Diamant Bang nominees thread
by Frinking on Oct 18, 2011 6:43 AM EDT
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PrintBefore I'm totally at the arrow and Chris at the mower
I am back again. Second year of the diamand bang! The competition about the bigggest surprise or upset from this year, cycling related. Last year ''Contador getting busted'' went away with the prize. Hopefully the diamond bang is a little more joyfull this year. You find more nominees from last year here and here. What is it going to be this year?
The Diamond Bang could be anything. Rider who surprised you.. Poels! Team which stunned your mind, course, stage, GT which turned out be more excited. A DS who opend your mouth saying Whaaa.. Or anything.. As long as the rider, person, newssite, cyclingthing turned out to be more surprising/different/eyeopener than you have expected.
My nominations:
The precious, the darling the eeeh.. Yeah Voeckler. What an astonishig season. But one perfomance stunned everyone's mind. His Tour de France. How much has he died in that race? With astonishing much courage, deternination he could hang in the top 5 of the Tour. Made 2 mistakes: Decending in first row and attacking waaaaaaaay too early to chase Contador and A. Schleck. He could have won this. Pourqoui mon petit? Pourqoui les mistakes?
Second:
Take your mind back to the preseason. First classic. A Rabo boy is riding with a minute advantage on the road. There is of course one man who is interested in the chase/: Jan Anton Pijl. Kilometer after kilometer he chase and slowly but surely the advantage of Langeveld decreases. 10 seconds left. All the cars are gone. Flecha can almost touch his prey. But than it happens. Second by second Langeveld rides away. Than he makes a tactical misstep. he sits up. Flecha joins him and we get a nice last 10 km. Flecha tries one time to get away but Langeveld counters. In the last km Langeveld is in front. Sprint starts, speed goes up, Flecha gets closer, Langeveld throws his bike a little to Flecha's side, one peddle strok Flecha has to hold. Langeveld wins with half a wheel. Finally victory. That Dutch hegemony is coming. OHN my second nominee.
Right. If you nominee, a little explanation is always welcome!
You have till 25/10/2011 to nominee!
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Like the Voeckler nomination.
Its Kittel for me. Results speak for themselves, but more importantly his talent gives us hope that the sprinter competition in the future will be less onesided.
Gilbers season as a whole is worth a nomination as well.
It's actually Evans for me. I have never believed he could win the Tour, but I was very happy for him
that he proved me wrong.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
pre-season he actually was my favorite to win the tour
(well i was thinking contador wouldn’t ride it). But i had a lot more faith in evans than andy.
You'r a very clever man. I would never bet against Contador for a start.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Froome
Who the hell would of thought somebody with a parasitic worm, who had only won Super SSR’s in Britain would finish 2nd in the vuelta.
Sminer: I blame KARMA for everything.
Jens: I've heard it's a bitch
Water Girl: I heard it ran over your dogma
Zaugg
Maybe not as much as Froome, but still he hadn’t won a race as a professional, and so that makes a win at a Monument, all the more amazing
Sminer: I blame KARMA for everything.
Jens: I've heard it's a bitch
Water Girl: I heard it ran over your dogma
For me, it's 4 Monuments going to surprise winners
Goss, Nuyens, Van Summeren and Zaugg are all fine riders, but at the start line none of them was considered the favorite on that day.
We need one of those fantastic fmk posts, figuring out how often this happens.
Including defining ’how surprising" each winner is. Because as you say, all fine riders.
"It is unfortunate that the Wall is not plugged in correctly."
agree with all the nominations above
To add? My own personal favorite.. it was a real nice surprise for me as a fan of Sergey Lagutin to see him do solo well at La Vuelta, he was the best positioned man of his team. Congrats Sergey..!!
Help PdC Club in STRAVA... Welcome Sid Snot from UK (22)
Who is going to take the 23 spot i n the team?
Who is going to take the 32 in the Club? 2011 meters: 868.411..! Only 131.589 to a MILLION...!
by pablo777 on Oct 18, 2011 10:28 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
no i am not.
I am Pablo…. I work with him for him.
Help PdC Club in STRAVA... Welcome Sid Snot from UK (22)
Who is going to take the 23 spot i n the team?
Who is going to take the 32 in the Club? 2011 meters: 868.411..! Only 131.589 to a MILLION...!
by pablo777 on Oct 18, 2011 11:23 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
not really
I know Sergey good guy him and his wife. Besides the only rider I know. Have to cheer for him. He always brings me something. Cool cut.
Help PdC Club in STRAVA... Welcome Sid Snot from UK (22)
Who is going to take the 23 spot i n the team?
Who is going to take the 32 in the Club? 2011 meters: 868.411..! Only 131.589 to a MILLION...!
by pablo777 on Oct 19, 2011 10:49 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
So we are talking about surprises here? Ok this is my WOW moments 2011
1. Ricco’s disaster!
Sure I knew he is slimy individual, no news here. What shocked me, is level of his stupidity!
