BR PR review of the year
rick_chasey
Posts: 75,648
I'll post mine at some point but I actually have to justify my financial existence today so might not happen.
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Good idea, like it
Will follow....
I might do my review via some pics I snapped through the year, if its ok (but dont look for Froome in any of them :P )0 -
Well, my financial review will be Boris and his chums suffed me a percentage toward a new disc velociraptor to keep it 2017!0
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Richmond Racer 2 wrote:Good idea, like it
Will follow....
I might do my review via some pics (but dont look for Froome in any of them :P )
Thank f...for that0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:Richmond Racer 2 wrote:Good idea, like it
Will follow....
I might do my review via some pics (but dont look for Froome in any of them :P )
Thank f...for that
Some photographers shoot for the highlights. I shoot to crop
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Is this a review of the forum or the races?0
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Cav was a pleasant surprise in the TDF. He proved his days are not yet numbered, and the record is still on.
4 stages tdf, silver in the Olympics and 2nd in the worlds.
Yes. Sagan the clear winner who animates (the sports word of the moment) the dull race.0 -
RichN95 wrote:Riders of the year
1. Sagan
2. Froome
3= Van Avermaet & Quintana
Races of the year: Paris-Roubaix & Olympic Road Race
Moment of the Year: Froome running up Ventoux
(Don't know enough about the women to include them)
Basically this but swap Quintana for Chaves...
Team of the year: OBE.
They've had some year - stages in all 3 GTs, white jersey at the Tour (and 4th place), 2nd at the Giro and 3rd in the Vuelta. It's a shame they didn't podium at the Tour for the clean sweep (a la Movistar)... They won 2 monuments and podiumed at LBL as well.
Paris-Roubaix was sensational, I watched the highlights again last week and it was really brilliant.0 -
I enjoyed the Olympic track too. The Olympics generally was excellent. I would have liked to have seen Sagan not flat in the MTB.
Ha! The Froome moment.0 -
RichN95 wrote:
Races of the year: Paris-Roubaix & Olympic Road Race
Was going to say this.
I wanted to comment on the best stage race of the year, but my memory is bad, so I'll stick with the above suggestions.0 -
Quintana got almost twice as many World Tour points as Chaves - and won a lot more races.bobmcstuff wrote:
Basically this but swap Quintana for Chaves...
Team of the year: OBE.
Agree about Orica.
I tried to think of a stand out stage race but couldn't really think of one. Maybe the Giro, but that was largely due to a crash. And Paris-Nice had a nail-biting finale.TheBigBean wrote:I wanted to comment on the best stage race of the year, but my memory is bad, so I'll stick with the above suggestions.Twitter: @RichN950 -
RichN95 wrote:
Quintana got almost twice as many World Tour points as Chaves - and won a lot more races.bobmcstuff wrote:
Basically this but swap Quintana for Chaves...
Team of the year: OBE.
Agree about Orica.
I tried to think of a stand out stage race but couldn't really think of one. Maybe the Giro, but that was largely due to a crash. And Paris-Nice had a nail-biting finale.TheBigBean wrote:I wanted to comment on the best stage race of the year, but my memory is bad, so I'll stick with the above suggestions.
Yeah I know Quintana had a good season but everyone expected him to do well - and he was a bit disappointing in the Tour. I found him a bit meh anyway.
Whereas Chaves I think exceeded expectations.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:I'll post mine at some point but I actually have to justify my financial existence today so might not happen.
I'm guessing The ride London-Surrey classic will factor:)
Good race though. The 50k balls out attack from Thomas before the finish.0 -
bobmcstuff wrote:
Whereas Chaves I think exceeded expectations.
I don't think anyone would've predicted he'd get a 2nd and a 3rd at GTs and win a monument at the start of the season. A real breakout year.0 -
Etape of the Year
I really enjoyed that flat windy transition stage of the TdF where Sagan, Froome and their best buddies just rode off the front of the pack and went full gas to the finish. Broke every standard stage template in the book.Half man, Half bike0 -
andyp wrote:bobmcstuff wrote:
Whereas Chaves I think exceeded expectations.
I don't think anyone would've predicted he'd get a 2nd and a 3rd at GTs and win a monument at the start of the season. A real breakout year.
Defo one of the riders of the year for me0 -
TheBigBean wrote:RichN95 wrote:
Races of the year: Paris-Roubaix & Olympic Road Race
Was going to say this.
Yup, hands down. Paris-Roubaix was my absolute highlight this year.It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.0 -
A resurgent Cav was beyond all my wildest dreams and expectations. I can't see beyond that at the moment.Correlation is not causation.0
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alas no one put the work in during term time
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=130630910 -
So generally I thought it was quite a binary season, or perhaps that's more a symptom of my increasing grumpiness.
