Best Climber (active)

[Altitude]

Not sure how much The Chicken has left, but he was the best 3 years ago. I'd go with Ricco, although Mosquera was really impressive in the Vuelta.

If you select "other" please say who-- I'm sure I'm missing some.

 

[Arnout]

You're missing all

Chicken has never been the best climber though. Even in that Tour he wasn't.

Edit: Ah, there they are. Well, what's your definition of active?

 

[Altitude]

You're missing all

Chicken has never been the best climber though. Even in that Tour he wasn't.

Edit: Ah, there they are. Well, what's your definition of active?

ha, not sanctioned yet

by the way, nobody could touch Rasmussen in '07. He was by far the best

 

[blaxland]

Thats easy Michael Rasmussen'aka The Chicken..

 

[markene2]

Ricco. Just wait and see. If Vaconsolei get and invite to one of the Grand Tours Ricco will shine.

 

[The Hitch]

How is Robert Gesink there while Sammuel Sanchez who outclimbed him on every mountain in the Tour is not.

And how is Frank Schleck there whil Igor Anton who crushed him on the 5 mountains they rode in the Vuelta, is not.

Anton is a super climber. Owned the 1st half of the Vuelta. Did well in that stage in Romandie (while the road went up, got caught immediately once it went down) and matched Contador toe to toe on de Muur in FW.

 

[Damiano]

Chicken has never been the best climber though. Even in that Tour he wasn't.

Who was then?

 

[The Hitch]

Im a big Mosquera fan but hes not in their league.

The top 3 are Basso Andy and Contador

Basso might be the best on the extreme climbs. I dont care what the fanboys say, Contador would not beat Basso on the Zonc. But Schleck maybe would.

Schleck was the better climber in the Tour but only just. But then he did leave it all for the Tourmalet. It is his fault i know and it cost him the Tour but it doesnt make him less of a climber. He was more comfortable on the longer climbs. Did set pace all the way up the Tourmalet, bear that in mind and got 10 seconds on Morzine.

Contador is the bes all round, short and longer. He is better on shorter but his display on the Tourmalet shows he can hang in there on longer ones. Typically though he gains time on shorter climbs. Last year Verbier and Arcalis. This year Col Laurent Jallabert. Hes unbeatable on those. Schleck was left for dead. Also Pari Nice, same climb. I didnt think hed manage to beat the Caisse 1 2 but by god he did it.

Contador gets my vote because he can hang in on longer climbs while put time in on shorter ones. But the tougher the climb the more it leans towards Schleck.

 

[The Hitch]

Not sure how much The Chicken has left, but he was the best 3 years ago. I'd go with Ricco, although Mosquera was really impressive in the Vuelta.

If you select "other" please say who-- I'm sure I'm missing some.

For future refference, when making polls select the option to allow us to which poster votes for which option. Seeing which posers voted for say Contador is as important than seeing a figure saying 33.6 % or some such.

 

[Anonymous]

For me while maybe not the best rider, the chicken is the most "natural" rider.. no pun intended

 

[Altitude]

Im a big Mosquera fan but hes not in their league.

The top 3 are Basso Andy and Contador

Basso might be the best on the extreme climbs. I dont care what the fanboys say, Contador would not beat Basso on the Zonc. But Schleck maybe would.

Schleck was the better climber in the Tour but only just. But then he did leave it all for the Tourmalet. It is his fault i know and it cost him the Tour but it doesnt make him less of a climber. He was more comfortable on the longer climbs. Did set pace all the way up the Tourmalet, bear that in mind and got 10 seconds on Morzine.

Contador is the bes all round, short and longer. He is better on shorter but his display on the Tourmalet shows he can hang in there on longer ones. Typically though he gains time on shorter climbs. Last year Verbier and Arcalis. This year Col Laurent Jallabert. Hes unbeatable on those. Schleck was left for dead. Also Pari Nice, same climb. I didnt think hed manage to beat the Caisse 1 2 but by god he did it.

Contador gets my vote because he can hang in on longer climbs while put time in on shorter ones. But the tougher the climb the more it leans towards Schleck.

I'd put Mosquera up against anyone on the steepest of climbs. I agree with you on Basso, he can grind his way up a climb like nobody else.

Contador has a wicked acceleration, but hes nothing special on longer, steady grades (by nothing special I mean not top 5 in the world).

 

[Altitude]

For future refference, when making polls select the option to allow us to which poster votes for which option. Seeing which posers voted for say Contador is as important than seeing a figure saying 33.6 % or some such.

Is it possible to change it now?

 

[scribe]

Is it possible to change it now?

I think I can make a list of obvious suspects.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The rider who's looked the most natural and effortless climbing this year has been Domenico Pozzovivo, for my money. Shame he was removed from contention after three days of the Giro, then crashes and illness derailed the rest of his effort. Elsewhere he's been great.

