Cyclingnews 2007 Reader Poll Results

Photo of the year

Cancellara image claims top spot

By Greg Johnson

Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC)
Photo ©: Cyclingnews.com

A picture tells a thousand words, but it took 2559 votes for Luc Claessen's image of Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) celebrating in the Tour de France's yellow jersey to win this year's Photo of the Year section of our reader poll. The photo of Cancellara outclassing the world's top sprinters on Stage 3 of the 2007 Tour beat AFP's image of Graeme Brown clashing with Tom Steels at the Tour of Qatar by 9.45 %.

The image of Rabobank's Brown and Predictor-Lotto's Steels coming together in the sprint for victory early in 2007 took second place by a comfortable margin from Stephen McMahon's spectacular image of the drizzly conditions at the Tour of Ireland. McMahon's work resignated with 882 of the 9642 voters, while the image from Qatar secured the hearts of 1648 voters.

The women's peloton crossing the difficult cobbled roads of the Netherlands' Ronde van Drenthe claimed fourth position for photographer CJ Farquharson. Cyclingnews' mountain bike reporter Rob Jones rounded out the top five, with his image of the challenging roots on the cross country course at May's World Cup round in Offenburg, Germany claiming 662 votes.

The top photo from North America went to Kurt Jambretz for his image capturing a horrifying moment as a semi-trailer veered out in front of the peloton. Jonathon Devich's image of Bernhard Eisel's win at the Commerce Bank Triple Crown was a short 99 votes behind in seventh place.

The top image from Down Under went to Mark Gunter's shot from the Australian Mountain Bike National Championships. The image, which rounded out the top 10 photos in this year's poll, also gave Gunter his second Cycling Australia's Photographer of the Year award in December.

Results

1 Fabian Cancellara, Tour de France - Luc Claessen                                   2559      26.54%
2 Graeme Brown & Tom Steels, Tour of Qatar - AFP Photo                               1648      17.09%
3 Weather conditions, Tour of Ireland - Stephen McMahon                               882      9.15%
4 On the cobbles, Ronde van Drenthe - CJ Farquharson                                  694      7.20%
5 Wet roots and rocks, MTB World Cup Offenburg - Rob Jones                            662      6.87%
6 A frightening moment, International Tour de Toona - Kurt Jambretz                   503      5.22%
7 Bernhard Eisel, Commerce Bank Triple Crown - Jonathon Devich                        404      4.19%
8 Yowza!, Gent - Wevelgem - Fotoreporter Sirotti                                      393      4.08%
9 Scenic Santa Barbara, Tour of California - Jonathan Devich                          338      3.51%
10 Sid Taberlay & Shaun Lewis, Australian MTB Championships - Mark Gunter             336      3.48%
11 Erik Zabel throws Leif Lampater, 66th Dortmund Six Day - Roberto Bettini           282      2.92%
12 Finishing straight colours, Tour of Qinghai Lake - Mark Gunter                     228      2.36%
13 Shower in the heat, Tour de Langkawi - Shane Goss                                  220      2.28%
14 On the right path, Tour Down Under - Mark Gunter                                   218      2.26%
15 Sunflowers, Tour de France - Roberto Bettini                                       145      1.50%
16 Luekens overcooked, International Tour de Toona - Mark Zalewski                    123      1.28%
17 Taste of Australia, 13th Crocodile Trophy - John Flynn                               7      0.07%
                                                                              Total: 9642