Least favourite rider?

Petacchi without a doubt gets my thumb down - quitting at the base of the very 1st mountain was just too obvious. Funny how the stomach bug or whatever didn't seem to bother him in any of the four sprint wins prior to the mountain - even Cipo would've at least pretended he was interested in getting to the later stages.

Robbie's got excuses for sure, but the man took it to the final sprint of the final stage - you gotta give him his dues for doing that year in and year out.

Lance would not have five TdF wins without USPS, but nobody else would have five with them - the team is built for him and vice versa. Everybody else wants what he's got - he's the only one to figure out how to do it right now.

Flecha is just a baby - let him enjoy his day in the sun. He may even be good someday.

Not in the poll but can't pass up:

Gilberto Simoni. Awesome no doubt in his Giro win this year, but a moron to talk smack about attacking Lance at every opportunity in the Tour and then fizzling so terribly. Even after the Tour is proclaiming that winning the Giro and the Tour next year is in his goals - needs to learn how to better measure both his body and his words.

Cipo - what would the Tour be without his chisled chunk of granite for a jaw smiling at the end of each sprint stage, only to suffer from 'mountain allergy' once the Tour reached the Alps - oh wait, we had Petacchi for that this year!

Other [dis]honorable mentions:

The Euskatel boys (Mayo & Zubeldia) really pulled a cheesy move on Luz Ardiden when Ullrich was chasing Lance - they leeched off Jan all the way up and refused to do any work, then just at the finish line tried to sprint ahead and take away the 2nd (worked) & 3rd (didn't work) place time bonuses. Both of them were far enough down in the GC by that point to make the bonuses useless for them, yet it could've had a big impact on Jan's GC standing in the end. Totally classless!

i dont like erik zabel

Erik Zabel??? I know a lot of sprinters seem to be @$$holes, but Erik is a stand up guy. He doesn't talk trash, never throws a shoulder or takes a blocking line, and always finishes. Diss the other sprinters, but Zabel is a class act all the way.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by BugMan
Erik Zabel??? I know a lot of sprinters seem to be @$$holes, but Erik is a stand up guy. He doesn't talk trash, never throws a shoulder or takes a blocking line, and always finishes. Diss the other sprinters, but Zabel is a class act all the way.

Class act yes, but he just doesn;t have that top end. I like the sprinters who can sit on the front and when people move out of their slipstream they just can't keep up. McEwin always seems to be able to suck Zabels wheel. I mean i like Zabel more than McEwin, but there is a reason not to like him.

On Petacchi, did you expect him to finish the Tour? I would rather have him not try than put on some show. If it hurts him later in his career when he has his own team like Cipo then he can pay the consequences. Theoretically, Fassa had other riders. Even if Petacchi dropped out they still should have been a competitive team. On the Stomach Bug, when Baden Cooke won his first stage Petacchi was dropped (remember that Petacch stayed with the peloton in the giro when Cipo was dropped). He could have had a stomach bug. Look at Petacchi's goals for this year as well. He wants to be the first rider to win a giro, vuelta and tour stage all in the same year. Doing that would be hard if you were forced to finish every tour. Even Cipo doesn;t enter that many events to drop out.

From what I have heard the Hamilton WC course is pretty flat and Pettachi should be a heavy favorite especially if he can get a lead out from some other Italian (although that may be doubtful). Basically, I just don;t see how you can complain that a guy showed up, demolished the field in a few sprints and then he didn;t want to stick around for 100 degree heat in the mountains. We should just be happy that he graced the race with his prescene at all because the other sprinters are not even in Petacchi's league. If even if you hate Petacchi because he is like Cipo then you sort of have to likepetacchi for being the only guy who can beat Cipo. Don;t call him soft either becuase he continued to ride in the giro even after a fall when the Nazon didn;t ride and McEwin fled early after complaining about a DQ.

