Your Five Moments of 2009

[maltiv]

The point being that Thor needed those points and a Cav relegation in order to win the jersey since he couldn't beat him in a head to head sprint?

Weird that a guy with no help whatsoever can't beat a guy who has 8 leadout-men.

And it's a points competition, not a "best-guy-in-the-last-100-metres-of- completely-flat-stages" competition. And he didn't need cav relegation to win the green jersey. In stage 21 this year Thor Hushovd played it safe into a 6th place, as he saw that he couldn't fight for the win and had no desire nor need to fight for a 3. place, which he definitely would've made if that was required.

Most of the green jersey winners throughout the years has won quite some points in the intermediate sprints, this year Cav won like 6 points vs Thor's 28. Maybe Cav would have a better chance if he didn't suck at everything except from sprinting and whining.

Going seriously offtopic here, but whatever.

 

[stefrees]

Weird that a guy with no help whatsoever can't beat a guy who has 8 leadout-men.

And it's a points competition, not a "best-guy-in-the-last-100-metres-of- completely-flat-stages" competition. And he didn't need cav relegation to win the green jersey. In stage 21 this year Thor Hushovd played it safe into a 6th place, as he saw that he couldn't fight for the win and had no desire nor need to fight for a 3. place, which he definitely would've made if that was required.

Most of the green jersey winners throughout the years has won quite some points in the intermediate sprints, this year Cav won like 6 points vs Thor's 28. Maybe Cav would have a better chance if he didn't suck at everything except from sprinting and whining.

Going seriously offtopic here, but whatever.

sorry mate, but thats ********. and you know it. cavs 4th and 5th stage wins in the tour were far from easy finishes, and it did need cavs disqualification to win. thor is the whiner extraordinaire.

 

[hfer07]

No specific order:

1-) Paris-Nice: the entire race was so exiting-Not only AC's ups and downs, but also LLSanchez winning it, CVV solo stage win, & FSchlek fighting for a podium spot. Same of it in 2010 please!!!
2-) Paris-Roubaix: TBoonen's move & seazing the moment when THushov went down-Also the misfortune of Flecha... was a really great race this year.
3-) ASchlek move in L-B-L to take a well deserved win.
4-) AContador Tour de France win: deserving even more merit now knowing all the nonsense he had to go through with JB/LA
5-) Gilbert's Tour de Lombardia win. what a fantastic way to close the season for him. well deserved.

 

[blaxland]

my top 5 are;
1st=cadel evans winning worlds
2nd=haussler stage victory tdf
3rd=contadors overall victory tdf
4th=cavendish winning milan sanremo
5th=gerrans vuelta stage win
but there were many others....

 

[Frank Tuesday]

1. Lance making a return to the peloton at TDU.
2. Lance rolling down the start at the TDF.
3. Lance dominating the Monoco TT.
4. Lance winning every mountain stage en route to his most dominant TDF to date.
5. Lance being the first rider since Lemond to take the Tour and World Championships in the same year.

What? There were other riders?

 

[Francois the Postman]

= The Paris-Roubaix final

Well, the whole race, but the last 20k this year were especially grand, and so was Tom Boonen. Flecha, Hushovd.... PR defines drama!

= The windy Paris-Nice stage in which Rabobank put the hammer down and destroyed the field. [stage 3, thanks ak-zaaf!]

Seeing it unfold second by second was one of those enjoyable woaw...you're-kidding-me... no-way...f*ing-hell moments that are pretty rare that far ahead of the finish line. I had hoped to see them deploy that far-out attack strategy more often this season, I thought they were doing a final rehearsal, just to see.

= Menchov's last km in the Giro until that raw scream

If that spare bike hadn't arrived so quickly, it would have been at the top of this list I think. After an epic battle with DiLuca across several stages (making the Giro the GT I once again enjoyed best), Menchov actually could afford a screw up. Knowing that kept me just on the healthy part of sane when he decided to add another bit of tarmac to his "palmarses". Evans, lesson there?

= Wiggins somehow hanging in there on Mont Ventoux.

I thought he was toast the moment they hit the base. And when he got dropped. And dropped again. So chuffed for the guy, as I think it will be his TdF glory moment that he will have to look back on. Can't see him top it.

= Every time Johnny Hoogerland's name kept popping up in yet another breakaway during the Vuelta.

