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Rate The Season 2023

No_Ta_DoctorNo_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,039
in Pro race
So with the season now well over, the nights drawing in and the methadone of the cyclocross season not quite kicking in yet, how do we rate the year gone by?

We had Geraint's heartbreak in the Giro as Roglic mugged him in the final TT. That kicked off a Jumbo-Visma triple GT victory with Vingegaard destroying Pogacar in the third week TT in the Tour then Kuss being the recipient of a Vuelta carve-up that saw all three on the podium.

In the classics MvdP lit it up with the win at MSR and followed up with Roubaix, while Pogacar took Flanders and two Ardennes wins before crashing in Liege. Jumbo-Visma had looked dominant in the the spring classics until Pog did his thing - with Van Baarle taking Omloop, Van Aert E3 and Laporte Gent-Wevelgem and Dwaars Door Vlanderen. Pidcock chipped in for Ineos with a win at Strade Bianche

Remco took LBL and San Sebastian, MvdP the rainbows in Glasgow - after a quick "hospitality visit" to some locals while he race was stopped by climate protestors and a crash in the final kms. Pogacar ended the season with his third Lombardia in a row

Mads P was ever present in all the big races, but a monument or world's victory just eluded him, though he really tried hard. Stages in the Giro and the Tour will have been some comfort.

World Tour win list 2023:

Santos Tour Down Under - VINE Jay
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race - MAYRHOFER Marius
UAE Tour - EVENEPOEL Remco
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad ME - VAN BAARLE Dylan
Strade Bianche - PIDCOCK Thomas
Paris - Nice - POGAČAR Tadej
Tirreno-Adriatico - ROGLIČ Primož
Milano-Sanremo - VAN DER POEL Mathieu
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - ROGLIČ Primož
Classic Brugge-De Panne - PHILIPSEN Jasper
E3 Saxo Classic - VAN AERT Wout
Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields ME - LAPORTE Christophe
Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME - LAPORTE Christophe
Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres - POGAČAR Tadej
Itzulia Basque Country - VINGEGAARD Jonas
Paris-Roubaix - VAN DER POEL Mathieu
Amstel Gold Race - POGAČAR Tadej
La Flèche Wallonne - POGAČAR Tadej
Liège-Bastogne-Liège - EVENEPOEL Remco
Tour de Romandie - YATES Adam
Eschborn-Frankfurt - KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
Giro d'Italia - ROGLIČ Primož
Critérium du Dauphiné - VINGEGAARD Jonas
Tour de Suisse - SKJELMOSE Mattias
Tour de France - VINGEGAARD Jonas
Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa - EVENEPOEL Remco
Tour de Pologne - MOHORIČ Matej
BEMER Cyclassics - PEDERSEN Mads
Renewi Tour - WELLENS Tim
La Vuelta Ciclista a España - KUSS Sepp
Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France - MADOUAS Valentin
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec - DE LIE Arnaud
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal - YATES Adam
Il Lombardia - POGAČAR Tadej
Gree-Tour of Guangxi - VADER Milan
“Road racing was over and the UCI had banned my riding positions on the track, so it was like ‘Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab, what do I do now? I know, I’ll go away and be depressed for 10 years’.”

@DrHeadgear

The Vikings are coming!

Rate The Season 2023 19 votes

1
0%
2
0%
3
0%
4
0%
5
0%
6
21%
daniel_bkingstongrahamrick_chaseyLanterne_Rogue 4 votes
7
26%
RichN95.ducknumber1gethincerihanshotfirstjdee84 5 votes
8
36%
r0bhwakemalcolmmooroDorset_BoyProssNo_Ta_DoctorvincesummerskRoxcBTr 7 votes
9
10%
andypmididoctors 2 votes
10
5%
m.r.m. 1 vote

Posts

  • Options
    No_Ta_DoctorNo_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,039
    8
    6 votes and no debate? Can't say I'm not dissapointed....

