Year End Awards 2017

[El Pistolero]

Re:

Sagan made history by winning the third title in a row.
Hard to say it makes him Cyclist of the year, since he underperformed in the spring, but Best race performance of the year could be an adequate alternative. But then again, where to put Gilbert's solo?
Can't go through all the other categories, I'm too lazy, just wanted to point out the paradox.

I don't think Sagan was the strongest at that race, Alaphilippe was. And Nibali was in monstrous shape in Lombardia, and he decided to skip the WC.

 

[42x16ss]

Cyclist of the year - Froome
Sprinter of the year - Gaviria
Classics rider of the year - GVA
Time-trialist of the year - Dumoulin, then Dennis
Climber of the year - Froome. Apart from one TDF and one Vuelta stage he was in complete control for two whole GTs. Then Landa and Barguil
Most improved rider of the year - Barguil or Van Vleuten
Most versatile rider of the year - Kwiatkowski
Breakthrough rider of the year - Marczynski or Corynne Riviera
Team of the year - Sunweb, arguably best men and women's teams

Best race of the year - RvV or Giro Donne
Best race performance of the year - Gilbert
Craziest moment of the year - whenever Moscon rode on the front
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ) - Strade Bianche or Lombardia
You could not believe your eyes, when ... happened... - whenever Moscon rode on the front

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

Sagan made history by winning the third title in a row.
Hard to say it makes him Cyclist of the year, since he underperformed in the spring, but Best race performance of the year could be an adequate alternative. But then again, where to put Gilbert's solo?
Can't go through all the other categories, I'm too lazy, just wanted to point out the paradox.

I don't think Sagan was the strongest at that race, Alaphilippe was. And Nibali was in monstrous shape in Lombardia, and he decided to skip the WC.

But Sagan was super strong in the spring. Incredible time on Poggio. Amazing in the opening weekend. Strong, but difficult to judge giving his luck and his racing, in the rest of the spring races.

 

[Breh]

How is Movistar the most disappointing team?

They won Tirreno, Catalunya, Pais Vasco, Fleche Wallonne and Liege, 2nd in Il Giro with 2stages, 4th in the cq teamranking, 6th in the team WT ranking, 5th in the victory ranking.

Tour and Vuelta were terrible but thats no surprise when your leader crashes. Even their backup leader crashed in la Vuelta. Hardly disappointing imo.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Most improved rider of the year has to be Balarcón. Breakthrough rider I'd say Rivera.

Most improved team is definitely Sunweb, big jumps on both sides of the gender divide to become major powers. Whether that's enough to beat Sky is another question.

I could not believe my eyes when I read the news that Michele Scarponi had died. I'd just been watching him a couple of days earlier, and he was just so ingrained in the péloton almost through all of my cycling fandom, and played a massive key role in a number of the most memorable stages in that time - most notably Heras' win at Pajáres and of course his central role in the 2010 and 2011 Giri. The péloton as I had seemingly always known it had Michele Scarponi in it. It was difficult to comprehend the enormity, the finality of the news. It's not like he was a favourite of mine, but it threw a big cloud over the Giro that took some time to overcome.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Cyclist of the year: Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Would have been Valverde if done whole year, but for consistancy, Landa
Most improved rider of the year: Rigoberto Uran Uran, from his past couple of years anyway.
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski
U23 rider of the year: No WT riders right? Sivakov
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sunweb

Best race of the year: Paris-Roubaix
Best race performance of the year: Phil Gill's Ronde
Craziest moment of the year: Tom DuPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Flech.... :arrow: Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... Naesen, Van Avermaet & Sagan crashed together on the Kwaremont

 

[Nirvana]

Cyclist of the year
Froome for the double.
Van Avermaet is close but he fade a little in the summer and he didn't win anything since Luxembourg so i put the double of Froome over him even if Froome did nothing until july.

Sprinter of the year
Kittel.

Classics rider of the year
Van Avarmaet.

Time-trialist of the year
Dumoulin.

Climber of the year
Landa overall.
But the most impressive were Porte in TDU and Romandia and Valverde in Catalunya.

Most improved rider of the year
Alarcon.

Most versatile rider of the year
Moscon.

U23 rider of the year
Maybe Bernal but i didn't pay much attention to young riders.

Breakthrough rider of the year
Teuns.

Team of the year
Sunweb.

Best race of the year
Ronde.

Best race performance of the year
Gilbert at the Ronde.

Craziest moment of the year
Dumoulin attack...of diarrhea.

Best race design of the year (no not in the thread )
I don't know.

You could not believe your eyes, when ... happened...
Guarda stage of the Volta.

 

[Echoes]

I didn't even know that Nibali did anything of note before the Tour of Lombardy. Are you paid by the King of Bahrain or what?

