Grand Prix Rejects

We all know our great hero Luca Badoer and I feel that moment is probably the saddest in F1 history where nobody was seriously injured. For the smallest team, the driver who not has taken any points whatsoever, suddenly is right up there and... well, yeah, everything goes wrong. What happened yesterday (and induced some crisis in sports loving Netherlands ), for me, felt really like a 'Badoeresque' moment and is basically the inspiration for this topic.

So in World Tour cycling, there are 4 or so really weak teams (Lampre, FDJ, TLJ and IAM) and especially the latter two have no really good bike racers, at least that's what everyone thought. So apart from stage wins (at least a stage win in the Vuelta and the Giro, though) and some wins in Dutch races, TLJ has won NOTHING since their entry in the world tour in 2015 (not even continental tour races). Even IAM, FDJ have better figures than TLJ.

So, well, it was a huge surprise that Steven Kruijswijk was leading the Giro d'Italia, and by thát large of a margin really. He was considered a bona-fide mountains racer but never really even contested a smaller tour victory or podium, let alone one in a grand tour. So to see him up there (without any huge results) was really something, especially back here in the Netherlands because we feel a little bit ashamed of our rejectful friends. And he was leading with 3 minutes.

But yeah, yesterday, ,this happened. Yeah, it was his own fault (unlike Badoer), but still, this was the only thing that could cost him really. He lost 4 minutes and has a broken rib, so basically, the challenge is over. What could have been the largest upset in a Grand Tour for years (at least 4 or 5 years) is now gone. A probable Chaves win, though, is still nice, but it still feels like 'what could have been'.

Maybe I am a little biased (and I find something funny in that the Dutch national broadcaster suddenly went to Italy with a whole team, to see him drop out of contention the first time they were there), but this feels really like a Badoeresque moment to me. Even though it was, unlike Luca, his own mistake that costed him. I never have felt this in any other sport.

Do you guys know of any moments of the sort in other sports?

Challenge is over? Speak not too soon.

The Swiss ice hockey team in 2013 comes to my mind. They had finished 11th the year before (a typical position for them) but looked like they would win the championship. After winning every game, they lost 5-1 to Sweden in the final, having beaten them earlier in the tournament. It was their first medal in 60 years and would have been their first championship ever. Finland had the same fate this year (won every game except the final, against a team they had beaten before) but what happened to Switzerland was a lot worse. They haven't made it past the quarterfinals since then so it looks like they won't get that gold anytime soon.

Maybe Columbia at the 2014 World Cup? They seemed to be one of the surprise packages of the tournament, especially with James Rodriguez's goals. They get drawn against the unbelievably weak Brazil team in the quarter finals, and lose after the Brazilians get carte blanche to tackle them senselessly, along with a number of dubious referring decisions. I had thought they might have made it to the final, given how poorly Holland, Argentina and Brazil had been playing in the tournament.

That being said, had they won, we wouldn't have got that match between Brazil and Germany, so yeah, swings and roundabouts.

Norwich City in the 1992/93 Premiership season. A very unfancied club, I doubt many punters would have had them to win the league at the start of the season. Led for a lot of it, but faded away and sadly dropped behind Manchester United and Aston Villa.

Going back to cycling - Esteban Chaves yesterday and Igor Anton in the Vuelta a few years ago. Anton in particular was especially sad, he's never looked like winning anything since then and is now a domestique.

I'm sure Chaves & Kruijswijk will get another chance.

Luxembourg in Euro 1964 qualifiers? Beat Holland to advance to quarters (top 4 went to final tournament), drew Denmark twice and lost the replay 1-0.

A couple of galling referee matches I recall would include Australia qualifying after 40 years in World Cup and getting eliminated due to a questionable last min penalty vs Italy. And in 2012 euroqualifiers Estonia, who had a heroic qualifying campaign despite a less than stellar material on paper, beat the likes of Serbia to playoffs - and lost the first leg 4-0 in Ireland, partly because of a questionable refere performance involving an early weak red card. Estonia's trademark was epic long shots, they must have scored over 50 percent of their goals from outside the box.

