Riders' excuses

[Geraint Too Fast]

Edited by Red Rick

For lame/funny/interesting excuses for all riders.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

The race was too easy - Amstel Gold Race 2016.

- Michael Matthews

"The way I trained for it was for it to be a super hard race and maybe like a super negative race too where lots of guys would be attacking and it was going to be a really hard race. In the end it was actually super easy. All we did was just roll around all day. Nothing ever really happened. It wasn’t quite the race that I had sort of hoped for."

- Michael Matthews

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

It's the bidon's fault -

Michael Matthews, Gent-Wevelgem 2017.

"Søren went to get me a bidon and just at that moment someone started pulling at the front and someone left the wheel go. I was putting my bidon in, so I said to Søren, ‘You have to go.' He attacked and made it across to the front group."

Michael Matthews, Gent-Wevelgem 2017.

 

[jaylew]

What a mean-spirited thread.

You could make one of these for just about anyone, Contador, Sagan, Cav, Kittel, GVA...everyone has their reasons and excuses after a race as to why they didn't do better. That's racing. Hell, after every single race I've ever done, that's what happens - everyone except the winner explaining how they could have done better.

The one for Cav would be particularly long and interesting as he seems to have a different one at the end of every single race he doesn't win that ends in a sprint. Still, why go negative? This is the kind of thing that detracts from the forum, imo.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Edited.

We decided to keep it open, provided it's not just about bashing single riders or similar things like that. If it turns sour, it'll get locked again.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

There are plenty of non-complimentary threads around, not sure why this editing was considered necessary. But if you are sure it was the right thing then:
A) Geraint's messages above need editing to ascribe the quotes
B) the title needs an apostrophe.

 

[Billie]

Something wrong with my chain.

Boonen after every sprint he ever lost

 

[Alexandre B.]

It was John Gadret's fault.

- Nicholas Roche

 

[tukabel]

Anything that any Stepper will (or even won't!) say after GW2017.

And Sagan's excuse: Fcuk me? Fcuk YOU!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uUxLpRWHQZA

 

[trucido]

Re: Rider's excuses

It was Colbrelli's fault.

John Degenkolb, Milan-San Remo 2017

"On the Poggio, Fabio [Felline] did the same for me, and when Sagan went, I was up there. The problem was [Sonny] Colbrelli was in between, and he blew up, and I could not close the gap anymore. That was unfortunate.”

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re: Rider's excuses

It was Colbrelli's fault.

John Degenkolb, Milan-San Remo 2017

"On the Poggio, Fabio [Felline] did the same for me, and when Sagan went, I was up there. The problem was [Sonny] Colbrelli was in between, and he blew up, and I could not close the gap anymore. That was unfortunate.”

Classic Degenkolb.

I need to check Tony Martin's website. It's like the bible of whining about courses, weather, tt position etc.

 

[Nick C.]

Here you are: Degenkolb after Gent-Wevelgem:

"I did one mistake and missed the last split. In the moment when Keukeleire went, I was taking my last bidon, and I lost a few metres and then I missed it. But I think overall we can be happy with our performance – much better than Friday!"

Who knew this bidon business could be so decisive.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

“I never expected to beat Froome” -AC

Seems like a fair defense of his recent Palmares.

 

[Koba80]

Re:

“I never expected to beat Froome” -AC

Seems like a fair defense of his recent Palmares.

Flo's new sig?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

It was John Gadret's fault.

- Nicholas Roche

It actually was John Gadret's fault. I really miss the guy. He looked like he stole hubcaps for a living and he managed to antagonise almost everyone he was ever ordered to help. A legend of the sport.

 

[Tim B]

Frank Vandenbroucke - they were for my dog

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

“I never expected to beat Froome” -AC

Seems like a fair defense of his recent Palmares.

Wasn't that after the 2014 Vuelta?

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

It was John Gadret's fault.