Paris-Roubaix is more than a monument, it's the Queen of the Classics and Greg broke the record fastest average speed despite towing Styby (absurd Lefevere tactics). Adding 3 classics or semi-classics and a historical stage race to that is is amazing.

When is the last time a rider based a WT ranking win on a Paris-Roubaix? Sean Kelly 1986, I think.

 

[Valanga]

Cyclist of the year: I can't choose Froome because of the boring way he does it... So I'm going for Dumoulin.
Sprinter of the year: Kittel. No need to explain.
Classics rider of the year: Gilbert. Close with GvA, but his wins were only in cobbled classics, and well, it's not cobbled classics rider of the year.
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin. No need to explain.
Climber of the year: Landa or Barguil. If only Barguil wouldn't have acted like an idiot in the Vuelta and showed us something there...
Most improved rider of the year: Dumoulin. From very good to possible dawg slayer.
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski. Mountains, TT's, Classics, ... this guy can do it all apparently.
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria. Turned 23 in august but didn't show anything after that anyway
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns. Started winning!
Team of the year: Sunweb Impressive results with Dumoulin, Barguil, Matthews, Kelderman, ...

Best race of the year: Ronde van Vlaanderen. Quick Step cracking open the race with 100k to go, going solo with 50k to go. No other race this year even comes close.
Best race performance of the year: Gilbert @ RvV
Craziest moment of the year: poopgate

 

[loge1884]

Cyclist of the Year: Chris Froome (winning two GTs in one year is no longer common these days)
Sprinter of the Year: Marcel Kittel (well, no one comes close these days)
Climber of the Year: Mikel Landa (Warren Barguil and Thibaut Pinot coming close)
Time Trialist of the Year: Tom Dumoulin
Allrounder of the Year: Alejandro Valverde (even though his season was shortened)
Domestique of the Year: Michal Kwiatkowski (a bit of a luxury domestique to use, but his performance in TdF was impressive)
U23 Rider of the Year: Fernando Gaviria
Breakthrough/Improved rider of the Year: Warren Barguil (I didn't see his potential prior to this year)
Best Performance on a single day: Philippe Gilbert in RvV (there is no contest to that)
Making History: Peter Sagan (third World's in a row)
Overachiever (resultwise): Michael Matthews (took his chance in TdF after Sagan got DSQ; other options would be George Bennett and Elia Viviani)
Underachiever (resultwise): Peter Sagan (despite his World's title, there should have been more ... Nairo Quintana, John Degenkolb and André Greipel would be other options)
Lifetime Award: Alberto Contador

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

I could not believe my eyes when I read the news that Michele Scarponi had died. I'd just been watching him a couple of days earlier, and he was just so ingrained in the péloton almost through all of my cycling fandom, and played a massive key role in a number of the most memorable stages in that time - most notably Heras' win at Pajáres and of course his central role in the 2010 and 2011 Giri. The péloton as I had seemingly always known it had Michele Scarponi in it. It was difficult to comprehend the enormity, the finality of the news. It's not like he was a favourite of mine, but it threw a big cloud over the Giro that took some time to overcome.

This. When I first read about the rumour my instant reaction was to try and rationalise about how it couldn't be true, how the fact that he'd just finished Tour of the Alps meant that he couldn't possibly be at home.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

Cyclist of the year: Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: GVA
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Contador
Most improved rider of the year: Michael Matthews
Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Bernal
Team of the year: Sunweb

Best race of the year: Ronde
Best race performance of the year: Gilbert (Ronde)
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Strade Bianche
You could not believe your eyes, when ... happened...: Moscon destroying the peloton on several Vuelta climbs.

 

[Bardamu]

Cyclist of the year: Dawg has to get that one. I want to say Dumoulin, but let's be real: the double is a huge feat.
Sprinter of the year: Le Beau Marcel was the fastest sprinter, period. Again, I hate to admit it, but it's true.
Classics rider of the year: very close call, but I give the nod to GVA over Gilbert.
Time-trialist of the year : Dumourain, no question.
Climber of the year: tough to tell: Quintana didn't dominate, Barguil deserves a mention for his July exploits, Giropino week-3 was impressive, but to me Landa deserves this.
Most improved rider of the year: I don't consider that Zakarin improved that much; he just fulfilled his potential. On the other hand, Major Tom went from a podium contender to the best GT rider in the World, I would argue. Dumoulin then.
Most versatile rider of the year: Too bad that Don Alejandro had his season shortened, otherwise he'd win the award every year. To me, Kwiat deserves it in '18. He won MSR, la Strade, and San Sebastian, podium at l'Amstel and LBL, AND he was the workhorse for the Sky train at the TdF, showing an incredible engine, and obviously some serious climbing skills.
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria with a big margin over Gaudu-Bernal.
Breakthrough rider of the year: I'll be biased: it goes to Arnaud Demare who went from being a second tier sprinter, barely better than Bouhani and Coquard, to being the second or third fastest guy in the pro peloton.
Team of the year: Sunweb ahead of $$$ky.
Best race of the year: The Ronde, by a mile.
Best race performance of the year: Nibali GDL or Gilbert RVV. Tossup...I take it back! Dumoulin-Giro.
Craziest moment of the year: The Dump.
Best GT of the year: Il Giro.
Bad Guy Award: Nacer won't make it five in a row. Moscon wins that one ahead of Bakelants.
Sportsmanship moment of the year: the two FDJ at le Tour de l'Ain.
Best career happy ending of the year: Alberto Contador will win this bike race...Magic on Angliru.

