What’s In a Name – Part VII

Grega Bole
Bole means pain

Many riders have surnames that are also nouns. I apologise if this ruins your TV viewing, those once exotic Euro names can actually prove a bit dull but here are some more of the peloton’s names translated from their home language into English.

Lars Bak – Lars Rear
Edvald Boasson Hagen – Edvald Boasson Garden
Grega Bole – Grega Pain
Koen De Kort – Koen The Short
Marcel Kittel – Marcel Labcoat
Adriano Malori – Adriano Illnesses
Grégory Rast – Grégory Rest

 

What’s in a name – Part I
What’s in a name – Part II
What’s in a name – Part III
What’s in a name – Part IV
What’s in a name – Part V
What’s in a name – Part VI
What’s in a name – Part VII

18 thoughts on “What’s In a Name – Part VII”

  1. You can take things too literally eg “Martijn Maaskant = Martijn Sidenetting”.

    More likely that “Maas” refers to the river that runs along the French/Belgian border (aka the Meuse in French). If he was English and called Martin Thameside or Martin Merseyside, no one would think it odd.

  2. Thanks, I’ve got some of these already in previous editions. Flens for example is also “flange”, part of a bike hub. And yes, Birillo, these are literal.

    I think it all started because Contador’s name means “accountant” and Cipollini is Italian for “small onions” or “shallots”. Albert Accountant and Mark Shallot just don’t have the same ring to them.

  3. Here’s another nice one, as there’s actually 2 riders who can be connected this way:

    Alejandro Valverde – green valley

    In the good old days, there was the Dutch field crosser Reinier Groenendaal. Groenendaal is Dutch for green valley.

  4. You should talke a historical perspective on these names – there’s a treasure trove just in the Italians: Gianni Bugno, Guido Bontempi, etc.

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