Stage /One day race of the year: Grand Final

[The Hitch]

Euh, I was the first one to vote for Worlds in this poll. Mainly because it was the best racing day of the year. That's what this poll is about right?
I don't care about the opinion of other Dutch people.

I know, and i had a feeling you would say this, but it didnt suit my argument to say that you voted for worlds first.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Maybe the dutch voted for the worlds because one of their riders, koos moerenhout (spelling) was awesome and should not be retiring!

 

[The Hitch]

the hitch, your headlines of the races are a bit dramatic!

Which ones? All of them?

ANd to those who say one day races are better because there is more at stake, bare in mind that in 2 of the stages - Aprica and Bola del Mundo, it was the GC showdown and hence something even more precious - a Grand Tour, was at stake.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Which ones? All of them?

ANd to those who say one day races are better because there is more at stake, bare in mind that in 2 of the stages - Aprica and Bola del Mundo, it was the GC showdown and hence something even more precious - a Grand Tour, was at stake.

All of them are kinda corny and cliched but these ones especially...

"A star is born. Bobby seizes his destiny."

"The return of the King. After 4 years, Basso takes pink on the passo ( di mortirolo)"

"Ivan conquers the Terror:"


They aren't too bad. Your intentions were good!

 

[ak-zaaf]

Which ones? All of them?

ANd to those who say one day races are better because there is more at stake, bare in mind that in 2 of the stages - Aprica and Bola del Mundo, it was the GC showdown and hence something even more precious - a Grand Tour, was at stake.

Vlaanderen > Vuelta

 

[zapata]

Very hard choice. I voted bola del mundo, and not entirely because it had no votes yet..it was just a great stage, beautiful setting, mosquera dropping nibali, nibali recovering, etc.

I might as well have woted for the worlds, though. And the giro stages were great.. And I seriously considered voted for scaponi in TA, because that really excited me at the time. By the way, good OP! Very well written, made me remember each race fondly.

 

[Kvinto]

Bola del Mundo would have been great if the maximum gap was bigger. But there was less then 20 seconds… I was disappointed
Montalcino and LBL – the best.

 

[Anonymous]

how on earth did K-B-K not make the final shake-up :/

 

[dolophonic]

Great post Hitch.
Going to have to think about this one, so many great moments in cycling.

 

[The Hitch]

how on earth did K-B-K not make the final shake-up :/

I wanted it to, but only 2 from 1 day races could go through, and in the semi final, LBL beat KBK by about 3 votes.

 

[Anonymous]

I wanted it to, but only 2 from 1 day races could go through, and in the semi final, LBL beat KBK by about 3 votes.

I think in retrospect maybe 2 one day races was not enough.. maybe 3 x 1 days races, 3 x gt stages and 3 x other stage races might have been in order..

For what its worth, giro stage 7 was still the best of the year. KBK was second for me. (I think kbk lost votes by not being on tv personally - tv races are always going to get more votes)

 

[jens_attacks]

my top 5:

1.Montalcino
2.LBL
3.Col de la Madeleine stage
4.Zoncolan
5.Mortirolo/KBK

bola del mundo by far the most disappointing stage from that poll.i was screaming "like a man possessed" in front of the tv from the beginning of the climb and nothing happened until 3 to go.then it was certain that eze couldn't take more than 30 seconds.top ten in less than one minute.nothing epic here.

 

[The Hitch]

I think in retrospect maybe 2 one day races was not enough.. maybe 3 x 1 days races, 3 x gt stages and 3 x other stage races might have been in order..

For what its worth, giro stage 7 was still the best of the year. KBK was second for me. (I think kbk lost votes by not being on tv personally - tv races are always going to get more votes)

The point is, im trying to slightly eliminate the element of prestige in a race, and just finding which race was the most exciting. There are 93 gt stages, about 70 PT Stage race stages, and about 20 -30 one day races.

Unbder these ratios, Gt gets 5 finalists, Stage races get 4 finalists and 1 day races get 1 finalist.

But since 1 day races are obviously way more important than stage races, i gave them an extra 1, and took 1 away from stage races. Gts should definately remain with 5 though.

 

[maltiv]

For what its worth, giro stage 7 was still the best of the year. KBK was second for me. (I think kbk lost votes by not being on tv personally - tv races are always going to get more votes)

Also because there were no "stars" competing for the win, and a race probably gets less exciting when you have never even heard of the guys in the front.

 

[The Hitch]

Also because there were no "stars" competing for the win, and a race probably gets less exciting when you have never even heard of the guys in the front.

I didnt watch KBK, but i would say its more exciting when 3 nobodies are fighting it out for the greatest moment of their careers.

 

[Barrus]

I think in retrospect maybe 2 one day races was not enough.. maybe 3 x 1 days races, 3 x gt stages and 3 x other stage races might have been in order..