What did Bakelants do wrong? You mean the interview or did he do something else?

 

[Bardamu]

Cyclist of the year: Froome or Nibali
Sprinter of the year: Gaviria
Classics rider of the year: Gilbert/ Kwiatkowski
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Contador, Landa, Nibali
Most improved rider of the year: Dumoulin
Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon/Kwiatkowski
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria/Moscon
Breakthrough rider of the year: Moscon
Team of the year: Sunweb

Best race of the year: RvV, Amstel, some Giro stages
Best race performance of the year: Contador last week of Vuelta
Craziest moment of the year: Poopgate

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

 

[Lo squalo di messina]

Re: Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

Hold on you are acting all mature up in the other thread but you cant even fill in this list without obvious sky bias.
Froome s climbing actually went backwards, nobody is saying here froome was the best climber, not even 1 person.
Well apart from you that is.
Same for poels... for the love of god if it has to be all sky in your list you should have picked moscon instead of poels for best progression.
I d give best team to sunweb, they really did some great work with what half the budget of team sky?

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

Hold on you are acting all mature up in the other thread but you cant even fill in this list without obvious sky bias.
Froome s climbing actually went backwards, nobody is saying here froome was the best climber, not even 1 person.
Well apart from you that is.
Same for poels... for the love of god if it has to be all sky in your list you should have picked moscon instead of poels for best progression.
I d give best team to sunweb, they really did some great work with what half the budget of team sky?

The only one I'd disagree with is most improved. Poels won a monument in 2016.
Froome was strong in the mountains. He lost time to Lopez on a number of stages, but he wasn't marking him. Froome lost time to Nibali in week 3, but gained much of it back on Angliru, where he set the fastest time. But I'm sure Froome was benefitted by the effects of drafting on a 10% grade.

 

[dacooley]

not sure any rider did medium- and high mountain vuelta stages on aggregate faster than froome. furthermore, sky bias is as normal as anti-sky bias.

 

[Lo squalo di messina]

Re: Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

Hold on you are acting all mature up in the other thread but you cant even fill in this list without obvious sky bias.
Froome s climbing actually went backwards, nobody is saying here froome was the best climber, not even 1 person.
Well apart from you that is.
Same for poels... for the love of god if it has to be all sky in your list you should have picked moscon instead of poels for best progression.
I d give best team to sunweb, they really did some great work with what half the budget of team sky?

The only one I'd disagree with is most improved. Poels won a monument in 2016.
Froome was strong in the mountains. He lost time to Lopez on a number of stages, but he wasn't marking him. Froome lost time to Nibali in week 3, but gained much of it back on Angliru, where he set the fastest time. But I'm sure Froome was benefitted by the effects of drafting on a 10% grade.

Well kinda telling that you stress the fact that on angliru there s no drafting but dont mention nibali's cracked ribs.
I agree with most of the people that landa was the most impressive climber.

 

[WheelofGear]

The best climber should go to someone who is racing ALL the climbs in the stage, not just the last one.

That is why I picked Landa. Riding 3 of the hardest Giro stages in a row from start to finish after getting injured is more than impressive. If he had won stage 16 and stage 18, his Giro would have been considered legendary.

You have to go back to Rasmussen for at pure climber performance like this.

 

[Parker]

Re: Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

Hold on you are acting all mature up in the other thread but you cant even fill in this list without obvious sky bias.
Froome s climbing actually went backwards, nobody is saying here froome was the best climber, not even 1 person.
Well apart from you that is.
Same for poels... for the love of god if it has to be all sky in your list you should have picked moscon instead of poels for best progression.
I d give best team to sunweb, they really did some great work with what half the budget of team sky?

The only one I'd disagree with is most improved. Poels won a monument in 2016.
Froome was strong in the mountains. He lost time to Lopez on a number of stages, but he wasn't marking him. Froome lost time to Nibali in week 3, but gained much of it back on Angliru, where he set the fastest time. But I'm sure Froome was benefitted by the effects of drafting on a 10% grade.