    I gave it 8. Some superb spring classics (Flanders was brilliant), an intense TdF but let down a little by the Vuelta in the end
    “Road racing was over and the UCI had banned my riding positions on the track, so it was like ‘Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab, what do I do now? I know, I’ll go away and be depressed for 10 years’.”

    @DrHeadgear

    The Vikings are coming!
  • Options
    rick_chaseyrick_chasey Posts: 70,789 Lives Here
    6
    Give it a week. Big deadline on Thursday next week and then I’m killing time till crimbo
    _
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    m.r.m.m.r.m. Posts: 3,264
    10
    I loved the entire season. All the generational talents came through and we had some all time one day bangers (WC RR, RVV, PR, MSR).

    The GT's were pretty good with the Vuelta lacking some suspense, but somewhat making up for it by the rather unusual and memorable circumstance.

    My only disappointment was Remco getting Covid at the Giro and not being able to battle Roglic for the win there, making things slightly too easy for Roglic there.
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • Options
    ProssPross Posts: 39,329
    8
    m.r.m. said:

    I loved the entire season. All the generational talents came through and we had some all time one day bangers (WC RR, RVV, PR, MSR).

    The GT's were pretty good with the Vuelta lacking some suspense, but somewhat making up for it by the rather unusual and memorable circumstance.

    My only disappointment was Remco getting Covid at the Giro and not being able to battle Roglic for the win there, making things slightly too easy for Roglic there.

    Eh? He scraped through on the penultimate stage.
  • Options
    ProssPross Posts: 39,329
    8
    Some very good one day racing. Unlike above I felt the GTs were a bit lacking and the Tour lacked Pog being at his best. JV were simply too dominant at times.
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    Dorset_BoyDorset_Boy Posts: 6,673
    8
    Monuments were good, best one day riders won.
    Giro had drama but needed Remco to last longer, and Roglic got a bit lucky - killer blow couldn't be delivered when he struggled and Sepp Kuss rescued him, yet again.
    Tour was ruined by Pog's broken wrist.
    Vuelta was awful bar in the in fighting which was eventually resolved by the PR team.
  • Options
    mididoctorsmididoctors Posts: 16,466
    9

    Excellent poll post @No_Ta_Doctor



    A few thoughts sketched out

    Had some really duff moments but ateotd it was clash of the titans .

    The density of talent was excellent.

    The tour was a real story .

    So was the vuelta for different reasons

    The giro will be forgotten except the rain and final stage

    Classics were strong .

    I really enjoyed it.
    "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
  • Options
    mididoctorsmididoctors Posts: 16,466
    9
    m.r.m. said:

    I loved the entire season. All the generational talents came through and we had some all time one day bangers (WC RR, RVV, PR, MSR).

    The GT's were pretty good with the Vuelta lacking some suspense, but somewhat making up for it by the rather unusual and memorable circumstance.

    My only disappointment was Remco getting Covid at the Giro and not being able to battle Roglic for the win there, making things slightly too easy for Roglic there.

    Bold poll .... Though it will be remembered for a long time. It will be hard to top .
    "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
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    mididoctorsmididoctors Posts: 16,466
    9
    No_Ta_Doctor said:

    6 votes and no debate? Can't say I'm not dissapointed....

    I gave it 8. Some superb spring classics (Flanders was brilliant), an intense TdF but let down a little by the Vuelta in the end

    Neck deep in Gaza ,.... Good to be in here
    "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
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    RichN95.RichN95. Posts: 27,115
    7
    Of the 9 big races:

    Good: Worlds, San Remo, Paris-Roubaix,, Giro

    Good to OK: Tour, Flanders

    OK: Lombardy, Liege

    Stinker: Vuelta

    A decent return and an admittedly crude measure so a 7
    Twitter: @RichN95
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    gsk82gsk82 Posts: 3,402
    I won't vote as there's too many variables. The classics were dire other than the monuments. I only saw bits of the giro, the tour looked a foregone conclusion long before the tt and I don't know if I saw any of the vuelta.

