Year End Awards 2017

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

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.

Compared to how they performed last year I think it's fair to say Movistar were disappointing

 

[RedheadDane]

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.

I hadn't even seen that. I literally thought he was still at the race.

(And really sweet how he'd specifically asked the organisers for an extra jersey, so he could give one to each of his boys...)

 

[pastronef]

Cyclist of the year Froome
Sprinter of the year Matthews
Classics rider of the year GVA
Time-trialist of the year Dumo
Climber of the year Landa
Most improved rider of the year Barguil/Dumo
Most versatile rider of the year Moscon/Kwiato
U23 rider of the year Sivakov
Breakthrough rider of the year Teuns (BMC)
Team of the year Sunweb

Best race of the year Dauphine stage 8
Best race performance of the year Dumoulin in Oropa or Porte in Willunga
Craziest moment of the year Kennaugh on Alpe Huez?
Best race design of the year dont know
You could not believe your eyes Dumo in Oropa

 

[del1962]

Cyclist of the year Froome
Sprinter of the year Kittel
Classics rider of the year Gilbert
Time-trialist of the year Dumoulin
Climber of the year Porte
Most improved rider of the year Teuns
Most versatile rider of the yearKwiatkowski
U23 rider of the year Bernal
Breakthrough rider of the year Haig
Team of the year Sunweb

Best race of the year RVV
Best race performance of the year Froome in Vuelta overall or Gilbert RVV
Craziest moment of the year Dump -oulin
Best race design of the year Strade Bianche
You could not believe your eyesDumoulin almost catching Froome in Worlds ITT

 

[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.

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.[/quote]

Oh yes, I very much am a sky fan. That's why I criticized Moscon in his thread and that's why I have also levied complaints about Froome in the clinic. If you can't understand why Froome is one of the best climbers in the world after pulling off the first consecutive GT double since 1998 (both with limited TT kms)I don't really think the conversation is worth having.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Cyclist of the year: Valverde
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Greg Van Avermaet
Time-trialist of the year: Dennis
Climber of the year: Richie Porte
Most improved rider of the year: Moscon
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiatkowski
U23 rider of the year: Bernal
Breakthrough rider of the year: Dylan Teuns
Team of the year: Sunweb

Best race of the year: Dauphiné
Best race performance of the year: Contador winning on L'Angliru tied with Gilbert's RVV win
Craziest moment of the year: Dumoulin taking a ***
Best race design of the year: I really liked the inclusion of Mont du Chat in Dauphiné and TdF
You could not believe your eyes, when ... Scarponi's death

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Cyclist of the year: Froome. We had some some stand out riders this year and especially Van Avermaet had a great season as well, but nothing beats the double produced by Froome.
Sprinter of the year: Kittel. Easily the best.
Classics rider of the year: Van Avermaet. This is a probably the toughest category as Gilbert and Kwiatkowski both had excellent seasons as well.
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin. Dennis was dominant all year but in the end Dumoulin's wins were bigger.
Climber of the year: Landa. This is a tough one as the season didn't see one dominant climber. However, I think that Landa was the best.
Most improved rider of the year: Another tough category but for me Trentin was the most improved rider. He has been very good the last few seasons but his fall was simply amazing and he looked brutally strong. Teuns and Roglic are my other nominations.
Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon. This guy can do it all.
U23 rider of the year: Bernal. What a season this young guy has had.
Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns. Again, Trentin and Roglic are worthy nominees in this category but Teuns really came from nowhere whereas the other two have had good seasons before.
Team of the year: Sunweb. Not the team with the most or the biggest wins, but with their budget in mind I like Sunweb here. They also seem like a team with a good teamspirit (well apart from the Barguil/Kelderman dispute)

Best race of the year: Not sure. I'm quite bad at remembering stuff like this.
Best race performance of the year: Gilbert at Flanders is the obvious choice, but I'd like to give it to Contador on Angliru instead just because that victory was so emotional.
Craziest moment of the year: Dumoulin and poopgate or whatever you want to call it. That was simply too bizarre not to win this category.
Best race design of the year: Not sure.
You could not believe your eyes, when ... happened...: Scarponi's death. I was in tears. For some reason his death touched me a lot.