Well kinda telling that you stress the fact that on angliru there s no drafting but dont mention nibali's cracked ribs.
I agree with most of the people that landa was the most impressive climber.

I'm not really sure you can complain that someone has 'Sky bias' and then suggest they should have picked Landa instead of Froome

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

I could not believe my eyes when I read the news that Michele Scarponi had died. I'd just been watching him a couple of days earlier, and he was just so ingrained in the péloton almost through all of my cycling fandom, and played a massive key role in a number of the most memorable stages in that time - most notably Heras' win at Pajáres and of course his central role in the 2010 and 2011 Giri. The péloton as I had seemingly always known it had Michele Scarponi in it. It was difficult to comprehend the enormity, the finality of the news. It's not like he was a favourite of mine, but it threw a big cloud over the Giro that took some time to overcome.

This. When I first read about the rumour my instant reaction was to try and rationalise about how it couldn't be true, how the fact that he'd just finished Tour of the Alps meant that he couldn't possibly be at home.

I recall having the previous day seen the photo he had posted of him playing with his twin sons (they were both riding him like a pony). I think having seen that image really made it even worse to hear that he had passed so soon afterwards. Also knowing that he was seen as a rider that often lightened the mood in the peloton with his sense of humor and personality. Really sad.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

Hold on you are acting all mature up in the other thread but you cant even fill in this list without obvious sky bias.
Froome s climbing actually went backwards, nobody is saying here froome was the best climber, not even 1 person.
Well apart from you that is.
Same for poels... for the love of god if it has to be all sky in your list you should have picked moscon instead of poels for best progression.
I d give best team to sunweb, they really did some great work with what half the budget of team sky?

The only one I'd disagree with is most improved. Poels won a monument in 2016.
Froome was strong in the mountains. He lost time to Lopez on a number of stages, but he wasn't marking him. Froome lost time to Nibali in week 3, but gained much of it back on Angliru, where he set the fastest time. But I'm sure Froome was benefitted by the effects of drafting on a 10% grade.

Yeah, I'd actually forgotten about Wouts LBL win in 2016. Moscon it is.

As far as the best climber in the world is concerned, I cannot give this to Landa. We dont really know how he'd have performed against the best at the Giro. At the Tour, he was good, no doubt. But he did nothing to make me believe that he is the Best climber in the world in 2017. No way.
He doesn't have big wins against strong competition. He hasn't been dominant in the mountains(Why? is a seperate argument). He hasn't been extraordinarily consistent with the best.

I'd put Richie Porte, Tom, Nibali, Froome above Landa.

 

[Lo squalo di messina]

Re: Re:

Cyclist of the year: Christopher Froome
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Christopher Froome
Most improved rider of the year: Poels for his GC finish :razz:
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski/Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sky

Best race of the year: Vuelta
Best race performance of the year: The Double
Craziest moment of the year: DoPoolin
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): Amstel
You could not believe your eyes, when ... RIP Michele

Hold on you are acting all mature up in the other thread but you cant even fill in this list without obvious sky bias.
Froome s climbing actually went backwards, nobody is saying here froome was the best climber, not even 1 person.
Well apart from you that is.
Same for poels... for the love of god if it has to be all sky in your list you should have picked moscon instead of poels for best progression.
I d give best team to sunweb, they really did some great work with what half the budget of team sky?

The only one I'd disagree with is most improved. Poels won a monument in 2016.
Froome was strong in the mountains. He lost time to Lopez on a number of stages, but he wasn't marking him. Froome lost time to Nibali in week 3, but gained much of it back on Angliru, where he set the fastest time. But I'm sure Froome was benefitted by the effects of drafting on a 10% grade.

Well kinda telling that you stress the fact that on angliru there s no drafting but dont mention nibali's cracked ribs.
I agree with most of the people that landa was the most impressive climber.

I'm not really sure you can complain that someone has 'Sky bias' and then suggest they should have picked Landa instead of Froome

If you dont see the froome and sky bias in his list then i dont know what to tell ya. But he s obviously a froome fan with team sky secondary. Alllright we ll put poels as best progress for the year because he s been a good dog once again.
Couldnt even let him go for victory on angliru. Smh.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I want to say that "climber of the year" does not necessarily equate with "best climber of the year". I picked López as climber of the year, but I wouldn't argue he was necessarily the best climber of the year (overall, that was probably Froome, but it's a tough call). All three GTs were really rather mediocre as far as great and dominant climbing performances are concerned. The only memorable things to me are Landa's raids in the mountains and López in the Vuelta, especially to Sierra Nevada. His win on Sierra Nevada in my opinion was the climbing performance of the year; it's the first thing that comes to mind (at least to my mind) when thinking about great climbing performances last year. Due to the mediocrity in this competition, that'll win climber of the year for me this year.