Where are the nicknames?
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)
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
0
Comments
-
how did bottle get that one? I've always wondered....
The chicken???0 -
You obviously didn't watch the Phil 'n' Paul Show commentary of the Tour !
'The Silent Assassin' or 'The Little Prince' seemed to feature in every sentence...0 -
-
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...0
-
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.0 -
Nibali is known as the shark. Something to do with coming from Sicily (or Sardinia)0
-
The Italians still seem to go in for nicknames. Even Cavendish is "Il Cannonball" sometimes0
-
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 pm0 -
Have heard the following of 'newer' riders:
Gesink - the Condor
Haussler - Barbie (!)0 -
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 - 20170 -
prawny wrote:Cav again - Manx Missile? Or is that just us on here?
That's courtesy of Phil Ligget I think.0 -
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 - 20170 -
-
" 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.0 -
Apparantly, Rinaldo Nocentini is known as Il Noce, or The Walnut0
-
That reminds me of Fedrigo's nickname... le nez. For obvious reasons.0
-
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: Savoldelli0 -
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-0 -
Freire - the cat0
