Worlds and Tour Champion is that a big deal?

[therhodeo]

when did evans become the destroyer that wins everything he sets his mind too?

I was at least talking Fleche and Vasco. Not exactly Roubaix-TDF double material.

 

[Mich78BEL]

Re great cyclist:

How would you guys compare Evans palmares with those of Ullrich?

simple, Ullrich has a better palmares then Evans

 

[hfer07]

how come this unique achievement can be forgotten?

THE HOLY TRINITY: GIRO + TOUR + WORLD'S

 

[brianf7]

Cadel Evans is in a pretty exclusive club of riders to have done this. As far as I can tell it is: Magne, Georges Speicher, Kubler, Coppi, Bobet, Merckx, Gimondi, Hinault, Lemond, Roche and Armstrong. I could have missed someone pre war.

You missed a lot

 

[TheDude]

Cadel is great, I'm very happy for his win, one of the top-10 riders riding today, but no Philippe Thyes, who only missed a world championships because they didn't have that relatively modern race when he was a rider.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Yeah, Cadel Evans palmares is looking really good now, looking at the races he has won, and numerous high placings, he can soon be considered one of the greats in my opinion.

Nah, never.

The greats in history are Anquetil, Hinault, Eddy Merckx, Indurain, Fausto Coppi, Bartali(remember the war destroyed their career somewhat) and Lance Armstrong. Contador may be part of those someday, but Cadel Evans never will.

I agree what Cadel has done is pretty great. But also agree with Pistelero that those accomplishments don't put him in the same category as the TRUE GREATS.

 

[LukeSchmid]

And if Evans won Olympic Gold.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-dreaming-of-olympic-gold

I don't really think he has a chance.

 

[just some guy]

And if Evans won Olympic Gold.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-dreaming-of-olympic-gold

I don't really think he has a chance.

If he road the mountain bike event or focused on the ITT he might have more of a chance IMO.

 

[the asian]

you do realize he already is 34 don't you? its not like he has endless time to achieve that.



the 2013 worlds will be in spain so expect a very hard course where contador, valverde, samu, purito and anton are the main contenders. wow just imagine this team on a very hard course . . .



contador already said more then once in the last 2 seasons that he wants to give the ardennes a serious try in the future. since he isn't riding the giro next year i think he will see him there in top shape. and if andy schleck can win L-B-L so does contador.

ofc i don't include him in the all time greats yet. a few more GT's worlds and liege/lombardy are needed.

maybe he can give the worlds itt a go if canc stops riding them to focus on the road race. . .

2013 Worlds will be in Florence, Italy. However Zomegan is in the organisation committee. So may be a very hard race
2014 worlds is in Spain. And for 2015, the bidders are Richmond in Virginia, USA and Oman.

 

[Woody22]

The reaction he has got in Australia, no way does he not defend.

Personally I think he would be better off doing the Giro though.

His chances of winning the Tour next year are very small. (and i was NOT one of the people that said the same thing this year)

Hell be 35 and far more importantly, Contador is probably going to be there on top form.
And it would strengen his palmares so much more to win that then podium another Tour (we are losing count of how many hes podiumed anyway). Podium in all 3 gts. Winner of the triple crown.

Evans isnt one of the Tour only guys. Hes gone for Ardennes, won PT Stage races, gone for Giro. He appreciates more than most anglophones that winning the Giro would in his case make his career more complete , possibly even more than a second Tour title could and that is far less likely.

When fans look at history, they look at who has won all monuments, who has won all gts, who has won the Tour 5 times (not twice) and who has won the Triple crown. Evans would be there and he could forever argue that he did it all, and whatsmore, he did it his way.

Contador probably won't be there at all or at any other race next year. Unless his legal team can manage to delay the hearing for his positive drug test for another year or two.

 

[hughmoore]

Cadel, to skip the Tour as defending champion,

1. He has battled for years to win, he is surely not going to miss out on wearing the number one, especially when course rumours would favor him more than this year.

2. BMC is USA based team, they want the Tour, plus the GIRO is same time as California.

3. Tour is King and Cadel is King at the moment. Enough said.



Hugh

 

[El Pistolero]

Cadel, to skip the Tour as defending champion,

1. He has battled for years to win, he is surely not going to miss out on wearing the number one, especially when course rumours would favor him more than this year.