2. Contador acquittal by Spanish Cycling Federation!
I was certain that any National Federation is just a rubber stamp for the UCI. I remember laughing at people who included Bert in their VDS line ups. And all of a sadden he was racing!
3. Contador loosing the TDF!
After his performance at Giro? After him playing King in Italy, giving away presents in form of stage wins? I thought he can’t do wrong! I bet my farm on his TDF win! Needless to say, I am now farmless! :)
"I love bike races warm up, warm down, cobbles mountains or flats."
perezbike
.
bet...holmovka is often right. Me, I'd never bet against Contador.
I didn’t mention Andy Schleck on the Galibier. It was a wonderful ride.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Ha! Farm was virtual, but money its represents was painfully real!
"I love bike races warm up, warm down, cobbles mountains or flats."
perezbike
.
I'm only focused on the actual race itself - not his career.
To me, that race was Cancellara’s to win, then he gets caught, and Phil tries his flyer, then regroups and it’s Boonen looking good. Then, WTF, Nuyens goes and hangs on to win. It was all the way to the wire and the result unexpected.
That is all. You are exactly right – right place, right time – but I am not convinced he was expected to do this now.
(I would say that Phil’s Ardennes Week is probably the story of the year – but “upset”? Not exactly)
by JustJoshinYa on Oct 18, 2011 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions
agree with gilbert's Ardennes week as story of the year
that’s what will be remembered of 2011 – that was history right there. But lots of good stories: voeckler, froome, contador’s wild giro domination and following panache, determination and bravado at the tour in the face of his own weakness, then cadel finally winning the tour. Great year aside from the very tragic crashes.
I have to give a pat on the back also to Chavanel who had a hell of a year. I don’t get the feeling he’s quite talented enough to make one of these lists, unless, like some of the others on this post, happens to be in the right place at the right time. But he’s a hell of a racer and had a hell of a year, in my opinion. some very courageous riding this year from mr chavanel.
now chava has to go to the giro and get his maglia rosa to complete his set
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
I'm trying to decide how surprised I was by the various team implosions.
Each one startled me, despite the previous.
But I have to go with the “car shoves riders into barbed wire.” That was my seasons biggest WTF, jaw-dropping moment. I guess we never know how close they come, other times.
"It is unfortunate that the Wall is not plugged in correctly."
For me, it has to be Cobo
I know he has a decent record as a climber, but he had always struck me as one of those plodding guys who can never get to the front. I don’t think I even had him on my list of guys who might finish top 20!
Froome of course came more out of nowhere… but after all he didn’t win.
Start fast, finish fast, and hope you're fast enough-- Cadel Evans
How about the emergence of Sagan as a descender extraordinare! That TdS stage win of his was a thing of beauty!
I tend to think the idea of him making it over those mountains and to the finish was shocking to say the least. And to the moto cameraman who filmed that descent (albeit not showing Sagan till the end of it) – Thanks – That was the descent of the year for me.
Definitely descent of the year!
Cunego, followed by the moto, put on a descending master class down that mountain – and Sagan still caught him!
by CollegiateCyclingRocks on Oct 18, 2011 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Stapleton couldn't find a sponsor to replace HTC.
They had a great program that did things better than “by the book” and couldn’t find anyone who wanted their company name crossing the finish line in first, standing on the podium, getting the extra coverage in the trade magazines. What else would they need? How else could they get more Diamont Bang for their buck?
geez there is so many
Goss, Nuyens, Van Summeren, Zaugg (and Gilbert getting ALL the rest) at the Classics
Then you have Carrot double at the Giro, especially Nieve at Zoncolan. Dupont and TeamGadret rode well overall in GC. Contador riding in 2nd gear all Giro.
At the tour, there was Voeckler obviously but Rolland too,
Jean-Chrisophe Peraud, Danielson, Vanendert, Taaramae. Andy attacking on the Izoard, Cadel taking the bull by the horns on the Galibier. Hushovd the puncheur, Hushovd the mountain tamer. Hoogerland v Barbed Wire Fence
Vuelta and the re-emergence of Cobo and the coming of age for Sky. Wiggins proving he’s not a fluke, Froome proving what he can do without parasites. Poels, Mollema, Martin too. JRod/Moreno
My big highlight of the year was the Aussie Nats. Seeing it all in person and watching Jack Bobridge ride in the break all day, going at it alone for the last 5 laps (I think), riding close to the red zone for the last 2, dribbling and frothing at the mouth to stay away from the strongest of the main field.
by RollinRollinRolland on Oct 19, 2011 5:28 AM EDT reply actions
I forgot to mention my favourite diamond moment: Kloden winning a sprint :)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
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