Who is the most over rated cyclist???

[Anonymous]

However if you read the daily thread for the Giro stages for the first two weeks Millar and Wiggans are consistently included in posts of overall GC position along with the serious GC candidates. The inclusion of their names over and over again as gc contenders, is what gives the status of over-rated.

no, that just shows how little some people around here know about cycling. Being overrated by planks does not make you globally overrated

 

[tgsgirl]

You must be gullible to read that stuff and take it seriously. Anyway Wiggins and Sastre performed well on the epic stage 11 at the Giro, So you cant dismiss riders like that.

You don't seem to understand what 'overrated' means (which is ironic since, judging by your location, you're a native English speaker and I'm not). It's not the same as to dismiss. It's, so says wiktionary, given an undue amount of credit for quality or merit in a field. Saying that Wiggins is overrated is not the same as saying Wiggins didn't do well in stage 11. As a Grand Tour GC candidate, Wiggins is given an undue amount of credit, seeing as he has the grand total of one result. Mosquera has a fourth place in the Vuelta. Bruseghin a third in the Giro. Vande Velde a fourth in the Tour. None of those are judged as highly as Wiggins.

And if doing well in one epic stage of the Giro is enough, then I hereby declare Johann Tschopp to be the next big thing. Too bad he isn't anglophone.

 

[Wallace]

I also don't think Evans belongs on this list. The general perception of him is that he's a really good rider who has never had the team support needed to win a GT--in fact, given his isolation as a rider, his GT results are impressive. Still, even though he's performed well, I've never seen anyone here (except for maybe ACF--but ever rider has their devoted/obsessed followers) claim that Evans is on the level with Contador, or even the Schlecklet.

Blah, blah, blah--the point is, most of the assessments of Cuddles I've seen are realistic, not excessive.

 

[eddiepliers]

if you're gonna put Evans and Andy Schleck on the list, you might as well put the motor powered Cancellara on it too..

 

[sublimit]

You don't seem to understand what 'overrated' means (which is ironic since, judging by your location, you're a native English speaker and I'm not). It's not the same as to dismiss. It's, so says wiktionary, given an undue amount of credit for quality or merit in a field. Saying that Wiggins is overrated is not the same as saying Wiggins didn't do well in stage 11. As a Grand Tour GC candidate, Wiggins is given an undue amount of credit, seeing as he has the grand total of one result. Mosquera has a fourth place in the Vuelta. Bruseghin a third in the Giro. Vande Velde a fourth in the Tour. None of those are judged as highly as Wiggins.

And if doing well in one epic stage of the Giro is enough, then I hereby declare Johann Tschopp to be the next big thing. Too bad he isn't anglophone.

thanks for your reply but i think you may be missing the point.

OK climbing well in last years tour and finishing 4, getting a TT stage at the Giro, great performance in the toughest stage.. not bad for a track specialist with no expectations having got into road racing in the last 2 or 3 years. the riders you mentioned are also quality riders so whats the deal?

i might refer you to what teamskyfans said earlier. you read too much garbage by planks and take it too seriously, and this Anglaphone stuff says it all and you need to think harder.

 

[reyan12]

To choose one out of that list I voted Bradley W.

Could've easily voted Schleck though, he annoys me now.

IMO,Andy Schleck is the most over rated cyclist.just because he ended up second to AC at the podium at the last years TDF many people rated him so high.
remember SSanchez and Valverde did not participate last year(im pretty sure this two are equally or better than him on mountain stages and possibly could have finished 09'sTDF ahead of him) plus the fact that some GC riders were still reeling the effect of thier participation at the 09's Giro.

his performance this year is not so great.i dont think he will finish runner up again this year(maybe lower)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

thanks for your reply but i think you may be missing the point.

OK climbing well in last years tour and finishing 4, getting a TT stage at the Giro, great performance in the toughest stage.. not bad for a track specialist with no expectations having got into road racing in the last 2 or 3 years. the riders you mentioned are also quality riders so whats the deal?

i might refer you to what teamskyfans said earlier. you read too much garbage by planks and take it too seriously, and this Anglaphone stuff says it all and you need to think harder.

