AdH 2008 looks more ridiculous cause the entire rest of the group was basically just chilling and laughing at Cadel Evans.
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Although he didn't exactly come out of nowhere with several top 10s in grand tours beforehand, nor did he disappear into obscurity immediately afterwards, with two respectable seasons after the smash and grab which was about as expected considering he was 33 when he nabbed his victory... I still consider it a smash and grab since his other main achievements consist of a couple grand tour podiums and a handful of stage wins, so this particular performance led to the biggest win of his career by a massive margin. If you hadn't clocked it already, I'm nominating Carlos Sastre's Tour-winning ride on Alpe d'Huez in 2008.
Bonus points for doing it in one of the dirtiest Tours in recent memory. Extra bonus points for playing the Miguel Indurain-style nice guy act for his entire career and charming the pesky ADAs into not meddling in his affairs. Absolutely textbook. Chapeau!
Papi Horner is clean, leave the smirking one-legged bandit out of this!
Does Ugrumov qualify, or was he too consistent throughout his career? True, he was already second in the 93 giro. But a mountain stage, an itt plus second overall in the 94 TDF has to count for something.
Yeah, fair point. I misremembered Berzin was older and had a long track career before the GT years. But it wasn't that long, after all.Ugrumov kept it going for a little longer than the likes of Berzin or Aitor González.
Honestly, Berzin's 1996 season schedule was just insane, if you look at how little rest he got between races him failing in that Tour makes sense.Yeah, fair point. I misremembered Berzin was older and had a long track career before the GT years. But it wasn't that long, after all.
The funny thing is that was probably UAE’s goal with him anyway. Those points ain’t gonna farm themselves.Hirschi kinda fits, no? Went nuts in the TDF at the age of 21 (in the year of no drug testing heh), on the TV every day, looks like the next world beater; earns 4 year deal with mega team (at the time, a long contract, and no doubt big money); retires to become the most prolific UCI points farmer you never see on TV again.
Don't know the consensus these days, but previously the 2008 Tour (and that period in cycling in general) had some kind of reputation for being relatively cleaner than the years before and after. CERA test weeding out the CERA users, and perhaps a bit of uncertainty among the teams what they could or couldn't do under the blood passport that was introduced at the beginning of the year. Also it was just two years after Puerto. And the climbing times weren't stellar (Sastre on the Alpe was pretty good though). So if you look past the big number of people actually busted during and shortly after the Tour (which is pretty hard, I know!) it might not have been that dirty.Bonus points for doing it in one of the dirtiest Tours in recent memory.
For what it's worth this has been my understanding, too.Don't know the consensus these days, but previously the 2008 Tour (and that period in cycling in general) had some kind of reputation for being relatively cleaner than the years before and after. CERA test weeding out the CERA users, and perhaps a bit of uncertainty among the teams what they could or couldn't do under the blood passport that was introduced at the beginning of the year. Also it was just two years after Puerto. And the climbing times weren't stellar (Sastre on the Alpe was pretty good though). So if you look past the big number of people actually busted during and shortly after the Tour (which is pretty hard, I know!) it might not have been that dirty.
Yes, a Roubaix specialist. It's the one race he was perfectly suited for. Other than that Sunday in April every year, he mostly did lead-outs and domestique work on the flat. Being a Roubaix specialist doesn't mean you need to be the best in the world for that race. I would call Bert de Backer and Sebastien Turgot Roubaix specialists, too. My point is that Vansummeren's lucky tactical Roubaix win is not the first thing I think about when the conversation is about riders doping their way to big results and then not doing much before or since.
Yes, but this was also affected by Lance coming back as well. The 2008 is the cleanest tour in living memory. The ones that didn't get the memo stood out like a sore thumb.For what it's worth this has been my understanding, too.
Probably the powers that be drew the conclusion that no, if cleaner in reality means appearing dirtier, let's not go there. Didn't UCI wrestle testing back into its own hands the next year?
He was already off the rails before signing for Abarcá. He's more one of their cut price flyers on someone that might rebound, similar to Rujano or Antón, because the talent was there but the motivation wasn't.what happened with Carlos Betancur? Was there a drugs angle there or did he just become addicted to pie? Maybe Movistar just too toxic? Why do they keep hiring non-Spanish Spanish speakers and then treating them like crap
Except, I'm pretty sure he didn'tMy pet theory regarding Papa Horner is that he rode paniagua his whole life but before Vuelta'13 he said to himself:
"The end is near so let's have coca-cola, no risk no glory!"
The best climber ever, all things considered.
But he ended up getting sanctioned because wifey got caught, yes?Raimondas Rumšas- a true smash and grab legend.