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Surprise Gt winner in last 20 years

Aug 16, 2010
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1. Oscar Pereiro- Tour 2006 ( see him winning a gt was dificult to imagine, then the Tour!!!?

2. Aitor Gonzalez - Vuelta 2002 ( came from nowhere)

3. Alberto Contador - Tour 2007 ( big big surprise at the time, he entered the race as a domestique)

4. Damiano Cunego - Giro 2004 ( super rookie!)

5. Paolo Savoldelli - Giro 2005 (unlikely retourn for the Italian)
 
I suppose most first time winners are a surprise. Ullrich winning was a surprise. Lance winning was a surprise. Cunegos first win was a surprise. THough in some cases like with Valverde and Basso and Sastre if they have already performed well before its not too big a surprise

And what about Riis in 1996.
(you did say last 20 years)
 
Jun 19, 2009
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roundabout said:
Berzin, the man who broke Indurains run of 5 consecutive GT wins

Unfortunately not so much of a surprise after watching Geweiss' season that year. I guess it was a surprise which of their riders would win.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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While I was surprised that Contador won in 2007 it wasn't a BIG surprise. But that was probably because Johan Bruyneel kept telling everyone that he has never seen anyone accelerate so fast on mountains then Contador. Plus the kid impressed me a couple of times on TV prior to his first GT win and really liked his riding style. Let's not forget that without his flat tire on a mountain stage(the one Soler won) and everybody being incredibly stupid to let Rasmussen in a breakaway he would've won as well, even without Rasmussen being pulled out.

Pereiro is a big surprise, but only before the stage where he got a massive breakaway. Always found it incredible stupid that they let him go on such big breakaway. IIRC he has done top 10s in the Tour before.
 
Jul 13, 2009
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El Pistolero said:
While I was surprised that Contador won in 2007 it wasn't a BIG surprise. But that was probably because Johan Bruyneel kept telling everyone that he has never seen anyone accelerate so fast on mountains then Contador. Plus the kid impressed me a couple of times on TV prior to his first GT win and really liked his riding style. Let's not forget that without his flat tire on a mountain stage(the one Soler won) and everybody being incredibly stupid to let Rasmussen in a breakaway he would've won as well, even without Rasmussen being pulled out.

Pereiro is a big surprise, but only before the stage where he got a massive breakaway. Always found it incredible stupid that they let him go on such big breakaway. IIRC he has done top 10s in the Tour before.

Perreiro's previous tours usually saw him lose time in the first mountain range so that he could go for stage wins in the second mountain range so he should have been known to be a good climber in the second half of the tour so to let him get back his earlier losses in a breakaway was a pretty stupid thing to do
 
the3verB said:
1. Oscar Pereiro- Tour 2006 ( see him winning a gt was dificult to imagine, then the Tour!!!?

2. Aitor Gonzalez - Vuelta 2002 ( came from nowhere)

3. Alberto Contador - Tour 2007 ( big big surprise at the time, he entered the race as a domestique)

4. Damiano Cunego - Giro 2004 ( super rookie!)

5. Paolo Savoldelli - Giro 2005 (unlikely retourn for the Italian)

Naughty boy;) 1999-2006
 
El Pistolero said:
Pereiro is a big surprise, but only before the stage where he got a massive breakaway. Always found it incredible stupid that they let him go on such big breakaway. IIRC he has done top 10s in the Tour before.

Why is it stupid to let someone who is 27 minutes down on the gc go? The logic is that a half an hour break comes once in a blue moon, and if (big if) it does, you can count on it tiring out the escapees.

Phonak were willing to let him take half an hour back the whole time, because they wanted someone else to take the yellow jersey. THis turned out to be a good plan for Landis as he ended up overtaking Perreiro permenantly on stage 19. Job done (till factors that have nothing to do with Perreiro came into play)
 
2004 Damiano Cunego Giro d'Italia - You know he was in great shape after wins in Giro del Trentino and Giro dell'Appennino. But it's still a miracle that he won even if the startlist was the weakest in many many years.

1999 Lance Armstrong Tour de Fance - Was a good cyclist pre-cancer but more a exellent one day racer. Out of racing 1997 due cancer. Yes, he did well in vuelta the year before (1998), but I think none was thinking he could win the tour. Even if he did some good results in Amstel and Dauphiné.

1990 Gianni Bugno Giro d'Italia - He was like Armstrong a great one day classic rider. With a lot of viictories in big one day race and some stage wins in grand tours. But he allways had bad days. I also take this one becauce he just was increadeble this giro no one else had a chance. If I remember right he had the maglia rosa from first to last stage.

2006 Oscar Pereiro Tour de France - Surprise or not surprise. He was really good last week of 2005 years tour and he got alot of minutes free after failed in the pyreenes. He was a outsider before the tour and with 30 bonus minutes your not a really suprise winner.