 

[Lo squalo di messina]

Re: Re:

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.[/quote]

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

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.[/quote]

Oh yes, I very much am a sky fan. That's why I criticized Moscon in his thread and that's why I have also levied complaints about Froome in the clinic. If you can't understand why Froome is one of the best climbers in the world after pulling off the first consecutive GT double since 1998 (both with limited TT kms)I don't really think the conversation is worth having.[/quote]

Well we ll see how many people think froome was the best climber of 2017.
Oh and btw this list isnt about being one the best climbers in 2017 like you just said but THE best climber of 2017. Maybe you should read the op again but yeah you are just moving goalposts now...
Or let's just forget about it and agree froome just wasnt that impressive uphill this year.

 

[Hayabusa]

So who let their child loose in this thread? Froome was the best climber in 2017, which is why he has 2 GT titles. There is more to climbing that crushing the opposition on a stage, consistency from Froome was amazing this year.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

So who let their child loose in this thread? Froome was the best climber in 2017, which is why he has 2 GT titles. There is more to climbing that crushing the opposition on a stage, consistency from Froome was amazing this year.

Best climber in the world is more like the 2nd best climber on his own team in the crucial stages.

 

[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.

I hadn't even seen that. I literally thought he was still at the race.

(And really sweet how he'd specifically asked the organisers for an extra jersey, so he could give one to each of his boys...)

I was referring to the day previous to his passing. Your post reminded me that his twins were wearing those jerseys in the photo.

 

[Angliru]

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

I think Landa is seen as the anti-Sky Sky rider since he really didn't want to get with the Sky die-for-your-leader program.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Yes, Landa didn't deserve to be honoured as a 2017 climber of the year. I've changed my mind.
Froome was 2017'climber, then Moscon, Kwiatek, Nieve and Poels.

 

[johnymax]

About most improved rider. I've actually checked the PCS points gain for WT riders in relation to last season and surprisingly Viviani comes out on top with +1130. I don't think there's even been a mention of him in this thread (I apologise if I'm wrong). Of course PCS points aren't the perfect way to measure a rider's season but it can give you some perspective.

A list of most improved riders according to PCS points:
1. Viviani (+1130)
2. Kwiatkowski (+1020)
3. Gilbert (+929)
4. Teuns (+862)
5. Roglič (+843)
6. Landa (+814)
7. Dumoulin (+719)
8. Uran (+690)
9. Trentin (+640)
10. Stuyven (+587)
...
Matthews (+491)

Interestingly Zakarin (+303), Woods (+268), Moscon (+279) and Barguil (+258) who all had multiple nominations didn't improve all that much according to PCS points. The flaw in this ranking is that Moscon got zero points for a fabulous performance in the WC RR (if you forget the car tow) and Barguil also got zero points for winning polka dot jersey in TDF.

 

[del1962]

Viviani didnt get any PCS points for the Olympic Omnium Gold, but he has had his best season on the road this year

 

[Brullnux]

The problem with just using statistics is that they are taken out of context. Viviani has been a lot better this year but last year he concentrated on the track for a long time, and won gold at Rio. Moscon won the Tour of Norway last year (or arctic race) which is a different ballpark to coming 3rd in Lombardia, but has similar points. There's also the points you've mentioned (though it should be mentioned that Moscon was on for a good Roubaix result before he crashed last year, and a lot of his folklore this year has been built around his Vuelta performance). Teuns is probably my most improved, all things considered.

Oh, and Froome isn't the best climber of the year. In the high mountains he only dropped Nibali when the latter crashed and hurt his ribs. Dumoulin put in better climbing performances - hell, Quintana did. Barguil was the best clinber of the year.

 

[del1962]

I put Porte as the best climber, but for climbing consistency day after day in grand tours Froome is by some margin the best climber

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

So who let their child loose in this thread? Froome was the best climber in 2017, which is why he has 2 GT titles. There is more to climbing that crushing the opposition on a stage, consistency from Froome was amazing this year.

Best climber in the world is more like the 2nd best climber on his own team in the crucial stages.

