Is Roger Hammond underated?

phreak

He never really gets much of a mention in the media, and certainly not anywhere near the level of Cavendish, Wiggins or Millar. He finished 7th today though and generally does well in the classics.

phil s

I think Rog is a hell of a solid rider and a great guy but you can't begin to compare his palmares with that of Cav and DM.

rick_chasey

I'm sure his sallary does not under-rate him.

He's a proper useful classics man, but never for the finale.

A rider most team-leaders would want.

thebluetrain

First post and all...but my view, absolutly yes. 7th in RVV today, by far and away the best Brit and hasn't yet got a mention on the Flanders thread. No FC or Boonen but I'll be shouting his name at Roubaix next weekend.

phreak

He's also been on the podium at Paris Roubaix and Gent–Wevelgem.

ruswilks

thebluetrain wrote:

First post and all...but my view, absolutly yes. 7th in RVV today, by far and away the best Brit and hasn't yet got a mention on the Flanders thread. No FC or Boonen but I'll be shouting his name at Roubaix next weekend.

I can't argue that 7th place makes him the best placed in the final classification today, but Millar gave by far the best performance of the British riders.

Hammond has proven himself time and again with high placings on the cobbles, but he lacks the wins that would get him more attention, especially with the UK media. He's definitely a highly valued rider though, I'm sure there aren't many teams that wouldn't have included him today if he was on their roster!

rick_chasey

I rate him higher than Wegelius, who always gets painted as the example of a domestique whenever ITV4 bring out the Tour in July.

Then again, they do different jobs.

Experience, as I understand it at least, is a little more useful for teammates in classics since they use the same parcours every year, and each one day-er has its own peculiarities (such as the ridiculous charge before the Koppenberg).

calvjones

Yep, class. But the fact he sprinted for 7th from the same group that Millar finished in 32nd in after a go-for-broke says it all I guess.

Mind you, he may have done a lot of work for an ailing Thor by then I guess.

Talking of under-rated old geezers, I thought Lance did well on Sunday.

rick_chasey

calvjones wrote:

Yep, class. But the fact he sprinted for 7th from the same group that Millar finished in 32nd in after a go-for-broke says it all I guess.

Mind you, he may have done a lot of work for an ailing Thor by then I guess.

Talking of under-rated old geezers, I thought Lance did well on Sunday.

I thought Millar led it out for Farrar?

And Millar won the Driedaagse, in horrible conditions.

Hardcore.

rick_chasey

And I don't think Lance is underrated!!

(Was a ridiculously good, if a little lacking in the tactics, one day rider before he got ill.)

ynyswen24

Hammond is a great rider who we, as Brits , should value more. Along with Jeremy Hunt. nobody who was in the finale of Paris-Roubaix the year he placed on the podium thought he was lucky. Ask Backstedt about Roger Hammond.

ms_tree

Both Hammond and Hunt have had to 'make their own way', too haven't they? As D Duffield would say packed their bags and went off the Europe. None of this Performance plan for them just find a team and do the best you can. Hard men in a hard business.
I actually picked Hammond for Flanders and will again for Roubaix.

Monty Dog

Quote: Was a ridiculously good, if a little lacking in the tactics, one day rider before he got ill...

Great classics rider? One Worlds, Fleche Wallonne and San Sebastian - not one monument and nothing since 1999...

DaveyL

Well, he did spend a year or two wondering what was going on while a bunch of Italian no-marks went motoring off up the road, before finally working out he needed to buy himself a Ferrari...

DaveyL

Monty Dog wrote:

Quote: Was a ridiculously good, if a little lacking in the tactics, one day rider before he got ill...

Great classics rider? One Worlds, Fleche Wallonne and San Sebastian - not one monument and nothing since 1999...

The clue is in the "before he got ill" bit...

greasedscotsman

ynyswen24 wrote:

Ask Backstedt about Roger Hammond.

Or Fabian Cancellara...

DaveyL

It's a couple of years old now, and has been posted up here before, but I like this Guardian piece on Hammond and Paris-Roubaix:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/ap ... cling.news

Tom Butcher

He's a very good rider - hopefully he's made enough out of it that he's nicely cushioned for whatever he chooses to do once he retires from racing a bike for a living.

Kléber

He's a solid and well respected rider but known as a pure specialist. Once this Sunday comes his season is almost over.

He's also a nice guy, very unassuming. And very Belgian these days, he's lived there for a long time.

