Who has the more impressive Flanders palmares Devolder or Hoste?

[Nick C.]

Its slow so: Devolder with 2 back to back solo wins albeit aided by having Boonen in the "chasing" group. Hoste with 3 out of 4 years second place in a variety of ways, beign in the break and having weseman come up on the Muur, intiaiating the move over the Valkenberg (?) and having Boonen follow, being the only one able to follow Ballan on the Muur. As for me I find Hoste to have the more impressive achievement mainly because of the manner in which Devolder won. Note I didn't put Boonen's back to backs in the mix.

 

[Descender]

I see what you mean, but it still doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, 2 wins > no wins.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Devolder.

What a silly question.

In 20 years' time, the manner of the wins will be mostly forgotten. That Hoste put in a wide range of different style performances for his second places will be mostly forgotten. But for the rest of the sport's life, people will be able to look in the record books and see that Devolder won it twice, and won't see the name Leif Hoste in the winners list.

It's the Menchov/Evans thing again. Is Evans the better rider? Maybe. Has he put in great performances over a wider range of events? Sure. But I'd still rather retire with Menchov's palmarès.

 

[slcbiker]

The wins are the thing.
You could throw Hincapie into the mix and have the same issue. He's placed high multiple times in both Flanders and P-R, but unfortunately for him, he hasn't quite managed to take that last step, and thus won't be quite as well remembered as a multiple winner.

 

[Nick C.]

Hey its the middle of winter so shoot me. Palmares is a bad choice of words as it skews it to the winner.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hey its the middle of winter so shoot me. Palmares is a bad choice of words as it skews it to the winner.

It's biathlon season, so I do have shooting on the brain, no intent on shooting anybody, mind.

 

[boardhanger]

Devolders wins were both courageous and classy.

 

[Matthijs]

Devolder won by quite daring attacks. Two years in a row, at the same hill. I hardly call that a surprise anymore. People may say that he got protected by Boonen. It is not stated, but I feal people rate Devolders wins as lucky, only because of Boonens protection.
But others won when protected by teammates. All wins of the great Mapei classic team became real the same way and some of Domo Farm frites/Lotto, but still they are great wins of great champions. People thought the second year Devolder was still just a help to Boonen. Well, if you rate a Flandres winner as a helper, you're just stupid. Pozzato chose Boonen that day, why did the rest of the world did the same and rate Devolders second win as lucky?
Rating a two-in-a-row champion of any Classic as lucky is stupid. Rating a two-in-a-row champion who won the race twice the same way...
The only thing is, Devolder does not show that much besides the cobbles so people forget the strength in his attacks. Shame on those people!

Hoste off course is a great rider! However, he showed he can be ok with 2nd against Ballan for instance. He seems over his prime years, but showed great form at Roubaix this year. I hope he can be a real force next year in all the cobbles, have a decent finish in Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 and RvV and win PR while protected by Pipo

 

[boardhanger]

Devolder won by quite daring attacks. Two years in a row, at the same hill. I hardly call that a surprise anymore. People may say that he got protected by Boonen. It is not stated, but I feal people rate Devolders wins as lucky, only because of Boonens protection.
But others won when protected by teammates. All wins of the great Mapei classic team became real the same way and some of Domo Farm frites/Lotto, but still they are great wins of great champions. People thought the second year Devolder was still just a help to Boonen. Well, if you rate a Flandres winner as a helper, you're just stupid. Pozzato chose Boonen that day, why did the rest of the world did the same and rate Devolders second win as lucky?
Rating a two-in-a-row champion of any Classic as lucky is stupid. Rating a two-in-a-row champion who won the race twice the same way...
The only thing is, Devolder does not show that much besides the cobbles so people forget the strength in his attacks. Shame on those people!

Hoste off course is a great rider! However, he showed he can be ok with 2nd against Ballan for instance. He seems over his prime years, but showed great form at Roubaix this year. I hope he can be a real force next year in all the cobbles, have a decent finish in Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 and RvV and win PR while protected by Pipo

Hoste is a good rider and was marked outa some chances for a good win. And I agree Devolders attacks where strong, commited and worthly off the victory. The Boonen influence was minimal.

 

[Mambo95]

What a stupid question. It's Devolder - he's won it twice.

Let's remember that there's no such thing as good tactics and bad tactics - just tactics that work and tactics that don't.

 

[profff]

no question, devolder
he is a two time RVV winner, belgium national champion

leif hoste is a great rider, but he did not win.

who is the greatest, anquetil or poupou poulidor?
again, no doubt...

 

[Moondance]

I would like to agree with the supermajority here and agree on Devolder.

I can, to a degree, understand where the OP in coming from in trying to argue for Hoste. I mean, Hoste did on an occasion or two prove that he was superior to everyone save Boonen, and Devolder took both his wins by having escaped at the right time, and having the chase behind strangled to death by his Quick-Step cronies...

That said, I would just like tell the OP to go back and look at Devolder's '08 win... That was such an incredible display of force. He spent much of the last 60kms either attacking himself, pulling back breaks, or basically being awesome. He might not have had to cross swords directly with Boonen in '08, but I'd think that anyone who saw that edition knows that Devolder was head and shoulders above the rest that year. And that alone should be better than Hoste's lack of a major classic win of any kind.

 

[Kwibus]

Well upcoming season he will be without Boonen. He can show us how he will do in a team without Boonen.

If he finishes somewhere between 5th and 10th and Hoste 2nd again it still doesn't mean Hoste is better though. I am curious how Devolder will do though

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Well upcoming season he will be without Boonen. He can show us how he will do in a team without Boonen.

If he finishes somewhere between 5th and 10th and Hoste 2nd again it still doesn't mean Hoste is better though. I am curious how Devolder will do though

He'll be with leukemans though. They're both attacking riders, should be really exciting

 

[Kvinto]

Yes, Leukemans is a bit similar to Stijn. It should be aggressive Ronde by Vacansoleil, they have two options and strong team. Leif Hoste used to be strong at Vlaanderen but for the last several years he appeared to be fully Roubaix contender and I do not think that in Katusha it'll be something different.

 

[kurtinsc]

I agree with everyone saying Devolder. But... I have to admit that I wonder if he would have won if Boonen was on another team

 

[boardhanger]

I agree with everyone saying Devolder. But... I have to admit that I wonder if he would have won if Boonen was on another team

Tomko has been sliping since Stijn took those victories. Ghent 2007 in that uphill stage 2 of TDF was magic.

 

[cobblehead]

second place is just first loser, let's just keep it at that...