For what its worth, giro stage 7 was still the best of the year. KBK was second for me. (I think kbk lost votes by not being on tv personally - tv races are always going to get more votes)

Did you see the race, Dim? If not, you (and everyone else that didn't see it) really need to download it somewhere. It truly was insane and epic. To me it would have won over Montalcino. Perhaps that was also partially due to the fact that it was the first spring classic weekend. But really seeing that struggle of the riders, their complete determination to at least finish, seeing how far these riders went. I have not seen anything like it this year. Seeing a rider being dropped out of either the front group, or a chasing group and not even only sitting up to wait for the larger group coming, completely stopping, not being able to get of the bike and being half carried into the car


For anyone interested, it is on cyclingtorrents.nl, coming fromn Sporza and for those of you who don't speak Dutch (you philistines, how can you follow cycling and not speak Dutch ) it's got English subtitles

 

[auscyclefan94]

Did you see the race, Dim? If not, you (and everyone else that didn't see it) really need to download it somewhere. It truly was insane and epic. To me it would have won over Montalcino. Perhaps that was also partially due to the fact that it was the first spring classic weekend. But really seeing that struggle of the riders, their complete determination to at least finish, seeing how far these riders went. I have not seen anything like it this year. Seeing a rider being dropped out of either the front group, or a chasing group and not even only sitting up to wait for the larger group coming, completely stopping, not being able to get of the bike and being half carried into the car


For anyone interested, it is on cyclingtorrents.nl, coming fromn Sporza and for those of you who don't speak Dutch (you philistines, how can you follow cycling and not speak Dutch ) it's got English subtitles

It would of not beaten montalcino in a million years!

 

[Barrus]

It would of not beaten montalcino in a million years!

For me it would, a personal opinion

 

[The Hitch]

It would of not beaten montalcino in a million years!

Moltacino. Pshhh

Liquigas crash.

Vino Evans and Cunego spend next 30km wiping mud off their eyes.

Cuddles wins the sprint.

Nothing compared to KBK

 

[ultimobici]

Also because there were no "stars" competing for the win, and a race probably gets less exciting when you have never even heard of the guys in the front.

Almost every star was a nobody once. Fignon was a virtual nobody in 83, Boonen was a domestique in 2002 when he was in the fray in Roubaix, Armstrong was an unknown in Oslo in 1993.

 

[Anonymous]

Did you see the race, Dim?

Yup, watched it live on the sporza stream. Absolutely epic stage of racing. Ive just done my season top ten and it was in second place behind the giro stage for me.

The big plus of KBK for me was Thor Huschovd. After having some indifference to him after 2008 tour he regained every ounce of respect i now have for him. When he hit the finishing circuit there was no reason why he couldnt just go to the hotel and call it a day. The podium was gone for him and he was just riding for a place, but all credit to him, he carried on and rode to the finish. Ride of the day for me, and Thors persistance and proffesionalism that day was almost ride of the season.

 

[blaxland]

The stage 7 in this years Giro is one i will never forget...epic,tough stage and lots of mud.

 

[Blakeslee]

Great list! I voted for the Worlds, but all of the races on the list were exciting.

One honorable mention for me would be this years Fleche Wallone. This race has always been a favorite of mine, it is always exciting watching the riders battle it out up the Mur. This year was no exception with Contador going just a shade too early and Evans pulling out the win after making the same mistake Contador made by going too early in last years edition.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Yup, watched it live on the sporza stream. Absolutely epic stage of racing. Ive just done my season top ten and it was in second place behind the giro stage for me.

The big plus of KBK for me was Thor Huschovd. After having some indifference to him after 2008 tour he regained every ounce of respect i now have for him. When he hit the finishing circuit there was no reason why he couldnt just go to the hotel and call it a day. The podium was gone for him and he was just riding for a place, but all credit to him, he carried on and rode to the finish. Ride of the day for me, and Thors persistance and proffesionalism that day was almost ride of the season.

Nice report on the season dim! He also regained my respect after the 2009 tdf incident.

 

[Matthijs]

1 KBK
watched it live on sporza, on a cold rainy afternoon. This is wat the cobbles make so special ones a few years.

2 Montalcino
I hope they take the Koppenberg into ProTour and force all elite road pro's to compete in Cyclocross

3 Zoncolan (best real mountain stage this year), LBL (comeback of a great warrior) and maybe Bola del Mundo and Lombardia if I watched it live (but unfortunately not)

to be honest, it seems very strange to me: 3x short stage races, while these races are mainly preparation for the real races: GT's and Classics. In my opinion it would be:
4 one-days
4 GT stages
2 short stage-race stages

90 days of racing in GT's against 25 one-day races dous not count:
in a GT 75 of the 90 stages are controlled untill the sprint, or the last 10k on a mountain or the breakaway desides in the last 10k. I like to follow the GT's, the sporza guys are really funny sometimes, but I can eat, check the newspaper, make coffee and so on while nothing happens. In one-day races their is usely 60-30km racing which is worth watching every minute of it.
Classics rule!