Lillywhite

Tom Butcher wrote:

He's a very good rider - hopefully he's made enough out of it that he's nicely cushioned for whatever he chooses to do once he retires from racing a bike for a living.

I recall he studied for a construction degree at Brunel University in the early 90's before going to Belgium.

Pross

He's never won an Olympic medal or performed at the Tour which is why he is unknown to the general public in the UK. I suspect he's a much more highly rated cyclist in Belgium and will have been pretty much for his whole career as a former world class cross rider and having been based there so long and specialising in the northern classics (and pretty much all the 'hard' races). He's pretty much done it the old-fashioned way by going through the semi-pro route since becoming a senior and probably could have won more races but for settling in a roll of top domestique. I really like him as a rider (as I also like Hunt), very understated and just gets on with his job whilst letting others take the plaudits.

calvjones

Rick Chasey wrote:

calvjones wrote:

Yep, class. But the fact he sprinted for 7th from the same group that Millar finished in 32nd in after a go-for-broke says it all I guess.

Mind you, he may have done a lot of work for an ailing Thor by then I guess.

Talking of under-rated old geezers, I thought Lance did well on Sunday.

I thought Millar led it out for Farrar?

And Millar won the Driedaagse, in horrible conditions.

Hardcore.

My point was that Millar had the class/belief to try to bridge whilst Roger couldn't/didn't/had other jobs which in microcosm is why he's not as well known

calvjones

Rick Chasey wrote:

And I don't think Lance is underrated!!

(Was a ridiculously good, if a little lacking in the tactics, one day rider before he got ill.)

I might argue that you can't be a ridiculously good classics rider if you're little lacking in the tactics.

However, finishing top 30 only a couple of minutes down when your only season goal is 3 months away is not to be sniffed at.

pedro118118

Agree with much of what has been said - I see Hammond as being solid, rather than exciting/spectacular. He's had some good results at the top level, but hasn't netted that one big win, which would get him some additional recognition. He is very versatile though, as multiple national cyclo-cross titles show.

Sadly, the media seem more interested in whether or not he dislikes Team Sky etc etc...

rick_chasey

calvjones wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

And I don't think Lance is underrated!!

(Was a ridiculously good, if a little lacking in the tactics, one day rider before he got ill.)

I might argue that you can't be a ridiculously good classics rider if you're little lacking in the tactics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ioYXTHNHHI

Won that at 22!

But yes - we're splitting hairs.

deejay

thebluetrain wrote:

but I'll be shouting his name at Roubaix next weekend.

!5 years or so ago I used to do that in Northern France and Belgium.
The locals would say "ah English, and you support Boardman" and the reply was always "No, but Hammond the former Junior World Champion".
He rode for Palmans, Colstrop or other little Belgian teams.

Boardman was an embarrassment so many times over there when he kept falling off and hitting dogs or pot holes or some such happening.
My standard joke at that time was you wind him up like a clockwork train and put him down on the track and off he goes. No Problems, No dogs and quite fast on there.

andyp

deejay wrote:

Boardman was an embarrassment so many times over there when he kept falling off and hitting dogs or pot holes or some such happening.
My standard joke at that time was you wind him up like a clockwork train and put him down on the track and off he goes. No Problems, No dogs and quite fast on there.

:roll:

Boardman's road palmares is significantly better than Roger Hammond's. Both command respect, but in different ways.

iainf72

Look at Boardman's palmares and look at the time period he competed in. He was probably robbed of a lot of possible victories by someone tooled up with blood like mud.

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

Look at Boardman's palmares and look at the time period he competed in. He was probably robbed of a lot of possible victories by someone tooled up with blood like mud.

Didn't he also have a condition (to do with his iron levels?) in his blood that made recovery for races more than a week difficult? Or have I made that up?

chipperleenie

I think if you read Boardmans palmares with respect to 'road race' victories it is nowhere near as good as Hammonds!

Boardman was a time triallist and track rider - and very good at them, but as far as I can recall he only won two pro road races - Prutour Tour stage and a stage of another stage race. He had lots of wins in Prologues and time trials, so as far as tactical skills in road racing, he would be someone you could cast doubt over. Cancellara is known as a time triallist but he has certainly recently shown everyone how to win big road races.

iainf72

chipperleenie wrote:

I think if you read Boardmans palmares with respect to 'road race' victories it is nowhere near as good as Hammonds!

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/pdf/Chris_Boardman_CV.pdf

Are you sure? 2nd in Dauphine, won Crit Intl, loads of TT wins etc etc