I think Froome and Landa were fairly close in the tour. Froome lost time on the Mur, but he cracked, badly. I don't think it's fair to judge his climbing off that. Landa lost a bit on Izoard, too. I said Froome because imo there wasn't an outstanding climber this year. I thought giving the benefit of the doubt to a double GT winner was a safe bet but apparently I'm as crazy as a loon.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Yes, Landa didn't deserve to be honoured as a 2017 climber of the year. I've changed my mind.
Froome was 2017'climber, then Moscon, Kwiatek, Nieve and Poels.

:lol: :lol:

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

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.

I'd argue that Contador's Machucos + Angliru performances were more impressive than Lopez wins.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

A list of most improved riders according to PCS points:
1. Viviani (+1130)
2. Kwiatkowski (+1020)
3. Gilbert (+929)
4. Teuns (+862)
5. Roglič (+843)
6. Landa (+814)
7. Dumoulin (+719)
8. Uran (+690)
9. Trentin (+640)
10. Stuyven (+587)
...
Matthews (+491)

The riders in bold have vastly improved their scoring compared to last year, but I believe the "most improved rider" award should measure a rider's improvement compared to his previous ceiling. And all these riders have had some very good seasons before 2017. Would you say Landa has improved that much compared to 2015? Or Kwiatkowski compared to 2014?

Now a case could be made for the remaining 5 of the top10. Teuns probably stands out as the rider who has improved his results the most compared to any season he's had before this one. That said, I would argue that the hardest step to make is the one from being a very good rider (say a top20 in the world) to the very elite of the sport. To me it is much harder than going from promising young talent to good rider capable of winning WT races. Very few riders get to the elite level, and Dumoulin just did that. So to me he's objectively the most improved rider.

And yet I gave the award to Matthws

 

[Põhja Konn]

Cyclist of the year: Tom Dumoulin (purely results wise Froome and GVA did better, but the way he
achieved his results and the variety of them impressed me much more)

Sprinter: Kittel (even in chaotic, trainless sprints in the Tour, no-one got close to him consistently)

Classics rider: Greg van Avermaet

TT-er: Dumoulin

Climber: Porte (crushed everyone when road went uphill from January to June. Crashing out early after
underwhelming start at the Tour took the gloss off his earlier achievements. The single most impressive climbing
performance was by Quintana on Blockhaus.

Most improved rider: Dumoulin (breakthrough riders have a separate category, so Moscon doesn't count
here)

Most versatile rider: Dumoulin (its close with Moscon, but Dumoulin actually managed to win different
types of races instead of just being near the favourites)

U23 rider: Moscon (variety of results gives him the edge over Gaviria)

Breakthrough rider: Moscon, obviously.

Team of the year: Sunweb (given the way they exceeded every possible expectation it can only be them)


Race of the year: De Ronde

Performance of the year: Gilbert at De Ronde

Craziest moment: The Dump-gate

Best race design: Amstel Gold Race (in a sense that it brought along the most obviously positive
consquences)

You cold not believe...: Sagan crashing and taking out GVA and Naesen with him on Kwaremont. Not that
riders crashing on cobbles is something very rare, but rather because of the timing and consequences
of it. Also that the rider causing the crash was probably the best bike handler in the peloton.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Oh, and Froome isn't the best climber of the year. In the high mountains he only dropped Nibali when the latter crashed and hurt his ribs. Dumoulin put in better climbing performances - hell, Quintana did. Barguil was the best clinber of the year.

Barguil is the best climber based on one race? He won the Izoard, that's it, and there's a number of guys who had one or two incredible performances.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Yes, Landa didn't deserve to be honoured as a 2017 climber of the year. I've changed my mind.
Froome was 2017'climber, then Moscon, Kwiatek, Nieve and Poels.

totally agree

 

[topcat]

Cyclist of the year: Nibali
Sprinter of the year: Kittel
Classics rider of the year: Gilbert
Time-trialist of the year: Tom
Climber of the year: Landa
Most improved rider of the year: Barguil
Most versatile rider of the year: Kwiat
U23 rider of the year: Moscon
Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns
Team of the year: Sunweb

Best race of the year: RvV or Lombardia
Best race performance of the year: Phil at RvV / Nibs at Lombardia / Contador at Angliru
Craziest moment of the year: Poogate
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): AGR
You could not believe your eyes, when ... happened... When Bardet didn't attack