Can anyone beat these 6

[jaylew]

The one guy who could conceivably be invincible this year is the guy you didn't include.

Who that ?

Ganna, of course.

 

[Bonimenier]

Ganna, of course.

Interested to see if Evenepoel can get close, or even beat him. I don't expect him to already in the Giro because that'll probably be too early, but in the Olympics it could be exciting.

 

[DaLong]

8 times MdvP, WVA, and JA have been in the same race. 8 times one of them won. (that's what I heard today--there must be some sort of qualification--not sure)

vdP - 4, WvA - 3, JA - 1

That's my count.
vdP - AGR 19, RvV 20, SB 21, Stage 3 TA 21
WvA - SB 20, MS 20, Stage 1 TA 21
JA - Stage 2 TA 21

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Interested to see if Evenepoel can get close, or even beat him. I don't expect him to already in the Giro because that'll probably be too early, but in the Olympics it could be exciting.

I think that Evenepoel is slightly shifting towards climbing with his reduced weight. Not that he'll lose his TT abilities but competing with Filippo "the tank engine" may prove too much to anyone in the coming years (I see him as a TT dominator like Cancellara).

 

[HelloDolly]

And another thing its strange when you realise that

Thomas, Bernal, Quintana, Nibali, Pinot ,Yates, Landa, Fuglsang Zakarin, Sagan, Gaviria , Viviani ,Ewan are riding Tirreno

Well lest see what any of these can do in the remaining stages

 

[Volderke]

Ewan can beat anyone in a sprint, but he's out of the race with gastroenteritis.

 

[Red Rick]

Me.

What sort of bat do you use?

 

[Netserk]

I think that Evenepoel is slightly shifting towards climbing with his reduced weight. Not that he'll lose his TT abilities but competing with Filippo "the tank engine" may prove too much to anyone in the coming years (I see him as a TT dominator like Cancellara).

Cancellara was never this dominant in TTs. The only long ITTs he dominated was single day events (where the competition wasn’t always the very best).

 

[Red Rick]

Cancellara was never this dominant in TTs. The only long ITTs he dominated was single day events (where the competition wasn’t always the very best).

So really good but really overrated?

 

[Netserk]

It’s telling that the only long ITT in the Tour that he won had terrible wind for the late starters.

 

[King Boonen]

What sort of bat do you use?

https://www.cometsports.co.uk/louisville-slugger-2019-c271-prime-maple-wood-baseball.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAv6yCBhCLARIsABqJTjYyOA8OOpLfUrK3d2qHPrS8HWUJ_RS-X3X8lGVWTFbpMJNHqE2MYisaAtl2EALw_wcB

 

[pmcg76]

Yeah, don't believe in this. All of these guys can and will be beaten (some of them have been already). And Bennett being on this list makes no sense. He's certainly good but by no means head and shoulders above the rest, even with the DQ bump. We're certainly not talking about a Cav or Petacchi situation with him. The one guy who could conceivably be invincible this year is the guy you didn't include.

Yeah, Bennett is not dominant, I think Ewan is as good if not better. Then add in the fact that Gronenwegen has been missing all this time. Then again, if one of these guys had the rubbish opponents Cav had in his early days, they might be pretty dominant as well.

 

[Koronin]

As the season goes on there are plenty of other riders who will get wins including against this group.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Dear cycling, please don't forget Peter Sagan

Rise of Wout van Aert, Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu van der Poel and a soon-to-expire contract sees Sagan at risk of being left behind.

www.velonews.com

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Yeah, Bennett is not dominant, I think Ewan is as good if not better. Then add in the fact that Gronenwegen has been missing all this time. Then again, if one of these guys had the rubbish opponents Cav had in his early days, they might be pretty dominant as well.

At the moment I think Bennett has the right to be considered top dog, but “dominant” is pushing it. Nobody has been truly dominant in the sprints since, well, probably the period you reference when Tyler Farrar was the second best sprinter in the world. No matter how good you are, if you‘ve Ewan on your wheel and you even slightly mistime your sprint, he will beat you.

