Velo d’Or 2023

[Red Rick]

The Giro winner often doesn't participate in spring classics. So then there only is Lombardia and Worlds left. And Cunego is the only rider to have won one of these in the same year as the Giro this century.

Di Luca won Liege + Giro . Velo d'Or top 3 that year was Contador, Cancellara, Bettini

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Surely it will be remco since he won the biggest race of the year classica San sebastian

 

[tobydawq]

Di Luca won Liege + Giro . Velo d'Or top 3 that year was Contador, Cancellara, Bettini

Fair enough, that's true. But like you said, if that was done today, it would probably be honured differently.

Contador at the top that year seems bizarre. He only won the Tour (and PN) and he only won it because someone else was sent home.

 

[Netserk]

The Giro winner often doesn't participate in spring classics. So then there only is Lombardia and Worlds left. And Cunego is the only rider to have won one of these in the same year as the Giro this century.

Di Luca did.

Edit: already mentioned. Worth noting that doping cases obviously play a role, like in 2006 and 2010.

 

[Red Rick]

Fair enough, that's true. But like you said, if that was done today, it would probably be honured differently.

Contador at the top that year seems bizarre. He only won the Tour (and PN) and he only won it because someone else was sent home.

I think they just didn't want Di Luca on the list, IIRC he was implicated in some doping scandal which somehow didn't lose him the Giro but did get him a really short ban but he got sorta blacklisted as he moved down to a pro conti team a year later.

Cancellara's 2007 case is super weak as well, basically nothing aside from WC ITT and 2 TdF stages. Bettini basically only WC, so nobody apart from Di Luca had a good case in 2007.

Meanwhile Cancellara getting 2nd in 2008 over Sastre is weird to me as well.

 

[Panda Claws]

I think you have to give it to Vingegaard this year given just how impressive he was at the Tour.
You could have argued the same about Nibali 2014 but that year he only face B-riders.

 

[Peter von]

I think you have to give it to Vingegaard this year given just how impressive he was at the Tour.
You could have argued the same about Nibali 2014 but that year he only face B-riders.

yeah, but you have these things where it's not really Nibali's fault that Froome and Contador crashed out, unless he made them stressed with his aggressive style.

 

[Panda Claws]

yeah, but you have these things where it's not really Nibali's fault that Froome and Contador crashed out, unless he made them stressed with his aggressive stystyle

It doesn't have to be for his dominance to mean less

 

[Peter von]

It doesn't have to be for his dominance to mean less

I suppose not, but it is tough to be consistant with these things, for example if Pogi had DNS'ed before the ITT in the Tour, Vingegaard with the same effort would look less impressive or some might figure that Pogi's sub-optimal prep means Vingegaard's dominance is about the same as Nibbles in 2014 because Pogi wasn't 100% anyway.
Obvisously there are good counter arguments and yeah that's what makes it fun to debate which dominance was more dominant.

It is all very academic because thankfully the riders are riding to get the best possible results out of the bike races they participate in and not improving their odds at winning Vel d'Or.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

It beggars belief that a 10 time World Champion and an Olympic champion has never won it......The cycling journalists really need to take their road tinted glasses off from time to time.

 

[Andy schleck]

Surely it will be remco since he won the biggest race of the year classica San sebastian

The new 5th monument classica san sebastian 🤣

 

[Andy schleck]

Vingegaard deserve this.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The new 5th monument classica san sebastian 🤣

OMG, are you two the same guy? Making the same jokes and the only ones laughing is you two? It would explain a few things.

 

[jaylew]

Why is, as it stands, Roglic a harder sell than Evenepoel. Or is winning Liege against Jimmy Johnny and Timmy bigger than winning the Giro?

You're right. Remco would be behind Roglic as things currently stand but in my mind it would be hard for Roglic to ultimately win it.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

It beggars belief that a 10 time World Champion and an Olympic champion has never won it......The cycling journalists really need to take their road tinted glasses off from time to time.

Pidcock winning Olympic MTB gold as a part-timer against the 'specialists' when he can rarely beat Van der Poel and Van Aert on the road or in CX really should tell you all you need to know about which discipline has the biggest talents, and hence the relative prestige of a non-road world or Olympic title. IMO a monument is far more valuable than any singular achievement away from the road, let alone a GT win, and therefore somebody who doesn't win anything big on the road should never be even remotely close to a Vélo d'Or.

 

[Red Rick]

You're right. Remco would be behind Roglic as things currently stand but in my mind it would be hard for Roglic to ultimately win it.

That's fair.

Probably needs Vuelta and everyone else bricking the rest. Vingegaard has the 'simplest' path IMO. If he wins the Vuelta he just gets there I think.

 

[RedheadDane]

It beggars belief that a 10 time World Champion and an Olympic champion has never won it......The cycling journalists really need to take their road tinted glasses off from time to time.

