Favourite race or stage of 2011 so far

brucey72

I am off work for 6-8 weeks following surgery yesterday to remove a malignant melanoma from my stomach so thought I would take this opportunity to 'do something useful' and spend my recuperation watching the best stages, races and incidents from this years cycling which I may have missed (or may have seen and just want to watch again).

Apart from the WC win by Cav and the Froome win during the Vuelta one of the stages that stands out for me was Cunego's attack on Stage 3 of The Tour de Suisse. The ascent was amazing but the descent was just as spectacular:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtpQ_7Bj_YM

Let me know which has been your favourite so far.

sonny73

Stages 17,18 and 19 on the Tour this year were winners for me, well amongst several other good Tour stages IMO.
I also enjoyed the Zoncolan stage at the Giro. I'm sure others will come to mind now I've said these.
Hope your recovery goes well and enjoy your watching

greasedscotsman

Tour of Flanders.

luckao

Good pick, brucey. I remember that one well.

The one that immediately comes to mind for me is stage 19 of the Tour. Voeckler slamming a newly acquired bidon down in anger at his team not quite pacing him to his liking sticks in the memory. I suppose we have Contador to thank for that one.

csp

ddraver

greasedscotsman wrote:

Tour of Flanders.

Agreed!

Hushovd over the Aspin was another great one too!

rubertoe

Stage 9 of the Tour de France and not for LLS win - but for the legend that is Jonny Hoogerland and J A Flecha and Tommy V taking yellow.

Either that or any stage of the Tour of Turkey

afx237vi

Stage 15 of the Giro. Not really for the outcome, but just for the epic nature of the stage. 7 and a half hours for the winner, riders looking like they're cycling through treacle, amazing scenery.

Also the Tour de Suisse stage mentioned by brucey.

tc345

Agree with the Ronde being the best of this year. A breathless last few km seeing who was going to take it with attacks left, right and center. It truly was the best of the best jousting with one another.

RonB

Vuelta 17 Froome vs Cobo.

MrTapir

tc345 wrote:

Agree with the Ronde being the best of this year. A breathless last few km seeing who was going to take it with attacks left, right and center. It truly was the best of the best jousting with one another.

Yes I agree. Also my favourites are:

- L-B-L, just cos i was there at the start and then at Cote de St-Nicolas, about literally 1 foot away from Gilbert and the Schlecks as they came past. Never been so excited ever.

- Like has been said before the Zoncolan stage was just incredible to witness, extreme.

- The other Giro stage Nieve won after he chased Garzelli down for ages

- Stage 4 of the Giro almost made me cry.

- Tour de France stage that Cav won when he came from nowhere around everyone, and also the one EBH won.

- Pierre Rolland's victory on Alpe D'huez was brilliant and very well deserved

after the tour i kind of got cycling burn out. but Froome and Cobo's battle at the Vuelta when Froome came past on the inside and took victory was cool.

And when Dan Martin attacked Sagan on one of the Tour of Poland stages, that was good, the one where Cummings attacked but couldnt make it stick.

blazing_saddles

Stage 15 of the Giro for me too.
The most epic day's racing, yet from the biggest Grand Tour flop.

MrTapir

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Stage 15 of the Giro for me too.
The most epic day's racing, yet from the biggest Grand Tour flop.

yes i remember the sinking feeling when Contador pranced away on etna and you think 'ah well thats that then'. Seeing him crack on the later stages of Le Tour was rather satisfying though

Kléber

Some good ones. I'd also add:

- Andy Schleck's Galibier stage win. The guy's copped a lot of flak for being a softie but this was a big ride. Going solo was bold and behind Cadel Evans's work was impressive and a big reason behind his Tour win.
- I liked Evans win in Tirreno where he won the stage with a hilltop finish in town. It was a nervous finish but he timed things just right
- Milan San Remo had an exciting finish, Scarponi's move and the action on the Cipressa and Poggio.
- Cancellara in the E3, the way he rode past everyone on his way to the win.

RichN95.

Best one day race: Flanders
Best stages: The Alpine stages of the Tour
Best last km: Froome vs Cobo.

The Prodigy

As others have said, stage 15 of the Giro was an epic, I enjoyed the suffering.

