Best Decender in the current Peloton

[craig1985]

Lance Armstrong goes downhill alright as well. Thomas Voeckler is not too bad either, but don't under-rate the skills of Kenny van Hummel. He said in an interview in PCM, he often pulled back two minutes on the descent. He said he descended the Tourmalet with his eyes shut.

I understand that Sean Kelly was a madman when it came to going downhill?

 

[Hugh Januss]

Lance Armstrong goes downhill alright as well. Thomas Voeckler is not too bad either, but don't under-rate the skills of Kenny van Hummel. He said in an interview in PCM, he often pulled back two minutes on the descent. He said he descended the Tourmalet with his eyes shut.

I understand that Sean Kelly was a madman when it came to going downhill?

I would direct your attention to the '89 worlds where Kelly pegged back the lead group of Fignon Konychev Lemond Rooks and Clavriolet in the last mile in pouring rain after not even being in sight at the top of the hill.

 

[HL2037]

The riders and DSs were asked to vote on the best descender at the Tour.

Hushovd won by a landslide.

Frank Schleck, predictably, "won" last place by an even bigger landslide over Moncoutié.

Interestingly, the Saxo DS Kim Andersen voted for Fränks teammate Chris Anker Sørensen as worst descender. So maybe there is a new star on the "bad descender"-sky?

In the TdF this year, when Jens Voigt had crashed and the other riders were passing by, seeing him lying on the ground, Nikki Sørensen actually stopped and went back, because he thought it must be Chris Anker.

Is it a coincidence that the good downhillers are often the heavier guys and the guys that keep crashing are often small climbers? If for example Cancellara was going down a mountain as fast as he could and Fränk Schleck was following him in the exact same line, would that even be possible? One would think that just because of the extra weight, the heavier rider would have more friction and thus be able to make sharper turns? Or is it just because the heavy guys are often sprinters, not afraid to die?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I think there are a lot of factors. For sure weight plays a part. As does postion, the indivitual's bike handling skills, confidence (a rider with doubts doesn't go down fast. Bahamontes is a good example. he hated descending, at times he would actually wait for the next rider to reach the summit so he didn't have to go by himself. lol)

 

[issoisso]

Since we've started mentioning past riders too, about 2-3 years ago a guy who drove one of the Tour's motorbikes for 30-something years was asked to name the best descender he'd personally seen.

He didn't even flinch: Virenque.

 

[ptensioned]

Is it a coincidence that the good downhillers are often the heavier guys and the guys that keep crashing are often small climbers? If for example Cancellara was going down a mountain as fast as he could and Fränk Schleck was following him in the exact same line, would that even be possible? One would think that just because of the extra weight, the heavier rider would have more friction and thus be able to make sharper turns? Or is it just because the heavy guys are often sprinters, not afraid to die?

Coming from a motorcycling background, weight is as much a hindrance as a help when looking at pure cornering ability. Extra vertical load on the contact patch is overcome by added lateral load (although this changes somewhat over rough surfaces, as a heavier bike is less likely to "skip" and therefore lose traction). A low centre of gravity is far more important, as it keeps the bike more stable and minimizes the amount of lean angle required to achieve the same turning radius.

In the straights, extra weight compared to frontal area will help acceleration and top speed in overcoming wind and rolling resistance.

In my Rabocentric world, I would have nominated Gesink as a terrible descender (he all but lost Paris-Nice on a downhill) up until this years Vuelta when he managed to bridge back a gap to the leaders on a descent.

Lars Boom, on the other hand, I would love to see at full pace. A CX or MTB background, I would think, gives a rider more comfort riding at the limits of traction.

 

[ethnik]

Haussler was hauling *** downhill in the rain on his stage victory day. Most impressive.

My all time favourite descender has got to be Sean Yates though.

Steve Bauer could also haul it down, when i was a teen and just getting started with cycling I distinctly remember watching the Tour de Trump and some of the tv shots of him going downhill had me emulating him the very next day down my local twister, upper body way out and over the bars.

 

[danyela]

. Thomas Voeckler is not too bad either, but don't under-rate the skills of Kenny van Hummel. He said in an interview in PCM, he often pulled back two minutes on the descent. He said he descended the Tourmalet with his eyes shut.

But didn't Kenny crash out of the TdF on a descent when he was on his own?

 

[craig1985]

I think guys who do come from a MTB or CX background are generally pretty good at going downhill. That is why Evans, Landis, Pereiro, Simoni, and Rasmussen are great at descending, and I would think Lars Boom would be great as well. Sammy Sanchez does come from a moto background, so that would probably explain why he is a nutcase when he descends.

Ivan Basso is another shocker when he descends. Gilberto Simoni made a point of this in a PCM interview in 2007.

 

[cyclingmad]

Kenny Van Hummel

But didn't Kenny crash out of the TdF on a descent when he was on his own?

