Season 2010 in review - Your thoughts?

[pedaling squares]

Best one Day Race of the year?
LBL ( I missed KBK)

Best grand tour of the year?
Giro

Best Stage of a grand Tour?
Stage 7 Giro, props to Stage 3 TDF just because they tried something different

Best Rider?
Cancellara early, but Gilbert overall.

Best win?
Cuddles in the dirt, Vino in LBL, Cav sans train aux Champs d' Elysees.

Biggest Surprise?
Porte, Hesjedal, TGBM

Quote of the year?
1. Hesjedal comparing dropping a chain in an attack to dropping a sword in a duel.
2. "We like our word. We like where we stand. We like our credibility."

Biggest Disappointment of the year?
Frank Schleck crashing out of le tour. I wanted to see if the bros could or would work together for Andy

One to watch in 2011?
Hesjedal- can he repeat? Nibali - can he become his team's No 1 man? Greipel

Funniest moment of the year?
Allen Lim's awful first interview after Floyd's allegations went public

 

[Kwibus]

To be fair what the Vuelta was to Gilbert, the Tour was to Cancellara. Gilbert won 2 stages in the Vuelta and helf the leaders jersey for a few days.

Cancellara won 2 stages in the Tour and held the leaders jersey for a few days.

You might say Gilberts stages were more impressive but then Cancellaras at the Tour were against tougher opposition, and he also shined in the cobbles stage where he would have won easily, but since he was working for Schleck he put that effort into helping Andy. Still was unquestionably the star of that stage even if Hushovd won. And he was working for Andy for most of the Tour, while Gilbert was for himself.

i think its a case of us being used to seeing Canc win 2 stages a gt, but not so much with Gilbert so its more of a surprise when he does.

Bare in mind also that Canc won 2 monuments, to Gilberts 1 (if he wins Lombardy today that is)

You are right, but it's just that I always put winning TT's in a different category. I somehow don't really count them, which ofcourse is not fair, but that's how I look at it. It's not that I don't like TT"s, but it's just different.

I think it's just my preference for the stages Gilbert wins. Cancellara and Gilbert are atm kings of the peloton in their category. Where Cavendish is the king of the sprint and Contador is the ... oh wait.

 

[Kwibus]

lombardy will only be mentioned in the bad areas of this thread. boring race. I would of rather watched 1000 laps of a velodrome

As soon as Evans fails it's a boring race for you.

 

[Moondance]

Best one Day Race of the year?

The Worlds. Exciting race with a great winner.

Best grand tour of the year?

The Giro. Hands down.

Best Stage of a grand Tour?

Montalcino stage for Evans in the Giro.

Best Rider?

If not for the revelations it would be Contador... Given that he's likely, however, to lose his Tour victory in the near future I'll go with Nibali. Win in the Vuelta and 3rd in the Giro (would've been 2nd if not for Arroyo gaining the freak 12 mins in l'Aquila) is obviously super impressive. Add on a few other wins he had throughout the season... Top notch.

Best win?

Gilbert in Amstel Gold. He just dominated that race.

Biggest Surprise?

Some excellent neo-pros rocking the establishment. Obviously Sagan is the #1 in that department, but Richie Porte and Tejay van Garderen also wowed in their first tries. Ryder Hesjedal going from decent domestique to all-around stud was also very surprising (in a good, non-clinic way).

Quote of the year?

Don't really have a good memory for these things, but Gesink's quote that he was descending "like an old maid in a wheelchair" following the Tour stage to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne still brings a little smile to my face. At the same time he also called Menchov, Leipheimer and Rodriguez the "three smurfs" for their complete inability to help him in the chase.

Biggest Dissapointment of the year?

Sky. They were going to rule the (cycling) world. Revolutionary methods that would completely expose the failings of the old guard.... I guess the old guard was resilient than they thought.

One to watch in 2011?

I'll be looking forward to see whether Michael Matthews can have a Sagan-esque season. The kid is really fast and oozes talent. Luckily he'll probably kick off his season (like Sagan did) in the TDU. Will keep my eyes peeled.

 

[thrawn]

Best one Day Race of the year?

Worlds.

Best grand tour of the year?

Giro.

Best Stage of a grand Tour?

Mud

Best Rider?

Cancellara.

Best win?

Hard to go past Cancellara's dominance in RVV and PR.

Biggest Surprise?

Richie Porte.

Quote of the year?

Roche's whole article after the Gadret incident.

Biggest Dissapointment of the year?

Haussler being injured/out of form.

One to watch in 2011?

Gesink, I think he was a couple of big wins coming.

Funniest moment of the year?

The fight after the TDF stage.

 

[auscyclefan94]

As soon as Evans fails it's a boring race for you.

Ah, quite a few people said it was a boring or average race. Evans wasn't even near it so I just tried to enjoy the race but found it a bit boring. Route change is not good for the race.

 

[Kwibus]

Ah, quite a few people said it was a boring or average race. Evans wasn't even near it so I just tried to enjoy the race but found it a bit boring. Route change is not good for the race.

That's true. You are not the only one indeed. I'm not sure if it's because of the route change though. I think it was mostly because of the weather. I liked the epicness of it, but I agree it wasn't exciting in a way that you didn't know who was going to win.
Let's get back on topic.

 

[The Hitch]

(would've been 2nd if not for Arroyo gaining the freak 12 mins in l'Aquila) is obviously super impressive. Add on a few

Would have been 4th if not for a ttt which gave him a 1 minute 30 lead on Scarponi and Evans.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

To be fair, he lost time on the crash in stage 7 also. and was then forced to pull for basso.
Was just about worthy of 2nd place imo.

 

[Moondance]

Would have been 4th if not for a ttt which gave him a 1 minute 30 lead on Scarponi and Evans.

