While probably not the greatest day of racing, it was overall one of the most enjoyable days I’ve spent watching my computer monitor, due to many factors:

1. The anticipation of the PC community and the slew of analysis in the days leading up
     
2. The excitement of getting up at 4am to watch bike racing harkened back to more youthful days when you got up early to stand in line for tickets to a concert

3. The reliving of my college years and monthly beer breakfasts

4. The excitement of a new American team (Slipstream) and the hopes for a great ride from Maggie after years’ of injury and ailment

5. The heartbreaking disappointment of another Hincapie mishap and Maggie mechanical at the most inopportune times

6. The selection made of Boonen, Cancellara and Ballan. Three giants in my opinion and an excellent representation of the race

7. The closing miles where it was clear that Cancellara and Ballan could do nothing and Boonen was going to win. It was a bit anticlimactic, but representative of a race of attrition. Rightfully, they all entered the velodrome together and Boonen did what he does best

8. The surprise to see a young Martijn Maaskant break away from Chase one and turn in a surprising ride for himself and team

Paris-Roubaix came to my mind too. I’ll think more on that,see if any other day is better.

Contador as ROY. Won two Grand Tours. Beat every other contender in doing so. For my mind his Pais Vasco win was just as impressive. 2d place is probably Cancellara, Rebellin, or Valverde in whatever order.

Just ONE day? Ouch. How about one sunny day and one rainy day [grin]? Or one stage race day and one classic? Flanders was pretty sweet this year. But so was the Olympic road race. For consistently good days, it’s be the tour de Suisse, but how to pick just one day? Sorry, someone else has to nominate, I’ll just vote.

Hard to overlook two Grand Tour wins, plus wins at Pais Vasco and Castilla y Leon

Day of the year? The Tour on the Alpe….because I was there. The whole atmosphere, both on the day and the days either side was so special. Key were the people from all over the world, united by one thing (special mention here must go to our ‘new best friends’ from San Sebastian and to an Australian-you know who you are ;-). And then there was the scenery, and the weather and a wonderful bike race, followed by a wonderful evening. Worth the two freezing cold nights in the tent many times over. Honourable mentions must go to Paris Roubaix (Tommeke!!!!!) and the Olympic RR.

Rider? Contador I guess. Honourable mentions here are Cancellara and Don Alejandro :-)

Lived up to it’s hype, that one.

Stage 17 Tour de France ending up Alpe d’Huez

At the bottom of the hill, we had no idea who would win the Tour.

At the top ….. Sastre was king (an upcoming TT not withstanding)

It was an epic end to an epic stage in the biggest race.

And Podium Cafe chalked on the road …… no contest here

Cancellera in the Olympics … amazing

One I’d certainly put on my shortlist would be a Boonen loss, just three days after PR – the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen. Boonen going for the victory celebration just as Cav nips in under his left arm and pushes for the victory was certainly a sight to see. Seeing four of the top sprinters of the season – Boonen, Cav, McEwen and Zabel duke it out in a finish like that – is something the season could have done with more of. And, of course, there was Cav’s podium pratfall, where he was like Cadel Evans on the dance floor, proving that race coverage really needs to stick with the race right through to the doling out of the bangles and baubles.

2 GT’s + his other victories are way beyond the rest, also noting that his team was not invited to some of the big races and how he got into the Giro and still pulled it off.

Best day, hmmm.
I really liked Flanders, though being a bit drunk might blur my memory.
Also as fmk pointed out, the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen was pretty cool, thanks to Cav.
But my vote goes to Flanders, I love that race.

Just a brillant display.

Runner-Up – Cancellara

Race of the Year – Olympic Road Race
Runner-Up – Paris-Roubaix

If George had won P-R it would be the ROY. For passionate anticipation P-R wins but the ORR was so much fun! Hard choice to make.

Rider of the year, I’d have to go with Contador for completing his career GT grand slam, and winning 2 GT’s this year. But honorable mention to Cavendish who really established himself as a top sprinter, particularly with his TdF win.

Best day, well this is totally slanted for emotion and not “racing”, but the TTT at the Giro was fun – both because it’s the start of the Giro which is always a wonderful day, and it was great to see Slipstream show they deserved the invite. For the actual racing itself, I’d go with either the Olympic RR or Alpe d’huez in the TDF.

Tempting to agree with Alpe d’Huez but for the fact that it was a relatively boring – pretty, but boring – stage up to the start of the mountain. Similarly, the Vuelta’s Angliru stage is worth considering, for its final, decisive climb. Keeping in that vein though tosses up a curious one – can your fave day be a doper’s day? If so, how about yhe Giro’s Marmolada stage? Five mega climbs …Contador grabs the maglia rosa … but Sella won.

Worlds : Womens RR, that was great action in the final laps

E3-prijs Harelbeke: Hard men do battle and fight it out in the final km’s. Arvesen is coolest of them all and times his final effort to perfection.

ROY: Of course Contador but Cancellara has made for some of the most thrilling moments of the year.

