Year End Awards 2017

[UselessToo]

Cyclist of the year: Dumoulin
Sprinter of the year: Viviani oO
Classics rider of the year: GvA
Time-trialist of the year: Dumoulin
Climber of the year: Landani
Most improved rider of the year: Rigo
Most versatile rider of the year: Trentin
U23 rider of the year: Bernal
Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns
Team of the year: Sunweb

Best race of the year: Il Giro
Best race performance of the year: Contador/Angliru
Craziest moment(s) of the year: Contador´s (suicide) attacks
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ): WC ITT
You could not believe your eyes, when ... Michele´s death

 

[Singer01]

Were all these people picking Dumoulin as rider of the year also voting for Wiggins when he had a comparable but far better season in 2012, I somehow doubt it.
Utterly ridiculous, i know its a discussion forum, and people are entitled to their opinions, but some of you need to get a serious grip.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Were all these people picking Dumoulin as rider of the year also voting for Wiggins when he had a comparable but far better season in 2012, I somehow doubt it.
Utterly ridiculous, i know its a discussion forum, and people are entitled to their opinions, but some of you need to get a serious grip.

Don't remember the rider of the year thread in 2012.

Or are you talking about the best year in the last 20 years?

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

Were all these people picking Dumoulin as rider of the year also voting for Wiggins when he had a comparable but far better season in 2012, I somehow doubt it.
Utterly ridiculous, i know its a discussion forum, and people are entitled to their opinions, but some of you need to get a serious grip.

Don't remember the rider of the year thread in 2012.

Or are you talking about the best year in the last 20 years?

I admit i was assuming there was a best rider in 2012 poll.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Were all these people picking Dumoulin as rider of the year also voting for Wiggins when he had a comparable but far better season in 2012, I somehow doubt it.
Utterly ridiculous, i know its a discussion forum, and people are entitled to their opinions, but some of you need to get a serious grip.

Yes, it's kinda hard to see how Dumoulin has had a better season than Froome.

 

[Echoes]

Dumoulin beat Froome in their only direct duel and in an ITT on top of that. So I'd say he's the closest to Van Avermaet, this year.

 

[DBotero]

Cyclist of the year:Froome
Sprinter of the year:Kittel
Classics rider of the year:Kwiatkowski
Time-trialist of the yearumoulin
Climber of the yearorte
Most improved rider of the year:Moscon
Most versatile rider of the year:Moscon
U23 rider of the year:Moscon
Breakthrough rider of the year:Moscon
Team of the year:Sky
Best race of the year:Vuelta

 

[Brullnux]

Re: 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 climber 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.

He was about as good as Landa though. Landa won a stage from an average break, Barguil outclimbed the best and won another stage after being in a break with Landa and Contador. He was also with the best on the Galibier and the whole Mont du Chat performance was fantastic. The performance overall was far better than Landa at the Giro. And Landa never put in an incredible performance at the Tour either (albeit due to his team holding him back). If Landa had had more freedom in July and not crashed in May, then he would have easily won. But Barguil just put in a similar number of outstanding performances I'd say (Foix, chat and Izoard against bormio, piancavallo and Peyragudes/Foix). Barguil converted more to big wins so deserves it more imo; there's also the fact that all three came in the Tour, which people like to bang on about being the biggest race in the world. Froome put in a grand total of zero so doesn't deserve it.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Dumoulin beat Froome in their only direct duel and in an ITT on top of that. So I'd say he's the closest to Van Avermaet, this year.

And Valverde beat Dumoulin in their only direct duel, and in a monument in top of that. So I'd say he's closest to your boy GVA this year.

Of course, it's utterly preposterous to say anybody other than Froome really. It's too difficult for some people to say his name, but they know he's rider of the year really, and everybody else knows that they know.

 

[Echoes]

It's too difficult for some people to say his name,

Froome. I can bold it if you want: Froome. That won't change the fact that Van Avermaet won the World Tour, not him.

 

[Blanco]

It's too difficult for some people to say his name,

Froome. I can bold it if you want: Froome. That won't change the fact that Van Avermaet won the World Tour, not him.

You mean that meaningless competition?! Or it only applies to years when Valverde is the winner?

 

[King Of The Wolds]

It's too difficult for some people to say his name,

Froome. I can bold it if you want: Froome. That won't change the fact that Van Avermaet won the World Tour, not him.

Fair f**** to the UCI. I didn't think anyone took any notice whatsoever of that stuff, never mind buy into it.

 

[hazaran]

It's too difficult for some people to say his name,

Froome. I can bold it if you want: Froome. That won't change the fact that Van Avermaet won the World Tour, not him.

He won the World Tour because coming second (!) in a Canadian pseudo-classic one-day race is worth half of winning the fricking Vuelta overall GC. He came 7th in the other Canadian pseudo-classic and that was worth another 150 points, equivalent to leading the Tour GC for 6 days and 30 points more than Matthews got for winning the green jersey.

