally suited to a rider of Gilbert's attributes, he was beaten to the line by Evans and Contador, finishing behind even Uran and Vino. Nothing is guaranteed and no one is unbeatable. As we've witnessed with Cancellara and Boonen, dominance is shortlived, it's not eternal. If no one has a reasonable hope of defeating him what's the point of staging the race at all?

I said Reasonably beat because of course everyone can have a bad day. What I mean is that if Phil is in form there is no-one that can say they have a good chance of beating him. It is like you do not expect Cavendish to Lose a sprint or Contador to Lose a GT.

Perhaps a poor choice of words on my part but what I mean to say is that he is just the overwhelming favourite.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Just to put up a new name:

Matthew Goss:

Now that he's at a team where he's the star, he will now ride with full support in any race he desires. He's ready to take a step up in the sprints and compete with the best, as well as being a major force to be reckoned with in the flat classics and semi classics. Watch out for him in Milano San-Remo, Paris-Tours and the Olympics.

 

[El Pistolero]

That was so not the point El Pisto!
Did he hit a nerve there?

It was very much his point.

Contador top dog from 2007- till now

Also short lived?

Ps: Cancellara's time trial dominance: 2006-2010. Also short lived?

 

[mr. tibbs]

It's gonna be Contador*, and I look forward to it. My dream, though, would be Rolland. But yeah right.




*You know, pending all that other stuff.

 

[Angliru]

That was so not the point El Pisto!
Did he hit a nerve there?

You need to ask?

 

[Angliru]

Boonen was top dog from 2005 to 2009. Short lived?

Are you purposely ignoring the reason for my referencing that particular Tour stage's result or is it that you can't take my inference that Gilbert's dominance actually has an expiration date?