Who's the most boring...

paulcuthbert
paulcuthbert Posts: 1,016
edited March 2010 in Pro race
...of the GC contenders for Grand Tours, in your opinion?
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Comments

  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    As a rider - probably Leipheimer.
    As a person - no idea, but Basso always seems a little dull to me.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Menchov, when he's not falling off.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Menchov.

    Except when he falls off.
  • jim one
    jim one Posts: 183
    Got to be Leipheimer!! At least Menchov does give it a go sometimes, where as Leipheimer has no acceleration what so ever. His attack last year in the Giro up Vesuvius was just so pathetic, all the other GC riders just sat down on his wheel as if he was just upping the pace, not trying to get a gap!! Plus his style on a bike is not something good to look at.

    Rant over :oops:
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Kloden. How many could he have won if he'd possessed some ambition?
  • Beatmaker
    Beatmaker Posts: 1,092
    Menchov or Evans. I got excited after Tirreno - Adriatico thinking Evans had turned over a new leaf with the rainbow jersey on his shoulders, but stage one of the Criterium International proved otherwise. It seems he is at his limit keeping up with the other GC contenders and is incapable of digging in and attacking them, maybe he would be better off targeting the likes of Paris Nice and smaller tours rather than three week grand tours.
  • afx237vi wrote:
    Kloden. How many could he have won if he'd possessed some ambition?

    +1
    The British Empire never died, it just moved to the Velodrome
  • micron
    micron Posts: 1,843
    Leipheimer (horrid little man), Evans (what happened to the supposed attacking form of the TA?) but most invisible of them all has to be Vandevelde - just what does he do exactly?
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    levi doesn't even do a good interview... (copies LA's timming when speaking)

    Kloden is so lame he ceases to count as a contender...


    those two make Evans look like Charly Gaul... and Menchov has actually won..

    Vdv is below the radar and gets a pass.. no one is really waiting for him to do anything
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • dave milne
    dave milne Posts: 703
    seems a bit unfair to mention Evans here. Kloeden and LL definitely
  • Many will think it oxymoronic suggesting this, but I just find Contador incredibly dull.

    ...and that stupid pistol thing :roll:
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    None of the current crop come close to Big Mig.
  • Highly unfair on all of them TBH, they are flogging themselves half to death, and Evans in the Dauphin last year was absolutely outstanding. One of the bravest rides I have ever seen. It took a combination of valv.piti, and possibly the most talented GC rider of all time working together to deny him. He attacked about ten times on the last two days.
    Dan
  • autobahn
    autobahn Posts: 114
    Good subject matter!! Cadel Evans surely!!
    In addition, not a rider as such, but I find myself wanting to self harm when Dave Brailsford (team boss Sky) opens his mouth.
  • oldwelshman
    oldwelshman Posts: 4,733
    Autobahn wrote:
    Good subject matter!! Cadel Evans surely!!
    In addition, not a rider as such, but I find myself wanting to self harm when Dave Brailsford (team boss Sky) opens his mouth.
    Go ahead, feel free, either that or turn off the poxy TV.
    If you all find them so boring go ride instead or watch eastenders !!
  • Pork Sword
    Pork Sword Posts: 213
    For my money.... Evans is a big let-down. If I had his climbing abiliies I'd attack at every possible opportunity. Something he's not inclined to do apart from his win in the Worlds. My favourite rider of the last 20 years is Claudio Chiapucci for his pure attacking, never-say-die attitude - class!
    let all your saddles be comfy and all your rides less bumpy....
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    +1 to Chiappucci, that ride to Sestrierre in 1992 was the highlight of my time watching bike racing. I can't imagine we'll see a potential winner ever do that again.
  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    Pork Sword wrote:
    For my money.... Evans is a big let-down. If I had his climbing abiliies I'd attack at every possible opportunity. Something he's not inclined to do apart from his win in the Worlds. My favourite rider of the last 20 years is Claudio Chiapucci for his pure attacking, never-say-die attitude - class!

    So you're saying if you had the ability to ride up mountains steadily, but not necessarily to make a number of explosive kicks, (Evans' abilities) you would attack all the time?...
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • Pross wrote:
    None of the current crop come close to Big Mig.

    Aren't you forgetting his attacking into Liege in '95? When was the last time you saw a GC rider attacking on a flat stage?

    But I would have to pick LA as the most boring. Apart from 2003 all his TdF rides were the same. Wait until 1st mountain stage, team on the front setting high pace, attack 5km or so from finish. Very effective, but not very exciting as far as I'm concerned.

    Not sure he did anything exciting last year either...
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Not sure he did anything exciting last year either...

    Attacked his team mate in the crosswinds and thus ensured his place as an enemy of FF forever more :lol:
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    Pross wrote:
    +1 to Chiappucci, that ride to Sestrierre in 1992 was the highlight of my time watching bike racing. I can't imagine we'll see a potential winner ever do that again.

    For a GC contendor that attack was suicidal and Chiappucci only got away with it because Indurain bonked in the closing kilometres of the stage. Not that it mattered as he'd already put over 6 minutes into Chiappucci in the Luxembourg TT.

    Did anyone ever consider Chiappucci a potential GC winner? His best results came when coming second to Indurain, in both the Giro and the Tour, and I think Indurain always had the measure of him.

