Cunego

thomthom

Now, here's a man who has been laughing all the way to the bank in the last 6 years.

frenchfighter

philbar72

Saw him at LBL earlier this year. Tiny. Also past it.

deejay

philbar72 wrote:

Saw him at LBL earlier this year. Tiny. Also past it.

I stood next to him about 6 years ago outside the Palais des Princes-Eveques (L-B-L Team Presentation) when he had dyed his hair to a ridiculous "White", with some taller girl on his arm.

ThomThom wrote:

Now, here's a man who has been laughing all the way to the bank in the last 6 years.

Well I agree, you got that right but is he a "domestic" or a Team Leader when we see a team member fix his own wheel into his bike.???
That he can still win or podium in small chipper events.

jimmythecuckoo

For me, he was never as good as his Giro win suggested, but he shouldn't be remembered for being as bad as he is now.

mm1

Nobody wins Lombardy 3 times by chance, spent too long chasing another GT win to fully realise his potential as a classics rider and should have won the 2008 Worlds.

specialgueststar

This is a ridiculous argument

SCR Pedro

mm1 wrote:

Nobody wins Lombardy 3 times by chance, spent too long chasing another GT win to fully realise his potential as a classics rider and should have won the 2008 Worlds.

Agreed. It should be classics or GT, but not both, but I think Lampre wanted both, because they didn't have another GC contender. They also pushed Marzio Bruseghin into being a GC man, based on one half decent Giro. He objected and went to Movistar to be a domestique.

ugo.santalucia

He very nearly missed out on the rainbow jersey... which was won by an arguably lesser (and dirtier) rider...

He peaked very young and he's past his best a long time ago... as long as they keep paying him, don't see the problem... he's always reasonably fit and the problem is what the team wants to do with him..

The point is: he's NOT another Andy Schleck!

deejay

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

This is a ridiculous argument

What's the argument.
The little Prick has very good palmares with 3 monuments and a GT to his name.
I've never taken to him as I think he wouldn't have the GT if he had been on another team and he has proved me correct by never winning a GT when he is "Team Leader".
No argument as his palmares give the answer, no matter what I think.

specialgueststar

deejay wrote:

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

This is a ridiculous argument

The little Prick .

Nice. I was at the top of the Stelvio in 2012 when he came in second ( and 6th in Giro overall) . So he's lost some form past 30 - his team still has faith in him so they pay him! He certainly is a grafter when he has the form.

Look at his year - it is very rare he gets dnf's. 84 race days in 2013 compared to 62 for Froome

SKY considered him in their first year as their main rider as he was considered a clean rider - even in 2004 - look at who he beat for that incredible Giro win.

takethehighroad

I think he's suffered from winning a Giro favoured towards Petacchi getting stage wins and is not as good in the high mountains in future years. Good enough to finish up ther,e just not quite at the front.

disgruntledgoat

I think even he tacitly acknowledged he was not a clean rider for his giro win. He had a kid not long after and kept talking about how it changed his outlook on cycling and how he wouldn't be the same rider. Since then he's been pretty much spotless through a dark period for Italian cycling.

Another of my favourites though. He's had 2 top tens in the tour also.

ugo.santalucia

disgruntledgoat wrote:

I think even he tacitly acknowledged he was not a clean rider for his giro win.

The story goes that Cunego has a natural hematocrit of 52... it runs in the family as his dad is the same. If that's the case, there isn't much room for blood doping without being clearly noticeable and in 2004 the 50% rule was in place... he had a dispensation, as I understand