On the whole, either they were tedious or fantastic, with a few exceptions.
In terms of riders, Sagan clearly stands out as someone who really endeared himself. I used to think he was a chump with over endowed talent, but he has that rare ability in the modern peloton, that he can satisfy his own interest with his legs. Find the mountain stage boring? Get in the break. etc.
It was also a season where riders competed across longer parts of the season than I'm used to.
Greg kicked off the season in het Nieuwsblad in decent, if fairly standard style, but was there or there abouts the rest of the season; winning Tireno, stage & yellow in the Tour, olympics, Montreal. Was impressive. He's always had an exciting style and he hasn't lost that too much either.
Olympics was an outstanding race, and not just because of the quality of the racing; it had a real air of menace and and there was a bit of crackle in the air. I don't know if it was just my overexcitement about the olympics boiling over, combined with high levels of jeopardy given the course.
Seeing Cancellara on a mission one last time on the TT bike was something to behold. He looks so powerful and dynamic in his position (unlike Tony Martin, with his narrow shoulders and monkfish face). To me he will always be the best of anyone he came up against, and seeing him put his mind to it one last time, with his dwindling powers, and nail it, was quite something.
Giro was actually a fairly decent edition; lots of good racing in the first week and the GC never really felt done, even when Kruiswijk was riding well, and the lazarus Nibali finish did do it justice, though, if I'm channeling my inner Frenchie, it didn't feel heavyweight, so you didn't have that crackle.
Tour was an absolute snooze, the worst since the rock bottom 2012 (and i'm not just saying this to wind brits up; they were piles of cack). Found it incredibly frustrating. Not only was it just sh!te racing, the winner didn't even look like he could ride a bike properly. Even the best moment of interest was neutered by the bloody race jury.
The Vuelta I struggle with like ever year - too fatigued after the summer. Too much lime a late summer novelty race, but by all account seemed quite fun.
LBL was not a great edition but memorable because of the weather, but that race is losing its lustre, as were all the ardenne races.
MSR wasn't a vintage edition, and I don't feel the love for Demare. No interest.
Flanders I think suffers from the route slightly but Sagan & Cancellara did their best. The nearest will get to a generational handover.
But to be honest, that all pales into insignificance with the dream that was the first ever full coverage Paris Roubaix, and a vintage edition at that. Topped all because my man, like he can do, bent the race to his will and made it hard early one.
The only thing that was missing was a bit of rain.
Oh and the Worlds were a disappointment for me; to me, echelons are cycling porn and they missed their opportunity to make it fully x rated.0 -
I'm another who warmed to Sagan this year. I think I've finally come round to the viewpoint that he just gets terribly bored with racing 'properly', fancies a laugh, and happens to have the talent to go with it. I think the clinching moment was when he talked about that Tour stage and said something along the lines of 'I just went for it, looked round and saw Froome and Thomas had come with us and thought "hey, this is fun, let's do this!"'
The second (third?) coming of Cavendish was another highlight. I think it's easy to forget just how good he has been, let alone to forget how much he potentially has in him. I said it before and I'll say it again - he'll never be the same rider he was, but very, very people ever will be.
Also, from a Brit point of view, Boulting and Millar maturing into a decent commentary unit has been a very worthwhile development. Insight and colour together, plus the unmistakable feeling that they're actually enjoying it. Millar was pretty good in the worlds, which was surely this year's winner in the category of 'unexpectedly good race despite visually looking like it was taking place on the Moon, only without the atmosphere'.0 -
Nothing happened this year that was anywhere near as good as Nibali's tow last year.0
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ITV4 ending the TDF coverage of stage 12 with "Running Up That Hill" to Chris Froome was inspired.
So funny, especially with all the pokemon go hype about.0 -
Any doubts about Froome not really being cool or a real cyclist, thoroughly squashed. Amazing to see him in the tour, in a completely different class to almost every other rider.0
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Ventoux was fun
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Enjoyed Griepel's little attack on the slower slopes
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Thomas and Cancellara
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Richmond Racer 2 wrote:Ventoux was fun
I do worry it set a precedent for more jury intervention.0 -
Preferable to setting a precedent for more cross intervention, I'd say.Rick Chasey wrote:Richmond Racer 2 wrote:Ventoux was fun
I do worry it set a precedent for more jury intervention.
Anyway let's not reheat that old arguement and reflect on the good things.
Neo pros of the year: Gaviria and MosconTwitter: @RichN950
