What happened to ... ?

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Gerdemann, Löfkvist, Velits, Goss and EBH all have something in common in their early career: HTC-Columbia. Even Cavendish isn't producing at his HTC level.

From that group I'll take Velits only.

EBH has been more about pumping hot air more than anything else. I don't remember him ever being world class. He was good stage hunter but not world class.

I'll add Andy Schleck. Probably one of the biggest ones.

Popovych. I thought everybody was saying he was the next big thing back in the days.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Perhaps a little off topic, but I've always wondered why Cunego was one and done for GT overall. Special circumstances around his win or maybe he throttled things back after that.

His case was probably one of the most accepted ones, even by him. Of course other forum members keep saying that the Giro that he won was below standards. To win any GT means a lot. It is not that simple.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Re: Re:

Perhaps a little off topic, but I've always wondered why Cunego was one and done for GT overall. Special circumstances around his win or maybe he throttled things back after that.

His case was probably one of the most accepted ones, even by him. Of course other forum members keep saying that the Giro that he won was below standards. To win any GT means a lot. It is not that simple.

The only people saying a GT is below standards are the people defending a rider coming out of pretty much nowhere to outperform everyones' including said rider's wildest expectations in said GT.

Everyone else is aware that even racing in the peloton for > 3000km over 3 weeks at > 40km/hr average over the biggest cols around is superhuman. Winning it is unquestionably thanks to doping.

 

[ciranda]

Re: Re:

Every so often I wonder what Dario Frigo is up to now, he literally vanished.

oh this reminds me of the good fassa bortolo squad with young ivan basso. frigo was protagonist in giros early 2000s
btw. what does wladimir belli now? remember his legendary attack in 2001 ?

when he punched the spectator related to Gibo Simoni?

I searched for Belli who is associated w Eurosport, his twitter account with this great 1993 Giro photo

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Perhaps a little off topic, but I've always wondered why Cunego was one and done for GT overall. Special circumstances around his win or maybe he throttled things back after that.

His case was probably one of the most accepted ones, even by him. Of course other forum members keep saying that the Giro that he won was below standards. To win any GT means a lot. It is not that simple.

The only people saying a GT is below standards are the people defending a rider coming out of pretty much nowhere to outperform everyones' including said rider's wildest expectations in said GT.

Everyone else is aware that even racing in the peloton for > 3000km over 3 weeks at > 40km/hr average over the biggest cols around is superhuman. Winning it is unquestionably thanks to doping.

The 2004 Giro was weak as hell though. Bradley McGee was 7th. There were 10 sprint stages (all of Petacchi's, plus one Fred Rodriguez got when Ale-Jet screwed up). The queen stage was 120km, followed by a final roll of the dice over 110km the next day. The Pfalzen stage was epic, and Fabian Wegmann suffered like a dog for his GPM, being in nine BOTD escapades, but apart from that there wasn't really much to recommend the race.

Cunego has all but told us he was doping then, and nobody would call 2004 Cunego clean. But that was still a comparatively weak GT parcours and a thin field owing to it being the absolute heyday of all the big names staking everything on queuing up to get beaten by Lance rather than trying to win other GTs.

 

[Escarabajo]

JVDB.

I know he was on the high watch list back in 2009 but he has been non-existent lately.

 

[Billie]

08: great Giro
09: Crashed early in TTT in le Tour, animated the mountain stages with Delfino
10: 4th (3rd) in le Tour
11: Crashed before the mountains in le Tour
12: 4th in le Tour
13: Crashed before the mountains in le Tour
14: Couple crashes in le Tour, finishes 13th
15: Admits he no longer is motivated enough to live like a monk (constant training camps, diets etc...), gains a few pounds and becomes a better timetrialist. 12th in the Giro.

not sure there is anything that really happened to him. it's not like he completely disapeared

 

[roundabout]

Re:

JVDB.

I know he was on the high watch list back in 2009 but he has been non-existent lately.

Here's another one.

What happened in 2008 that turned him into a climber?

 

[IzzyStradlin]

This is the best clinic thread in recent memory.....by far.