A TTT is a valid stage and Liquigas, with Neebs, were the best. Arroyo gained a massive amount of time on Neebs not by being better than him, or Caisse being stronger than Liqui, but having the good fortune of being on the right side of that stage. That's why I made that remark.

 

[The Hitch]

A TTT is a valid stage and Liquigas, with Neebs, were the best. Arroyo gained a massive amount of time on Neebs not by being better than him, or Caisse being stronger than Liqui, but having the good fortune of being on the right side of that stage. That's why I made that remark.

I understand what you mean, but to me a 12 minute break is just as valid as a ttt. The Laquila break was unfortunate for Nibali and it cost him 2nd place. The ttt was unfortunate for Scarponi and it cost him a podium. His team was weaker and hence his opponents are basically given a head start. There is nothing he can do about the 1 minute 30 his team lost on the ttt.

 

[The Hitch]

To be fair, he lost time on the crash in stage 7 also. and was then forced to pull for basso.
Was just about worthy of 2nd place imo.

Yes this is true. He did probably lose more time working for Basso then he gained from being with Basso and gained from the ttt. Also he won his own 20 second bonus in impressive fashion whereas Scarponi was left unchallenged to take it in Aprica.

 

[Moondance]

I understand what you mean, but to me a 12 minute break is just as valid as a ttt. The Laquila break was unfortunate for Nibali and it cost him 2nd place. The ttt was unfortunate for Scarponi and it cost him a podium. His team was weaker and hence his opponents are basically given a head start. There is nothing he can do about the 1 minute 30 his team lost on the ttt.

Well a TTT is all about the team being strongest. Its a valid stage. If it had been a 30km ITT instead I still think Neebs would've won a significant amount of time on Scarponi and Arroyo TBH.

 

[Jan the Man]

Best one Day Race of the year? Liege - Bastogne - Liege

Best grand tour of the year? Giro d'Italia

Best Stage of a grand Tour? Montalcino Giro d'Italia

Best Rider? Phillippe Gilbert

Best win? Fabian Cancellara - Ronde van Vlaanderen

Biggest Surprise? Fabian Cancellara losing any ITT/ Peter Velits 3rd/2nd Overall Vuelta Espana.

Biggest Dissapointment of the year? Riders- Daniele Bennati, Brad Wiggins and Alessandro Ballan races - Tour de France (bar the Arenberg stage the formula is getting old) and Tour of California (boring).

One to watch in 2011? Beñat Intxausti

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Best one Day Race of the year?
Ronde van Vlaanderen. Great was my dissapointment on the muur
KBK for the extreme conditions
Best grand tour of the year?
Giro obviously

Best Stage of a grand Tour?
Stage 7 duh.. Strade bianchi was awesome!

Best Rider?
difficult, Evans was good but did not get a GT win again(his major goal so he's out) Cancellara or Gilbert.
Cancellara won bigger things so I'll go for him (even though I'm biased as a Belgian)

Best win?
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne by Bobbie Traksel, it was EPIC

Biggest Surprise?
Sagan

Quote of the year?
All riders are dopers

Biggest Dissapointment of the year?
Tom Boonen not winning Ronde van Vlaanderen
Radioshack

One to watch in 2011?
Garmin-Cervelo

An additional question: Funniest moment of the year?
Contador testing positive. Makes me happy to know that they will take big fish down too.

 

[The Hitch]

Well a TTT is all about the team being strongest. Its a valid stage. If it had been a 30km ITT instead I still think Neebs would've won a significant amount of time on Scarponi and Arroyo TBH.

I disagree. I think TTTs are unfair. They give advantages to riders with stronger teams, especially 30k ones where the headwind becomes a tail wind when the top teams start. I usually support the underdog which maybe why i see them as unfair. Doesnt mean they dont provide a spectacle. Especially in the Tour when it makes a nice change to the usual, boring sprint, and is key in the GC battle.

 

[El Pistolero]

The best rider of the season is a show-off between Gilbert and Cancellara. You might say that Cancellara won bigger things this season and that's true, but is that all what we're going to look at? Cancellara was disappointing in both the Tour and the Vuelta. Sure he won the prologue and the longer time trial, but they're just time trials. I think the stages Gilbert won at the Vuelta were more impressive and against just as tough competition. If stage 3 of the Vuelta was a Tour stage it would've been won by either Contador or Rodriguez. Gilbert would've still easily beaten both.

Gilbert can WIN every classic and that's why I'm putting him above Cancellara this season. Sure, Cancellara might one day go for Lombardy and LBL, but he hasn't proven him self in those races. Gilbert has proven him self in every classic race this season besides Paris-Roubaix(and if you can do good at Flanders, you can do good at Paris-Roubaix as well although it will probably be the most difficult for him, that or San Remo.)

Third at the Ronde, third at LBL(where he was the strongest, just not the smartest), 1rst at Amstel, 1st at Giro di Lombardia, 9th at San Remo(3rd in 2008), 3rd at Wevelgem, etc

He is the only true classics specialist of his generation. With that I mean, he can win them all. Although the only race I never see him winning is La Fleche Wallone.

 

[hfer07]

Best one Day Race of the year?
Amstel god - the World's could have been the best but they sprint finish ruined it
Best grand tour of the year?
Giro-no doubt
Best Stage of a grand Tour?
May 15, Stage 7: Carrara - Montalcino 222km
Best Rider?
Gilbert, since Cance & Berto have casted shadows
Best win?
Evans @ Montalcino
Biggest Surprise?
still waiting for that surprise
Quote of the year?
the tour of california is clearly the 4th GT
Biggest Dissapointment of the year?
Roman Kreuziger keeps disappointing me
One to watch in 2011?
Ricco & NIbali