Yup, this really did knock Schleck's LBL, Kenny van Hummel's doomed but gritty attempt to drag his sorry **** across the Alps, VDB's death, Evans win, and the crashes by Voigt and Horillo from my top 5 moments. Ignorance can be bliss I guess, and having seen the road ahead only in race handouts somehow meant he gave those climbs a shot and found himself riding with the better climbers at the front in the first mountains stage. A "wow I can do this" moment. And from that day on he just kept giving it a shot, thinking he could do it every day. And pretty much did. More Vino than Vino this autumn.

 

[pendant]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[zapata]

1. Paris-roubaix, when everybody crashed out but boonen. still wonder what would have happened if flecha,hushovd, hoste, pozzato had all stayed upright. Boonen would probably have won it anyway, but would have liked to see it play out.
2. Rabobank at paris nice. Mixed feelings about that as well, but one of the most memorable races. (I like flecha..)
3. Boasson Hagen opening the sprint ridiculously early at ghent-wevelgem.
4. Gilbert at Paris-Tours.
5. Ivanov time-trialing to the finish in TdF.

 

[richwagmn]

My top five of 2009.. yeh, ok, british biased but these where my moments that made me happy, or sad...

1) Cavendish winning San Remo - Amazing Moment
2) The news of Frank Vandenbrouckes Death
3) Dave Millar missing out on Stage 6 of the tour
4) Geraints pursuit rides in Manchester
5) Thomas De Ghents continued daily attacks in the ToB

almost made it: The womens team pursuit world record in manchester, the pelaton split in the wind that started the AC LA fun.. and the wife managing her first 75km day

1) Contador's Verbier climb. Amazing.
2) Boonen's Paris Roubaix win. 3 times.
3) Cavendish everywhere.
4) Evan's complete blow up in the TDF. Guy needs a psychologist as much as anything.
5) Lance's sad puppy eyes on the podium. Priceless.

 

[craig1985]

In no order really:

- Cavendish's dominance in the sprints. It was boringly brilliant (that is a compliment to him). As well as how dominant Columbia were, name me a stage win where they didn't win a stage? (Paris-Nice might be it)
- Contador winning the Tour, no matter how much BS he had to go through. And he won 11 times in the 6 months he raced, that's not bad.
- EBH winning Ghent Wevelgem, showed he really is something special
- Armstrong finishing 3rd at the Tour. Was a pretty good effort, even with the help of you-know-who, too bad that he is such a ****.
- Valverde being banned from racing in Italy, but the lack of a global ban. To me it is a disgrace that a rider is banned from racing in a country, but he is still allowed to win a GT. In saying that though, there has to be more to it legally before the UCI can ban him for two years, with Valverde's various appeals. I'm not actually unhappy with the UCI per se, more the legal system itself. I'm sure Mr McQuaid would like to see Valverde gone for two years (if nothing else it makes him look good). Anyway this is more of an issue for The Clinic.

 

[LugHugger]

sorry mate, but thats ********. and you know it. cavs 4th and 5th stage wins in the tour were far from easy finishes, and it did need cavs disqualification to win. thor is the whiner extraordinaire.

agree. cavendish's relegation was the second biggest joke of the tour after armstrong's attempted head-f*cking of contador. hats off to thor for making his play on that stage but, imo, he won the jersey by default. yes, it's a points jersey but where do you pick up maximum green jersey points? when you're as cast-on as cavendish, it's hardly surprising the tactics employed by columbia, is it? hushovdt did not cover himself in glory once he realised that he'd forgotten the sprint configuration and positioned himself badly. sad that the jersey was won in the way that it was.

 

[gatete]

1 Contador win at TDF
2 Like him or hate him ( I despise the SOB) Lance return to TDF
3 Wiggings Climbing improvements, (and not just at the TDF but at the Giro as well)
4 Menchov's fall at the last TT (and Italian commentator Auro Borbarelli Scream incentified it even more)
5 Evans flat tire.

 

[vanderfab]

1) Cadel Evans win at WC
2) Mark Cavendish win at Milano-Sanremo
3) Denis Menchov win at Giro d'Italia
4) Tom Boonen win at Paris-Roubaix
5) Boasson Hagen win at Gent-Wevelgem.