2000 Stefano Garzelli Giro d'Italia - He won Tour de suisse 1998 and had been high in tirreno before. But still a big suprise in my eyes.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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The Hitch said:
Why is it stupid to let someone who is 27 minutes down on the gc go? The logic is that a half an hour break comes once in a blue moon, and if (big if) it does, you can count on it tiring out the escapees.

Phonak were willing to let him take half an hour back the whole time, because they wanted someone else to take the yellow jersey. THis turned out to be a good plan for Landis as he ended up overtaking Perreiro permenantly on stage 19. Job done (till factors that have nothing to do with Perreiro came into play)

Floyd failed, only after taking a **** load of dope did he succeed to overtake Pereiro again. Yes, Landis probably doped continuously, but he took way more then usual when he did that magical stage.

They should have at least tried to reel in the break away group after they were informed they had more then 15-20 minutes. Phonak wasn't the only team that had a shot at the GC back then. If anything the other teams could annoy Landis by making sure he still had the yellow.
 
Apr 19, 2009
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El Pistolero said:
Floyd failed, only after taking a **** load of dope did he succeed to overtake Pereiro again. Yes, Landis probably doped continuously, but he took way more then usual when he did that magical stage.

They should have at least tried to reel in the break away group after they were informed they had more then 15-20 minutes. Phonak wasn't the only team that had a shot at the GC back then. If anything the other teams could annoy Landis by making sure he still had the yellow.

I am sure he was doped, but, it is not like Pereiro was riding clean.....

Pllllllleeeeeeaaaaaasssssse!
 
the3verB said:
1. Oscar Pereiro- Tour 2006 ( see him winning a gt was dificult to imagine, then the Tour!!!?

2. Aitor Gonzalez - Vuelta 2002 ( came from nowhere)

3. Alberto Contador - Tour 2007 ( big big surprise at the time, he entered the race as a domestique)

4. Damiano Cunego - Giro 2004 ( super rookie!)

5. Paolo Savoldelli - Giro 2005
(unlikely retourn for the Italian)

I reckon Contador was already the team captain by 7th stage and leecheimer was way back in the GC;)
 
hfer07 said:
I reckon Contador was already the team captain by 7th stage and leecheimer was way back in the GC;)
Yes, but due to several unfortunate circumstances he had never been in the thick of a GT GC before, so there was some uncertainty regarding his true potential. It was a surprise, just not one of those "where the hell did he come from?" surprises.
 
Feb 25, 2010
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The Barb said:
Whether Contador in 2007 was a "big surprise" depends on your definition of that phrase. According to Wikipedia he was the 12th favourite, paying $29 (see this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_tour_de_france)

Pretty surprising, but nothing like Pereiro (though of course if you bet on Pereiro in 2006 you would have lost your money, as all bookmakers pay on podium and therefore paid out on Landis).

There's a really funny video on that on youtube. The guy won a bike with megabike (a game in wich you'll have to predict stage outcome) and they take away his bike because ricco and schumacher were caught doping:D
and it was a joke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_aDS-vVhpA
if you understand dutch it's worth watching!
 
The Hitch said:
I suppose most first time winners are a surprise. Ullrich winning was a surprise. Lance winning was a surprise. Cunegos first win was a surprise. THough in some cases like with Valverde and Basso and Sastre if they have already performed well before its not too big a surprise

And what about Riis in 1996.
(you did say last 20 years)

It wasn't all that surprising that Ulle won in 1997. Yes there may have pretentions of him entering the tour as a helper for Riis however he had finished 2nd in 1996, now that was a bigger surprise.
 
cyclestationgiuseppe said:
I am sure he was doped, but, it is not like Pereiro was riding clean.....

Pllllllleeeeeeaaaaaasssssse!

You should read. Pretty much everyone doped back then we all know that.
It's just that Landis took a ****load of extra dope to take back those minutes he lost. Which was pretty obvious.
 
Gotland said:
2006 Oscar Pereiro Tour de France - Surprise or not surprise. He was really good last week of 2005 years tour and he got alot of minutes free after failed in the pyreenes. He was a outsider before the tour and with 30 bonus minutes your not a really suprise winner.

Pereiro didn't "fail" in the Pyrenees. Almost all of the time he lost was on a single stage, as he was planning to go for stage wins; he wasn't likely to contend overall, nobody would let him go anywhere if he was only 3 to 5 minutes down, and his team needed something from the race after Valverde crashed out in the first week. Dropping time and then going on repeated week 3 breakaways was how he'd managed one of his previous top 10s, and he was planning to use that tactic again, to hopefully get a stage win and get the team some airtime.

Sure, he was lucky to hit paydirt, but he didn't "fail" in the Pyrenées. It's only "failing" if you were trying to contend.
 

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