Why are they even giving points for 2nd in one-day races, maybe for a "youth competition" but in one-day races is where "first loser" truly applies. You know that the guy winning Paris-Roubaix deserves it but 2nd could be anyone.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: 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 climber 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.

He was about as good as Landa though. Landa won a stage from an average break, Barguil outclimbed the best and won another stage after being in a break with Landa and Contador. He was also with the best on the Galibier and the whole Mont du Chat performance was fantastic. The performance overall was far better than Landa at the Giro. And Landa never put in an incredible performance at the Tour either (albeit due to his team holding him back). If Landa had had more freedom in July and not crashed in May, then he would have easily won. But Barguil just put in a similar number of outstanding performances I'd say (Foix, chat and Izoard against bormio, piancavallo and Peyragudes/Foix). Barguil converted more to big wins so deserves it more imo; there's also the fact that all three came in the Tour, which people like to bang on about being the biggest race in the world. Froome put in a grand total of zero so doesn't deserve it.

Obviously this isn't a year with guy who's clearly the best climber, and the best and most consistent performances were all spread out over a number of riders

For Barguil I'm mostly looking at the Izoard. I don't look at Foix too much because I mostly remember Barguil sitting on Quintana to be brougth back to Contador and Landa. I think Barguil was the weakest climber that day, but obviously the fastest finisher.

For Landa, I do heavily count his Tour performance as a big positive, given it came after a Giro. His stage win was very impressive, I think he lost less than a minute on the final climb to the first of the main peloton even though he rode the climb all on his own and even though he had been in the break.

For Froome I can only go with that he won big races that involved climbing. Apart from the 12 minute climbs, he really had no big performances to speak of.

Quintana and Dumoulin probably had the most impressive single wins in terms of numbers, but neither followed it up impressively enough to be the best climber of the year for me. Quintana did dominate the TA MTF though.

The last name for this would have to be Contador, and I have him top 2 honestly. His last 2 MTFs in the Vuelta were some of the best ascents all year.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Is anybody going to summarize this pool?
Some results are obvious (cyclist of the year, time-trialist, sprinter), but others (climber, versatile, classics rider, team..) would be interesting..

 

[Oliver]

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: Landa
Most improved rider of the year: Dumoulin T
Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon
U23 rider of the year: Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns
Team of the year: Quickstep

Best race of the year: Giro
Best race performance of the year: Gilbert @ RVV
Best race design of the year: Worlds TT
You could not believe your eyes, when Dumoulin took a *** break.

 

[Echoes]

He won the World Tour because coming second (!) in a Canadian pseudo-classic one-day race is worth half of winning the fricking Vuelta overall GC.

Yes but winning them is equal to winning Paris-Roubaix as well. So don't tell me that that point system favours him. What is 4th at Dauphiné libéré compared to winning Het Nieuwsblad or Ghent-Wevelgem? An awful lot. About 70%.

He came 7th in the other Canadian pseudo-classic and that was worth another 150 points, equivalent to leading the Tour GC for 6 days and 30 points more than Matthews got for winning the green jersey.

7th in Montreal is something, leader's jersey and point jersey is crap. So logical.

Why are they even giving points for 2nd in one-day races, maybe for a "youth competition" but in one-day races is where "first loser" truly applies. You know that the guy winning Paris-Roubaix deserves it but 2nd could be anyone.

Because when you are 2nd, you are better than 180 other riders. You got that place with the strengths of the legs. Same applies for coming 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.

 

[del1962]

Climber of the year contenders

Porte - I can't remember him being dropped on a climb all year, perhaps if you are being pedantic in the last few metres of one climb in the dauphinine by Froome, but that was more a sprint before the descent, unfortunately a crash meant we could not see if it was sustainable

Froome Consistently good over two Grand Tours only having two bad climbs, other than Porte who else hasn't had at least two bad climbs

Quintana - Very impressive early season, good in Giro without being super, poor in Tour

Contador - Good early season, inconsistent in grand tours, some great performances and some poor ones

Barguil - really we give the best climber on a couple of performances

Dumoulin - some good performances, but had more lost time performances in Giro than Froome over two grand tours.

Valverde - Very good early season, but crash robbed us of seeing his real level

Uran - solid and consistent in tour but never set the world alight, he deserves as much a mention as others though

Bardet - see Uran but without impressive Milan - Torino performance

Landani - crash robbed us of seeing his level as a leader in Giro though impressive performances otherwise


Looked good but crashes rule them out : Dan Martin , Fuglsang

Also rans : Aru, Nibali, Kelderman, Zakarin and Pinot these guys may have had the occasional good performance but lack any consistency.

