- Feb 18, 2015
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I liked the thread last year and since all the important races are over I decided to create another thread. First of all, I only picked WT stages for the thread since most people here probably didn't see many great stages in the Europe or the America Tour so I thought including them in the poll doesn't really make sense. I also only put stages in the poll, not one day races because 1.) stage races and one day races are something completely different for me and personally I can't really compare them and 2.) there already is a thread about the best one day race of the season.
Anyway, here a short description of the stages:
Paris - Nice stage 7: Nice - Nice
Before the final stage of the first WT stage race of the year Contador is only a few seconds behind the leader Geraint Thomas, but still he decides to already attack on the penultimate climb. However the skytrain manages to catch Contador just before the start of the last climb where AC keeps on attacking and finally manages to drop Thomas. However after an incredible chase on the final descent Contador almost gets caught again and the Thomas wins by only 4 seconds.
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco stage 5: Orio - Arrate
A rosa solo over several passes and one of the cooles winning celebrations of the last years would already have been enough to make this stage memorable, but still there was way more going on. First Purito blew up the peloton with a furious pace 3 climbs before the finish. Contador is almost isolated so team sky tries to get rid of him by letting Landa attack on the penultimate climb, but he gets caught again at the beginning of the last climb where Contador and Henao crush what was still left of the peloton
Giro d'Italia stage 16: Bressanone - Andalo
When the riders entered the penultimate weekend of this years giro there were still a bunch of riders in contention to win the gc, but after the queen stage and a MTT it was obvious that Steven Kruijswijk is the outstanding favorite. This was the reason why on a relatively short stage almost all other gc riders attacked the Dutchman and blew up the race still quite far away from the finish. The only important rider who couldn't follow these early attacks was Esteban Chaves. On the final hard climb the attacking continued, but Kruijswijk was just too strong. However the 2nd biggest favorite of the race at that point, Vincenzo Nibali, cracked and lost so much time that everyone agreet that after this stage he was finally out of contention to win the giro. He even got dropped by Chaves who started a great chase on the last kilometers and limited the damage.
Giro d'Italia stage 19: Pinerolo - Risoul
Many people were afraid that nothing would happen on the stage with the Cima Coppi because of the flat between the penultimate and the last climb but boy, were they wrong. On the penultimate climb, the Colle Agnello Orica and their gc rider Chaves tried again to crush Kruijswijk but it just wasn't possible for them. However Nibali rose from the dead and passed the Agnello together with the other two riders, before he did what he does best, attacking on the descent. His pace was too high for Kruijswijk but the Dutchman did everything to not drop which unfortunately resulted in a crash, which turned the whole giro upside down. Kruijswijk had to do most of the work before the last climb on his own and therefore lost a lot of time on Chaves and especially Nibali, who was 4:40 behind Kruijswijk before this stage and now suddenly had the chance to win the giro again (which he later did)
Tour de France stage 12: Montpellier - Mont Ventoux
This years Tour definitely wasn't one of my favorite ones but this was definitely one of the most memorable stages of the year. First there was a big fight between the teams in the crosswinds in the long flat part of the stage. The crash of Ian Stannard and Froome's infamous pissbreak would usually also be very famous moments but are mostly forgotten because everyone only remembers what happened on the last climb. After two weak attacks by Nairo Quintana, Chris Froome did what he does best, simulate a washing machine and completely crushing his opponents. Quintana cracked and it seemed as if this was the crucial point of the race, but then this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHfKHpurzR8
The result was later neutralized which means that the pictures of Froome running up the Ventoux will only be memorable, but not crucial for the outcome of the gc. Still an absolutely crazy stage.
Tour de Pologne stage 5: Wieliczka - Zakopane
Talking about crazy stages: What happens if you put Tim Wellens into a hilly race with the worst weather conditions possible? This. Wellens first was part of a break, which was about to be caught, so Wellens decided to attack and ride the last 70km alone at the front and while the peloton was only 38 seconds behind the break when Wellens attacked the Belgian eventually won the stage by almost 4 minutes. Unsurprisingly Wellens later also won the gc of the Tour de Pologne.