 

[auscyclefan94]

1) Contador's Verbier climb. Amazing.
2) Boonen's Paris Roubaix win. 3 times.
3) Cavendish everywhere.
4) Evans complete blow up in the TDF. Guy needs a psychologist as much as anything.
5) Lance's sad puppy eyes on the podium. Priceless.

"Walk a mile in his shoes and then you can make a judgement/stattement like that"

 

[Anonymous]

1. Lance on the lowest step of the podium.
2. Hushovd into the barriers in P-R
3. Menchov hitting the deck in the Giro
4. Evans winning worlds
5. Ryder Hesjedal winning stage 12 of the Vuelta.

 

[Anonymous]

sorry mate, but thats ********. and you know it. cavs 4th and 5th stage wins in the tour were far from easy finishes, and it did need cavs disqualification to win. thor is the whiner extraordinaire.

Whilst I agree with your comments on Cav, you're way off calling Thor a whiner. You should watch "beyond the peloton". It's clear that the Cervelo team complained without Thor's knowledge or agreement, and he was pretty pi55ed about it. He makes a comment along the lines of that's not how things should be won, and that's what inspired him to the majesty of that mountain stage break.

 

[Torrrr]

1. Andy Schleck soloes to LBL victory
2. Cav & Haussler at MSR finish
3. Cancellara's World TT victory
4. Gilbert's Paris-Tours & Lombardia double
5. Thor's mountain escape

 

[Hotbrakes]

1 Evans winning WC
2 Davis winning TDU
3 Boonen pulling out of the TDF
4 Cavendish losing green jersey at the TDF
5 Wiggins missing podium at the TDF

 

[sTTevie]

1. Haussler not winning any major race in the Spring season (because he didn't really race intellegently)
2. Rabo's inability to dominate the Omloop after such a strong performance during the race ... bad tactics (like the stage race during Paris-Nice)
2. Pipo sticking on Tom's rear wheel like glue during the Ronde & Roubaix & not paying off in any way
3. Canca's improvement in the mountains
4. Boonen playing with Pipo during the last kilometres of Roubaix
5. Gilbert's whole season, straight from the word go on the pace untill the end

 

[Bike Boy]

1. Cavendish winning MSR
2. Denmark winning team pursuit world championship
3. Nicki Sørensen’s victory in Vittel (Was in Paris but managed to find a pub and saw the last 26 km)
4. Contador victorious on Verbier and Annecy TT (I was there)
5. Either A. Schleck winning LBL or a more personal experience: climbing Mount Ventoux on bike for the first time in my life. Freaking awesome!!

 

[Pharazon]

Cavendish winning MSR
Stage 3 tour de france where Columbia split the peloton in the wind
jens voight face plant
mont ventoux (wiggins hanging on for dear life)
TTT @ the giro

 

[manolo]

Favorite 2009 Moments:
1. Kissing Madeline
2. Having pizza and beer with my dad
3. Seeing Marly in a tight little dress
4. Slow dancing with Sandra
5. Having Ivonne visit

Favorite 2009 Cycling Moments:
1. Most Impressive No. 1 - Seeing Hushovd go on his solo trip to gain Green Jersey points in the Tour.
2. Most Impressive No. 2 - Heinrich Haussler's solo win at the Tour
3. Most Impressive No. 3 - Renshaw and Cavendish gapping the field on the final day of the Tour.

Worst 2009 Cycling Moment:
1. Contador attacking and dropping Kloden at the Tour

Saddest 2009 Cycling Moments:
1. Cadel puncturing during the Vuelta
2. Losing the old CN site

 

[taiwan]

Milan-San Remo Finish

Contador on Verbier

Evans Worlds Win

Farrar eventual Vuelta stage win

Anthony Roux Denies Peloton Vuelta stage

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

1. Deignan winning a stage in the Vuelta and getting a top 10 finish
2. Contador blowing the field apart on Verbier and Arcalis
3. Cancellara's World TT victory
4. Evans Worlds victory
5. Menchov's crash on the final TT of the Giro

 

[Angliru]

sorry mate, but thats ********. and you know it. cavs 4th and 5th stage wins in the tour were far from easy finishes, and it did need cavs disqualification to win. thor is the whiner extraordinaire.

If Cavendish has made peace with it why can't you? It was his loss not yours.