2. BMC is USA based team, they want the Tour, plus the GIRO is same time as California.

3. Tour is King and Cadel is King at the moment. Enough said.



Hugh

Cadel wore number one in 2008.

 

[personal]

Cadel also won Mountain Bike World Cup in 1998. and 1999.

It is something other mentioned riders don't have.

 

[AussieGoddess]

1 - he has actually already worn No 1 (albeit not when he actually won) when he finished 2nd to Contador and Astana was not invited

2 - what on earth does the Tour of Cal have to do with it? Evans isnt likely to ride then either

3 - you might have a point on that one

to be honest though - I wouldnt be all that surprised if Cadel decided to do the Giro instead of the Tour ... and then ride the Olympics ... and then the Vuelta

 

[Zoncolan]

To be considered one of the greats, it is not enough to have an impressive palmares, IMO. You need to dominate. Dominate the way Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault did. Win all year round, win classics + GTs + stage races, etc. Do that for more than 2-3 years, and you may be considered a great. Indurain, Armstrong, Contador, Evans don't qualify. Evans has only been winning major races last two years, sparsely too. Contador only really dominant in stage races. Some strong placings in hilly classics doesn't quailify, IMO.
As to the original question: is it a big deal? It's a huge. Not as huge as dominance described above, but huge nonetheless.

 

[Mambo95]

To be considered one of the greats, it is not enough to have an impressive palmares, IMO. You need to dominate. Dominate the way Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault did. Win all year round, win classics + GTs + stage races, etc. Do that for more than 2-3 years, and you may be considered a great.

Those guys are from a different era, though. The races may be the same, but the sport is not.

If you told Coppi, for example, that the Tour winner was Australian, the World Champion was Norwegian, the best sprinter was British, the hottest young talent is Slovakian, four of the top teams were American, there were others from Russia and Kazahstan and there were top races in Adelaide, California, Oman, Qatar and Beijing, imagine what his reaction would have been.

Back then, a Swiss rider in the Giro was seen as exotic.

 

[Spaniard]

To be considered one of the greats, it is not enough to have an impressive palmares, IMO. You need to dominate. Dominate the way Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault did. Win all year round, win classics + GTs + stage races, etc. Do that for more than 2-3 years, and you may be considered a great. Indurain, Armstrong, Contador, Evans don't qualify. Evans has only been winning major races last two years, sparsely too. Contador only really dominant in stage races. Some strong placings in hilly classics doesn't quailify, IMO.
As to the original question: is it a big deal? It's a huge. Not as huge as dominance described above, but huge nonetheless.

Dominate the way Merckx , Hinault or Anquetil did is almost imposible in modern cycling,it's much more specialized and add the fact that in Merckxx era there was just a few nationalities involved in cycling and not everyone could afford even practising a sport, so we can't really measure the achievments of the old ryders.

Tactics, teams , attacks all has evolved, I dare to say that old style of cycling is insane right now, many of them would be cooked in the middle of a current GT.

In this tour after Contador crash, Perico (working as commentator) told that he sent a message to Contador saying not to worry you only have lost 1:13 sec, i lost 7 minutes once in a TDF and I could recover it, Contador's answer was: "yea , but in modern cycling that's imposible"

 

[Zoncolan]

Those guys are from a different era, though. The races may be the same, but the sport is not.

If you told Coppi, for example, that the Tour winner was Australian, the World Champion was Norwegian, the best sprinter was British, the hottest young talent is Slovakian, four of the top teams were American, there were others from Russia and Kazahstan and there were top races in Adelaide, California, Oman, Qatar and Beijing, imagine what his reaction would have been.

Back then, a Swiss rider in the Giro was seen as exotic.

True that. The sport is more international. But, still...

 

[Zoncolan]

Dominate the way Merckx , Hinault or Anquetil did is almost imposible in modern cycling,it's much more specialized and add the fact that in Merckxx era there was just a few nationalities involved in cycling and not everyone could afford even practising a sport, so we can't really measure the achievments of the old ryders.

Tactics, teams , attacks all has evolved, I dare to say that old style of cycling is insane right now, many of them would be cooked in the middle of a current GT.

