Cycling: Results in cycling are difficult to predict. Nevertheless, there are now and then winners that even the greatest experts didn't even have in mind. That's why we picked out a few cycling surprises for 2016. From young to old everything is there.
Mathew Hayman's greatest success at almost 38 years of age
Oldie, but Goldie – we've known since Chris Horner at the latest that age doesn't always play a role in the cycling circus. With Mathew Hayman (Orica-BikeExchange), a rider of the older semester has impressively proven this season that the greatest success can only be achieved in the late autumn of one's career. Ten days before his 38th birthday, the Australian competed in the one-day classic Paris-Roubaix for the 15th time. In his previous participations, he finished in the top 10 twice: in 2011 he was tenth, in 2012 he was eighth. Most of the time, however, he was assigned to help at least one teammate, so he was rarely allowed to drive on his own account. In 2016, Hayman was nominated primarily as a helper for Jens Keukeleire, who drew attention to himself with sixth place last year. But things turned out differently. Mathew Hayman provided one of the biggest cycling surprises of 2016.
Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) was due to travel from Paris to Roubaix for the last time in his career. Along with Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), he was considered the top favorite for victory. However, their chances were already gone when Etixx-Quick Step went on the offensive about 110 kilometers from the finish line. The Belgian team pushed the pace for their captain Tom Boonen in the Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon pavé sector. The field was completely torn up. However, 16 riders managed to get away beforehand and formed the breakaway group of the day. Among them were Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and the later winner Mathew Hayman. Even before the breakaways and the first chasing group merged, Hayman tried as a soloist but failed.
The Sky and LottoNL-Jumbo teams, as well as Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) ensured a high pace and kept decimating the top group. Attacks increased in the last few kilometers because nobody wanted to rely on a sprint. Hayman was also left behind several times, but always fought back. In the end, a quintet turned into the Roubaix Vélodrome. On paper, Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Tom Boonen were the drivers with the strongest sprints, but Mathew Hayman actually prevailed in the end. What a surprise and what an achievement after running many kilometers in the breakaway before.
Two blatant outsiders surprise at the Giro time trials
Actually, the winners of the time trials are the easiest to predict. Due to the fact that the tactical component is almost completely eliminated and the strengths in the fight against the clock are largely known, there are rarely any big surprises. This year's Giro d'Italia, however, was very different. After Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) won the prologue in Apeldoorn just ahead of Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), one could have foreseen the impending surprise. On the 9th stage, Roglic achieved his greatest success to date in the approx. 40-kilometer time trial in Chianti. The Slovenian prevailed in front of the two IAM pilots Matthias Brändle and Vegard Stake Laengen. He left riders like Tom Dumoulin, Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafreod) and Stefan Küng (BMC) far behind. Curious: Primoz Roglic used to be a ski jumper, then switched to biking quite late. In the mountain time trial a few days later, he didn't have a chance anymore, but another rather unknown driver surprised: Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom) prevented Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) from winning on the 15th stage up to Alpe di Siusi. His Russian compatriot and teammate Sergey Firsanov also impressed with fourth place. Nobody could really count on these two results at the Giro d'Italia. Yet these results fit perfectly with this thrilling and exciting tour.
The Yates twins blossom into top tour drivers
Cycling fans have known for a long time that the two Yates twins Adam and Simon bring a lot of talent to the asphalt. However, until now it was uncertain in which direction they will develop. The previous performances suggested that they could be classic hunters or specialists for hilly races. This season, however, the twins have put their cards on the table and shown themselves to be ranking drivers. With a strong step forward in their development, they were actually able to convince at the big state tours. Adam Yates finished fourth at the Tour de France and Simon Yates sixth at the Vuelta a Espana. With that, the Orica-BikeExchange team can finally build on two ranking riders. After the 2015 Tour de France, the two Britons will only be 25 years old. We'll probably see a lot more of these two.
More retrospective articles:
The big season review: The cycling highlights 2016 - Part 1/2
The big season review: The cycling highlights 2016 - Part 2/2
The big season review: The top drivers 2016
The big season review: The cycling flops of 2016
The big season review: The cycling highlights of 2016 in 30 pictures