Top ten moments in 2020
These are my top ten moments of 2020 - men's road racing only.
10. Roglic retires in the lead and then Danny Martinez mugs Pinot
9. Gent-Wevelgem. The two cyclocross stars mark each other and the World Champ gets his iconic win
8. Filippo Ganna wins stage 5 of the Giro to become the next Italian star
7. Carapaz almost steals the Vuelta from Roglic in stage 17
6. Sam Bennett wins in Paris in the Green Jersey
5. Marc Hirschi wins Fleche Wallonne, confirming the talent we saw at the Tour
4. Dennis, Tao GH, Hindley and Hindley's jacket on the Stelvio
3. Roglic mugs Alaphilippe in Liege
2. De Ronde: MVDP v WVA reaches the road
1. The Tour TT
10. Roglic retires in the lead and then Danny Martinez mugs Pinot
9. Gent-Wevelgem. The two cyclocross stars mark each other and the World Champ gets his iconic win
8. Filippo Ganna wins stage 5 of the Giro to become the next Italian star
7. Carapaz almost steals the Vuelta from Roglic in stage 17
6. Sam Bennett wins in Paris in the Green Jersey
5. Marc Hirschi wins Fleche Wallonne, confirming the talent we saw at the Tour
4. Dennis, Tao GH, Hindley and Hindley's jacket on the Stelvio
3. Roglic mugs Alaphilippe in Liege
2. De Ronde: MVDP v WVA reaches the road
1. The Tour TT
Twitter: @RichN95
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Comments
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2029? Pidcock wins his seventh tour.0
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I watched the giro d'italia 2018 stage 19 again - it was mint0
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-Thomas and Froome not being selected for the Tour - change comes slowly then all at once
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
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These probably aren't a top ten so much as "ten most memorable" - as proven by the fact these are what came to mind first. No particular order
- Astana lifting the pace against the wishes of the entire peloton, on a slippery downhill section, only to fire Miguel Ángel López into a road sign and be forced to sheepishly sit up
- THAT Stelvio stage. Raincoats and all.
- TGH properly eyeballing Jai Hindley on stage 20 of the Giro. We rarely get to see the riders at the top of the GC fighting shoulder to shoulder, still less for one of them to start showing a bit of swagger (Rohan Dennis' Terminator routine was also good fun on that stage)
- that moment right at the bottom of Planche des Belles Filles when it first became properly obvious that it really might be happening. The precise second will vary for all of us, but you'll remember your own
- Julian Alaphilippe wrecks the sprint, celebrates too early, and gets relegated
- Marc Hirschi's doomed sprint (what the hell was he doing being able to compete it?) followed by deserved victory a couple of days later
- Lizzy Banks doing an absolute number on Eugenia Bujak in the Giro Rosa, sitting on and winding her up something chronic before attacking for the win. Also this moment of the top female riders going shoulder to shoulder the day before:
- This mud
- This heli shot
- and Muhlberger's mussette
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Lanterne_Rogue said:
- This heli shot
I was less impressed by that. This is the sort of thing that should be routine, especially with high quality drone cameras. As a regular Top Gear viewer, these shots like this are standard. Cycling broadcasters should hire some of those guys.Twitter: @RichN950 -
It wasn’t a drone, it was a full size helicopter filming that first clip. I have to say they do have some very good pilots over there. Well I'm impressed anywayRichN95. said:Lanterne_Rogue said:
- This heli shot
I was less impressed by that. This is the sort of thing that should be routine, especially with high quality drone cameras. As a regular Top Gear viewer, these shots like this are standard. Cycling broadcasters should hire some of those guys.
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Charlie_Croker said:
It wasn’t a drone, it was a full size helicopter filming that first clip. I have to say they do have some very good pilots over there. Well I'm impressed anywayRichN95. said:Lanterne_Rogue said:
- This heli shot
I was less impressed by that. This is the sort of thing that should be routine, especially with high quality drone cameras. As a regular Top Gear viewer, these shots like this are standard. Cycling broadcasters should hire some of those guys.
I know that. But shots like that, and better, can easily achieved with drones with planning and imagination. Cycling should be doing more of it.Twitter: @RichN950 -
ddraver said:
As the Cycling Podcast mentioned though, the problem is that usually there would be a line of fans each side of the road there which would have seriously reduced the epic-ness
That's a fair point. Let's get rid of them. If 2020 has told us anything, it's that fans are of limited use.Twitter: @RichN950 -
It's the perfect combination of race situation, parcours, and photography - the Platonic ideal of cycling footage. Even if drones enable shooting like that to become more commonplace, the circumstances that led to that shot being so brilliant are rarely going to come together. It's a bit like that Cavendish sprint from side on - it's not the tracking camera that makes it brilliant, it's the actual picture it's capturing.RichN95. said:Lanterne_Rogue said:
- This heli shot
I was less impressed by that. This is the sort of thing that should be routine, especially with high quality drone cameras. As a regular Top Gear viewer, these shots like this are standard. Cycling broadcasters should hire some of those guys.