I think this in reality leaves us only four contenders Porte, Froome, Quinatana and Landa

 

[jarvo]

Cyclist of the year Froome winninig Tour/Vuelta combo
Sprinter of the year Sagan his consistency for podiums edges Kittel for me who seems all or nothing
Classics rider of the year GVA pips Gilbert, also Degenkolb gets a mention for top10 at MSR, Flanders and Roubaix, which is pretty decent effort
Time-trialist of the year Dumoulin no contest
Climber of the year Nibali, 2nd at Vuelta, 3rd at Giro, 1st Lombardia you cannot do that without climbing well
Most improved rider of the year Roglic
Most versatile rider of the year Kwiatkowski, MSR and Strade Bianchi in the spring to pulling Froome up the mountains in July, seemed to do it all this year
U23 rider of the year Gaviria
Breakthrough rider of the year Teuns
Team of the year Sunweb based on resources at their disposal pip Sky and Quickstep

Best race of the year RVV
Best race performance of the year Gilbert long range attack at Flanders
Craziest moment of the year THAT dump, but race terms when Sagan, GVA and Naesen went down on the Kwaremont
Best race design of the year (no not in the thread ) Unsure, but Vuelta should get a mention for some of the crazy stages it had
You could not believe your eyes, when ... happened... Laurens de Plus and bike flying over the barriers down a cliff edge at Lombardia and walking away pretty much unscathed
My favourite moments of the year Kwiat, Sagan and Alaphillipe staying away on the Poggio, as its always talked about and rarely works. And Michael Matthews determination to win Green at the Tour, getting up the road in the mountains in the break day in day out

 

[Põhja Konn]

The outstanding aspect about Landa was his recovery, not climbing. His climbing was consistently very good, but he certainly did not stand out among other top climbers. His climbing style (like that of Quintana) is deceptively fluent and smooth, meaning it is almost impossible to see he is struggling until he actually blows up. As he is also a fan favourite in this forum, it's inevitable that there are loads of posts claiming he would have crushed everyone had one thing or other not held him back.

Also the smoothness of riding style is partly to blame for the excessive amount of criticism Quintana receives here regularly for not attacking enough. As it is almost impossible to understand whether he is holding back and biding his time or actually struggling and about to blow up, even his fans grow frustrated let alone everyone else.

 

[Blanco]

It's too difficult for some people to say his name,

Froome. I can bold it if you want: Froome. That won't change the fact that Van Avermaet won the World Tour, not him.

He won the World Tour because coming second (!) in a Canadian pseudo-classic one-day race is worth half of winning the fricking Vuelta overall GC. He came 7th in the other Canadian pseudo-classic and that was worth another 150 points, equivalent to leading the Tour GC for 6 days and 30 points more than Matthews got for winning the green jersey.

Why are they even giving points for 2nd in one-day races, maybe for a "youth competition" but in one-day races is where "first loser" truly applies. You know that the guy winning Paris-Roubaix deserves it but 2nd could be anyone.

How old are you? 12?

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

After 120 posts:

Cyclist of the year: Froome 28, Dumoulin 7

Classics rider of the year: GVA 29, Gilbert 9

Climber of the year: Landa 22, Porte 5

Most improved rider of the year: Dumoulin 11, Moscon 5, Teuns 5

Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon 17, Kwiatkowski 14

U23 rider of the year: Gaviria 15, Bernal 14, Moscon 6

Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns 17, Moscon 12

Team of the year: Sunweb 25, Sky 7, Quickstep 6

 

[Flat Out]

It's too difficult for some people to say his name,

Froome. I can bold it if you want: Froome. That won't change the fact that Van Avermaet won the World Tour, not him.

He won the World Tour because coming second (!) in a Canadian pseudo-classic one-day race is worth half of winning the fricking Vuelta overall GC. He came 7th in the other Canadian pseudo-classic and that was worth another 150 points, equivalent to leading the Tour GC for 6 days and 30 points more than Matthews got for winning the green jersey.

Why are they even giving points for 2nd in one-day races, maybe for a "youth competition" but in one-day races is where "first loser" truly applies. You know that the guy winning Paris-Roubaix deserves it but 2nd could be anyone.

If that's so easy, Froome should just enter a stupid pseudo one day classic and win it and steal the WT first place. But i guess talking is not like racing.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

After 120 posts:

Cyclist of the year: Froome 28, Dumoulin 7

Classics rider of the year: GVA 29, Gilbert 9

Climber of the year: Landa 22, Porte 5

Most improved rider of the year: Dumoulin 11, Moscon 5, Teuns 5

Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon 17, Kwiatkowski 14

U23 rider of the year: Gaviria 15, Bernal 14, Moscon 6

Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns 17, Moscon 12

Team of the year: Sunweb 25, Sky 7, Quickstep 6

Well...the hype is real. :razz: :razz:
Landani FTW at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta. #FreeLandani

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

After 120 posts:

Cyclist of the year: Froome 28, Dumoulin 7

Classics rider of the year: GVA 29, Gilbert 9

Climber of the year: Landa 22, Porte 5

Most improved rider of the year: Dumoulin 11, Moscon 5, Teuns 5

Most versatile rider of the year: Moscon 17, Kwiatkowski 14

U23 rider of the year: Gaviria 15, Bernal 14, Moscon 6

Breakthrough rider of the year: Teuns 17, Moscon 12

Team of the year: Sunweb 25, Sky 7, Quickstep 6

And.....:

Sprinter: Kittel 37!

TT: Dumoulin 42!