Is Matt Goss the Peleton "Red Panda"?

Yellow Peril
Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
edited August 2013 in Pro race
The wildlife park on the IOM are often advertising and talking up their red pandas but having been there on several occassions I have yet to see one.

So it is/was with Matt Goss in the TdF whereby various commentators would speculate on his presence in the mix or for a win at the end of a stage and lo and behold he would fail to appear. Even in yesterday's Surrey Classic there was excited chattering about Matt Goss but yet again a no-show.

So is Matt Goss the red panda of the peleton or are there other riders more deserving of that accolade?
@JaunePeril

Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition

Comments

  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,661
    Think the whole Cofidis team just started weeping in despair! ;)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • trek_dan
    trek_dan Posts: 1,366
    He finds himself in a loose loose situtation at the grand tours, he definately can't beat Cav, Kittel or Greipel from a bunch sprint, he probably can't beat Sagan, Kristoff, Renshaw or Ferrari from a buch sprint, and when it gets lumpy he wouldn't beat Degenkolp or Segan, or probably his own team mates like Gerrans or Impey on a good day. None of the teams competing for points would ever let him in a break. He was probably better off in Cavs lead out train rather than being blandly annonymous on his own.
    Still though, you're no mug with a Milan San Remo on your palmares.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,169
    I've seen the red panda at Paignton zoo so no (although thinking back I saw Matt Goss a few times on TV in the late 80s - he was wearing Grolsch bottle tops and singing about what he'd do when he became famous - fortunately that has never happened).
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    So is Matt Goss the red panda of the peloton or are there other riders more deserving of that accolade?
    Haimar Zubeldia is the obvious one - but I think people now think he's just an elaborate hoax and never existed in the first place.
    I would also nominate Peter Velits. He was on the Vuelta podium and other than winning in Oman hasn't been seen since.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    RichN95 wrote:
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    So is Matt Goss the red panda of the peloton or are there other riders more deserving of that accolade?
    Haimar Zubeldia is the obvious one - but I think people now think he's just an elaborate hoax and never existed in the first place.
    I would also nominate Peter Velits. He was on the Vuelta podium and other than winning in Oman hasn't been seen since.

    Priceless! I believe he exists in name only if you are playing a parlour game whereby you need a pro rider whose surname begins with a Z.

    Luckily for Schleck he emerged from a long period of chewing bamboo shoots (or whatever red pandas eat) to be seen there or thereabouts recently
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • DHTT
    DHTT Posts: 345
    Lampre at the Tour De France, didn't know they were actually riding until the TTT stage then they went back into anonymity for the rest of the Tour.
    http://duncanheywood.blogspot.com/
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    So is Matt Goss the red panda of the peloton or are there other riders more deserving of that accolade?
    Haimar Zubeldia is the obvious one - but I think people now think he's just an elaborate hoax and never existed in the first place.
    I would also nominate Peter Velits. He was on the Vuelta podium and other than winning in Oman hasn't been seen since.

    Priceless! I believe he exists in name only if you are playing a parlour game whereby you need a pro rider whose surname begins with a Z.

    Luckily for Schleck he emerged from a long period of chewing bamboo shoots (or whatever red pandas eat) to be seen there or thereabouts recently

    Haimar Zubeldia is highly visible when you jokingly add him to your Tour de France Eye Spy game thinking no one will ever spot him only for him to make regular appearances throughout the stage.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • jtomes1993
    jtomes1993 Posts: 73
    Andrew Talansky managed to do a "Zubeldia". .

    Whilst everyone was distracted by Ryder's Sunglasses he slipped into the top 10 this year unnoticed. .
    @Tomesjonny
  • gsvbagpuss
    gsvbagpuss Posts: 272
    Dragging this back on topic... :)

    He came second to Cav in Copenhagen and just before Cav used to say that Goss was the only sprinter he feared. Has he just got lazy at OGE?
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    GSVBagpuss wrote:
    Dragging this back on topic... :)

    He came second to Cav in Copenhagen and just before Cav used to say that Goss was the only sprinter he feared. Has he just got lazy at OGE?


    Dont know. Some of the Aussies describe OGE as a bit of a boys club, not sure how much pressure there's really been. But wouldnt be surprised if he's now in a right old downward spiral, morale-wise, leading to even poorer performances. Fact is that someone like Michael Matthews is getting better results without so much of a team working for him as Goss usually has. Goss has got to be nervous - end of contract time.
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    I think RR is right. He needs to find himself again and perhaps the comfort of the Aussie team is not the environment for that.
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    I saw the red Panda at Colchester Zoo, that particular animal has won more stages than Boasson Hagen...
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  • --Darren--
    --Darren-- Posts: 70
    GSVBagpuss wrote:
    Dragging this back on topic... :)

    He came second to Cav in Copenhagen and just before Cav used to say that Goss was the only sprinter he feared. Has he just got lazy at OGE?

    http://photogenicimage.com/images/red-panda-relaxation/
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    Paul 8v wrote:
    I saw the red Panda at Colchester Zoo, that particular animal has won more stages than Boasson Hagen...


    Now now, Eddy Boss has won plenty of races, even if many think not as many as he should etc etc

    We're talking Goss here...who's won just 2 in the last 2 years
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    Paul 8v wrote:
    I saw the red Panda at Colchester Zoo, that particular animal has won more stages than Boasson Hagen...


    Now now, Eddy Boss has won plenty of races, even if many think not as many as he should etc etc

    We're talking Goss here...who's won just 2 in the last 2 years
    Haha, OK then, it's won more stages than Phil Gil in the 2013 season AND the panda's not wearing the arc en ciel! :mrgreen:
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  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Red Panda: If you want someone who is often talked up, rarely delivers and has the right colour hair - then look no further than Robert Gesink

    His attempts to get a truly big result can be illustrated thus:

    tumblr_m94f7efJ861rce69vo1_400.gif
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    RichN95 wrote:
    Red Panda: If you want someone who is often talked up, rarely delivers and has the right colour hair - then look no further than Robert Gesink

    His attempts to get a truly big result can be illustrated thus:

    tumblr_m94f7efJ861rce69vo1_400.gif

    Great call on Gesink Rich, i'd (understandably) forgotten about him.
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,661
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    Paul 8v wrote:
    I saw the red Panda at Colchester Zoo, that particular animal has won more stages than Boasson Hagen...


    Now now, Eddy Boss has won plenty of races, even if many think not as many as he should etc etc

    We're talking Goss here...who's won just 2 in the last 2 years

    Eddy Bos is too good at winning the "minor placings behind the real sprinters race" to be the Red Panda
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    Tyler Farrar? a Red Panda or some other myopic forgotten species?
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,661
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    Tyler Farrar? a Red Panda or some other myopic forgotten species?

    Nah, you can always see Tyler on the floor somewhere...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver

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