The only reason to not like Petacchi is that he doesn;t have enough flair.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by lazysegall
The only reason to not like Petacchi is that he doesn;t have enough flair.

I reckon there are a number of track sprinters who could beat Petacchi too, provided they were prepared not to ride the mountains stages. The Australian track team could put a handful of riders up against Petacchi in some of those tour stages he won - have teams drag those riders to the finish, then, as Baden Cooke said - "blow his (Petacchi's) doors off at the end!!".

You can easily choose a riders just to win stages of the tour, but to choose a rider that can win stages plus finish the whole race and win the green jersey is hard!!!!!!!!! Zabel proved he is a top rider in that sense, for many years. Cooke had the McGee leadouts this year, Zabel didnt always have that luxury!!

Theres no rule I know that could stop one day wonders like Petacchi winning stages and then pulling out of the tour, but - to really make a mark in cycling you need to show something sustained. I respect what Petacchi can do, but I believe he's doing it the wrong place. Its cheap glory.

on the other hand perhaps we now should have another jersey competition,

the green jersey for those sprinters who intend to finish and the hawaiin style jersey for the sprinters who want to have a holiday while the rest of the riders are in the mountains!!

I'd love to see the tour organisers put a few mountain stages early on to make the playing field even for the sprinters and prevent cheap glory seekers from grabbing the limelight!!

Virenque is my least favourite rider, due to his part in the festina affair, and lying about it when most of the others owned up. He then continued to ride wiht Polti until he finally told the truth at the trial. I cringe everytime I see the French cheering for him. I can't understand how a "lying cheat" is so popular.
If this view is incorrect, I'd love someone to disprove it, but from what I saw in Australia through the international media, this seems to be the case.

[quote="Quoted message"]

Quoted post said:

Look at Petacchi's goals for this year as well. He wants to be the first rider to win a giro, vuelta and tour stage all in the same year.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Nicko71
I reckon there are a number of track sprinters who could beat Petacchi too, provided they were prepared not to ride the mountains stages. The Australian track team could put a handful of riders up against Petacchi in some of those tour stages he won - have teams drag those riders to the finish, then, as Baden Cooke said - "blow his (Petacchi's) doors off at the end!!".

I reckon that is absolute garbage. It is widely known that track riding is not profitable and Petacchi/Cipo style riding makes you a popular wealthy pimp. If these track sprinters were so fast I think they would make an appearence on teams to win early stages. I mean I think Marty Nothenstein would be a better team by now if that were the case. Is it possible that some track sprinters have a higher top end then Petacchi, but I doubt they would be in such great shape after a ride. You would also think that a few of these riders would show at the worlds or certain spring classics.

Alright i guess I mispoke before when i said that Petacchi wanted to be the first rider to win a giro, vuelta and tdf stage, but if he is going to be the fourth then oh well. Expecting Petacchi to finish all three grand tours is absurd. All the other sprinters have goals too. Zabel doesn;t race some early races to save energy and McEwin leaves the giro every year. Singling out Petacchi because he doesn;t finish the race that you care about the most is unfair. Criticism of Cipo is more legit because he never finished the Tour, but if Petacchi has a certain set of goals this year then he is allowed to skip out on the end of the tour. Look if Petacchi had the desire to stay around he might have been able to win 8 stages, but his goals are different. Why do we want to worship Zabel because for years he was good at winning intermediate sprints in the TDF.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by BugMan
Other [dis]honorable mentions:

The Euskatel boys (Mayo & Zubeldia) really pulled a cheesy move on Luz Ardiden when Ullrich was chasing Lance - they leeched off Jan all the way up and refused to do any work, then just at the finish line tried to sprint ahead and take away the 2nd (worked) & 3rd (didn't work) place time bonuses. Both of them were far enough down in the GC by that point to make the bonuses useless for them, yet it could've had a big impact on Jan's GC standing in the end. Totally classless!