For pure talent at it, José Rujano is up there. But motivating and controlling him is nigh on impossible.

 

[Moondance]

Andy gets my vote

 

[Juicy McDrip]

Best climber is Contador.

 

[Cerberus]

I'd put Mosquera up against anyone on the steepest of climbs. I agree with you on Basso, he can grind his way up a climb like nobody else.

Contador has a wicked acceleration, but hes nothing special on longer, steady grades (by nothing special I mean not top 5 in the world).

And who excactly would be the 5 riders who are better than him on longer steady climbs? I can see Andy as looking very slightly stronger on this years Tour and possibly Basso, though I'm not convinced, but who are the remaining three?

 

[Altitude]

And who excactly would be the 5 riders who are better than him on longer steady climbs? I can see Andy as looking very slightly stronger on this years Tour and possibly Basso, though I'm not convinced, but who are the remaining three?

All of the above riders, including Menchov. Contador's specialty is steep climbs with fluctuating gradients, where nobody can find a rhythm. He doesn't like the shallow, steady climbs (see stage 7 of this years Tour).

 

[ericthesportsman6]

Anton, Mosquera, Contador, and Andy Schleck are a step above the rest ATM. Ricco could be there, but at this point, it's pure speculation. A couple of the tope colombian climbers are probably up there, but we'll never get a head to head test.

 

[skidmark]

All of the above riders, including Menchov. Contador's specialty is steep climbs with fluctuating gradients, where nobody can find a rhythm. He doesn't like the shallow, steady climbs (see stage 7 of this years Tour).

Okay, here's the main field from stage 7, all same time:

7 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 0:01:47
8 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions
9 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
10 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Footon-Servetto
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram
13 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
14 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
15 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
16 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team Radioshack
17 Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
18 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
19 Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
20 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
21 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo
22 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack
23 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
24 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana
25 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
26 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quick Step
27 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
28 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team HTC - Columbia
29 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
30 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
31 Thomas Löfkvist (Swe) Sky Professional Cycling Team
32 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team
33 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana
34 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin - Transitions
35 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack
36 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack
37 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
38 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team
39 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
40 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux
41 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia
42 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha

How can you make your conclusion based on that? According to that result, even though they have the same time, Contador's a 'better' climber than Schleck, Basso, Rodriguez, etc. And he's worse than Capecchi, Roche and Gerdemann? That just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Christian]

And how is Frank Schleck there whil Igor Anton who crushed him on the 5 mountains they rode in the Vuelta, is not.

Three words: Le Grand Bornand.

If F. Schleck and Anton had competed in the Tour, Schleck would have crushed Anton on every mountain.

Contador and A. Schleck are definitely the best climbers in the Tour de France, but in other races they are both beatable (especially Andy). Judging from this year's Tour I voted for Andy.

 

[Kwibus]

I voted for Andy. I think he was the best climber in the Tour with Contador pretty much equal. I don't think Basso or anyone else is able to follow these guys when they are in topform.

p.s. Hitch, Andy didn't only try it on the Madeleine. There was this chaingate incident remember? He had a pretty damn big gap when his chain came off and AC didn't react directly so I'm sure he was in trouble at that moment.

Next year I'm sure that if Gesink peaks his form better then this year he will give Andy a hard time. (biased opinion).

Also Andy is a 3 week wonder which is very dissapointing imo.

 

[jens_attacks]

how sad is that?those fuccin morons who rule this sport never gave us the chance to see all these climbers together battling in the mountains.

at the moment,on the steep climbs the best climber is by far,ivan basso.on those climbs with 6 or 7% contador and andy schleck.rasmussen till 2007 was one of the best but now he's kind of no longer active(just dancing with the stars active).
anyway watch out next year for anton,ricco or gesink.

 

[Arnout]

How can you all say Rasmussen was a top climber? He was the second climber in one Tour (that of 2007, where he could beat Conti once because Conti didn't eat enough). We do know why as well. In other Tours he was at best the fourth or fifth best climber.

 

[Arnout]

how sad is that?those fuccin morons who rule this sport never gave us the chance to see all these climbers together battling in the mountains.

That has nothing to do with morons but with the riders. Some choose to opt for a Giro or Vuelta and we are lucky they do, because that provides exciting racing all year round.

Three words: Le Grand Bornand.

If F. Schleck and Anton had competed in the Tour, Schleck would have crushed Anton on every mountain.

Contador and A. Schleck are definitely the best climbers in the Tour de France, but in other races they are both beatable (especially Andy). Judging from this year's Tour I voted for Andy.

No. When they're both in good form Anton will beat Frank Schleck with ease. I even think on the shorter steeper climbs he will beat Andy Schleck.

My vote goes to Contador by the way. And if we take active very literally, I vote for Basso on the long climbs and Anton on the short ones.