Velo d’Or 2023

[Gigs_98]

I guess you mean "It's very unlikely he'll ever have a season this good again" or "It's very likely he"ll never have a season this good again" ?

Sorry for being pedantic but maybe he'll have a new chance next year already if he focusses fully on the Monuments/Olympics combo. Obviously all stars will have to align but he'll probably be top favorite in two/three Monuments and the Olympic RR. Worlds is probably going to be too hard I guess?

Yeah I messed that up.

On your second point, yes, in theory he could win just as many big races next year, it's just that consistently winning big classics is insanely hard. There is a reason nobody had won 3 of the major races since 2005.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

I think it's unfair to Vingegaard to reduce his season to just Tour de France win. He's never finished lower than 3rd all season, won 2 major one week races and podiumed the Vuelta he could have possibly won without team orders.

Having such seasons like Pogacar or Van der Poel would be enough to win most other seasons, but this season has had many heroes. I think even Roglic's achievements would have won the trophy in some seasons. Tough luck that this all coincided in one year.

Exactly an argument for why this award IMO is completely unnecessary for this sport.
That price only brings division , struggle and animosity. And proven by this thread.

So in the perspective of your last remark, I hope we can all enjoy having witnessed an absolutely fantastic 2023 cycling season which ranks very high on my personal list of absolute best seasons since I started following over 40 years ago.

In general I pretty much like the enthusiasm here; a sign of passion!
However, several of the jabs seem downright silly to me and are decimating this forum to...yeah, there used to be a direct link to CN Forum from CN main page until some years ago site went under a redesign - so now willing-to-discuss cycling newbies have to choose from a side menu from main page to get here. Wondering why...

Well, will not end on the negative track myself here.
I'm just thrilled about all the absolutely fantastic experiences of which several riders this season have added to my cycling memory and which I will definitely find time to revisit on VOD-services on the long, cold, dark winter evenings.

/Peace out.

 

[houtdffan]

Not similar. Like Gilbert said, what more can MVDP do? He was the best at the most important races against the best at their best. Same can’t be said about Vingegaard

he can start by getting results in WT stage races

 

[Berniece]

he can start by getting results in WT stage races

Vingegaard can also start by racing properly in 1-day races

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah I wonder how much the classics specific award affects the Velo d'Or. It shouldn't but I don't expect journalists to be immune to this.

With Pogacar I think there may be a sense of Pogacar fatigue in the sense that him getting 15 wins top 2 in the Tour and a monument or 2 is almost too expected.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Vingegaard can also start by racing properly in 1-day races

You're talking to the poster who thinks Paris-Nice and Paris-Roubaix are worth the same...

 

[houtdffan]

Vingegaard can also start by racing properly in 1-day races

yes, he can. Which is why I favored Pog

 

[awavey]

For all we know, he's in the middle of moving a pretty long distance. And it's also pretty well-known that he doesn't really like these big flashy events all that much.

the weird thing is he turned up for the route announcement today, got interviewed on stage etc etc, looking like he was straight out of the Milk Tray advert, but that makes phoning in receiving the award the night before even odder.

 

[Blobs]

I don't understand what you mean by this.

I may have worded that a bit poorly. I meant if it was easy for Vingegaard to dominate Pogacar, why did Pog still finish many minutes ahead of everyone else?

I believe Pogacar was strong enough in this years Tour, to have beaten literally anyone other than Vingegaard. If there's only one person in the world that could beat Pogacar, let alone do it in a dominant fashion, maybe it doesn't make sense to say it's easy.

 

[BigCoward]

While I disagree with the result the fact the big 5 hoovered up pretty much everything (Wout needs to step up if he wants to be considered part of the big 6) made judging difficult.
Remco or Roglic had the 5th best season and would probably have won at least 1/3 of the velo d'ors this century.

 

[RedheadDane]

the weird thing is he turned up for the route announcement today, got interviewed on stage etc etc, looking like he was straight out of the Milk Tray advert, but that makes phoning in receiving the award the night before even odder.

