(GP Lugano got away, almost: Ulissi won in 2019 and they got to one post-corona edition before folding)
As said, Diego Ulissi does not win as often as he used to. But when last year, he grabbed the Giro dell Appennino... it might have send a shiver down the spine of the organisers.
/end
Fast forward to 2017 and the 22nd GP Costa degli Etruschi. Diego Ulissi soloed to the win and you can guess there was no race in Donoratico the year after.
In 2021, some people organised the first Settimana Ciclista Italiana. They unfortunately invited Diego and the rest/race is history.
12/
In 2012, Ulissi won the GP Artigianato Carnaghese. It marked the last appearance on the calendar of that race.
The fine people of Camaiore organised 65 editions of their GP. In 2014, Ulissi triumphed from a small group. With that, their history ended.
11/
Two races on your belt is great. But for some guys, that's just the start. Step in... Diego Ulissi.
The Italian won a race in his last 16 seasons, which in itself is already an amazing factoid. Nowadays, he doesn't win as often as he used to and organisers will be more than happy about that.
10/
Or what about Santiago Perez? Never much of a winner. Before his suspension, he won 4 stages in total.
He raced for five more years at a lower level, winning exactly 2 races.
The Gran Premio Llodio, the 62th edition. And the last one.
The Subida al Naranco, the 44th edition. And the last one.
/9
First example: Carlos Betancur.
A good climber but not one to win a lot, we must say. Betancur won 3 one-day races in his life. Both the Trofeo Melinda and the Klasika Amorebieta would not take place after that.
(On top, he also won the last stage of the final edition of the Giro di Padania.)
8/
I discovered something strange. That some guys specialize in winning last editions. If these riders win, it starts to rattle bones of race organisers.
7/
Mark Cavendish remains the current winner of the Tour of Qatar, while Elia Viviani holds RideLondon.
And of course Tadej Pogacar already did: he won the last Tour of California.
At this point, I realised that the other way around is easier. Find a lost race, go for the final winner, tick mark.
/6
Tom Boonen, for example, won a lot of races but is no reigning champ anywhere. Peter Sagan had just one, until they restarted that Giro di Sardegna.
Other obvious names had some final success.
Alejandro Valverde has the last edition of both the Roma Maxima and the Abu Dhabi Tour to his name.
5/
This made me wonder, who would be such a reigning champ in most races?
My first automatism was to check on guys with a lot of wins.
That worked, but also didn't work. For pre-2000, it's sometimes hard to check on race name changes and such.
/4
As a consequence, they have a last edition. Winning that last edition is interesting. In a way, you are forever the reigning champ of that race (unless it comes out of hiatus, as we saw recently with the Giro di Sardegna, which had its first run since 2011).
3/
The cycling calendar is an organic thing. Year by year, it changes ever so slightly.
Sometimes it's just a name change (I type, during the Tour of the Alps formerly Giro del Trentino formerly Trofeo Cougnet IV).
Some races join the calendar. And lastly, some other disappear.
2/
This weekend, the 85th Giro dell Appennino will take place and that's a bit of a miracle, considering the track history of the Killer of Cecina.
Wait, what?
Let me back up and invite you into a rabbithole on disappeared races.
1/
Dversnes eruit voor Johannink. We noteren onder het kopje 'fouten'.
Allez, allez, kop op. We hebben ook nog die 200 razend spannende kilometers tot de voet van de Muur van Hoei.
Ik zou die dus absurd graag doen, niet in het minst omdat Lucien Buysse de persoonlijke held van mijn grootvader was (en dus ook van mij). Helaas raak ik er logistiek niet maar ik ga toch nog ns aan de bakens gaan duwen
Het algoritme is ronduit belachelijk.
Drie sterren en "bekwame baroudeur", dat is lachen met de mensen na alles wat reeds geweest is.
Gewoon al de suggestie dat ik bekwaam zou zijn. Ridicuul.
Ware het niet van Wout, ik zou dit bestempelen alszijnde droeve tijden, mijn waarde.
Aranburu in het Baskenland, ik ga het niet proberen verkopen als een meesterzet, maar t was wel een voltreffer om die nul weg te vegen.
Het voordeel daarvan is dan wel dat dat wss niet lang duurt (ik verwacht toch dat je voor de avond ex-bondscoach bent)
Tjah, de vraag is wel, 'wie anders'? Het moet een PCT zijn en behalve de Amerikanen van Hincapie zie ik geen andere ploeg die er niet is en het veel beter zou doen.
Doet me toch een beetje denken aan de Movistar en Euskaltel 'strafkampen' van weleer, waar die een of twee kerels die dit leuk vinden aangevuld werden met de laatste zes in de team pikorde.
(Voor G-W) "Hm, dit jaar hier toch ns extra over nadenken, die Coupe zou wel mooi zijn. Misschien niet het risico nemen om zonder VDP en VAert te rijden en gefocust te zijn op enkel snelle mannen.
❌️ Philipsen dan maar."
De invloed van @hannesson.bsky.social begint hier op alle gebied merkbaar te worden.
Kheb toch gehoord dat er motregen op Montjuich is... Mss toch eerder gewoon wat rondjes op de Ramblas rijden om af te sluiten?
Ik ben hier voor stabiliteit aan het gaan, maar vermoedelijk is het uitstel tot de executie.
Waarom Vernon? God knows.
As far as I see, he's not a keeper.
Tandje bijgestoken dit weekend en het is nodig: @wouterpeeters.bsky.social is nog nooit zo scherp uit de voorbereidingskoersen gekomen.