    Monuments and works were great. Everything else not so.
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
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    gsk82gsk82 Posts: 3,402
    gsk82 said:

    I won't vote as there's too many variables. The classics were dire other than the monuments. I only saw bits of the giro, the tour looked a foregone conclusion long before the tt and I don't know if I saw any of the vuelta.

    Monuments and worlds were great. Everything else not so.

    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
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    blazing_saddlesblazing_saddles Posts: 21,606
    I can't vote either.
    I was away from the live action for the whole of Spring and only caught the tail end of the extremely wet Giro. The Vuelta was the utterly predictable Jumbo procession. The first two weeks of the Tour were very good, but the final week was another no contest.

    So I am somewhat surprised to see the year given such high marks. I must have missed the Spring for the ages. ;)
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Options
    kingstongrahamkingstongraham Posts: 25,903
    6
    Mostly unmemorable unfortunately, with a few exceptional races (MSR, Flanders, PR, Worlds), but some processions and it really petered out.

    The Vuelta was so bad it sticks in the mind unfortunately.
  • Options
    andypandyp Posts: 10,007
    9
    The best riders in the world going toe to toe in the spring elevated this above your usual season. The first three monuments were exceptional.

    The Giro was a great race, coming right down to the last kilometre of the penultimate stage. Most GTs are rarely that close. The Tour was decent, even if it was a procession ultimately. The Worlds repeated the same theme as the spring. Please UCI can we have it back in the August spot, where it belongs, permanently?

    The Vuelta was sh!t, but then it usually is.
  • Options
    mididoctorsmididoctors Posts: 16,466
    9
    There was a lot of stand out moments in 2023 ....
    "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
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    ProssPross Posts: 39,329
    8
    Must be at least a 12 for Rob Hatch based on most of these scores and comments
  • Options
    m.r.m.m.r.m. Posts: 3,264
    edited December 2023
    10
    Pross said:

    m.r.m. said:

    I loved the entire season. All the generational talents came through and we had some all time one day bangers (WC RR, RVV, PR, MSR).

    The GT's were pretty good with the Vuelta lacking some suspense, but somewhat making up for it by the rather unusual and memorable circumstance.

    My only disappointment was Remco getting Covid at the Giro and not being able to battle Roglic for the win there, making things slightly too easy for Roglic there.

    Eh? He scraped through on the penultimate stage.
    I didn't think Thomas was going to win even for a second. Roglic only ever does the bare minimum to win.
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
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    m.r.m.m.r.m. Posts: 3,264
    10
    RichN95. said:

    Of the 9 big races:

    Good: Worlds, San Remo, Paris-Roubaix,, Giro

    Good to OK: Tour, Flanders

    OK: Lombardy, Liege

    Stinker: Vuelta

    A decent return and an admittedly crude measure so a 7

    Why was Flanders only good to okay? It had WVA imploding when he was looking fairly decent during the race and having won E3 and having gifted GW to Laporte, Asgreen fighting tooth and nail to hang on and ultimately failing despite a truly valiant effort and Pogacar dropping MvdP in dominant fashion at the final climb. Not sure what needs to happen for an edition of RVV to be better?!
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
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    rick_chaseyrick_chasey Posts: 70,789 Lives Here
    edited December 2023
    6
    RichN95. said:

    Of the 9 big races:

    Good: Worlds, San Remo, Paris-Roubaix,, Giro

    Good to OK: Tour, Flanders

    OK: Lombardy, Liege

    Stinker: Vuelta

    A decent return and an admittedly crude measure so a 7



    ORDER, ORDER. You Cannot call the Giro good...

    From the "Rate the Giro" thread.
    RichN95. said:

    Score 3/10 It was a dud I’m afraid. They can’t all be winners. I’m not even sure the final TT was great. Roglic thumped everyone. It just seemed not to be due to rubbish TV coverage and the mechanical.