Vuelta a España stage 10: Lugones - Lagos de Covadonga
When making this list I had 8 stages which I definitely wanted to include in the poll. This was the one I wasn't sure about but at the end I decided that the climb to the Lagos de Covadonga was possibly the best climb of the whole year and therefore deserves a place in the top ten stages.
Chris Froome, who was one of the 3 big favorites for the race, dropped extremely early on the last ascent, even early for Froome circumstances. Everyone in the forum agrees that this isn't a typical Froome yoyo, this time he is just in bad shape. But Alberto Contador is afraid that Froome might recover and therefore attacks relatively early with only Quintana on his wheel. The two cooperate quite well, but suddenly Froome reveals that he simply did the biggest yoyo ever and overtakes the riders one by one. Quintana gets nervous and attacks Contador, who can't follow the attack on completely cracks. Froome catches almost all the favorites, including Contador and after he was already around one minute behind Quintana earlier on the climb he only finishes 25 seconds behind the Colombian while Contador loses 1:05.
Vuelta a España stage 15: Sabiñanigo - Formigal
After being dropped numerous times Contador decides that he has nothing to lose and tries a seemingly impossible attack early in a stage which was earlier described as one of the most boring ones of the whole vuelta, by uninformed cn forum posters (like me). But the leader of the race, Quintana, and his Movistar team follow the attack and the break manages to get an advantage, since Froome is almost isolated in the peloton. Quintana pulls the group up the last climb to Formigal and nobody, not even Contador, who worked a lot earlier in the stage, except Brambilla can follow. At the end the Italian outsprints Quintana but that doesn't really matter since the Colombian won the whole the Vuelta on this stage.
Eneco Tour stage 7: Bornem - Geraardsbergen
A typical Eneco tour stage, which makes you wonder why the classics don't get raced like that. After the race leader Rohan Dennis crashed out the peloton splits into two groups. Riders continuously attack from the first group and at the end a crucial 3 men break with Niki Terpstra, EBH and Naesen forms. The group often gets close to the first group but never manages to catch them, so the Dutch Terpstra wins the Eneco Tour and EBH the stage.
Sorry if I forgot a stage (I can still change the poll if thats the case) and for possible typos
Anyway, here a short description of the stages:
Paris - Nice stage 7: Nice - Nice
Before the final stage of the first WT stage race of the year Contador is only a few seconds behind the leader Geraint Thomas, but still he decides to already attack on the penultimate climb. However the skytrain manages to catch Contador just before the start of the last climb where AC keeps on attacking and finally manages to drop Thomas. However after an incredible chase on the final descent Contador almost gets caught again and the Thomas wins by only 4 seconds.
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco stage 5: Orio - Arrate
A rosa solo over several passes and one of the cooles winning celebrations of the last years would already have been enough to make this stage memorable, but still there was way more going on. First Purito blew up the peloton with a furious pace 3 climbs before the finish. Contador is almost isolated so team sky tries to get rid of him by letting Landa attack on the penultimate climb, but he gets caught again at the beginning of the last climb where Contador and Henao crush what was still left of the peloton
Giro d'Italia stage 16: Bressanone - Andalo
When the riders entered the penultimate weekend of this years giro there were still a bunch of riders in contention to win the gc, but after the queen stage and a MTT it was obvious that Steven Kruijswijk is the outstanding favorite. This was the reason why on a relatively short stage almost all other gc riders attacked the Dutchman and blew up the race still quite far away from the finish. The only important rider who couldn't follow these early attacks was Esteban Chaves. On the final hard climb the attacking continued, but Kruijswijk was just too strong. However the 2nd biggest favorite of the race at that point, Vincenzo Nibali, cracked and lost so much time that everyone agreet that after this stage he was finally out of contention to win the giro. He even got dropped by Chaves who started a great chase on the last kilometers and limited the damage.
