Velo d'Or 2011

[gilbertador]

2011
Veldrijden
Nederlands kampioenschap veldrijden, Sint-Michielsgestel
Wereldkampioenschap veldrijden, Sankt Wendel (Duitsland)
UCI wereldbekerveldrijden Pont-Château
Baan
Scratch WK Apeldoorn
Wegwedstrijd
Nederlands kampioene op de weg
Nederlands kampioene tijdrijden, Veendam
Parkhotel Rooding Classic (1.NE)
1e en 4e etappe Energiewachttour (2.2s)
Ronde van Drenthe (CDM)
Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo (1.1)
Waalse Pijl (CDM)
GP Elsy Jacobs (1.1)
GP Nicolas Frantz (1.1)
GP de Valladolid (CDM)
1e en 4e etappe en eindklassement Emakumeen Bira (2.1WE)
1e en 3e etappe en eindklassement Ster van Zeeland (2.2)
1e, 3e, 6e, 7e en 9e etappe en eindklassement, (roze, groene en de paarse trui) Ronde van Italië 2011 (2.1WE)
1e, 5e en 6e etappe en eindklassement Holland Ladies Tour

Wikipedia disagrees

Either way its about mens cycling anyway, and anyway Gilbert has higher calibre victories and about 50 times more competition

 

[greenedge]

I had to vote for Gilbert. Who knows what might have happened if Evans rode the Ardennes though. We saw what happened on stage 4 when Gilbert had so much motivation to win on his birthday!!!

Contador would not have deserved it last year Cancellara was a deserving winner. Contador probably had his worst year at the TDF then.

 

[nobilis]

Phil of course.
And Tommy V for Vélo d'Or français i guess.

 

[Marcus135]

Enormous personal bias and patriotism forces me to vote Evans




Although Gilbert does deserve it

 

[Havetts]

Enormous personal bias and patriotism forces me to vote Evans




Although Gilbert does deserve it

Subtle application for the ACF/ BMC mafia.

 

[Marcus135]

Subtle application for the ACF/ BMC mafia.

haha na, I've been in the ACF Mafia for months

 

[lancaster]

phil (the biggest winning margin since AC won 2 GTs in 2008)

 

[El Pistolero]

2011
Veldrijden
Nederlands kampioenschap veldrijden, Sint-Michielsgestel
Wereldkampioenschap veldrijden, Sankt Wendel (Duitsland)
UCI wereldbekerveldrijden Pont-Château
Baan
Scratch WK Apeldoorn
Wegwedstrijd
Nederlands kampioene op de weg
Nederlands kampioene tijdrijden, Veendam
Parkhotel Rooding Classic (1.NE)
1e en 4e etappe Energiewachttour (2.2s)
Ronde van Drenthe (CDM)
Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo (1.1)
Waalse Pijl (CDM)
GP Elsy Jacobs (1.1)
GP Nicolas Frantz (1.1)
GP de Valladolid (CDM)
1e en 4e etappe en eindklassement Emakumeen Bira (2.1WE)
1e en 3e etappe en eindklassement Ster van Zeeland (2.2)
1e, 3e, 6e, 7e en 9e etappe en eindklassement, (roze, groene en de paarse trui) Ronde van Italië 2011 (2.1WE)
1e, 5e en 6e etappe en eindklassement Holland Ladies Tour

Wikipedia disagrees

You don't want Gilbert entering cyclocross

He'd probably be able to win some World Cup, SP and GVA races. Actually, I'd love it if some more cyclists tried their hands on cyclocross à la Lars Boom last year(and he's having a pretty good season right now).

 

[Greenflame]

If men only it'd have to be Gilbert of course. Evans comes close, with a lot of good victories, but unless Evans takes Lombardia (don't think he is even planning to race it though?) Gilbert's season is better.

If Vos is eligible though, she'd edge Gilbert. I'm sorry to Gilbert, but Vos' season was just astounding, the way she won the Women's Giro, she didn't leave any of the others a chance.

 

[El Pistolero]

Women cycling isn't nearly as competitive as male cycling though. A 52 year old still winning races says enough.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Women cycling isn't nearly as competitive as male cycling though. A 52 year old still winning races says enough.

That 52 year old only wins domestic races and is nowhere on international level against the top (maybe only in TT top 10), plus she has clinic issues as well.

 

[TeoSheva]

Who knows what might have happened if Evans rode the Ardennes though.

...just another big guy behind Phil..

 

[Michielveedeebee]

...just another big guy behind Phil..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Szleh3PI4

like he was here?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vos' year involved winning the toughest, most mountainous long stage race (the Giro) with Contador-like domination, winning the toughest short stage race (the Emakumeen Bira, which is the Euskal Bizikleta for women) with similar domination, winning most of the classics and world cup races (she didn't win the Ronde but only because her teammate was up the road) and dominating in one day races like Gilbert.

Vos' year > Gilbert's year, unless Gilbert suddenly managed to win País Vasco and a Grand Tour while I wasn't looking.

 

[Praetor]

That 52 year old only wins domestic races and is nowhere on international level against the top (maybe only in TT top 10), plus she has clinic issues as well.

That doesn't change the fact that women's cycling is hardly as competitive as men's cycling.

Longo might not be competitive anymore, but not very long ago she still was (and that means she was still really really really really really old).

