rather than wasting time hating ... WHO DO YOU GUYS LIKE?

Schmidthouse

richard wants a baum wrote:

And one you guys probably havent heard of, Jack Bobridge. His a young kid here thats starting to show some promise ive watched him on the boards and on the road and his got loads of heart and attacks. Youll see him at London in 2012 ( you would have seen him in Bejing in the team pursuit)

Hopefully I will get to see him this weekend at the Melbourne track racing.

Schmidthouse

rapid_uphill wrote:

to me track cyclists are not proper cyclists so they dont count.

OK - I'll bite, what denotes a "proper" cyclist?

6288

supose i better answer my own question:

Cunego - that Giro performance was amazing ... vs Simoni or Garzelli he had most of the anwers ... and tag on Lombardy 08 ... so fast and commited he nearly came off going uphill!

Simoni - his Giro comeback after the sweeties episode was just pure Armstrong ... but much classier ... shame he lost the plot the next year but i kinda liked his desire and annoyance at being beaten fair and square.

Ullrich - Tour 03 ... sooo close ... would've been result of the century had he pulled it off in a makeshift team ... bloody rain (and Jens Voigt) ruined it all.

Cancellara - that London prologue ... beyond fast.

Levi Leipheimer - has shown what he can do in a proper team ... Contador is lucky he rode the Giro and was going for the set ... otherwise who knows what Bruyneel woudl have let Levi do.

Salvoldelli - lucked his first Giro (much as Contador did his Tour) but the 2nd was guts and determination ... with a shit team as well ... if LA can hang on in teh steep climbs the way Paulo did with no team to help i'll be surprised.

richard wants a baum

Schmidthouse wrote:

richard wants a baum wrote:

And one you guys probably havent heard of, Jack Bobridge. His a young kid here thats starting to show some promise ive watched him on the boards and on the road and his got loads of heart and attacks. Youll see him at London in 2012 ( you would have seen him in Bejing in the team pursuit)

Hopefully I will get to see him this weekend at the Melbourne track racing.

You will he did some pretty good time in the Oceania meet last weekend in the individual/teams pursuit, im going to be very intrested in how he does in melbourne.

Schmidthouse

richard wants a baum wrote:

Schmidthouse wrote:

richard wants a baum wrote:

And one you guys probably havent heard of, Jack Bobridge. His a young kid here thats starting to show some promise ive watched him on the boards and on the road and his got loads of heart and attacks. Youll see him at London in 2012 ( you would have seen him in Bejing in the team pursuit)

Hopefully I will get to see him this weekend at the Melbourne track racing.

You will he did some pretty good time in the Oceania meet last weekend in the individual/teams pursuit, im going to be very intrested in how he does in melbourne.

I have a feeling it will be a good meet.

stagehopper

richard wants a baum wrote:

You will he did some pretty good time in the Oceania meet last weekend in the individual/teams pursuit, im going to be very intrested in how he does in melbourne.

Pretty good? 4:18 wasn't it, enough for the silver in Beijing. He's clearly a massive talent. About time Wiggins got some competition.

---

On riders I like - Voight, Cancellara, Cunego, Andy Shleck, Sylvain Chavanel, Oscar Pereiro. Cooke and Vos on the women's side are clearly phenomenal riders and great to watch when we get the rare chance.

Sella when he won me a shed load of money at the Giro when I bet on him in-play at 5-1 when he was in the break on his first stage win. Luckily Betfair don't refund on the basis of later drug tests ... on a similar note for one day Landis for that glorious mad testosterone-fuelled attack which even as it was happening felt wrong, but gave me 6 hours of incredible TV drama.

akcc05

what about teams like AG2R and Bouygues Telecom and riders like Voeckler. i love seeing a break wins, or am i just weird? i think GC riders are only interesting to watch in the mountains. what do you guys think?

SpaceJunk

Voigt - Anyone who talks in the third person whilst racing in the peloton has my vote.
Der Kaiser - I can sympathise with / relate to his off-season eating habits and roller-coaster weight issues
Cancellera - Love his attacking style; the first week of 07 tdf was great
Simoni - makes for good reading
Ricco - in much the same way that although I can't stand Oasis, I enjoy reading Liam's thoughts about fellow musco's. If nothing else The Cobra adds colour to the peloton
Andy Schleck - his, dare I say it, mocking of other riders on Huez was scarry
Flecha - Again, not so much for his exploits, but his interviews are very interesting and his background is quite unique


And many, many others - too many here to mention.

richard wants a baum

stagehopper wrote:

richard wants a baum wrote:

You will he did some pretty good time in the Oceania meet last weekend in the individual/teams pursuit, im going to be very intrested in how he does in melbourne.