Giro d'Italia stage 19: Pinerolo - Risoul
Many people were afraid that nothing would happen on the stage with the Cima Coppi because of the flat between the penultimate and the last climb but boy, were they wrong. On the penultimate climb, the Colle Agnello Orica and their gc rider Chaves tried again to crush Kruijswijk but it just wasn't possible for them. However Nibali rose from the dead and passed the Agnello together with the other two riders, before he did what he does best, attacking on the descent. His pace was too high for Kruijswijk but the Dutchman did everything to not drop which unfortunately resulted in a crash, which turned the whole giro upside down. Kruijswijk had to do most of the work before the last climb on his own and therefore lost a lot of time on Chaves and especially Nibali, who was 4:40 behind Kruijswijk before this stage and now suddenly had the chance to win the giro again (which he later did)
Tour de France stage 12: Montpellier - Mont Ventoux
This years Tour definitely wasn't one of my favorite ones but this was definitely one of the most memorable stages of the year. First there was a big fight between the teams in the crosswinds in the long flat part of the stage. The crash of Ian Stannard and Froome's infamous pissbreak would usually also be very famous moments but are mostly forgotten because everyone only remembers what happened on the last climb. After two weak attacks by Nairo Quintana, Chris Froome did what he does best, simulate a washing machine and completely crushing his opponents. Quintana cracked and it seemed as if this was the crucial point of the race, but then this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHfKHpurzR8
The result was later neutralized which means that the pictures of Froome running up the Ventoux will only be memorable, but not crucial for the outcome of the gc. Still an absolutely crazy stage.
Tour de Pologne stage 5: Wieliczka - Zakopane
Talking about crazy stages: What happens if you put Tim Wellens into a hilly race with the worst weather conditions possible? This. Wellens first was part of a break, which was about to be caught, so Wellens decided to attack and ride the last 70km alone at the front and while the peloton was only 38 seconds behind the break when Wellens attacked the Belgian eventually won the stage by almost 4 minutes. Unsurprisingly Wellens later also won the gc of the Tour de Pologne.
Vuelta a España stage 10: Lugones - Lagos de Covadonga
When making this list I had 8 stages which I definitely wanted to include in the poll. This was the one I wasn't sure about but at the end I decided that the climb to the Lagos de Covadonga was possibly the best climb of the whole year and therefore deserves a place in the top ten stages.
Chris Froome, who was one of the 3 big favorites for the race, dropped extremely early on the last ascent, even early for Froome circumstances. Everyone in the forum agrees that this isn't a typical Froome yoyo, this time he is just in bad shape. But Alberto Contador is afraid that Froome might recover and therefore attacks relatively early with only Quintana on his wheel. The two cooperate quite well, but suddenly Froome reveals that he simply did the biggest yoyo ever and overtakes the riders one by one. Quintana gets nervous and attacks Contador, who can't follow the attack on completely cracks. Froome catches almost all the favorites, including Contador and after he was already around one minute behind Quintana earlier on the climb he only finishes 25 seconds behind the Colombian while Contador loses 1:05.
Vuelta a España stage 15: Sabiñanigo - Formigal
After being dropped numerous times Contador decides that he has nothing to lose and tries a seemingly impossible attack early in a stage which was earlier described as one of the most boring ones of the whole vuelta, by uninformed cn forum posters (like me). But the leader of the race, Quintana, and his Movistar team follow the attack and the break manages to get an advantage, since Froome is almost isolated in the peloton. Quintana pulls the group up the last climb to Formigal and nobody, not even Contador, who worked a lot earlier in the stage, except Brambilla can follow. At the end the Italian outsprints Quintana but that doesn't really matter since the Colombian won the whole the Vuelta on this stage.
Eneco Tour stage 7: Bornem - Geraardsbergen
A typical Eneco tour stage, which makes you wonder why the classics don't get raced like that. After the race leader Rohan Dennis crashed out the peloton splits into two groups. Riders continuously attack from the first group and at the end a crucial 3 men break with Niki Terpstra, EBH and Naesen forms. The group often gets close to the first group but never manages to catch them, so the Dutch Terpstra wins the Eneco Tour and EBH the stage.
Sorry if I forgot a stage (I can still change the poll if thats the case) and for possible typos
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