He crash on the Col de Petit Saint Bernard decent where Jens Voigt crashed. The decent was really technical and he was probably caught in the crowds heading back he was so slow everyone thought no one was left on the course

 

[Arnout]

I think guys who do come from a MTB or CX background are generally pretty good at going downhill. That is why Evans, Landis, Pereiro, Simoni, and Rasmussen are great at descending, and I would think Lars Boom would be great as well. Sammy Sanchez does come from a moto background, so that would probably explain why he is a nutcase when he descends.

Ivan Basso is another shocker when he descends. Gilberto Simoni made a point of this in a PCM interview in 2007.

Do you mean the last part as in good or bad? Because Basso is a horrible descender.

 

[danyela]

He crash on the Col de Petit Saint Bernard decent where Jens Voigt crashed. The decent was really technical and he was probably caught in the crowds heading back he was so slow everyone thought no one was left on the course

Ah of course, that makes sense!

Also just a thought, I think it might have been the same stage when the Schlecks and Contador were out the front and Kloden was dropped, and Armstrong was further back, but made up a lot of time on the descent and caught several riders in front of him. So I'm guessing that would make him a decent descender.

 

[Swingtop]

Alessandro Bertolini

Ah thanks! If it's raining, I'd pick him for the descent.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Ah of course, that makes sense!

Also just a thought, I think it might have been the same stage when the Schlecks and Contador were out the front and Kloden was dropped, and Armstrong was further back, but made up a lot of time on the descent and caught several riders in front of him. So I'm guessing that would make him a decent descender.

Actually the two muppets Paul and Phil said he made up a lot of time. Typical of the *** VS coverage those 2 twits spent the whole descent blathering on about what a great descender His Highness is. When it was over Lance had been caught for about 15 seconds by Nibali the 2 of them had caught the blown Kloden, the gap back to Wiggins and the gap up to Schlecks and Contador had both stayed at what they were at the top of the climb.

 

[scribe]

Decender 25 is a joyous day.

 

[Ripper]

One more call out for Sanchez and Cunego as some of the best of the current crop, Cancellera and Thor as well.

Sean Yates was def. way up there in his day.

 

[pedaling squares]

Actually the two muppets Paul and Phil said he made up a lot of time. Typical of the *** VS coverage those 2 twits spent the whole descent blathering on about what a great descender His Highness is. When it was over Lance had been caught for about 15 seconds by Nibali the 2 of them had caught the blown Kloden, the gap back to Wiggins and the gap up to Schlecks and Contador had both stayed at what they were at the top of the climb.

That was good comedy when P&P, and Bob Roll in the pm coverage, were banging on about Lance's sublime descending skills, while on screen Nibali was catching Lance on the descent.

 

[Hugh Januss]

That was good comedy when P&P, and Bob Roll in the pm coverage, were banging on about Lance's sublime descending skills, while on screen Nibali was catching Lance on the descent.

It was..... sublime.

 

[craig1985]

That was good comedy when P&P, and Bob Roll in the pm coverage, were banging on about Lance's sublime descending skills, while on screen Nibali was catching Lance on the descent.

I bet their pants were rather sticky at the end of the coverage

*goes outside and vomits*

 

[350Watts]

Didn't Armstrong win the 93 Worlds on the descent?

 

[The_Z_man]

DiLuca did a great job descending during this year's Giro. Of course he may have just been hepped up on goofballs.

One of the best descents I've ever seen was Bettini in the Giro di Lombardia in 2006. His ride from the top of the Madonna del Ghisallo (OK, not a descent all the way, but close enough) to Como was one of the best ever. On all of the downhills, he cut as close to the guardrails as humanly possible.

Of course it's not really a fair comparison, because there were 2 men on his bike that day.

 

[Rupert]

LeMond?

Didn't Greg Lemond make up a bunch of time on a descent in one of his tour wins? I believe he said so in his autobiography - not sure if that, if true, makes him a great descender....

How about Rasmussen for one of the worst - or did he just crash a lot on TTs? Seems like being prone to crash on corners during TTs would go along with descending poorly..

 

[danyela]

Actually the two muppets Paul and Phil said he made up a lot of time. Typical of the *** VS coverage those 2 twits spent the whole descent blathering on about what a great descender His Highness is. When it was over Lance had been caught for about 15 seconds by Nibali the 2 of them had caught the blown Kloden, the gap back to Wiggins and the gap up to Schlecks and Contador had both stayed at what they were at the top of the climb.

Thanks. Shows how much attention I was paying!!

 

[cyclingmad]

Columbiere decent

Thanks. Shows how much attention I was paying!!

Kloden has done some good descents and was brilliant in the prologue at this years tour. He was caught on the decent cause he was completely blown. Armstrong rode harder and faster than anyone on the climb even the Schlecks in the last 3k so may have had a similar effect but he holds his own okay but wouldn't call him a great descender.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Didn't Greg Lemond make up a bunch of time on a descent in one of his tour wins? I believe he said so in his autobiography - not sure if that, if true, makes him a great descender....

How about Rasmussen for one of the worst - or did he just crash a lot on TTs? Seems like being prone to crash on corners during TTs would go along with descending poorly..

I think it was just the one TT (final tt of 2005?) where he crashed and decsended like a total chump.