Riders who never lived up to the hype.



limerickman

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2004
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Just thinking of some riders who never delivered on the hype they were being given.

Like.

Frank Vandenbroucke.
Christophe Rinero
Sylvain Chavanel.
Iban Mayo.
Peter Luttenburger

Any other nominations?
 
limerickman said:
Just thinking of some riders who never delivered on the hype they were being given.

Like.

Frank Vandenbroucke.
Christophe Rinero
Sylvain Chavanel.
Iban Mayo.
Peter Luttenburger

Any other nominations?
Tommy D
Hincape (tour 06)
Simoni (for the past several years, though I think it is because he decided the juice wasn't worth t)
Tony Rominger (every tour he rode)
Abraham Olano
Ivan Quaranta
 
Ivan Quaranta, I agree with.

Most of the others wons GT's or world titles - except Hincapie and Danielson.

Marko Celestino's another rider who never quite lived up to the billing : great junior rider, huge prospect but never quite delivered.
 
Jan. Juiced or not he should've smoked LA by a mile

Isidro Nozal.
Jose Rujano since 2005 Giro
Fredy Gonzalez. Could've been so much more than the Giro green jersey.
 
limerickman said:
Ivan Quaranta, I agree with.

Most of the others wons GT's or world titles - except Hincapie and Danielson.

Marko Celestino's another rider who never quite lived up to the billing : great junior rider, huge prospect but never quite delivered.
Olano was touted as the next Indurain. He could TT, but that discipline has never really impressed me that much. Otherwise, he fizzled. (I will get shredded for that comment, but it is true.)

I am a Hincape fan, but until he knocks off a P-R, he will stay on this list.

Simoni did win a GT, and still would if blood doping were not in the equation. So I retract his inclusion.
 
Stephane Heulot.

Like a lot of French riders, he was touted as the next great French rider in the 1990's.
Never quite managed it.
 
Any takers for Freddy Maertens?
Superb couple of seasons and then he fell to earth.
 
limerickman said:
Any takers for Freddy Maertens?
Superb couple of seasons and then he fell to earth.

Still has an absurd number of victories.
 
Igor Astarloa
I'd say Mick Rogers to a certain extent too. Has he ever won a TT that wasn't a World Championship?
 
What amazes me is how wrong the pundits currently are with their predictions. It must have something to do with varying performances due to the extent of the cyclist's doping cycle prior to different races. I mean this year, Di Luca hardly got a passing mention in the Giro pre-race hype, and where were Rasmussen and Contador mentioned within the bunch of favourites for the TDF? Even Cadel Evans wasn't rated that highly despite being third last year if you wipe out Pereiro (lucky break) and Roid Landis off the 2006 podium.

In a sport where 12 of the last 17 TDF trophies have been shared between two guys, you'd think form would be easier to predict.
 
Freddy Maertens did more winning in one season than most marquee riders did in a career.

Most TDF stage wins
Most wins in a season

This rider was the best--at winning.

And he only flunked seven (7) drug tests too (1974-1977).



limerickman said:
Any takers for Freddy Maertens?
Superb couple of seasons and then he fell to earth.
 
1988dist3champ said:
"Jeff" Bernard. Was supose to take over for LeMond at La Vie Claire but fell well short.
Bernard was the French equivalent of Olano.
 
El Loto said:
Igor Astarloa
I'd say Mick Rogers to a certain extent too. Has he ever won a TT that wasn't a World Championship?
Yeh, so he wins the ones that count!:)

I think he's a bit young to have 'never lived up to the hype'

Plus he would've won the tour this year for sure:D I think....
 
Hein-Verbruggen said:
Freddy Maertens did more winning in one season than most marquee riders did in a career.

Most TDF stage wins
Most wins in a season

This rider was the best--at winning.

And he only flunked seven (7) drug tests too (1974-1977).
Hein, I was just doing some searching and it appears Maertens liked to hit the blood sauce quite a bit. Just curious, what was the doping method of choice back then?
 
Bro Deal said:
Bernard was the French equivalent of Olano.

Jeff Bernard is a very good nomination : this guy was meant to be the next Hinault circa 1988/89.
 
thoughtforfood said:
Simoni did win a GT, and still would if blood doping were not in the equation. So I retract his inclusion.
Last year was the first time Simoni didn't finish on the podium, and he finished 4th, since '98 excepting the year he crashed out (2002). He won the Giro twice (2001 and 2003) and was second in 2005.

Other than Armstrong and perhaps Ullrich he has probably more GT success (7 podiums including two wins) in the last decade than any other rider, so I think retracting his inclusion was wise.
 
limerickman said:
Just thinking of some riders who never delivered on the hype they were being given.

Like.

Frank Vandenbroucke.
Christophe Rinero
Sylvain Chavanel.
Iban Mayo.
Peter Luttenburger

Any other nominations?
Romans Vainsteins

VdB was pretty damn good there for a couple of years so I'm not sure he didn't live up to his hype. His career just got cut short because he was a stupid doper and he didn't have the good sense to retire when they kept catching him.
 
jsull14 said:
Hein, I was just doing some searching and it appears Maertens liked to hit the blood sauce quite a bit. Just curious, what was the doping method of choice back then?
Amphetimine mostly. To a lesser extent steroids and cortisone. Blood doping wasn't unknown, but nothing to the extent you see now.
 
Fons De Wolf
Danny Willems
Pascal Lino
Mirko Gualdi
Roberto Caruso
Jean-Phillipe Dowja
Greg Oravetz
Michel Zanoli
Brian Walton
Alexi Grewal
Allan Peiper
Phillip Bouvatier
Jay Sweet
Dimitri Konyshev
Jean-Luc Vandenbrouke
Did Thurau
Bradley Wiggins