Who did it best.

[The Hitch]

Goss, Nuyens, JVS, Zaugg, Gerrans and now Iglynski have all been surprise winners of monuments in the last 15 months. (well maybe not Goss but ill include him).

All are deserving winners, but which one impressed you most?

For me it was Zaugg because there was pretty much no tactics in that. They were all dropping like flies and thats when he went. Out climbed everyone and held on as 4 men chased.

Was also the biggest wtf. The others were on peoples list for a top 5 or podium but Zaugg did it out of the blue.

Iglynski close 2nd cos he was probably the strongest too yesterday.

 

[barmaher]

I voted Iglinskiy, mainly because it is the correct answer.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Goss, Nuyens, JVS, Zaugg, Gerrans and now Iglynski have all been surprise winners of monuments in the last 15 months. (well maybe not Goss but ill include him).

All are deserving winners, but which one impressed you most?

For me it was Zaugg because there was pretty much no tactics in that. They were all dropping like flies and thats when he went. Out climbed everyone and held on as 4 men chased.

Iglynski close 2nd cos he was probably the strongest too yesterday.

I agree. These two were impressive in terms of their physical outperformance of the field.

I want to give it to JVS, who really stole the show however. In heavyweight matchup between Thor and Canc, he got in under the radar, and held on. Nuyens and Gerrans to a lesser degree. All three took a small opportunity and made it their own.

 

[Parrulo]

i went for inglinsly.

zaug was being chased by 4 poor downhillers on a downhill so i bet he didn't have to put to much effort to keep them away.

also the only top favorite that looked properly strong that day was nibali and he blew it with bad tactics. not taking anything away from zaug tho.

JVS was also impressive but they only reason why he won was because canc refused to chase.

Iglinsky rode away from the top favorites with 10k to go taking 1 of them on his wheel, dropped him on the next hill and powered on to catch another pre race favorite and immediately drop him. As much as i hated seeing all that happen, it was mighty impressive

 

[cineteq]

All are deserving winners, but which one impressed you most?

Are they?
Zaugg by far. His victory didn't depend so much on luck, or being a sprinter, or being an Iglinskiy.

 

[Swede1]

Definitely Iglinsky. He rode away from everyone else and dusted Nibbles. He won like a man. Some of those other riders just sat in the wheels like Nuyens and Gerrans and than sprinted for the win.

 

[Havetts]

Voted for Zaugg, the way he just simply rode away from everyone in the peloton like they were standing still was very impressive.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I vote for Iglinskiy precisely for the reason Hitch voted Zaugg; Zaugg's win was, I feel, somewhat more special, what with it being his first career win at this level and all, but as Hitch pointed out, it wasn't a tactical triumph, it was purely being the strongest. Iglinskiy was the strongest AND the smartest on the day.

For me it's:
1. Iglinskiy - impressed me with his sense of timing and the amount of strength he had in reserve. Took advantage of Astana's superior numbers in the chase, and made the catch and pass solo.
2. Zaugg - when the race's difficulty was really catching up with people and the group was thinning out completely, he was the only one strong enough to make a move.
3. van Summeren - the guts to go solo and the drive to take it home from the breakaway; of course it was down to a greater degree of luck with what was going on behind him that he win, more so than Iglinskiy and Zaugg, but a great and gutsy solo ride.
4. Goss - though I don't really consider it that much of a surprise that he won, he had to cover a lot of moves and the bunch thinned down a lot to the group he eventually won from
5. Nuyens - again, he may not have had to do too much work and may have sat on a bit too much for people's liking, but he still had to know which was the right move and follow it
6. Gerrans - in this race there was only the one move to follow, and he didn't have to follow for as long as most of the others, and his victory was almost entirely dependent on Cancellara, even more so than Nuyens' or Van Summeren's. It was the least impressive victory of the six, most certainly.

 

[Christian]

I don't know if this has been discussed in another thread and I don't want to open a can of worms here - but I wonder whether you can really attribute Iglinskiy's win to intelligent racing. He said himself he thought he was racing for second and that there was confusion over the time gaps. Sounds like he was surprised to catch Nibali when he did and to see him completely cooked.