 

[May0maniac]

What happened to Janez Brajkovič after 2012, just illness and injuries?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

08: great Giro
09: Crashed early in TTT in le Tour, animated the mountain stages with Delfino
10: 4th (3rd) in le Tour
11: Crashed before the mountains in le Tour
12: 4th in le Tour
13: Crashed before the mountains in le Tour
14: Couple crashes in le Tour, finishes 13th
15: Admits he no longer is motivated enough to live like a monk (constant training camps, diets etc...), gains a few pounds and becomes a better timetrialist. 12th in the Giro.

not sure there is anything that really happened to him. it's not like he completely disapeared

Good timeline. Thanks.

A lot of crashes. Reminds me of Soler.

Maybe he hasn't disappeared completely. Maybe this Vuelta is the odd one out.

 

["Jeff"]

Re: Re:

Every so often I wonder what Dario Frigo is up to now, he literally vanished.

oh this reminds me of the good fassa bortolo squad with young ivan basso. frigo was protagonist in giros early 2000s
btw. what does wladimir belli now? remember his legendary attack in 2001 ?

when he punched the spectator related to Gibo Simoni?

I searched for Belli who is associated w Eurosport, his twitter account with this great 1993 Giro photo

Great pic.

Wladimir Belli with his new haircut.

 

[hrotha]

If that's Belli, how come he has any hair at all?

 

[Escarabajo]

HGH makes you grow hair.

 

["Jeff"]

Re:

HGH makes you grow hair.

Quite the opposite. Its deadly for your hair.

If that's Belli, how come he has any hair at all?

I think its a joke or so, him wearing a hairpiece.

Several hairtransplants are a solution (see former Juve player Antonio Conte, Wesley Sneijder etc etc) but has limitations.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

HGH makes you grow hair.

Quite the opposite. Its deadly for your hair.

If that's Belli, how come he has any hair at all?

I think its a joke or so, him wearing a hairpiece.

Several hairtransplants are a solution (see former Juve player Antonio Conte, Wesley Sneijder etc etc) but has limitations.[/quote]
I forgot the sarcasm face.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re:

What happened to Janez Brajkovič after 2012, just illness and injuries?

He had a rough run with Astana, but haven't heard anything bad from UHC. There aren't many US races that suit him. And he seems to have lost a gear in the TTs.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

What happened to Janez Brajkovič after 2012, just illness and injuries?

He had a rough run with Astana, but haven't heard anything bad from UHC. There aren't many US races that suit him. And he seems to have lost a gear in the TTs.

Sure there are. Mostly Cali, where he tremendously underperformed, but also Utah and Colorado, to a certain extent. In Europe, Slovénie, where he won before.

 

[Nick C.]

What about Romain Sicard or does he not qualify?
Igor Anton, it's not all losing place in the team pecking order with the demise of Euskaltel is it?
In another year or two you might say Andrew Talkansky

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

What about Romain Sicard or does he not qualify?
Igor Anton, it's not all losing place in the team pecking order with the demise of Euskaltel is it?
In another year or two you might say Andrew Talkansky

Sicard hasn't done much after winning the Tour de l'Avenir until recently and Anton hasn't been the same ever since he crashed out of the lead at the Vuelta a few years ago.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Re: Re:

Sure there are. Mostly Cali, where he tremendously underperformed, but also Utah and Colorado, to a certain extent. In Europe, Slovénie, where he won before.

He should be a contender at Utah and Gila. Cali and CO do not have hard enough climbing. Regardless, yes he has underperformed.

Supposedly UHC was trying to race more in Europe, it seems that didnt pan out.

 

[staubsauger]

Brajkovic simply strikes me as an early Aicar guinea pig!

 

[The Hitch]

Saw hilights of the Manchester United game this week and found out what di luca has been up to

he's become manager for the dutch football team PSV

 

[chiocciolis_calves]

Romans Vainsteins, Ivan Quaranta, Andrey Kashechkin, Isidro Nozal, Santiago Perez...

 

[chiocciolis_calves]

Re: Re:

Gerdemann, Löfkvist, Velits, Goss and EBH all have something in common in their early career: HTC-Columbia. Even Cavendish isn't producing at his HTC level.

From that group I'll take Velits only.

EBH has been more about pumping hot air more than anything else. I don't remember him ever being world class. He was good stage hunter but not world class.

I'll add Andy Schleck. Probably one of the biggest ones.

Popovych. I thought everybody was saying he was the next big thing back in the days.

Popovych is a fine choice. Ernesto Colnago was hyping him as the next Merckx. He did look like a top prospect who could TT and climb, circa 2003/2004. Then he got 12th, I believe, plus a stage win as a Lance domestique in the Tour.