Pretty good? 4:18 wasn't it, enough for the silver in Beijing. He's clearly a massive talent. About time Wiggins got some competition

He seemed pretty surprise to as he hadnt trained much since Bejing exept for the Sun Herald Tour. I saw him a year ago, He was racing against Stuart Ogrady and Brett Atkins at a track night. Ogrady had im in the first race but Jack won pretty comfortably in the second, having said that Ogrady was coming back from that crash in the Tour sooo...
But your right his definately got talent and the old guys of the Aussie Road and Track seem to rate him very highly.

DaveyL

stagehopper wrote:

[on a similar note for one day Landis for that glorious mad testosterone-fuelled attack which even as it was happening felt wrong, but gave me 6 hours of incredible TV drama.

Given that, according to experts like Catlin, testosterone is the cornerstone of any doping programme, and the "bare minimum" a doping rider would take, its use must be pretty prevalent. How come we don't see these "testosterone-fuelled" attacks more often?

DaveyL

6288 wrote:

Ullrich - Tour 03 ... sooo close ... would've been result of the century had he pulled it off in a makeshift team ... bloody rain (and Jens Voigt) ruined it all.

What dd Voigt have to do with it?

iainf72

Schmidthouse wrote:

rapid_uphill wrote:

to me track cyclists are not proper cyclists so they dont count.

OK - I'll bite, what denotes a "proper" cyclist?

For a start, they should compete in this.

6288

DaveyL wrote:

6288 wrote:

Ullrich - Tour 03 ... sooo close ... would've been result of the century had he pulled it off in a makeshift team ... bloody rain (and Jens Voigt) ruined it all.

What dd Voigt have to do with it?

he pretty much single handedly pulled the peleton back to ullrich at tourmalet when armstrongs team had (for once) been shattered

i don't dislike him however, your not gonna see a classier guy on and off the bike ... but he doesn't have that wow factor to finish of a race the way other guys do ... he'd be first on my team sheet tho

zippypablo

6288 wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

6288 wrote:

i don't dislike him however, your not gonna see a classier guy on and off the bike ... but he doesn't have that wow factor to finish of a race the way other guys do ... he'd be first on my team sheet tho

Everybody likes Voight surely? he's ace.
One guy I really like is Samuel Sanchez, decent rider with only a few good results but great ride at the Olympics, I was shouting at the telly at the finish (don't often shout at the tv :oops: )

disgruntledgoat

zippypablo wrote:

6288 wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

6288 wrote:

i don't dislike him however, your not gonna see a classier guy on and off the bike ... but he doesn't have that wow factor to finish of a race the way other guys do ... he'd be first on my team sheet tho

Everybody likes Voight surely? he's ace.
One guy I really like is Samuel Sanchez, decent rider with only a few good results but great ride at the Olympics, I was shouting at the telly at the finish (don't often shout at the tv :oops: )

I was doing the same! I have a soft spot for anyone on Euskaltel stemming from Roberto Laiseka and David Exebarria.

Simoni may be my favourite rider ever too, i love any tiny stroppy italian bloke.

calvjones

Cunego - gutsy but vulnerable

LL Sanchez - I like a man who can't sprint, is no Grimpeur, but can still win

Pip Gilbert - obvious reasons really

Magnus B. - cos he's Welsh

calvjones

Oh, and Edvald BH - most exciting new rider for years

DaveyL

6288 wrote:

he pretty much single handedly pulled the peloton back to ullrich at tourmalet when armstrongs team had (for once) been shattered

i don't dislike him however, your not gonna see a classier guy on and off the bike ... but he doesn't have that wow factor to finish of a race the way other guys do ... he'd be first on my team sheet tho

You sure you're not getting confused with Voigt helping pull Ullrich back on the 2004 stage to Villard de Lans? (and Armstrong's team wasn't shattered that day... He had Azevedo with him and two guys in the next group back who could have come up to help if needed).

2003 stage to Luz Ardiden:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/to ... ts/stage15

"The action on the Tourmalet came in the peloton when Jan Ullrich accelerated with 8 km to go to the top, putting Armstrong in a little difficulty, but the Maillot Jaune clawed his way back, along with Zubeldia and Mayo. Alexandre Vinokourov wasn't so good, crossing the top with the assistance of Botero, 1'15 down on the Maillot Jaune."

It's weird how Ullrich gets so much credit for almost having won in 2003, when Armstrong overcame (relatively) poor form and many other issues to still take the win, and gets much less credit!

lochindaal

Robert Millar

Before I started cycling I still used to watch the Tour every year and with no preconceptions was great to watch Lance systematically wear down the peleton every day.

