Who's the unluckiest rider in pro cycling?

[Ruby United]

Who's the unluckiest rider in pro cycling currently?

Can be In terms of both crashes or 2nd places.

Dan Martin springs to mind with crashes in Liege and Giro just over the past few weeks never mind before.

Rodriguez always seem to end up on the podium. The world's last year and so many grand tours to date for Purito (as well as this Giro) illustrates my point.

Even riders like JVDB who missed out on a podium in the tour twice and crashed out twice.

One other rider who comes up for me is mathew Goss.
Any other opinions?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Tyler Farrar......

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Perhaps Gesink. There is always something that sets him back.

 

[pattycake88]

cadel evans pre-2011 tdf win

 

[Gloin22]

Tyler Farrar......

No. There is a fine difference between luck and consistent falling.

His crashes are not due to luck.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Bobbie Traksel

 

[Kwibus]

Brajkovic.

Farrar is unlucky, wether it's him causing the crashes or not.

 

[RedheadDane]

Perhaps Gesink. There is always something that sets him back.

Let's hope his recent heart surgery has put an end to that!

 

[42x16ss]

Wouter Weylandt, Fabio Casartelli, Andrei Kivilev, Xavier Tondo

 

[LaFlorecita]

wouter weylandt, fabio casartelli, andrei kivilev, xavier tondo

.....

 

[The Hitch]

Eh Joaquin Rodriguez (aside from our fallen brothers of course)

Most of the other riders named in this list still have years left to try their luck. Dan Martin, really? So what he got a chain slip in Lbl he was unlikely to win at that stage, of which he was the defending champion. He's probably not even hit his peak yet and can keep trying any race je wants for the best part of a decade. Murito is slowly reaching the door of last chance saloon and every race he targets for a few years now things just conspire against him -
18 seconds in giro, largely his own doing but he could have easily eliminated Ryder if Ryder hadn't just emerged from nowhere in that gt
Contador getting banned in 2012 taking him out of the tdf and placing him into the vuelta murito would have won by a country mile.
Injured at amstel last year taking him out of that and his fw defence and weakening him for Lbl.
Crashed in tour though wouldn't have won anyway.
The Valverde betrayal.
crash at amstel ruins his last chance at both giro and a gt.

 

[RedheadDane]

Wouter Weylandt, Fabio Casartelli, Andrei Kivilev, Xavier Tondo

Not to be horribly cold-hearted, but the OP was asking about current riders, which those four (and others) - for obvious tragic reasons - aren't.


Dying (either while racing, or for other reasons) is it's very own category of heartrendering.

 

[Netserk]

For me getting 2nd in itself is not unlucky. Mechanicals at critical moments, injury and crashes (that primarily isn't the fault of the rider) is what unlucky is to me. In that regard Boonen is far more unlucky than Purito, and just because he has managed to do more than well anyway doesn't make him less unlucky.

 

[Ruby United]

Most of the other riders named in this list still have years left to try their luck. Dan Martin, really? So what he got a chain slip in Lbl he was unlikely to win at that stage, of which he was the defending champion. He's probably not even hit his peak yet and can keep trying any race je wants for the best part of a decade.

True, but up to date he's always had bad luck, whilst I agree that purito has had more bad luck, you can't ignore martins.

 

[Von Mises]

Eh Joaquin Rodriguez (aside from our fallen brothers of course)

Most of the other riders named in this list still have years left to try their luck. Dan Martin, really? So what he got a chain slip in Lbl he was unlikely to win at that stage, of which he was the defending champion. He's probably not even hit his peak yet and can keep trying any race je wants for the best part of a decade. Murito is slowly reaching the door of last chance saloon and every race he targets for a few years now things just conspire against him -
18 seconds in giro, largely his own doing but he could have easily eliminated Ryder if Ryder hadn't just emerged from nowhere in that gt
Contador getting banned in 2012 taking him out of the tdf and placing him into the vuelta murito would have won by a country mile.
Injured at amstel last year taking him out of that and his fw defence and weakening him for Lbl.
Crashed in tour though wouldn't have won anyway.
The Valverde betrayal.
crash at amstel ruins his last chance at both giro and a gt.

Is it Dan Martin´s fault that he has still many years left and Rodriguez not?

It was Rodriguez own choosing to be dom/stage hunter/ classics rider and not leader/GT racer. To say 4 years ago that Rodriguez will get second at Giro and 3rd at Vuelta, answer would have been Wow, super, not near miss.

 

[Anderis]

If finishing 2nd is considered unlucky, then Rohan Dennis should be considered unlucky, since he finished time trials on 2nd position 7 times since early 2013, but won none of them.
But I don't think finishing 2nd is unlucky enough to put you in contention to be the most unlucky rider in the peloton. I would certainly prefer to finish 2nd than to DNF if I was a professional cyclist.

I can't agree that Rodriguez is unlucky compared to some other riders in the peloton. 2014 is his first unlucky year, but before that, he didn't seem to be affected by crashes, mechanicals or whatever you can call bad luck. Well, if you look at his career, he scored some good positions in almost all races he peaked for between 2010-2013. That's what many riders in the peloton dream of. He even has some great wins next to his name, including 2 wins in a monument, stages in all 3 GTs etc.

I think Hesjedal has been fairly unlucky since his Giro 2012 win. He came into TdF in good shape that year but was caught in crash. Then Giro 2013 and lungs infection, then crashing out from Tour de Suisse from 2nd overall, so his season was basically over. Then Giro 2014 and losing big amount of time in TTT without the slightest fault of himself while he seems to be strong enough to be in contention for top10.
And that's why he is seen as a one-race man, a one-off that couldn't repeat his Giro 2012 form, a flukey win by many, despite the fact he certainly was capable of achieving more in the last two years.

 

[Guybrush]

Igor Anton comes to mind

 

[jsem94]

Igor Anton comes to mind

I'll never forget how he adjusted his hair before riding off in that car as he had just abandoned the Vuelta in the red jersey. He could've won that Vuelta. One of the most bizarre moments in cycling.

 

[luckyboy]

crash at amstel ruins his last chance at both giro and a gt.

Still got the Vuelta this year.


Not of all time, but Viviani has been pretty unlucky this Giro - Bari crash, Farrar taking him out, got a fever..

 

[pastronef]

Jani Brajkovic very high on the list, as Igor Anton.

 

[Afrank]

Rodriguez and Schleck IMO. Also Gilbert in 2012 and 2013.

 

[Afrank]

If finishing 2nd is considered unlucky, then Rohan Dennis should be considered unlucky, since he finished time trials on 2nd position 7 times since early 2013, but won none of them.
But I don't think finishing 2nd is unlucky enough to put you in contention to be the most unlucky rider in the peloton. I would certainly prefer to finish 2nd than to DNF if I was a professional cyclist.

It's not so much a single 2nd placing. It's consistently placing 2nd in races, be it the worlds, LBL, or a GT. It's about seemingly always just missing out on a win that could have been his.

 

[HSNHSN]

It's not so much a single 2nd placing. It's consistently placing 2nd in races, be it the worlds, LBL, or a GT. It's about seemingly always just missing out on a win that could have been his.

Somewhat like Zoetemelk in the past, that is - even though he managed to win the TdF, besides getting second six times.

More on-topic: I agree with several posters that Brajkovic scores pretty high on this list.

 

[movingtarget]

Used to be Gesink by miles but at the moment probably Rodriguez or VDB. Although Gesink has health concerns as well now. Rojas won a race so obviously there is an eclipse or something happening soon.

 

[Bushman]

Gesink period.