That said of course it was still a great display of strength and a courageous ride and I don't want to take anything away from that.

 

[sucotash]

My vote was for Iglinsky, also thought about Zaugg.

Why Iglinsky ? Because the competition in LBL is much tougher than in Lombardia. Both were the strongest in their races, both wins were great, but Iglinsky had more strong riders to beat. Always at the and of the season there are a lot of guys out of form, some finish their season earlier. Also the WC profile helped Zaugg,because some climbers gave up prepering to the end of the season becouse of the WC parcour

 

[Jukebox]

Im in the Iglinsky camp as well, he was crazy strong and raced well. Nuyens, Gerrans and Goss were much less about strength and more about following the right move. JVS profitted from the racing behind him and Zaugg, while a close second, just didnt impress me the same way. I think the act of chasing down Nibali's seemingly perfect race winning move is what clinches it for me.

 

[maltiv]

Iglinskij. He was the only one who won by being the strongest in the race, which makes it an even bigger surprise. The others were pretty far from being the strongest, but had a fair bit of luck.

 

[jsem94]

The right answer is Iglinsky, but I feel JVS' win was more special.

 

[will10]

The top two are definitely Iglinskiy and Zaugg, and I'll agree with Libertine - Iglinskiy was the strongest but rode very smartly regardless. Zaugg's win was impressive as he was simply the strongest, but it was more of a brute force kind of win.

 

[Afrank]

Went with Zaugg, all the others had won other races before or gotten good results in other classics that gave us a indication that they could win, but with Zaugg it was a complete surprise. And as Hitch said was the biggest wtf moment.

Iglinsky's ride was clearly the strongest but Zaugg's was the biggest surprise.

 

[42x16ss]

My vote went to Zaugg. Despite being an established pro he was never on anyones top 10 for a monument, while the others were (with the possible exception of Iglinsky).

Not only did Zaugg win in style, he was the only winner on this list that made me think "WTF happened here"!

 

[ElChingon]

Nick, he never seemed to have the killer (winner) instinct. I had written him off as a rider who would always be there and get close but never win a monument. This year he's back in that category

Max, was second, dude looked cool as a cucumber as if he knew the result ahead of time, I don't think I saw him sweat or look like he was ever in difficulty, the race looked like a formality. Of course we didn't really see him till he broke off with J-Rod and then he just slowly worked his way to the win.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Don't forget that JVS had a flat for the last many k (can't remember how far); there was a lot of luck involved, but not all of it good

 

[Roude Leiw]

JVS, went into the early break, hung on, solo'ed away and held of Fabians chase.

Iglinsky might have been impressive, but he hung on when Nibali blew up the group and was intelligent enough to hitch a ride with Purito. Was lucky that Purito and Nibali went down in the flames of glory. Was a deserved win though, but definetively not on the same level I would think than JVS or Zaugg.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Iglinsky by a distance (stronger and fresher field with limited tactics involved). Zaugg 2nd.

 

[greenedge]

I voted for Inglinsky, i felt he timed his effort perfectly and won impressively. Astana if it all came back together would also have won with Gasparotto.
Zaugg is also close.

Surprised at the lack of love for Goss' M-SR.

 

[greenedge]

My vote went to Zaugg. Despite being an established pro he was never on anyones top 10 for a monument, while the others were (with the possible exception of Iglinsky).

I actually said he had the opportunity to win if Fuglsang/ Cancellara faded.

 

[maltiv]

Zaugg has scored 10 cq points this year. His best result is a 17th place on stage 5 of Pais Vasco, which is his only top 20.

Not exactly the results one would expect from a monument winner.

 

[killswitch]

Zaugg has scored 10 cq points this year. His best result is a 17th place on stage 5 of Pais Vasco, which is his only top 20.

Not exactly the results one would expect from a monument winner.

He hasn't been a team leader in a race this year.

 

[will10]

Zaugg has scored 10 cq points this year. His best result is a 17th place on stage 5 of Pais Vasco, which is his only top 20.

Not exactly the results one would expect from a monument winner.

I think you're missing the point.