It doesn't matter how well he's doing "for a track specialist" because he isn't being marketed as a "track specialist" anymore. He's being marketed as a GC contender, and with regards to his ability to contend in GCs, we have no evidence apart from the Tour last year. He now has a team built around him but one that doesn't have any riders who I can see dying for Wiggins like Vande Velde did last year. He's bought as a more serious challenge for major races than Ezequiel Mosquera, yet Mosquera has three Grand Tour top 5s. And what's more, Mosquera has several results in shorter stage races that Wiggins simply can't match. Why couldn't Wiggins show us anything in Paris-Nice or País Vasco? It isn't impossible to do well in at least one stage at that point of the year and be ready for the Tour. We haven't seen Wiggins do anything almost all year, apart from a win in a prologue (which is what he specialised in before his transformation) and a brief and rather pointless escapade on Monte Grappa where the other contenders let him go for a bit then took him back easily.

It's not Wiggins being thought of as a GT rider that causes him to be overrated. It's somebody who managed 4th as a surprise on the least challenging Tour parcours in recent memory being considered a challenger for the Tour ahead of riders with far stronger palmarès (Samuel Sánchez, Denis Menchov). I think some people rather resent the Armstrong-esque approach too, it's almost like he doesn't want to show anything pre-Tour. For many of us, who watch and enjoy the entire calendar and find the focus on the Tour very irritating, that's very frustrating (and can also be seen as a convenient excuse for lack of performance to that point).

 

[woodburn]

IMO,Andy Schleck is the most over rated cyclist.just because he ended up second to AC at the podium at the last years TDF many people rated him so high.
remember SSanchez and Valverde did not participate last year(im pretty sure this two are equally or better than him on mountain stages and possibly could have finished 09'sTDF ahead of him) plus the fact that some GC riders were still reeling the effect of thier participation at the 09's Giro.

his performance this year is not so great.i dont think he will finish runner up again this year(maybe lower)

You realize he also has won Liege and finished second in the Giro before age 25?

 

[sublimit]

It doesn't matter how well he's doing "for a track specialist" because he isn't being marketed as a "track specialist" anymore. He's being marketed as a GC contender, and with regards to his ability to contend in GCs, we have no evidence apart from the Tour last year. He now has a team built around him but one that doesn't have any riders who I can see dying for Wiggins like Vande Velde did last year. He's bought as a more serious challenge for major races than Ezequiel Mosquera, yet Mosquera has three Grand Tour top 5s. And what's more, Mosquera has several results in shorter stage races that Wiggins simply can't match. Why couldn't Wiggins show us anything in Paris-Nice or País Vasco? It isn't impossible to do well in at least one stage at that point of the year and be ready for the Tour.

another person reading too much bull**** I'm sure Mosquera is a great rider so good luck to him but he needs to win stages to get recognised.

but anyway who says the team is built around Wiggins?
They have Lovqvuist, Hagen, Flecha. Wiggins is the go-to rider for the TDF GC this time up but that dosnt mean he will win the tour but more like getting top ten or a podium spot. He might crash and burn but other riders in the team can step up.

 

[tgsgirl]

thanks for your reply but i think you may be missing the point.

OK climbing well in last years tour and finishing 4, getting a TT stage at the Giro, great performance in the toughest stage.. not bad for a track specialist with no expectations having got into road racing in the last 2 or 3 years. the riders you mentioned are also quality riders so whats the deal?

Ha, toned it down have you? Don't think I didn't see that first reply

I'm not missing the point. "The deal" is that Wiggins is always mentioned ahead of someone like Mosquera even though right now, Zeke's GT palmares is better than Wiggo's. Or, if you don't rate the Vuelta (as some do), higher than Menchov.

Wiggins transformation from trackie to road racer has been very, very good. But at this moment, I think it's a huge disservice to guys like Mosquera (to go back to my earlier example) to be rated below him, just because he doesn't speak English or isn't on one of the famous teams (to put things very bluntly and perhaps not very fairly).

 

[richo36]

Just to let everyone know i just used the main GC contenders for the upcoming TDF(with a few exceptions), considering i did only have ten choices it seemed the easiest way to do it. Otherwise you would of just been voting from the riders i feel are overated. As i said i voted for sastre(on present form) and my second choice would of been greipel, who is not on this list. It was just a rough starting guide. Also was looking from a more non media side of view (otherwise it would be armstrong hands down).

