Barguil the next Great French Hope?

[cantpedal]

He showed a lot of potential last year. Hope to see him improving this year and onward.

 

[Vesica]

He showed his potential already in Vuelta 2013..since that moment there's not so many development anymore. His best result last year was a 3rd place in stage 7 of Tour the Suisse.

 

[cantpedal]

Re:

He showed his potential already in Vuelta 2013..since that moment there's not so many development anymore. His best result last year was a 3rd place in stage 7 of Tour the Suisse.

he finished 14 at the Tour after a really hard fall on the first MTF (?) and at age 24 should have his best years ahead of him. He also has ambitions in the classics which makes me like him.

 

[Tonton]

It's true that since he burst onto the scene at the '13 Vuelta, he hasn't really followed up with big GT placings, or stage wins. No doubt, he has a great potential. He has to improve his ITT performance to be a factor, though. Right now, he's still a notch below Pinot and Bardet IMO. What is his ceiling? I have a hard time figuring it out. He's super talented, no doubt.

 

[classicomano]

Still as inconsistent as anything, seems to be only able to have 1 real peak in a year and very mediocre the rest of the season.

 

[beatthatrat]

I think that's ok with the age he is. Presumably as he grows older he'll gain consistency.
In a way he's lucky he has Pinot and Bardet coming through at the same time as he can develop normally without huge pressure being put on him to save French cycling.

 

[42x16ss]

I see Barguil being very similar to Virenque from '99 onwards. Good stage hunter, able to mix it up for top 10 in GT's (top 15 in TdF) and maybe win 1 week races with real mountains. Not sure if he'll ever get on the podium of a GT though.

 

[staubsauger]

This ain't possible to predict. He is still so young. Yeah, his improvement was a bit on hold for one year. But he also had some crashes during his spring campaign which affected his shape. He might still got room for another huge breakthrough.

After all, Nibali was less impressive at his age. Gesink probably more. We know the end of the story.

 

[veji11]

Maybe not the next great hope but he could still be very solid. At least he is part of the increasing french density in terms of quality climbers / GT riders. I like the comparison with post 99 Virenque. He has a similar demeanour : funny dude, great sense of humor, kiddish looks.

If you want to speculate about french hopes, a guy like Latour might be a better bet

 

[Alexandre B.]

14th on his first Tour is pretty solid, even if he cracked in the last two days. He did a fine Clasica too.

Hope he will be more consistent through the season.

 

[Escarabajo]

Pinot is better IMHO.

 

[Anderis]

TBH, I don't think Barguil has been particularly impressive lately. There is significant amount of climbers in the peloton who had better achievements at the same age as he is now. Surely a good rider who can finish many GTs in the top10 in the future but I wouldn't hype him for anything more.

I don't write him off just yet but his learning curve so far reminds me more of Gesink than Quintana or Aru.

 

[BigMac]

Should focus on stage hunting, 1-week and day races. The French ruin their own with this obsession for a sucessor to the legends.

 

[Wallenquist]

Curious case of Warren Barguil. If he didn't win those two stages in Vuelta two years ago I would say he's one of the most overrated riders in peleton. But he did win those stages. And won Tour de l'Avenir (ahead of Chaves) few years back. And because of that he is considered as next French hope for GT win despite the fact that he won nothing in pro (apart from those Vuelta wins). If a guy who never finished in top10 in Tour is aiming top5 and already saying that in January and guy like Ten Dam is going to be his domestique it means that either he's so talented (not only in his opinion but also in Giant DS opinion) or.. they just don't have another rider to aim GC in Tour.

The fact is that he's behind Bardet and Pinot in terms of palmares. Being more specific I would say that they had much better results then Barguil at his age. The problem with Barguil is that he focus too much on one race, like Andy Schleck did before. He had a great Vuelta 2013, good Vuelta 2014 and pretty good Tour 2015. Apart from those three, he's almost invisible. I think he aimed too high in those first years. He should try aim for good results in one week races, try to win a race instead of aiming at GT all the time. Now it's too late because he's 24 and it's his last chance to win white jersey at the Tour so I have no doubts that he will again focus purely on French race. Yates brothers already passed him in terms of palmares. Meintjes is getting close. Soon guys from 93 like Latour might take his place as "next French hope". He really need to make a step forward and prove that he's a real GT contender.

Apart from all what I have said above, I believe in him I think he's really a top talent but just lacking results. You have to be a talented guy to win two stages in your first GT. His win against Uran was a small masterpiece. The other win was perfectly timed attack. There was no luck in those wins. And let's not forget that he was aiming GC in that race but crashed in first week.

His 2014 Vuelta was also good. He was aiming GC and finished 8th. Good but not great but if you consider how strong was the first five and that Barguil finished sixth in the last mountain stage (behind the top five riders of the race) it shows that his level was really good there. And he was 23 that time. How many guys from 1993 will finish top10 in GT during 2016 season ? Probably none.

Finally the Tour 2015. He was in amazing shape right from the start. He's TT was bad but right from there he finished in first 25 places for next twelve stages ( the exception was Le Havre stage where Martin crashed and he was held behind, finished 75th). He survived the echelons, was attacking on cobbles and rode almost a perfect race before he crashed just before La Pierre-Saint-Martin. I think that was the reason he lacked a little in the final stages in Alps. Also, he said himself that he started Tour with too good shape and lacked a bit at the end. If he keep develops steadily I think his goal with top5 is quite possible (maybe actually top8 considering how strong Tour lineup will be) and white jersey is clearly in his reach.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Re:

Curious case of Warren Barguil. If he didn't win those two stages in Vuelta two years ago I would say he's one of the most overrated riders in peleton. But he did win those stages. And won Tour de l'Avenir (ahead of Chaves) few years back. And because of that he is considered as next French hope for GT win despite the fact that he won nothing in pro (apart from those Vuelta wins).

Barguil won the 2012 edition ahead of Chamorro, if you look back at the names of the top 10 of the 2012 edition it wasnt a very strong edition (climbing wise). Chaves won the 2011 edition.

 

[Wallenquist]

Re: Re:

Curious case of Warren Barguil. If he didn't win those two stages in Vuelta two years ago I would say he's one of the most overrated riders in peleton. But he did win those stages. And won Tour de l'Avenir (ahead of Chaves) few years back. And because of that he is considered as next French hope for GT win despite the fact that he won nothing in pro (apart from those Vuelta wins).

Barguil won the 2012 edition ahead of Chamorro, if you look back at the names of the top 10 of the 2012 edition it wasnt a very strong edition (climbing wise). Chaves won the 2011 edition.

Thanks Ruud at least I remember that it was a Colombian

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

In 2012 Barguil not just only won the Avenir, he also top 3-ed in Alsace and Pays de Savoie, and came in 2nd in Paris-Tours U23. He absolutely dominated the French scene in that year, scoring 2042 points in the Challenge DirectVelo - a record still valid.

His Avenir win 2012 was far more impressive then Chaves' one in 2011 - Chaves only won because his group was let away on stage 3. Romain Bardet was clearly the best rider in that race 2011.