    _
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    rick_chaseyrick_chasey Posts: 70,789 Lives Here
    6
    Will write up my own review but the Giro was an absolute stinker apart from the final TT, and there is a lot of revisionism going on here. @andyp the giro was *not* a great race (though in fairness, you were one of the few who gave it 7 at the time).
    _
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    kingstongrahamkingstongraham Posts: 25,903
    6
    I couldn't remember how I rated the Giro at the time - gave it a 4, with the comment "It felt like a Vuelta".

    This year though, the Vuelta felt like an insult. Not just the GC race but almost everything about it.
  • Options
    mididoctorsmididoctors Posts: 16,466
    9
    blazing_saddles said:

    I can't vote either.
    I was away from the live action for the whole of Spring and only caught the tail end of the extremely wet Giro. The Vuelta was the utterly predictable Jumbo procession. The first two weeks of the Tour were very good, but the final week was another no contest.

    So I am somewhat surprised to see the year given such high marks. I must have missed the Spring for the ages. ;)


    Vote for the bit you did see
    "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
  • Options
    m.r.m.m.r.m. Posts: 3,264
    10
    blazing_saddles said:

    I can't vote either.
    I was away from the live action for the whole of Spring and only caught the tail end of the extremely wet Giro. The Vuelta was the utterly predictable Jumbo procession. The first two weeks of the Tour were very good, but the final week was another no contest.

    So I am somewhat surprised to see the year given such high marks. I must have missed the Spring for the ages. ;)

    I actually do think it was a spring for the ages. 😊
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • Options
    No_Ta_DoctorNo_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,039
    8
    m.r.m. said:

    blazing_saddles said:

    I can't vote either.
    I was away from the live action for the whole of Spring and only caught the tail end of the extremely wet Giro. The Vuelta was the utterly predictable Jumbo procession. The first two weeks of the Tour were very good, but the final week was another no contest.

    So I am somewhat surprised to see the year given such high marks. I must have missed the Spring for the ages. ;)

    I actually do think it was a spring for the ages. 😊
    Agree, Flanders and Roubaix were both excellent, MSR was pretty decent and the early Jumbo-Visma dominance provided the puzzle to be solved (and some invective about gifting G-W)
    “Road racing was over and the UCI had banned my riding positions on the track, so it was like ‘Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab, what do I do now? I know, I’ll go away and be depressed for 10 years’.”

    @DrHeadgear

    The Vikings are coming!
  • Options
    rick_chaseyrick_chasey Posts: 70,789 Lives Here
    6
    So, trying to get this in before the forum shuts down.

    The summary is basically that anything Pog was involved in was in some way super exciting and everything that didn't have him in was either a snooze or downright sh!t.



    An excellent flat classics season. Delightful.

    It was *so exciting* to see Pog give the one day specialists a proper fight. I thought generally they raced with the right level of aggression > enough that there is a lot of action, but not so much each move isn't worth something.

    - Average Omloop
    - A standard but enjoyable MSR.
    - Enjoyable Paris Nice with the big guns out. Fun finish.
    - T-R was Roglified, booo. Snooze.
    - E3, what a podium! Good race too, though the big 3 rather shut it down in the final km for the sprint. They were dead.
    - G-W - Jumbo domination snooze. No-one wants to watch a gifted win. NO GIFTS
    - ToF - Look. It was not the most exciting, but I *loved* Pog just giving it to everyone. Outstanding. a ToF I will remember for a long time. Shame it was not more competitive but
    - Paris Roubaix - shame we were robbed of a good race.

    Hilly classics? Not so good.
    - Pog destroyed everyone in Amstel
    - Fleche? usual snooze
    - Liege. Pog crash really ruined the race and the rest of the season. Remco domination was just not fun.

    Now, the Grand Tours.
    - Giro was an absolute dud, saved by one exciting TT. It was not good.
    - Tour. Stunning first week, tense second, third week was a bit dry. I'll take that, the first week was really very exciting.
    - Vuelta. An insult of a race. Insult to the riders, insult to the fans. Uncompetitive, badly run, a disgrace to the sport.

    I missed the ToL.

    Worlds - great fun race. Exciting, fun, brutal. Wouldn't want it every year, but we won't!