 

[spanky wanderlust]

thanks for your reply but i think you may be missing the point.

OK climbing well in last years tour and finishing 4, getting a TT stage at the Giro, great performance in the toughest stage.. not bad for a track specialist with no expectations having got into road racing in the last 2 or 3 years. the riders you mentioned are also quality riders so whats the deal?

i might refer you to what teamskyfans said earlier. you read too much garbage by planks and take it too seriously, and this Anglaphone stuff says it all and you need to think harder.

wiggins has been racing on the road since about 2001 or 2002.

where have you been?

 

[sublimit]

OK i toned it down, As i mentioned i have nothing against Mosquera and hope he does well in the future.

I just think its too obvious to slag Wiggins. And I never said he would win the tour probably getting a top 10 spot and perhaps getting a stage, he gets hyped up but thats down to being in a British team but theres a lot of rubbish spoken on that and its just best to ingore it.

Its obvious Contador Schleck, Vino, Cadel, Menchov will be battling it out but Wiggins, Basso, and perhaps talented riders like Tony Martin, Michael Rogers if he rides getting amongst them.

 

[sublimit]

wiggins has been racing on the road since about 2001 or 2002.

where have you been?

road as well as track. now concentrating on road and no track so a nice try feller.

Nice name BTW - Spanky Wonderlust! like it.

 

[Anonymous]

but anyway who says the team is built around Wiggins?
They have Lovqvuist, Hagen, Flecha. Wiggins is the go-to rider for the TDF GC this time up but that dosnt mean he will win the tour but more like getting top ten or a podium spot. He might crash and burn but other riders in the team can step up.

It doesn't matter how well he's doing "for a track specialist" because he isn't being marketed as a "track specialist" anymore. He's being marketed as a GC contender

marketed being the important word. Wiggins is the big name for sky, because as a new british sponsored team and a team planning to have a strong british contingent, after last years performance Wiggins was the flagship rider that Sky needed to get the British fans on side. A "british" team without the guy who finished fourth in the tour last year would have no credibility. But he is being "marketed" as a tour contender.

There are a lot of british cycling "fans" who only watch the tour, who beleive the marketing and think Brad can win the tour de france. There are also many knowledgable cycling fans in britain who know it is very unlikely.

Brad is overrated if what you base it on is the drivel poured out by the british press. Brad is not overrated if you listen to the rest, in fact, with most people completely writing off any chance he has, that would make him surely underrated.

IMO, armstrong, contador shouldnt be on that list cos they have won loads, Wiggins shouldnt be on the list because i think by most people he is underrated, Kloden shouldnt be on the list because he never was particularly rated. In fact, to be honest, i think the list is a bit silly. A more interesting overrated list would be the likes of Phinney and Bobridge, Kennaugh, Cancellara, Boonen, Sagan, Hoogerland people where the opinion may not be born out by results..

The fact that 40 people say armstrong is overrated just proves how stupid this poll is. He is a rider who targets purely the tour de france. Hes won seven of the damn things.. how can he be overrated. maybe as a person, but not as a tour de france rider.

 

[afpm90]

Baby Schleck - has been somewhat dissapointing as a tour challenger, but done ok in the ardennes and will win a gt one day

I completely disagree with you on this one. In his first GT, the Giro d'Italia, he was second in the general classification. Next year, in his first Tour, he was 12th and won the young competition. And we must remember that he had a bad day in the first mountain stage losing valuable time to the favourites. Also, the leader was Sastre, who would win that Tour, so he was working for him, but he found strength, after that bad stage, to climb in the GC and win the white jersey. Last year, he was second in Tour, only passed by Alberto Contador. I can't see how, from this results, you have the idea that Shleck has been dissapointing as a tour challenger.