Yes, it is more specialized in ways (sprinters, classics men, TT specialists, GT riders, etc). But still, for most of today's top GT riders not to try for at least LBL and GdL (all would have a good chance of winning there, even VDB with an Hinault-type attack) eliminates them from all talk as all-time greats. Besides, if the sport is so highly specialized, they should win 10 Tours to be called a great.

 

[Zoncolan]

In this tour after Contador crash, Perico (working as commentator) told that he sent a message to Contador saying not to worry you only have lost 1:13 sec, i lost 7 minutes once in a TDF and I could recover it, Contador's answer was: "yea , but in modern cycling that's imposible"

Modern cycling saw Pantani's attack on Galibier in '98. Modern cycling saw Basso in '06 Giro. Modern cycling saw that very same Contador 2 months ago at the Giro.

 

[The Hitch]

And if Evans won Olympic Gold.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-dreaming-of-olympic-gold

I don't really think he has a chance.

Think about how epic the olympic race could be if it had more hills in it. It means more to a lot of riders than Liege so I dont think Gilbert would dominate and he would be marked like Valverde gets marked in every worlds and olympics he enters.

Last time we had everyone from sprinters like Freire to flat specialists like Cancellara to hilly specialists like Rebellin to mountian goats like Sastre.

Pretty much every top gc guy and every hilly specialist and every puncheor and even some riders like Thor would go for it, and there would be no favourite, because anyone can win.

I dont mind the Cav stage that much because it will make Cav bigger in this country which could increase the profile of cycling, but id rather have another epic race instead.

1 - he has actually already worn No 1 (albeit not when he actually won) when he finished 2nd to Contador and Astana was not invited

2 - what on earth does the Tour of Cal have to do with it? Evans isnt likely to ride then either

3 - you might have a point on that one

to be honest though - I wouldnt be all that surprised if Cadel decided to do the Giro instead of the Tour ... and then ride the Olympics ... and then the Vuelta

If Cadel did do the Giro he would do the Tour as well. People dont skip the Tour as defending champion (not voluntarily anyway). He doesnt have to be on 110% form for it, but he wouldnt skip it.

 

[Spaniard]

Yes, it is more specialized in ways (sprinters, classics men, TT specialists, GT riders, etc). But still, for most of today's top GT riders not to try for at least LBL and GdL (all would have a good chance of winning there, even VDB with an Hinault-type attack) eliminates them from all talk as all-time greats. Besides, if the sport is so highly specialized, they should win 10 Tours to be called a great.

Contador was third in La Flèche Wallonne last year for instance,10 tours to called be great??¡, again, dominating right now is not so easy that's why modern ryders can't achieve Merckx palmares, not even close .

 

[Spaniard]

Modern cycling saw Pantani's attack on Galibier in '98. Modern cycling saw Basso in '06 Giro. Modern cycling saw that very same Contador 2 months ago at the Giro.

What I mean is that loosing 7 minutes due to a crash or something like that and then trying to recover it, not winning a GT with a margin of 7 minutes or more, I don't think that if Contador would have lost 7 minutes in the beginning of the Giro he would have won it, he would have cooked himself attacking and attacking in every stage and probably bonked in Zoncolan.

 

[Zoncolan]

Contador was third in La Flèche Wallonne last year for instance,10 tours to called be great??¡, again, dominating right now is not so easy that's why modern ryders can't achieve Merckx palmares, not even close .

Because of specialists. We agree. So, no classics win (not numbers like in the old days at least) for a GT rider then. Dominate GTs. Get 10 wins (10 Tours is a bit over the top, I admit), get 10 GT wins. Contador might be able to pull it off if he doesn't get banned.

 

[Spaniard]

Because of specialists. We agree. So, no classics win (not numbers like in the old days at least) for a GT rider then. Dominate GTs. Get 10 wins (10 Tours is a bit over the top, I admit), get 10 GT wins. Contador might be able to pull it off if he doesn't get banned.

LOL, you meant 10 TDF? haha I assumed that you were talking about GTs in general, wow, 10 TDF means you have to dominate AT LEAST during a decade :no injuries, no crashes, no illness, bad luck ...