Richrd2205

DaveyL wrote:

6288 wrote:

he pretty much single handedly pulled the peloton back to ullrich at tourmalet when armstrongs team had (for once) been shattered

i don't dislike him however, your not gonna see a classier guy on and off the bike ... but he doesn't have that wow factor to finish of a race the way other guys do ... he'd be first on my team sheet tho

You sure you're not getting confused with Voigt helping pull Ullrich back on the 2004 stage to Villard de Lans? (and Armstrong's team wasn't shattered that day... He had Azevedo with him and two guys in the next group back who could have come up to help if needed).

2003 stage to Luz Ardiden:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/to ... ts/stage15

"The action on the Tourmalet came in the peloton when Jan Ullrich accelerated with 8 km to go to the top, putting Armstrong in a little difficulty, but the Maillot Jaune clawed his way back, along with Zubeldia and Mayo. Alexandre Vinokourov wasn't so good, crossing the top with the assistance of Botero, 1'15 down on the Maillot Jaune."

It's weird how Ullrich gets so much credit for almost having won in 2003, when Armstrong overcame (relatively) poor form and many other issues to still take the win, and gets much less credit!

No it's def 2004:

Jens Voigt rode the 2004 Tour de France for Team CSC captain Ivan Basso Voigt and team mate Jakob Piil were often in breakaways, covering the break for CSC. On the 15th stage, Voigt was in a break as Ullrich attacked up the Col de l'Echarasson, leaving race leader Lance Armstrong and 2nd-placed Basso. With Armstrong's team unable to pull Ullrich back in, Voigt was ordered back from his breakaway to help Basso defend his place. Voigt saw Ullrich ride past as he waited for his captain, before he single-handedly closed the gap to Ullrich.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Voigt
Voigt was villified in the German press for following team orders & was quite upset
about it...

Back to the OT, Voigt has to be my favourite rider with Sastre and O'Grady close behind.
One thing that I like about cycling is that there are still some personalities in the peleton where most other sports seem to be populated by mindless drones (Hamilton & Murray, anyone?)

DaveyL

I don't think Murray is a mindless drone, he's just a miserable sod! As a Scot, I can vouch that this often comes with the territory. In some interviews he has shown fleeting glimpses of a decent sense of humour.

6288

apologies to mr voigt ... he was just doing his job ... i had got 03/04 mixed together ... i shoudl have known to check as i had an inkling voigt done the damage to jan the alp d'huez TT year ... and that was def. 04

aarw

suspectdevice wrote:

Fondriest for me. Can't think of any other rider who looked that smooth on a bike.

Modern day, got to go with DiLuca, purely for his aggression.

If ever there was a rider born to ride a colnago it was Fondriest. Never seen anyone look so at home on a bike. if you want to know how to look good on a bike, copy him

mididoctors

aarw wrote:

suspectdevice wrote:

Fondriest for me. Can't think of any other rider who looked that smooth on a bike.

Modern day, got to go with DiLuca, purely for his aggression.

If ever there was a rider born to ride a colnago it was Fondriest. Never seen anyone look so at home on a bike. if you want to know how to look good on a bike, copy him

ended up with terrible back problems thou...

he did look good on a bike mind

mididoctors

the Downings...

elliott!!!!!! I'll have some of what he's on....

we need more premier calender talk

iainf72

mididoctors wrote:

the Downings...

elliott!!!!!! I'll have some of what he's on....

Must resist.....

teagar

Bram Tankink has always been my full favourite. Never shouted so loudly at a bike race than when he got into a break in the tour this year.


Also very keen on Boonen. As is the girlfriend.

A.Schleck made me grin like mad at the tour but Fuentes and police raids left a bit of a sour taste.

FJS

teagar wrote:

Bram Tankink has always been my full favourite.

Yeah, he's a cool guy. He has Voigt's off-the-bike qualities; not yet his on-the-bike ones though....

disquieting_museeuws

Gino Bartali - one of the greats of cycling, but also used his fame & talent as a cyclist to help the Italian resistance free people from under the noses of the fascists / nazis, despite being interrogated.

He never even spoke about his heroism, it was mostly discovered later in personal papers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Bartali

mididoctors2

disquieting_museeuws wrote:

Gino Bartali - one of the greats of cycling, but also used his fame & talent as a cyclist to help the Italian resistance free people from under the noses of the fascists / nazis, despite being interrogated.

He never even spoke about his heroism, it was mostly discovered later in personal papers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Bartali

that is pretty cool..