Although, remembering 2010 playoffs vs France, the Irish deserved a bit of luck too I suppose..

The other one that really sticks to me is the other performance of our favourite track invader, when he tackled Vanderlei De Lima at the 2004 Olympics. The Brazilian really came out of nowhere holding a 30 second lead with just over 10 kilometres to go and had only won Pan-American marathons in not the greatest of times.

Suddenly Horan comes onto the track and pulls him off. De Lima recovers and finishes third, so he did not lose everything, but what would look like a gold, which would have been a real upset, was gone by no fault of his own..

Gp2 in I think 2013. 2 moments here. Marcus Ericcson gets the DAMS drive (best gp2 team) and is therefore one of the title favourites but well and truly fluffs it, but nonetheless still gets the caterham f1 role.

So Stefano Coletti builds up a healthy championship lead halfway into the season. He then after Germany fails to finish on the podium mostly finishing outside the points, loosing a title he had a good lead in to Fabio Liemer,

Also in the 2010 Wimbledon championships, Unknown Colombian Aleandro Falla plays defending champ Federer on centre court on day 1. An inspired Falla goes 2 sets up but looses the third. In the 4th he serves for the match, but looses it. He, wins one more game though out the whole match

The allmighty North Korea in 1966 World Cup, they were 0-3 up against Portugal in 25 mins, then, Eusébio happened...

Or that European Cup final played by... Sampdoria, they eventually lost vs Barcelona

JR Hildebrand is one of the biggest examples. Rookie, leading the indy 500 in the last lap, crashed in the last corner while trying to lap Charlie Kimball who was running out of fuel. He miraculous crossed the checkered flag, but was overtaken by Dan Wheldon in the main straight. Lost an incredible win.

In soccer, Columbia in the 1994 world cup is another interesting case. Came to world cup as the "favorite" to win, get eliminated in the group stage.

East Londoner wrote:Maybe Columbia at the 2014 World Cup? They seemed to be one of the surprise packages of the tournament, especially with James Rodriguez's goals. They get drawn against the unbelievably weak Brazil team in the quarter finals, and lose after the Brazilians get carte blanche to tackle them senselessly, along with a number of dubious referring decisions. I had thought they might have made it to the final, given how poorly Holland, Argentina and Brazil had been playing in the tournament.

That being said, had they won, we wouldn't have got that match between Brazil and Germany, so yeah, swings and roundabouts.

I dare to say even Germany wasn't playing well too and the victories against Brazil and Portugal overshadowed the average performance of the team in the other games (I remember Neuer saving the team of a penalty shootout against Algeria in the extra time).

More examples.

In Football we have Algeria in the 1982 World Cup and then the Yugoslav war torpedoed their hopes for the 1992 Euro's.

F1: Foitek at Monaco

Tennis: Tim Henman at Wimbledon... he was 2-0 up before the rain delay in the semi's.

Cycling: Michael Rasmussen: Winning by miles after the mountain stages, gets busted for drugs and sees another drugs cheat beat him.

I could spend all day thinking of these....

Izzyeviel wrote:More examples.
In Football we have Algeria in the 1982 World Cup and then the Yugoslav war torpedoed their hopes for the 1992 Euro's.

Although, had what remained of Yugoslavia been able to compete that year, we'd never have had Peter Schmeichel, John Jensen, the Laudrups and all the others making Danish bacon out of much more fancied teams.

Guess the European Cup Winners Cup final of Antwerp in 1991 can count. A very unprofessional team somehow making it to the final. But there they lost against Parma.
Now seeing this team being stuck in second division for more than 10 seasons already. (and interestingly, their opponent is faring even worse today).

The Minnesota North Stars in 1990-91. Had the biggest season loss record in the team's history, yet they made it into the playoffs. Knocking out the top two ranked Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues, and then defending champions Edmonton Oilers to make it into the finals. But despite winning the first two games, they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins three in a row, with a painful 8-0 loss in game 6.