The race that gave us ‘doodsmak’ deserves to abide.

ROY???
Call me contrarian, but I vote for Cancellara. Contador’s Giro and Vuelta weren’t really amazing and inspiring rides of the sort that I want to have on whilst slogging out roller-time. Cancellara delivered on several occasions.

Contador, Contador, Contador … I just can’t bring myself to vote for him. His past, his personality, his team and the fact that so many of his wins were so boring. Similarly, the other notable contender ought be Valverde, certainly for his consistency in the ProTour races. But I just can’t vote for him either. I think I’d prefer someone like Cancellera, who had a few good wins of his own, had a few wins unfairly stolen from him (shame on you Schumy) and probably produced one of the best rides of the season for third place.

As runner-up though, I’ll go with Cunego – Amstel, Lombardia, and 2nd at WC. Sure he got shelled at Le Tour, but he also proved that he was a tough little SOB by sticking it out for as long he did. I am now a Cunego fan. Valverde and Cance also deserve mention.

Best day. I’ll have to go with L’Alpe; it finally lived up to the hype. Monte Paschi Eroica was another one of my faves – Ballan and Spartacus duking it out, with Gerdemann leading in the best of the rest. Great stuff. All the best races did not disappoint – The Monuments, WC, and Olympics.

That boy was unstoppable in the Giro and the Tour. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before (limited experience mind you). I must have watched the Greipel leadout to his … uh… 3rd? 4th? win in le tour about a dozen times in the TiVo.

Best Ride? Undoubtedly Cancellara exploding like rolling thunder across the Swiss alps to claim third place in the Olympic Road Race.

Best Race… Ronde van hic Vlaanderen. My first live thread and a fantastic introduction to the regulars of Podium Cafe. That race was a blast to watch and I loved seeing the Belgian champ win at home. Classic stuff.

Honorable Mention to Sastre and his Alexander like Alpine Victory.

I nominate Philippe Gilbert, a rider who was competitive from January to October, and who, I’m almost certain, did it 100% clean.

A sampling of Gilbert’s 2008 palmares:

January: King of the mountains at the Tour Down Under
February: Winner of Challenge Volta a Mallorca
March: Winner of Het Volk, Third in Milan-San Remo
April: 15th in Tour of Flanders, also finished Ghent-Wevelghem, Amstel Gold, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege
May: Mountains jersey at Circuit de Lorraine
June: two top-five stage finishes at Tour de Suisse
July: finished the Tour de France
September: 15th at world championships, second in a stage of the Vuelta, and five other top-20 stage finishes
October: Winner of Paris-Tours

Epic weather, minus snow. Awesome show of strength from Devolder and some good suspense, holding the 14? chasers to 24 seconds for 30 k. This is all from memory so correct me if any is wrong.

Paris-Roubaix was a boring let down. I have no problem with Boonen winning but it was almost choregraphy. What was Ballan doing, leading Boonen out the entire way around the velodrome. Give us a three up match sprint at least. It is a velodrome after all.

Best thing you saw a rider do.

This is a hybrid of the best-rider and best-day categories. ROY is based on a full year of work. Best single accomplishment is one ride. Best day is your experience.

I don’t have Cycling.TV like most during the live threads so I rely on the read throughs, but I do distract myself from work when there is a free feed somewhere…like the Reading Race during Philly week.

Imagine all the high jinx & chicanery from the Olympic RR captured in one live thread – that would’ve been the race in Reading. I was laughing pretty hard in the office that day — I’m talking stomach-hurting, Chex-Mix spittin’, eyes watering, people shooshing me hard. Aaaah, good times…

Roy – Sorry, but it’s not Contador (not even close). Even though he won “those other tours”, he didn’t line up for the TdF; it’s an auto-out for me. (Don’t tell ASO – we wouldn’t want it to go to their heads.) I’ve got to give it to Cav. What a season for him!

Best stage – Anyone racing in any stage I’m watching in person! Tour de Georgia wins. Hopefully it’s still around next year.

Most memorable day of the year – Lance really announcing his comeback instead of it being just internet chatter. (That’s not what you meant?)

I vote yes.

That is all.

2. Cancellara – Olympic Road race
3. Olympic Road race
4. Heh. I have a better idea. I think we need to write and enforce International Labor Laws forbidding employers to block live streams of cycling races and forbid them to ask people to actually do work during said races. This works better because most of us have better high speed connections at work. Of course, alcohol would be prohibited so to some that might not work so well.

this is the nominations thread. Actual voting will take place up to and including November 4. Separate event.

Least memorable day: Ricco testing positive. My brain knew it was coming. My heart refused to believe. My bro-mance with the Cobra was just too powerful for to see through anything but rose colored glasses. I was devastated when he was outed as a doper.