He was spending the evening - or the reward ceremony - with friends and family.
Which, yeah... makes it a bit weird that he'd make arrangement on the night of the ceremony for an award he was one of the main favourites for.
"Naaah... I'm not the thing."
"Oh... I won the thing."

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

He was spending the evening - or the reward ceremony - with friends and family.
Which, yeah... makes it a bit weird that he'd make arrangement on the night of the ceremony for an award he was one of the main favourites for.
"Naaah... I'm not the thing."
"Oh... I won the thing."

The humble guy with an indirect crediting of his competitors achievements

 

[Valv.Piti]

I guess they took into account that Vingegaards Tour victory was arguably one of the best in recent history, winning both dominantly and against one of the toughest opponents anyone has ever had to face. Also, while this was a season with only one major win, this was about as good of a "one major win season" one can have. Two prestigious one week stage races, the biggest race in the world and a 2nd place in another GT, where you can even argue he gifted the win to his teammate. I disagree with the decision, but it's not like Vingegaard's season was comparable to something like Nibali 2014.

Still, MvdP winning 2 monuments and the WCRR and not winning Velo d'Or is just a little sad. It's very unlikely he'll never have a season this good again and I would have loved to see him rewarded with this kind of award.

Hows Pogacar's season just not better than Van der Poel? I don't get it. Way, way better overall road season than Mathieu.

 

[Berniece]

The way people voted has been released.

• 16 out of 36 journalists put MVDP at #1
• 8 out of 36 journalists put Vingo at #1
• 34 out of 36 journalists put Vingo in their top 3
• 4 out of 36 journalists didn't include MVDP in their list (which is why he lost, Sophie Smith - an Australian woman, Philippa York, Peter Michael Kasper, Thiery Kayishema Tity)

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Sophie Smith - an Australian woman, Philippa York, Peter Michael Kasper, Thiery Kayishema Tity

Siri, show me a list of people who should never be taken seriously ever again.

 

[rallybanana]

Siri, show me a list of people who should never be taken seriously ever again.

What about the Guardian journalist who has Evenepoel at #1?

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Jeremy Whittle from the Guardian. I want whatever he's been smoking. Laughing until I pi$$ myself.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

What about the Guardian journalist who has Evenepoel at #1?

Lol, didn't even see that one. They really picked the two biggest morons they could to vote for the UK.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

What about the Guardian journalist who has Evenepoel at #1?

Beat me to it LOL

 

[Berniece]

What about the Guardian journalist who has Evenepoel at #1?

A case could be made for that although I don’t agree with it at all. He’s 4th or 5th, imo. But not including MVDP at all is plain ridiculous.

 

[yaco]

Siri, show me a list of people who should never be taken seriously ever again.

Sophie Smith travels to lots of races from her base in Australia, but the worry is Rupert Guinness from Australia - He's a trail blazing journalist from Australia who has covered the TDF for over 40 years, however, in recent years he's been concentrating on his endurance riding, so barely attended any races and I wonder how many races he's actually watched.

 

[scribers]

Is Phillipa York smoking crack? Don’t they do articles for CN?

 

[buddy buddy buddy]

yes, naturally australian people don't enjoy infamous attacker of children van der Poel

what the hell is 'Morgenavisen' and what kind of a made up name is 'Jesper Hansen'?

 

[BigCoward]

Who the fick is Thomas Goldman? Pog not top 5. Jesus.

 

[rallybanana]

A case could be made for that although I don’t agree with it at all. He’s 4th or 5th, imo. But not including MVDP at all is plain ridiculous.

True. You can create a hierarchy of shame

1. The German guy who didn't vote for Pogacar
2. Philippa York
3. The other three who didn't vote for MvdP. At least they have the excuse they didn't spend 15 years as a pro cyclist
4. The Remco fanboy
5. The Polish Eurosport guy who put Van Aert at #3