 

[Anonymous]

I completely disagree with you on this one. In his first GT, the Giro d'Italia, he was second in the general classification. Next year, in his first Tour, he was 12th and won the young competition. And we must remember that he had a bad day in the first mountain stage losing valuable time to the favourites. Also, the leader was Sastre, who would win that Tour, so he was working for him, but he found strength, after that bad stage, to climb in the GC and win the white jersey. Last year, he was second in Tour, only passed by Alberto Contador. I can't see how, from this results, you have the idea that Shleck has been dissapointing as a tour challenger.

purely because in the last couple of years he's never really shown that final oomph that he needs, I did only say somewhat, and voted for Sastre, maybe i was being a bit harsh, and should give it a couple more years..

like i say, i think the whole list is daft.

 

[afpm90]

purely because in the last couple of years he's never really shown that final oomph that he needs, I did only say somewhat, and voted for Sastre, maybe i was being a bit harsh, and should give it a couple more years..

like i say, i think the whole list is daft.

On this, I agree with you. All the riders listed are accomplished riders with great results in there careers. This poll doesn't make sense, at least, for me.

 

[Berzin]

How can you call him overrated when has won 7 TDF, he does deserve a little respect. I'm not a lance fan but still he does deserve credit!

He won those Tours while on the most effective and methodically planned doping regimens in the history of pro cycling.

Without the drugs he is a donkey on stilts.

 

[ttrider]

yeah wiggins is really putting a hell of a risk focussing his hole season around the tour, one puncture on the cobbles and season over hes either over confident or stupid or the real deal i mean he was up there in the giro for a while whilst riding into form but hes not convincing.
Andy shleck is a strange one we r coming to expect him to do well in a race a year and he does
not on the list i would say the perrenial disapointment that is Damiano Cunego in GTs and now classics and hes got Lampre built around him?!

Kloeden most under rated by miles he reli is so good 2 seconds in tdf yet in 07 when he could have won he had to drag an injured vino about till he got bust!
Valverde was under-rated his palmares is simply fantastic, way beyond anyone else in terms of variety of wins and he can sprint, climb and by 09 tt with the sort of top 15 in all three

 

[Potomac]

I just think its too obvious to slag Wiggins.

Can't you differentiate between between slagging and labeling a rider as over-rated?

But you're are right it being obvious. Wiggins obviously over-rated just to be on that list if you look that OP's reasons for inclusion.

 

[richo36]

On this, I agree with you. All the riders listed are accomplished riders with great results in there careers. This poll doesn't make sense, at least, for me.

Like i said, i just used the Main GC contenders as there is no bais in who i put up. Otherwise it would be ten riders i feel are overated, and you would all be complaining about who ive put on the list. So stop complaining about a list that was the most controlled possible list i could make.

Obviously Contador isnt overated but still there is couple people out there who think that he is. Personally i agree with wiggans being top of the list. You just need to look at the giro threads to see that.

 

[richo36]

He won those Tours while on the most effective and methodically planned doping regimens in the history of pro cycling.

Without the drugs he is a donkey on stilts.

Where is your proof of this??????? Stop making wild accusations with no proof. innocent until proven guilty. I hate dopers, Ill never support Basso or Vino as they have been proven guilty. Unless a rider has been proven gulity you should not accuse them, its simple. If Armstrong gets done for doping in the next week (hypthetically), Yes i would then question hes past results but until then he deserves credit for his 7 TDFs.

Note: Im not a lance fan, But it annoys me how much tossers like you jump in and have ago at him for doping, when he never has tested positive. Go spread your hatred elsewhere.

 

[auscyclefan94]

He won those Tours while on the most effective and methodically planned doping regimens in the history of pro cycling.

Without the drugs he is a donkey on stilts.

A tad over the top as he would of still been a very good rider if there was a level playing field.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

Where is your proof of this??????? Stop making wild accusations with no proof. innocent until proven guilty. I hate dopers, Ill never support Basso or Vino as they have been proven guilty. Unless a rider has been proven gulity you should not accuse them, its simple. If Armstrong gets done for doping in the next week (hypthetically), Yes i would then question hes past results but until then he deserves credit for his 7 TDFs.

Note: Im not a lance fan, But it annoys me how much tossers like you jump in and have ago at him for doping, when he never has tested positive. Go spread your hatred elsewhere.

and...this is why the clinic was created, no? so threads don't get destroyed with this stuff.