Where are the nicknames?

RichN95.
RichN95. Posts: 27,150
edited August 2010 in Pro race
Cycling has always been great with evocative nicknames for the stars. But there don't seem to be too many these days. The ones I know are as follows:

Spartacus
Tomeke/Tornado Tom
The Manx Missile
Der Panzerwagen
The Shark of the Strait
El Pistelero
The Cobra

And the last two of those are self proclaimed, so they don't really count. So where are the great nicknames. What have I missed?

(There are some slightly derogatory ones - Bottle, Cuddles, The Pope, etc)
Twitter: @RichN95

Comments

  • PBo
    PBo Posts: 2,493
    how did bottle get that one? I've always wondered....

    The chicken???
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    You obviously didn't watch the Phil 'n' Paul Show commentary of the Tour ! :lol:

    'The Silent Assassin' or 'The Little Prince' seemed to feature in every sentence...
  • lucybears
    lucybears Posts: 366
    http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... l=nl&tl=en
    interview.cyclingfever.com
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Franco Pellizotti is know as Il Delfino or the Dolphin for some reason. And I'm sure I've seen fans of Marzio Bruseghin wearing donkey ears at the Giro, but the only nickname I can find for him is the Locomotive of Vittorio...
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    It was something that helped in the past, when newspaper reports from a race frequently embellished the stories and needed to big up the racing and the characters involved.

    The barely literate bloke who was too tired to give a quote at the finish line would come to life when described as The Ogre of Orvieto or the Eagle of Eccles.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,641
    Nibali is known as the shark. Something to do with coming from Sicily (or Sardinia)
  • William H
    William H Posts: 61
    The Italians still seem to go in for nicknames. Even Cavendish is "Il Cannonball" sometimes
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,804
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    Franco Pellizotti is know as Il Delfino or the Dolphin for some reason. And I'm sure I've seen fans of Marzio Bruseghin wearing donkey ears at the Giro, but the only nickname I can find for him is the Locomotive of Vittorio...

    thought glen close was better

    and bingo for cav
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Have heard the following of 'newer' riders:

    Gesink - the Condor
    Haussler - Barbie (!)
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    Cav again - Manx Missile? Or is that just us on here?
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • Percy Vera
    Percy Vera Posts: 1,103
    prawny wrote:
    Cav again - Manx Missile? Or is that just us on here?

    That's courtesy of Phil Ligget I think.
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    Percy Vera wrote:
    prawny wrote:
    Cav again - Manx Missile? Or is that just us on here?

    That's courtesy of Phil Ligget I think.

    Urgh!

    Along with Big (insert any name of someone who isn't 4ft or below).
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,585
    Mellow Johnny?

    Mm?
    _
  • Gingerflash
    Gingerflash Posts: 239
    " I've seen fans of Marzio Bruseghin wearing donkey ears"

    Not a reference to a nickname, but to the fact that he keeps a lot of donkeys on his estate*.


    *I'm assuming country, not council.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,641
    Apparantly, Rinaldo Nocentini is known as Il Noce, or The Walnut
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    That reminds me of Fedrigo's nickname... le nez. For obvious reasons.
  • neilo23
    neilo23 Posts: 783
    Not sure if all of these are used internationally, but here are some of the nicknames used in Germany:

    Jan Ullrich: The Kaiser, Ulle, Yoyo
    Zabel: Ete (what an incredible, exotic nickname!)
    Jens "The moped" Voigt
    David Rebellin: Tin Tin (for some reason Tin Tin is called Tim in Germany)
    Andreas Klöden: Wilde Hilde (Rampant Hilda. Must be because he's such a crazy party animal)
    Aitor Gonzales: Terminaitor
    Jörg Ludewig: Lude (Pimp)
    Tony Rominger: The camel (because of his curved back)
    Il Falco: Savoldelli
  • The Jack
    The Jack Posts: 52
    Petacchi: Ale Jet

    Cav: Tooth Fairy
    "Wo ist mein Fahrrad?"

    -Ralf Hutter of Kraftwerk waking up from a coma after a crashing with his bicycle-
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Freire - the cat

Categories