Once you reach the top, you're a favorite in every race you enter (classic, climbs, stage races, whatever, always the same names because of the low level) and you can quite easily stay a top contender for 10 years.

 

[Siriuscat]

Gilbert easily, even when you look at the way Contador devastated the opposition at the Giro.

Vos has had a great season, but I suspect this would have been tempered if Emma Pooley had been fit the whole season

 

[c&cfan]

That 52 year old only wins domestic races and is nowhere on international level against the top (maybe only in TT top 10), plus she has clinic issues as well.

well...

posts like this one makes all this votes and people discussing anything related to cycling look like hypocrites. please.. stop it!

 

[c&cfan]

Gilbert easily, even when you look at the way Contador devastated the opposition at the Giro.

Vos has had a great season, but I suspect this would have been tempered if Emma Pooley had been fit the whole season

you can say thew same about a fit contador and a fit valverde = gilbert wining smaller classics and be outshined by a double GT win.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That doesn't change the fact that women's cycling is hardly as competitive as men's cycling.

Longo might not be competitive anymore, but not very long ago she still was (and that means she was still really really really really really old).

Once you reach the top, you're a favorite in every race you enter (classic, climbs, stage races, whatever, always the same names because of the low level) and you can quite easily stay a top contender for 10 years.

Yes, because we regularly see Teutenberg and Wild in the top 10 of the Giro and Häusler and Abbott in the one day races

 

[c&cfan]

Yes, because we regularly see Teutenberg and Wild in the top 10 of the Giro and Häusler and Abbott in the one day races

you know he is right. women's cycling is still in the "merckx era". amateurs (hard men.. now hard women) against a few pros. it means the best is the best at everything.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

you know he is right. women's cycling is still in the "merckx era". amateurs (hard men.. now hard women) against a few pros. it means the best is the best at everything.

But until this year, Vos wasn't the best at everything. We were amazed when she managed to claw her way into the top 10 of the Giro last year; this year she flattened everybody.

Yes, women's cycling is less specialised, and yes the field is not especially deep, but it's not "always the same names" at all; part of the reason it may seem so is that many of the tougher stage races have either gone under or become less well-promoted of late, while Italy and the Netherlands are the only real places of strength for the sport. And let's face it, there aren't going to be many races for the likes of Pooley, Abbott, Häusler and Bubnenkova in the Netherlands, not since the women's Amstel Gold went under in 2004.

But even in a lesser talent pool, to be smoking the best sprinters in sprints at least half the time, then be smoking the hilly riders in the hills and beating the pure climbers in the mountains - that's special. Gilbert only does one of the three. Contador does another. Vos does both.

 

[c&cfan]

But until this year, Vos wasn't the best at everything. We were amazed when she managed to claw her way into the top 10 of the Giro last year; this year she flattened everybody.

Yes, women's cycling is less specialised, and yes the field is not especially deep, but it's not "always the same names" at all; part of the reason it may seem so is that many of the tougher stage races have either gone under or become less well-promoted of late, while Italy and the Netherlands are the only real places of strength for the sport. And let's face it, there aren't going to be many races for the likes of Pooley, Abbott, Häusler and Bubnenkova in the Netherlands, not since the women's Amstel Gold went under in 2004.

But even in a lesser talent pool, to be smoking the best sprinters in sprints at least half the time, then be smoking the hilly riders in the hills and beating the pure climbers in the mountains - that's special. Gilbert only does one of the three. Contador does another. Vos does both.

again you are totally missing the point. vos is the best cyclist (women) and that's great.. but it ends there. to be considered the best cyclist (men) is much more difficult since it is just like asking who's better at their former jobs --- steve jobs, michael shumacher or picasso? it gets easier if i ask, who's better --- phelps or thorpe?

 

[El Pistolero]

Cycling was a big sport in Europe in the 70s. Bigger than it is now in fact. Female cycling is no big sport at all. So your comparison hardly makes sense. And trust me, there was definitely specialisation back then. Lucien van Impe, Ocana, Fuente were all pure climbers. Although Ocana had a decent time trial, much like Contador. Freddy Maertens was by far the best sprinter in his heyday. Yes, he won the Vuelta. But there were no mountains in the Vuelta that year

Moser was a pure classics specialists. Again, he won the Giro, but there were almost no mountains in the Giro that year and he got help from the Italian organisers(helicopters,etc).

 

[zapata]

I think I said already before Liege that I wanted Gilbert to lose, because him always winning was getting boring. Imagine how I feel now? It's boring in one way, but on the other hand it's awesome (in the literal sense of the word), to see the best in the world to do what they do better than anyone else. I feel similarly ambivalent towards contador, cavendish and cancellara.

Anyhow, this year, you'd have to be joking to vote for anybody but Flip.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

again you are totally missing the point. vos is the best cyclist (women) and that's great.. but it ends there. to be considered the best cyclist (men) is much more difficult since it is just like asking who's better at their former jobs --- steve jobs, michael shumacher or picasso? it gets easier if i ask, who's better --- phelps or thorpe?

It's easy to miss your point when you don't have one.

My argument is that Vos is the best at EVERYTHING. Road, cross, stage racing, classics, sprinting, she's just about top in all of it. No man is even close to her domination. Not even Gilbert. Women's cycling might be pretty small fry, but that doesn't denigrate her achievements when they cover the entire spectrum of the sport of cycling.