    This doesn't even take into account how Chiappucci was 'prepared'. As he, Indurain and a couple of others were probably the first riders to master EPO usage in Grand Tours thanks to their partnerships with Conconi and Ferrari.
  • magicrhodes
    magicrhodes Posts: 123
    Pross wrote:
    None of the current crop come close to Big Mig.

    Aren't you forgetting his attacking into Liege in '95? When was the last time you saw a GC rider attacking on a flat stage?

    But I would have to pick LA as the most boring. Apart from 2003 all his TdF rides were the same. Wait until 1st mountain stage, team on the front setting high pace, attack 5km or so from finish. Very effective, but not very exciting as far as I'm concerned.

    Not sure he did anything exciting last year either...

    Sorry Pross is right, winning by timetrialling is boring and he mainly won by TT. I'm not saying it is easy but it is boring.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    Armstrong, presumably with Bruyneel's guidance, took the Indurain/Banesto tactic and improved it. People forget that Indurain would use the time trial to get a gap on most of his rivals, just as Armstrong did, then use the first mountain stage to whittle down the contenders to one or two, usually gifting one of them the stage, then mark them for the rest of the race.
  • Pross wrote:
    Not sure he did anything exciting last year either...

    Attacked his team mate in the crosswinds and thus ensured his place as an enemy of FF forever more :lol:

    I thought it was Columbia/HTC that attacked in the crosswinds?
  • Sorry Pross is right, winning by timetrialling is boring and he mainly won by TT. I'm not saying it is easy but it is boring.

    I would agree, TT's are dull. But it seems to me people only remember Indurain for the Luxenbourg TT stage in '92. I've already mentioned the '95 stage into Liege, but what about the Val-Louron stage in '91? Claudio Chiappucci won the stage, but Indurain attacked on the descent of the Tourmalet with still the Aspin and climb up to Val Louron to go. Nobody remembers that?
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    Indurain attacked and took Chiappucci with him, then gifted him the stage as he won the yellow jersey (if memory serves).

    Remember the stage to La Plagne in 1995? Zuelle was away and set for the stage but Indurain attacked from the peleton and closed the gap down to about two minutes on his own, it was around 5 minutes at the foot of the climb. Behind him the next best rider was another two minutes back.

    This idea that Indurain never attacked is bullsh!t I'm afraid.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Did anyone ever consider Chiappucci a potential GC winner? His best results came when coming second to Indurain, in both the Giro and the Tour, and I think Indurain always had the measure of him.

    Surely coming second makes you a contender doesn't it? He was in yellow until the penultimate stage in 90 I think before Lemond overtook him in the TT. Unfortunately all riders from that era are now tainted with doping suspicions whether proven or not.

    OK Indurain attackeed 3 times in 5 victories so he isn't boring :wink: I didn't say he never attacked anyway, I just said he was boring and at the end of the day if you can win a GT with those tactics then why not? I don't think we'll see Tours won by multiple attacking again, it's too well controlled these days and either a case of limit your losses in the mountains and rely on your time trailling ability or mount one big attack on a final climb and then hold on in the TTs.. Remember the days when GT contenders would win sprints on flat stages or get in breaks (neither do I but I wish I could :lol: ).
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    andyp wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    +1 to Chiappucci, that ride to Sestrierre in 1992 was the highlight of my time watching bike racing. I can't imagine we'll see a potential winner ever do that again.

    For a GC contendor that attack was suicidal and Chiappucci only got away with it because Indurain bonked in the closing kilometres of the stage. Not that it mattered as he'd already put over 6 minutes into Chiappucci in the Luxembourg TT.

    Did anyone ever consider Chiappucci a potential GC winner? His best results came when coming second to Indurain, in both the Giro and the Tour, and I think Indurain always had the measure of him.

    This doesn't even take into account how Chiappucci was 'prepared'. As he, Indurain and a couple of others were probably the first riders to master EPO usage in Grand Tours thanks to their partnerships with Conconi and Ferrari.

    Agreed. Chiapucci was always an also ran until he met the good Dr's. Read Roche's comments on his second time at Carrera (yes I know about Roche not being a good boy in his second stint either) where he was amazed that a no-mark like Chiapucci was all of a sudden top dog.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • Robstar24
    Robstar24 Posts: 173
    not sure about some of the LA comments; while his formula was fairly tried and tested, he was a much, much more aggressive rider than miguel indurain, who did try v hard to win stages rather than just the time trials. remember tdf 2004 when he won five stages in the same race? you would never have seen big mig do that, he was very generous toward his rivals.

    There were far more interesting lance moments: sestrieres 1999, bonk joux-plane 2000, alpe d'huez 2001, (nothing of note 2002), and luz-ardiden 2003 was a masterclass in aggressive riding when the chips are down.

    of the current contenders, evans is relatively dull, but i think that's because he doesn't really have the climbing ability to ride away from andy schleck and contador. his only mountain attack i can remember in the TdF was 2005 on the aubisque, and he was allowed to go as he wasn't a threat to LA on the GC.

    for dull, how about valverde winning the Vuelta without a single stage win? granted the vuelta is quite a boring race, never seems to have any spectators.
  • Robstar24
    Robstar24 Posts: 173
    agreed that chiapucci was never really a GC contender, he ended up in yellow in 1990 tdf without really knowing how. i can't remember a stage in his career when it seemed he would ever really threaten to win the TdF, in 1990 lemond kept his powder dry waiting for the final TT and easily won it.