Not if it's a Road Race specific award.
Things are allowed to be Road Race specific.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

The new 5th monument classica san sebastian 🤣

Some remco fan told me that pogacar being unbeaten in lombardia didn't mean anything, because lombardia it's a small end of season race where most top riders don't go or have already stopped training because its off season.

I guess this means it should be replaced as a monument by classica San sebastian, the biggest race of the summer period where everyone is in top form. This race is proof that remco is the greatest of the world, whilst pogacar and vinegaard only target small races.

OMG, are you two the same guy? Making the same jokes and the only ones laughing is you two? It would explain a few things.

Don't think we are the same guy. He is fan of froome and vingegard, I'm fan of neither although I wish froome hit a better level post-crash. Don't think he is a landa fan either. But we should all just have more fun here. What's the point of posting

 

[jaylew]

Pogacar is racing Worlds after all, both the TT and road so it gives him another chance to add to his resume.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Interesting times. On where you don't stand a real chance to win Velo d'Or. Unless you win Vuelta.

 

[Pantani_lives]

As it stands Pogacar is in pole position, with the exceptional combination of three classics and a second place in the Tour. Of course it's way too early for a final decision.

 

[topcat]

Interesting times. On where you don't stand a real chance to win Velo d'Or. Unless you win Vuelta.

I think Vingo could win the Topcat d’Or with a podium. Remco and Rog would need to win the Vuelta.
Of course it’s too early to make a decision but it’s more interesting now because all of the famous five are in the running.

 

[Andy schleck]

Some remco fan told me that pogacar being unbeaten in lombardia didn't mean anything, because lombardia it's a small end of season race where most top riders don't go or have already stopped training because its off season.

I guess this means it should be replaced as a monument by classica San sebastian, the biggest race of the summer period where everyone is in top form. This race is proof that remco is the greatest of the world, whilst pogacar and vinegaard only target small races.


Don't think we are the same guy. He is fan of froome and vingegard, I'm fan of neither although I wish froome hit a better level post-crash. Don't think he is a landa fan either. But we should all just have more fun here. What's the point of posting

Pogacar, Vingegaard and van der poel are cowards that's doesn't go to mythical classica san sebastian because they are afraid of remco.


Logic is too serious, but uncounsciously due to his hilarious beliefs about remco, says some jokes that we take advantage.


I don't really care about pogacar, i think that was very clearly during the tour. I'm a vingegaard and van der poel fan. So i can free say my opinion without wishfull thinking. Guys like @Peyroteo94 and @Krzysztof_O know this very well.

Pogacar is the best one day racer in the world, and the most complete rider in the world.
The only guy that has some business with pogacar, is vingegaard, the best GT rider in the world.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

There's still a lot of races ahead that can decide the outcome. There are 5 candidates IMO:
Pogacar has had a great classics campaign (and generally ridiculous spring) plus a strong TdF showing: sure, he lost to Vinge but who wouldn't? His position is better than last year due to Flandres but Lombardy victory would make his campaign 2023 even better. For now he's probably #1 favourite.
Vingegaard's position is also stronger than last year due to spectacular wins in Basque Country and Dauphine. If he wins the Vuelta the prize is his. If he gets the podium his chances are good as well.
Evenepoel still has strong cards to play (esp WC RR and Vuelta). If he wins one of them then he is in contention. If he wins both then his chances are big.
MVP has won two monuments this season. This is huge. He wasn't that strong for the rest of the season but WC victory would make him a big candidate.
If Roglic wins the Vuelta then his chances rise but will it be enough to win? Maybe not.

 

[Volderke]

There's still a lot of races ahead that can decide the outcome. There are 5 candidates IMO:
Pogacar has had a great classics campaign (and generally ridiculous spring) plus a strong TdF showing: sure, he lost to Vinge but who wouldn't? His position is better than last year due to Flandres but Lombardy victory would make his campaign 2023 even better. For now he's probably #1 favourite.
Vingegaard's position is also stronger than last year due to spectacular wins in Basque Country and Dauphine. If he wins the Vuelta the prize is his. If he gets the podium his chances are good as well.
Evenepoel still has strong cards to play (esp WC RR and Vuelta). If he wins one of them then he is in contention. If he wins both then his chances are big.
MVP has won two monuments this season. This is huge. He wasn't that strong for the rest of the season but WC victory would make him a big candidate.
If Roglic wins the Vuelta then his chances rise but will it be enough to win? Maybe not.

You forgot WvA.

When he gives the WC away to either Laporte (his team mate), Evenepoel (his national team's team mate) or MvdP (just like he gave away all those other races where he became 2nd and MvdP 1st, because WvA knows that he needed to create a rivalry so he gets more publicity), people will finally realize WvA is the most generous rider in the pro peloton. I mean, he already gave away last year's TdF to Vingegaard when he could have easily won himself. This year he didn't want to create too much controversy and just soft-pedalled most of the Tour to give Vingegaard some breathing room, and a fair chance to develop his own (obviously staged) rivalry with Pogacar, all for Netflix ofcourse.