He tore up the road in the ToC prologue, can anyone else make a prologue that exciting?
MSR his performance will be talked about for years to come.
Tour de Suisse the way he overtook Gilbert from so far out to win the stage in his home town.
Tour de France wins a TT and is an incredible domestique in the mountains for Sastre.
Olympics 2 medals Gold and Bronze

Agree with Albertina, meeting people from around the world, drinking wine, being at Alpe d’Huez, Stage 17 was amazing, watching Carlos go past, that feeling that the race was here finally, screaming for the next hour, jumping , Falling down the Alpe didn’t help though..LOL.. Oh and the evening is one i will never forget..

Favourite race that had me jumping out of my chair was Olympic Road Race..I was yelling at TV, I’m sure my neighbours thought i was insane..Also The Olympic TT, Fabian worked his ass off..

Rider of the year has to go to Alberto Contador, a true champion.. But i can’t go with mentioning Fabian (he will always be a champion) and Tommeke should be mentioned, but i think his Cocaine indescretion should knock him out for this year.. and agree my Philippe for consistency….

As for best thing i saw a rider do -

Was Fabian asking me if i wanted his shirt… Sorry nothing beats that… Oh ok then

I can’t remember what race, i’ll think about it, but i was so proud of team sportsmanship, when Alberto dropped back to help one of his riders finish the race after crashing badly… I know this is done all the time by the domestics, but it was great to see a leader do it…

If you going for young rider – I’m going for my Andy Schleck, great support all year round, and his performances in the TdF and Olympic RR awesome.. and he is funny..Mwuuahh Andy..

… but Best Single Accomplishment for me is Nicole Cooke’s Olympic gold. Only one chance every 4 years and up against the very best, so the pressure was really on. The weather was horrible, like Wales in summer ;-) then it looked like she had lost out taking it too steady on the last corner. But no, she powered through, and the unadulterated joy was plain to see. Great job done by her teammates, who gave up any medal chances they may have had. She doubled up with victory at the Worlds too. [brief pause to wave the Ddraig Goch]

Best Day – Simon Gerrans’ win at Prato Nevoso, stage 15 TdF. That was one really exciting and unpredictable end to a Grand Tour mountain stage. Just how the sport should be IMO.
- Cavendish’s 4 stage wins, his character encapsulated for me in his 3-fingered salute at Narbonne. Pure class. I even like the team jersey!

ROY – due to lack of coverage of everything bar the Olympics, TdF, ToI and ToB I feel ill-equipped to make a decisive statement for the whole season. Andy Schleck looked awesome throughout the Tour, AC dominated the Giro and Vuelta, and “the nicest man in cycling” finally won the race he always dreamed of. These are all part of the rich tapestry of pro cycling, it’s so hard to nominate a winner.

I don’t know about federal (UK-speak: Bank) holiday for big tour days but wouldn’t vote against it! A dispensation from my employer / extra-flexible working hours on selected days during the GTs would be enough for me.

Obligatory end-of-season reflection:
I envy those like CycleGirl above and Mr Challenge, posting their great stories and photos from ‘trackside’ at the Grand Tours. These stories are the stuff of dreams for me. They might just spur me to one day (when the kids grow up and give me a break) cross the water and see the Maillot Jaune for myself. Thanks to all who post on Podium Café, the passion each of you has for this great sport shines like a beacon and keeps me in the loop better than anything else. Grazie, merci, danke, gracias, ta muchly, diolch one and all.

I have my own point scoring system, and AV came out on top over Bert. Besides, I don’t think anyone has nominated Valverde; he certainly deserves to have his name up for consideration in the final voting.

What was the best single accomplishment in 2008 by a rider in any one day’s race from the so-called domestic peloton? well iI got two:
Dominique Rollin at ToC stage 4 was an unbelievable ride. In horrendous weather, he attacked and dropped his break companions who were chasing (including Hincapie) to win the stage after 7+ hours in the saddle. The blase media (after the asked questions about who he was) was actually cheering for him. Epic was the word.
Svein Tuft at the Olympic Games – what a great ITT. The man had to change his bike due to a flat but didn’t let it phase him and still medaled.

A best single accomplishment suggestion: Cunego dragging his sorry arse home 20 minutes after the others in the Tour, what was it, that last Thursday of the race, only to have to abandon the race that evening due to his injuries. He’d had a useless Tour and really did look off his meds, and the multiple crashes suggested he had a lot on his mind worrying him. But there was something about the fight to actually finish that stage and stay in the race that sorta summed up a part of what cycling’s really about. And for all that can be said against his team and their multiple doping problems, they were there for him, nursing him home. Even if you didn’t like them for the damage they’ve done this sport, you kinda had to admire the way they rode that day, out there, on their own, so close to Paris and so close to being eliminated.

I think most of my nominations have already been given except one:

Best single move by a cyclist: Bobby Julich, Tour de Suisse Stage 7
The stage was won by Tony after attacking from 5km out and soloing to the line like only Tony can. But if you watch the coverage you will see that back in the peleton Julich maneuvered himself up to the front of the pack and while sitting on the front allows his pedal stroke to stutter slightly to slow the peloton down and allow Tony to stay away. This move what a classy and clever teammate that Julich was.