- Nicholas Roche

It actually was John Gadret's fault. I really miss the guy. He looked like he stole hubcaps for a living and he managed to antagonise almost everyone he was ever ordered to help. A legend of the sport.

Yes on that occasion it was Gadret's fault...he refused to give up his wheel...But what amused me most in the telling of that story was the nonchalant behaviour of Gadret as he rode by and said 'Non' ......there was a man who would not easily be swayed by anyone else...even when faced with anger, abuse and logic .. there was no shifting him....you kinda got to admire his steadfastness in the face of opposition and reality

 

[The Hegelian]

Re:

The race was too easy - Amstel Gold Race 2016.

- Michael Matthews

"The way I trained for it was for it to be a super hard race and maybe like a super negative race too where lots of guys would be attacking and it was going to be a really hard race. In the end it was actually super easy. All we did was just roll around all day. Nothing ever really happened. It wasn’t quite the race that I had sort of hoped for."

- Michael Matthews

That kind of statement is usually just a statement of fact ~ it's very common to hear it, and also very common for team tactics to 'make the race hard (i.e. because the marquee rider needs it to be hard in order to succeed).'

 

[SHAD0W93]

After just finishing Cav's book At Speed he has a couple besides lead out went to early. Like 1 pedal was 2mm longer then the other 1 or teammates didn't want to work for him like at HTC when he was racing for Sky and QuickStep.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

Can we make these up?

Nairo Quintana: "Too much individual time trialling cost me the 2015 Tour De France."

Though I am more critical of the parcours then of Quintana.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I thought the idea of renaming the thread was that it is no longer about one rider's excuses. There is a mod out there who needs to revise their understanding of apostrophes and plurals!

Also, Geraint's opening posts have been reconfigured to make it look as though the headings/summaries that Geraint composed are themselves quotes from Matthews.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

"Now it was Rodríguez, Contador and Nibali. And then me, toiling manfully a few metres back. I can remember seeing the 500-metres sign and being absolutely shocked that we were at that point because I could see the road kept going right up into the hills. I had miscalculated."

From his book The Climb (2014), Chris Froome elaborates on why he lost to Rodriguez on Green Mountain in Tour of Oman 2013.

 

[Pennino]

Haha legendary stuff. The best excuse makers are perhaps the Flemish cyclocrossers, followed by their fellow countrymen on the road.

 

[canarydan23]

Re: Rider's excuses

I don't mean to get all serious in an amusing thread but these types of excuses are merely a consequence of being an elite athlete. It all comes down to psychology. The brain is not wired to hold on to two conflicting viewpoints and the sub-conscience will do whatever it can to get rid of one of the opposing ideas. It all falls into the cognitive dissonance principle.

Elite athletes have that ingrained idea that they are the best. If they are presented with any evidence that suggests they might not be the best, their brain will be desperate to get rid of one of the ideas and it will elect to get rid of the idea that is less ingrained. Therefore the sub-conscience will seek to rationalise away the evidence that suggests they might not be quite as good as they think they are.

Cavendish is a prime example; he struggles with defeat because his brain is just not conditioned to accept that Kittel, Griepel et al are better than him. So, when he is beaten by them in a sprint he has to explain away the reasons for that defeat in any manner possible EXCEPT concluding that he is not the best. Blame the team, blame dark arts, blame the victor's strategy, blame the bike, blame the weather. Just blame anything that allows you to hold firm to that idea that you are the best. It even works on a less obvious level, "He was just a better rider than me ON THE DAY". They are grudgingly conceded that they were bested that day but they are consigning it only to that individual day, which allows the brain to keep hold of the idea that they are still the best, just not on that single, given day.

The problem is, you have dozens of riders who all think that they are the best and they can't all win. Therefore they need to either do away with the idea that they are the best, which could affect performance, or you conjure up some excuses that to the watching public appear to be daft, ungracious or even disrespectful but for the rider, it is a necessary exercise in maintaining the psyche of an elite athlete.

Anyway, apologies for that diversion, back to the excuses...