Also another vote for the Cunego/Sagan stage of Tour de Suisse.

Finally, the as no one else has mentioned it yet the WC TT for Martins brilliance, Brads fantastic result and Spartacus looking like the wheels were falling off.

dulldave

There was a lot of good racing this year but the Tour of Flanders nearly had me wetting myself with excitement.

rick_chasey

Flanders was ridiculously exciting from a long way out.

The Galibier stage naturally, and the sprint up Alpe D'Huez was great, even if the final gallop up the Alpe was sans fireworks.

Never really bought into the Giro or Vuelta.

Flanders beats them all away by miles.

The Flanders week generally was great.

Harelbeke as usual was good value, even for a 1 man domination. I found myself more in awe of Canc then than during '10 Roubaix.

Best race? Flanders.

Glad to see dulldave gets as excited as I do then!

TMR

Stage 5 of this year's TdF, because:

1. I was there
2. Cav won

That is all.

RichN95.

The Mad Rapper wrote:

Stage 5 of this year's TdF, because:

1. I was there
2. Cav won

That is all.

It was also a good stage.

ddraver

Rick Chasey wrote:

Flanders was ridiculously exciting from a long way out.

The Galibier stage naturally, and the sprint up Alpe D'Huez was great, even if the final gallop up the Alpe was sans fireworks.

Never really bought into the Giro or Vuelta.

Flanders beats them all away by miles.

The Flanders week generally was great.

Harelbeke as usual was good value, even for a 1 man domination. I found myself more in awe of Canc then than during '10 Roubaix.

Best race? Flanders.

Glad to see dulldave gets as excited as I do then!

Benelux pride much?

Moomaloid

Not as classic a year as 2010 on the excitement front, but yep Flanders was special. As Rick says, think its always the most anticipated/exciting week of the year. Have to say the moment that really took my breath away was Gilbert's attack at San Sebastian, so devastating...

Froome's win in the Vuelta was fantastic.

davicio

Froome beating Cobo in the Veulta is my number 1.

I still remember Sky's Swift taking victory (I think it was 1st stage of California) at the turn of the year in the US I think. They lead out for a long while with a solid train and kept the pressure up to a ridiculously high tempo on wet beautiful tarmac. The surrounding teams busting a gut to get involved had no answer and I just thought it was a very good team victory. Great to watch.

Also: Stage 15 TdF. It was a Leopard Shleck victory - but it was a victory really for Voeckler who absolutely with every ounce of energy remained in the yellow jersey. Major heart. Big, big effort. Don't know bigger apart from Froome in the Vuelta.

inkyfingers

For me the highlights were (as usual) the cobbled classics:

Flecha and Langeveld fighting tooth and nail in proper flanders weather at Het Neiuwsblad

Nuyens and Thomas somehow managing to stay away from the peloton at Dwars Door Vlaanderen.

Cancellara simply demolishing everyone at E3

Flanders and Roubaix for having unexpected outcomes.

The Tour was the best one since 2003 and Milan San Remo and the Vuelta were also pretty decent. The Giro and and Ardennes classics were dissapointing, simply because one rider was too dominant but all in all i'd say it's been a better than average year for exciting racing.

rozzer32

Got to be Flanders and Paris-Roubaix for me.

Cancellera vs the whole peloton.

And he still nearly beat the all, twice

EKIMIKE

Flanders was incredible. It had a bit of everything. The break. The solo. The chase. The last ditch attacks. The sprint. The favourites in contention. The unexpected winner.

Thanks for the vid. link for that TdS stage. Missed it at the time, but wow, what a descent.

What i really, desperately want to see is any footage of Hushovd coming down the Aubisque/Soulor. And that win was pretty special too: stripes; solo; TdF.

Tusher

Nothing to add, Brucey, apart from to wish you a quick recovery.

msw

I see nobody's mentioned Stage 1 of the Tour. Gilbert in the Belgian colours, everyone expects him to win, everyone is marking him, Cancellara attacks in the last KM and Gilbert lets him go because it's not quite the right time... and then he wins. Nothing the whole pro peloton at the top of their game could do about it. Magnificent.

paulcuthbert

Hushovd or Schleck's solo wins at the Tour