The major wins of Nibali, Valverde and Gilbert

[hayneplane]

Gilbert won Strade Bianche

Correct- knock that off the list

 

[CyclistAbi]

Olympic ITT and WC ITT wins are as important as any.

 

[Blanco]

Olympic ITT and WC ITT wins are as important as any.

No they're not. Otherwise, we would have Rogers , Ekimov and Tony Martin standing equally with the likes of Bettini, Sagan, Van Steenbergen, Freire, etc.
They're level below.

 

[CyclistAbi]

@Blanco

Maybe in the past. But in my opinion not anymore. Especially the Olympic ITT title. One having one or two real shots in the whole career. And cyclist in general taking it seriously these days. All in all if such title was not all that important in the past. And as you say was considered a level below. This changed. These days you can't go past Olympic or WC ITT title and dismiss it as being a level below. It's hard to win such title and when you do you should and will get the praise.

 

[BigCoward]

@Blanco

Maybe in the past. But in my opinion not anymore. Especially the Olympic ITT title. One having one or two real shots in the whole career. And cyclist in general taking it seriously these days. All in all if such title was not all that important in the past. And as you say was considered a level below. This changed. These days you can't go past Olympic or WC ITT title and dismiss it as being a level below. It's hard to win such title and when you do you should and will get the praise.

Difficulty winning does not equal prestige.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Difficulty winning does not equal prestige.

Olympic or WC ITT title equals prestige.

 

[BigCoward]

Olympic or WC ITT title equals prestige.

That doesn't counter my point. You said. It's hard to win such title and when you do you should and will get the praise. As if difficulty is linked to prestige.

 

[Blanco]

@Blanco

Maybe in the past. But in my opinion not anymore. Especially the Olympic ITT title. One having one or two real shots in the whole career. And cyclist in general taking it seriously these days. All in all if such title was not all that important in the past. And as you say was considered a level below. This changed. These days you can't go past Olympic or WC ITT title and dismiss it as being a level below. It's hard to win such title and when you do you should and will get the praise.

Wout Van Aert easily passed the chance to probably win Worlds TT in favor to being one of the contenders for Road Race.
That's level below...

 

[CyclistAbi]

That doesn't counter my point.

But i wanted to do exactly that. That is to counter your point. Olympic and WC ITT titles don't lack prestige.

 

[CyclistAbi]

@Blanco

Evenepoel didn't, though. And the expression when Foss became the boss is telling:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAAbCbPPeiE


Becoming a WC ITT champion. That is a top tier title/event.

 

[BigCoward]

But i wanted to do exactly that. That is to counter your point. Olympic and WC ITT titles don't lack prestige.

I never said they did. It's just reading, it's not complicated.

 

[Peyroteo94]

I am seeing gilbert's documentary on eurosport. How I miss the best classicomano cycling has ever seen since the specialization era. Pure power, great tactical sense, pure panache on and off the bike, this man had everything. What a shame he didn't win a san remo.