thats unfair - it was ullrichs responsibility to chase down armstrong. i think the euskatel riders had accepted they wouldnt catch armstrong so the best position they could hope for was a 2nd place in front of there home crowd - and to not get second under those circumstances in front of their home crowd would not be acceptable to their sponsors or fans. they also let ullrich take third place even though they could have had third

what was classless was armstrong not helping ullrich chase down vinokourov in the tour. what was ullrich thinking working for the yellow jersey!? what is the second place rider doing protecting the yellow jersey?!!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by gymbob
what was classless was armstrong not helping ullrich chase down vinokourov in the tour. what was ullrich thinking working for the yellow jersey!? what is the second place rider doing protecting the yellow jersey?!!

What the...???😕 That makes no sense.

In reply to Gymbob (02-09) the move that the euskatel boys pulled on Ullrich was 100% cheesy. They had no right stealing 2nd or 3rd place from Ullrich who had dragged them up Luz Ardiden, without Ullrich they would have "died" and strolled in way off the pace.
Also, just for the record, Haimar Zubeldia didn't give Ullrich 3rd, Ullrich outsprinted him and beat him 1 on 1, Zubeldia went 100% for 3rd to please his oh so important fans and sponsors, the ones he and Mayo are trying so hard to please in La Vuelta (NOT!).
Those precious few seconds could have decided the whole race and that move was unbelievebly cheesey.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Cycling expert
In reply to Gymbob (02-09) the move that the euskatel boys pulled on Ullrich was 100% cheesy. They had no right stealing 2nd or 3rd place from Ullrich who had dragged them up Luz Ardiden, without Ullrich they would have "died" and strolled in way off the pace.
Also, just for the record, Haimar Zubeldia didn't give Ullrich 3rd, Ullrich outsprinted him and beat him 1 on 1, Zubeldia went 100% for 3rd to please his oh so important fans and sponsors, the ones he and Mayo are trying so hard to please in La Vuelta (NOT!).
Those precious few seconds could have decided the whole race and that move was unbelievebly cheesey.

They do give money for second place...Clearly, the organizers want people to race for it. They may have also thought that time bonuses counted for the team competition.

Even the ever-tactful Phil Liggett, when he saw Mayo and Zubeldia jump around Ullrich close to the finish, said something like, "well, the Euskatel boys have gone and pulled the dirty on Ullrich". If Phil thinks it's dirty then...

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by noel_usps
i dont like erik zabel

You don't like Erik Zabel?? You don't know UCI cycling. Research his palmares and, more importantly, learn about what constitutes a "full season". USPS...bah!

well, what was 1999? lance ´hasn´t had a that strong team and did it almost alone...
the same with his rides like 2001 to lalpe d´huez, or many stage vicotríes later, the this years 17th stage?

i detest jan ullrich.....
drugs, ...

Did I read that Lazysegall said way back there that Erik Zabel has no top end speed?
Give me a &%$#^ break!
Multiple green jersey winner and he has no top end speed!! That my friend has to be the single most brainless comment I have ever heard.
further in his posting was this little gem re: pettachi
"Basically, I just don't see how you can complain that a guy showed up, demolished the field in a few sprints and then he didn't want to stick around for 100 degree heat in the mountains."

It is a multiple stage race over three weeks, THAT is why you stick around. If you want to race for 1 week then go do that but to clean up in your speciality than go home when your talent is not suited to the course is soft in the extreme. Most of the other sprinters made it over the mountains to contest the ENTIRE race.

Yeah you did....Look at todays Vuelta stage....He can;t come off Petacchi's wheel. My point is not that Zabel should not be respected, but green jersey riding is different than pure sprinting. Petacchi couldn;t race the entire Giro, Vuelta and Tour. Zabel couldn't do it either. Zabel wins money and acclaim because he can win the Green Jersey and he is often UCI number one because he races so much. If you want to like Zabel for those reasons ok, but Pettachi deserves respect.

Virenque is my least favourite