The Eternal Second

[mulletCobra]

Oops, yes, mixed up some races and riders.

You may have a future in broadcasting

 

[Nielsa]

I remember lots of images of Gilbert powering up a hill ahead of J-Rod with the peleton far behind, not so good at remembering exactly which races.

 

[luckyboy]

Say Eurosport show it every ad break and they have an average of 6 ad breaks a stage.

And say you watch about 150 days of cycling a year.

Now consider that the ad also appears on other eurosport programming and has even appeared on occasion on non eurosport programmes.

Every moment of this advert is therefore as familiar to me as the experience of sticking food into my mouth.

I dont think its annoying or anything though, just making the point that even if Tyler somehow managed to win the Worlds, MSR and even the Tour for arguments sake, to thousands of cycling fans out there he will always simply be remembered as Transitions Tyler.

I've only ever seen it during the cycling, and not since last year but I seem to remember they showed it at the beginning and end of every ad break a lot of the time.

 

[bicing]

Farrar stopped being the eternal second when he won a TdF stage this year. Respect for Farrar.

Andy has 39 eternal seconds until he moves on from 2010.

Galizymanov has been the non-winning sprinter of 2011.

Leopard Trek has been the eternal second team of 2011 (Milan San Remo, Paris Roubaix, Tour Flanders, Liege, TdF). What exactly did they win this year? OH THATS RIGHT GERDEMANN WON THE TOUR OF LUXEMBORED = EPICCCCCCCC

There was a nice comment by a regular poster which became another regular poster's signature for a while about Rojas and Bennati vying for a victory. These guys prefer 2nd place to Farrar, too.

Finally, to cap off my review of "Eternal Second's"... 2nd dumbest comeback ever: "The UCI highlights the exceptional quality of competition at the recent Tour de France 2011, a Tour which also reflected a cleaner era in cycling. Mr Vroomen appears exceptionally poorly informed as he would seem not to have been aware of the tests carried out on the two teams he has been involved with. A simple phone call could have clarified the situation for Mr Vrooman should his concerns have been genuine, but he chose not to do this."

 

[oldcrank]

Farrar stopped being the eternal second when he won a TdF stage this year. Respect for Farrar.

Raymond Poulidor won seven Tour stages, four Vuelta stages,
the 1961 Milan-San Remo, the 1964 Vuelta and many other
races, yet is remembered as "The Eternal Second."

 

[gregrowlerson]

Kloden is a bit of a nearly man in GT's.

2 second's in the Tour.
Incredibly has never won a stage (and has recorded the closest loss ever in a stage; at 2005 TDF), nor ever worn the leaders jersey. He has come close; in the '07 TDF he was a long time leader of the prologue until Cancerella smashed him, and in the first mountain stage he would have taken the leaders jersey if the peleton and/or his team (which were battered and bruised) had not allowed Gerdemann to get so much time.

Has this ever happened to such a 'successful' GC rider?

 

[oldcrank]

Surely it is time for Farrar to start trying to go
up the road in a break and quit trying to win a
bunch sprint. With a legitimate GC contender
in his team they should not be wasting energy
and taking unnecessary risks trying to get Farrar
a stage win. He could possibly win from a small
group that makes a late counter attack but not
from a field sprint.

 

[TheEnoculator]

I clicked on this thread thinking it was about Andy Schleck.

Tyler is an awesome sprinter, but Garmin is a GC team, Vaughters needs to give him a train.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

He must dream of seconds now.

 

[search]

Surely it is time for Farrar to start trying to go
up the road in a break and quit trying to win a
bunch sprint. With a legitimate GC contender
in his team they should not be wasting energy
and taking unnecessary risks trying to get Farrar
a stage win. He could possibly win from a small
group that makes a late counter attack but not
from a field sprint.

but this is exactly what happened, he completely changed his way of preparation this year and focused mainly on the classics - but it didn't work out. He ended but being mediocre in every way. He will focus on sprinting next winter and we will see a better Typer Farrar I think.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

but this is exactly what happened, he completely changed his way of preparation this year and focused mainly on the classics - but it didn't work out. He ended but being mediocre in every way. He will focus on sprinting next winter and we will see a better Typer Farrar I think.

I certainly hope so, because so far this season has been an unmitigated disaster. From arguably the number two sprinter in the world, and certainly one of the top four, to the kind of results an Ag2r sprinter would be a bit disappointed with is quite the fall from grace.

 

[greenedge]

I think he is on track to go well at the Olympics.
He went ok at the Giro before he crashed out- he just needs to reboot his sprint and hopefully he shall get a few wins/ placings later in the year.

 

[Mshengu]

perhaps Vaughters has set eyes on GC rather than the sprints, I am yet to see Farrar win big

 

[Mshengu]

I clicked on this thread thinking it was about Andy Schleck.

Tyler is an awesome sprinter, but Garmin is a GC team, Vaughters needs to give him a train.

Same here

second place later in the Vuelta for him

 

[silverrocket]

A hard one...although Andy Schleck is on his way to fight for that as well

Schleck might have been the eternal second until he got his "fake" TdF win, so Poulidor still holds the title.

Ironically that makes Andy second best "eternal second".

 

[oldcrank]

I'm seriously worried about Tyler Farrar's health...
both physical and mental. More than a year since
his last win, four crashes already in the Tour after
crashing out of the Giro and now having to be
restrained after the stage. If Tyler is going to
ride the Olympics, I think he has to pull out of
the Tour now for his own good and before any
other incidents which may become a distraction
for the team's GC ambitions. Tyler needs some
time for his wounds (physical, and possibly mental
as well) to heal. Let's not see another disgraceful
incident like last year when Horner was put back
on his bike after a crash when it was obvious that
he was concussed. Team management must show
respect for the future well-being of their riders.