GerhardTalger wrote:We all know our great hero Luca Badoer and I feel that moment is probably the saddest in F1 history where nobody was seriously injured. For the smallest team, the driver who not has taken any points whatsoever, suddenly is right up there and... well, yeah, everything goes wrong. What happened yesterday (and induced some crisis in sports loving Netherlands ), for me, felt really like a 'Badoeresque' moment and is basically the inspiration for this topic.

So in World Tour cycling, there are 4 or so really weak teams (Lampre, FDJ, TLJ and IAM) and especially the latter two have no really good bike racers, at least that's what everyone thought. So apart from stage wins (at least a stage win in the Vuelta and the Giro, though) and some wins in Dutch races, TLJ has won NOTHING since their entry in the world tour in 2015 (not even continental tour races). Even IAM, FDJ have better figures than TLJ.

So, well, it was a huge surprise that Steven Kruijswijk was leading the Giro d'Italia, and by thát large of a margin really. He was considered a bona-fide mountains racer but never really even contested a smaller tour victory or podium, let alone one in a grand tour. So to see him up there (without any huge results) was really something, especially back here in the Netherlands because we feel a little bit ashamed of our rejectful friends. And he was leading with 3 minutes.

But yeah, yesterday, ,this happened. Yeah, it was his own fault (unlike Badoer), but still, this was the only thing that could cost him really. He lost 4 minutes and has a broken rib, so basically, the challenge is over. What could have been the largest upset in a Grand Tour for years (at least 4 or 5 years) is now gone. A probable Chaves win, though, is still nice, but it still feels like 'what could have been'.

Maybe I am a little biased (and I find something funny in that the Dutch national broadcaster suddenly went to Italy with a whole team, to see him drop out of contention the first time they were there), but this feels really like a Badoeresque moment to me. Even though it was, unlike Luca, his own mistake that costed him. I never have felt this in any other sport.

Do you guys know of any moments of the sort in other sports?

Felt really sorry for Kruijswijk, and coincidentally Dutch riders have lost podium finishes in the last stages in the last three Grand Tours (Dumoulin at 2015 Vuelta and Mollema in the last TdF).
Thinking of cycling I came up with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIW1MAvyPD4
Poor David he had just come back after the ban, his reaction was very human and in a certain way I like it.

Another Dutch cycling moment: the women's road race in these olympics. The Dutch team existed of leader Anna van der Breggen, reigning champion Marianne Vos who was more an outsider for these olympics due to injuries, Annemiek van Vleuten and Ellen van Dijk.

At the final descent, it was surprisingly Van Vleuten who was in the lead and well on her way to win gold... Until she crashed horribly. At least her injuries weren't as severe as they looked at first sight, but she definitely lost in the best race of her life.

Another parallel to the Badoer story: just like Gene went on to get a points finish for Minardi, the Dutch team won the race in the end. Anna van der Breggen snatched the gold in the final metres; the only Dutch gold medal so far on these olympics..

Dj_bereta wrote:In soccer, Columbia in the 1994 world cup is another interesting case. Came to world cup as the "favorite" to win, get eliminated in the group stage.

And got one of their defenders (Andres Escobar) assassinated when he came home.

I'm kind of surprised the more infamous Escobar didn't pay the way for a few Colombians to get into F1.

Regenmeister94 wrote:I'm kind of surprised the more infamous Escobar didn't pay the way for a few Colombians to get into F1.

Ricardo Londoño-Bridge, anyone? (sic)

AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:

Regenmeister94 wrote:I'm kind of surprised the more infamous Escobar didn't pay the way for a few Colombians to get into F1.

Ricardo Londoño-Bridge, anyone? (sic)

Well, that's only one Then of course, there might have been some unofficial support for Guerrero as well, we just don't know because he also had "clean" sponsors.

European Grand Prix 2006: Markus Winkelhock takes a gamble at the start and puts wet tyres on his car. He then proceeds to drive like an absolute god and build up a lead that may never have been reeled in, except that the race gets red-flagged, his lead gets neutralised, and his Spyker car eventually gives up anyway. He then never drives in F1 again.

That was 2007.

Steve Soper leading his 100th BTCC race at Oulton Park in 2001 only for his Peugeot's engine to blow.