    You can't give a season higher than six when the 2 of the 3 Grand Tours were really censored .

    We are very lucky to have Pog and his magic touch was something to behold this year.

    I worry that in order to beat Vingers he'll have to get dull. Or we'll just get a more processional final as Vingers gets to 3 overall wins...


    _
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    mrb123mrb123 Posts: 4,489
    I agree with Rick.
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    TheBigBeanTheBigBean Posts: 20,001
    rick_chasey said:

    So, trying to get this in before the forum shuts down.

    The summary is basically that anything Pog was involved in was in some way super exciting and everything that didn't have him in was either a snooze or downright sh!t.



    An excellent flat classics season. Delightful.

    It was *so exciting* to see Pog give the one day specialists a proper fight. I thought generally they raced with the right level of aggression > enough that there is a lot of action, but not so much each move isn't worth something.

    - Average Omloop
    - A standard but enjoyable MSR.
    - Enjoyable Paris Nice with the big guns out. Fun finish.
    - T-R was Roglified, booo. Snooze.
    - E3, what a podium! Good race too, though the big 3 rather shut it down in the final km for the sprint. They were dead.
    - G-W - Jumbo domination snooze. No-one wants to watch a gifted win. NO GIFTS
    - ToF - Look. It was not the most exciting, but I *loved* Pog just giving it to everyone. Outstanding. a ToF I will remember for a long time. Shame it was not more competitive but
    - Paris Roubaix - shame we were robbed of a good race.

    Hilly classics? Not so good.
    - Pog destroyed everyone in Amstel
    - Fleche? usual snooze
    - Liege. Pog crash really ruined the race and the rest of the season. Remco domination was just not fun.

    Now, the Grand Tours.
    - Giro was an absolute dud, saved by one exciting TT. It was not good.
    - Tour. Stunning first week, tense second, third week was a bit dry. I'll take that, the first week was really very exciting.
    - Vuelta. An insult of a race. Insult to the riders, insult to the fans. Uncompetitive, badly run, a disgrace to the sport.

    I missed the ToL.

    Worlds - great fun race. Exciting, fun, brutal. Wouldn't want it every year, but we won't!

    You can't give a season higher than six when the 2 of the 3 Grand Tours were really censored .

    We are very lucky to have Pog and his magic touch was something to behold this year.

    I worry that in order to beat Vingers he'll have to get dull. Or we'll just get a more processional final as Vingers gets to 3 overall wins...


    Do you think that Pogacar might be the greatest rider of the 21st century?
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    andypandyp Posts: 10,007
    9
    @rick_chasey - I think Pogacar showed something new at Lombardy, in that he won through race craft rather than strength. He was unable to drop everyone on the penultimate climb, but whilst they all sat up and metaphorically patted themselves on the back for still being in contention, he snuck away. A small gap was turned into a race winning gap on a descent that he'd made mistakes on previously. It was impressive.

    I still think the Giro was a far better race than the consensus opinion, even if Evenepoel (and Goeghegan-Hart's) early exits reduced the competition.
  • Options
    rick_chaseyrick_chasey Posts: 70,789 Lives Here
    6
    andyp said:

    @rick_chasey - I think Pogacar showed something new at Lombardy, in that he won through race craft rather than strength. He was unable to drop everyone on the penultimate climb, but whilst they all sat up and metaphorically patted themselves on the back for still being in contention, he snuck away. A small gap was turned into a race winning gap on a descent that he'd made mistakes on previously. It was impressive.

    I still think the Giro was a far better race than the consensus opinion, even if Evenepoel (and Goeghegan-Hart's) early exits reduced the competition.

    Yeah I only caught about 3 km before he went off the front.

    Pog has great race-craft tbh.

    I like to think it's the "inner racer" in him, the desire to just be the first across the line that is his weakness versus Vingers.

    I suspect Vingers is just that bit better over 3 weeks plus can handle the sweltering heat of a modern TdF that bit better.
    _
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