• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Benoît Cosnefroy - the next Alaphilippe?

Okay, sorry for the title (no way I mean that).

But okay, he really does deserve a thread (apparently a U23 title in Bergen was not enough to trigger the U23 connoisseurs among the thread starters).

I don't think he rode the Tour to the optimum of his chances. He could have been winning stages but instead fought a silly dotted dream.

Now we come to his real playground, though, and I'm curious to see him in tomorrow's Flèche Wallonne. He is extremely punchy and last year he was running in the front five until he finally cracked and faded out of the top ten. He also had a very strong showing in GP de Montréal where he was on the attack with Alaphilippe, whom he resembles quite a bit.

In the Tour and the Dauphiné he was climbing quite badly but during the Tour he actually did begin to last longer on the mountains and last year he was flying after the Tour so it will be interesting to see if that tendency will continue into the Ardennes after he forwent (okay, is that seriously how you conjugate that in the past tense) the Worlds.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: yaco and BlueRoads
tumblr_ljs9de0har1qcl1wuvs.gif
 
  • Sad
Reactions: tobydawq
lol

I'm not convinced he's going to be sigh taking the place of my avatar as heir to the throne in races like Flèche Wallonne. I think it's too hard/long for him (judging by what i've seen so far). I think finishes like the one van Aert won in Dauphiné would suit him better, or Brabantse Pijl. But i'm ready to be surprised. He seems like a genuinely likable guy.
 
Help me out here, 'cause from watching him in the Tour he seemed kind of...well opportunistic at best, but really didn't seem to have anything at all on any real climb. Often dropped immediately on anything significant. I thought his Maillot Pois efforts were a bit of a joke.

He does seem to have a palmares which indicate something more. I guess I just wasn't impressed with what he did at the Tour, it just seemed like a guy going for points no one else cared about.
 
Help me out here, 'cause from watching him in the Tour he seemed kind of...well opportunistic at best, but really didn't seem to have anything at all on any real climb. Often dropped immediately on anything significant. I thought his Maillot Pois efforts were a bit of a joke.

He does seem to have a palmares which indicate something more. I guess I just wasn't impressed with what he did at the Tour, it just seemed like a guy going for points no one else cared about.

Yeah, as I said, he wasn't impressive in the Tour. But he is seriously punchy. The stage he won in Occitanie says all about him.
 
Help me out here, 'cause from watching him in the Tour he seemed kind of...well opportunistic at best, but really didn't seem to have anything at all on any real climb. Often dropped immediately on anything significant. I thought his Maillot Pois efforts were a bit of a joke.

He does seem to have a palmares which indicate something more. I guess I just wasn't impressed with what he did at the Tour, it just seemed like a guy going for points no one else cared about.
He‘s just not a mountain climber. It’s a bit unfortunate that his first spotlight on the big stage was him trying and failing to get over climbs in front of the bunch. He’s a puncheur and not of the hybrid climber/puncheur type.
 
First of all - I liked the original thread title, bad PR is better than no PR as you know, and my ego was caressed by getting mentioned in a thread title - probably my only chance ever. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

About Cosnefroy - I agree that it was kind of "unfortunate" that probably many people will now have first recognized him in a role he's not suited for.
Although I don't know about his general post-lockdown form, we will see tomorrow, at LBL and hopefully Amstel, what he can still do this season.
In any case he does have great potential, he already showed it last year in the Canadian races and then at the start of this year.
I think of the coming races Amstel should suit him best?
He's not one of the spectacular youngsters, winning the biggest races before they are 23, but he has been developing very well.

Whether he's the new French housewive's favourite I don't know. He sure looks a bit like Angel Madrazo to me. But I like his style on the bike better. He's got a contract with AG2R until '23, and the improved budget and the team's probable focus on the classics and one day races should be good for him.
I'm very eager to see him in the coming years!
 
  • Like
Reactions: SafeBet

TRENDING THREADS