Anyway, it's more or less a first for cycling footage. Nobody ever bothers asking what your second time was, do they?0 -
Indeed, like the first time you went to a 3D film (remember them?) and the most impressive bit was when the Sky logo came out of the screen and floated in the middle of the room...
Nothing in Avatar was as cool as that...We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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Some great choices so far. Here's some of mine.
1. This sprint (although it was when Alvarado rode the run up that the camera didn't capture that closed the gap to Worst) at the CX worlds -
https://youtu.be/sjz8nNLg3qw?t=219
2. This move the next day -
https://youtu.be/vLfFar9yYlA?t=101
3. The MSR sprint -
https://youtu.be/AC3Km2-GDxA?t=191
4. MVDP at the BinckBank Tour -
https://youtu.be/hagDE1GxIZw?t=58
5. Simon Yates' win at Tirreno -
https://youtu.be/W_f99b8SPVM?t=105
6. TGH winning at Piancavallo -
https://youtu.be/tsDA011GnhA?t=32
7. Sunweb at the Tour, but this was the best example of their collective strength -
https://youtu.be/jxGWHEilnDc?t=30
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Isn't it a bit more difficult for live broadcast on open roads in cycling? I am sure they would prefer drones to helicopters just on price, if it were that easy.RichN95. said:ddraver said:It did make it easier to see what was going on, but part of cycling for me is the rider parting the crowd shot too so I'm split....
My comment was tongue in cheek. But drone photography will transform cycling when they get around to it.
I guess you could set them up at some strategic locations but that gets less useful.
Top gear is just recording the footage - they aren't doing live broadcast.
I'm sure it will happen as technology advances.0 -
Range for drones is a problem - you'd have to pepper the course or (more likely) key points. They're not immune to the same safety concerns / crowd considerations as helicopters, either - the AAIB monthly round up of accident investigations now has a regular "bits fell off my drone and then it flew out of control and left a smouldering crater" section. You wouldn't want that over a crowd.
I think they were used for the finishes in the Giro Rosa though? Gave quite a good shot, IIRC.0 -
The live broadcast aspect of it may be the limiter for drones - but the shots can be stunning even by amateurs.
Reminds me of my trip to Italy where the organisers had a drone. That footage is good.
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@Lanterne_Rogue ^ Quite right.
Drones would need to be carefully controlled/regulated/overseen
Operating them in close proximity to road traffic/spectators/air traffic/infrastructure while constantly moving along the route would require some very special skills and a good deal of discipline, not to mention the extra noise polution and how many would you allow. The motorcycles and cars are pretty well sorted now, but its taken a while.
It’s quite a headache and for what? Another TV picture angle, would it all be worth it?
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Anyway, my memory is terrible, so I'll say the things I remember from this year.
Paris-Nice happening - can't remember anything else about it.
Van Aert winning Strade Bianche, then that attack on the Poggio in MSR.
Kwiatkowski winning a stunningly beautiful stage in the Tour.
The Tour TT.
Sagan's stage in the Giro.
Ganna's hilly stage in the Giro.
The Stelvio stage, and it's follow up two days later with Rohan Dennis monstering it.
Alaphilippe getting beaten on the line, Alaphilippe crashing into a motorbike.
I guess that adds up to 110 -
Yes, by range I meant range for live broadcast relays and so on, not of the drone itself, hence probably needing to put them at strategic points for the live broadcast.Lanterne_Rogue said:Range for drones is a problem - you'd have to pepper the course or (more likely) key points. They're not immune to the same safety concerns / crowd considerations as helicopters, either - the AAIB monthly round up of accident investigations now has a regular "bits fell off my drone and then it flew out of control and left a smouldering crater" section. You wouldn't want that over a crowd.
I think they were used for the finishes in the Giro Rosa though? Gave quite a good shot, IIRC.0 -
My memory clearly thinks the Giro was the outstanding race of the year.0
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Some great suggestions already which I won't repeat, but my personal favourite is Benoit Cosnefroy's Bora-induced panic on stage 7 of the Tour as he was going for the KOM points on the first climb. Classic comedy gold.2
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Definitely, the best of the tours in my opinionkingstongraham said:My memory clearly thinks the Giro was the outstanding race of the year.
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I’d agree with that this particular year. I’m not sure how much the fact that no one rider dominated the whole thing made it so interesting or the three tours being run so close together, which in hindsight, I likedlincolndave said:
Definitely, the best of the tours in my opinionkingstongraham said:My memory clearly thinks the Giro was the outstanding race of the year.
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I'd forgotten this, but yes - the look of relief as he was invited to take the points just about finished me.DeadCalm said:Some great suggestions already which I won't repeat, but my personal favourite is Benoit Cosnefroy's Bora-induced panic on stage 7 of the Tour as he was going for the KOM points on the first climb. Classic comedy gold.
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