As the season goes on there are plenty of other riders who will get wins including against this group.

yeah, I agree. you only have to look at the sprints: There have been 18/19 bunch sprints and 12 different guys have a win. the other types of races are less randomised but it’s really only TTing that is controlled enough for one rider to potentially just win and win if he’s the best. Even if the JA, WVA, MVDP trio are always the strongest in every major classic for the foreseeable future (and they won’t be in every one), other riders will frequently profit from their rivalry. Racing doesn’t happen in a lab.

 

[hayneplane]

I think that Evenepoel is slightly shifting towards climbing with his reduced weight. Not that he'll lose his TT abilities but competing with Filippo "the tank engine" may prove too much to anyone in the coming years (I see him as a TT dominator like Cancellara).

I don’t think Ganna has ever finished ahead of Evenepoel in an ITT so despite Gannas massive improvement in the last season and a bit it would be absurd to conclude he is the clear number 1.

 

[gregrowlerson]

This seems to be the anti tobydawq thread thread.

 

[CyclistA+]

MVdP
Roglic
Allaphillipe
Pogacar
Wout van Aert
Sam Bennet



These six riders seem unbeatable at the moment in races (except by each other) in every discipline

I would love to see the unexpected or other win the classics or the GT but cant see anyone beating any of those six in any race bar accident or illness

Does these guys strength make cycling better or is it 2 tier now

Can Gilbert win his 5th monument
Can Matthews or someone else win MSR
Can anyone else win PR

I can's see it but hope I am wrong

Records are made to be broken, nobody is unbeatable.

 

[saganftw]

PR can be won by a bunch of guys because its not a race hard enough (unlike RvV) to make a huge difference with attacks, especially when you consider Phil,Mat and Aert will watch each other, it could be easily gent wevelgem situation and random dude wins and by random dude i mean of course mads pedersen

any other race with a clear obstacle (cobbles,hills,cobbled hills) its very hard to look past those three - they will probably also win Milano-San Remo if they attack, only races where none of them is gonna challenge will probably be Lombardia (too late in the season especially with olympics), San Sebastian (often overlooked by biggest names because of proximity to TdF), Amstel (thats a maybe, depends how tired are they gonna be after cobbled spring, they might skip it in favour of L-B-L) but as long they are present and commited only internal fight between them can stop one of them from victory

btw in his last like 15 stage races, the worst finish by roglic was 4th so even tho he is always around and probably should be the biggest favourite, he is not the best climber and seems to fade towards the end of GTs, while pogacar has really only one extreme performance (TdF TT) otherwise he also doesnt crushes the competition on regular basis (of course now that i wrote it he will destroy Prato di Tivo and i will earn "this comment aged like milk" from resident jokers)...but with lack of competition because dumoulin is out, bernal has back issues, thomas/froome (too old???), evenepoel (too young???fear of stone bridges), Tao Hesjedal (wont compete just against Jay Hindley) it might actually turn out TdF and Vuelta will be between our two favourite slovenians

bennet seems to me like the best sprinter, ewan is apparently going for all three GTs so how will that affect his perfomance, but besides him, bennet doesnt have a lot of competition as Ackermann is rarely performing consistently, whatever Gaviria had, he lost it, there is a bunch of B+ sprinters who can have a good day and win a wee stage but bennet has to be the biggest favourite in every flat terrain

 

[Netserk]

PR can be won by a bunch of guys because its not a race hard enough (unlike RvV) to make a huge difference with attacks,

Really? Not only unselective, but not very hard? Interesting take.

By your measure, is FW “harder”?

 

[Kaptain Kool]

FW isn't "harder" but fewer riders can win it than PR. I don't even see how that is debatable.

Anyway, I assumed the OP was only referring to the monuments and GTs and not to races like AGR, Sebastian and FW. If non-monuments are included, then the OP is already wrong since riders in that group rode Omloop and KBK without winning.... although a teammates did win one!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I have to say of that list the sprinter (Bennett) is mainly profiting from:
-Gaviria being crap lately
-Groenewegen / Jakobsen being absent
-Ackermann being crap lately
-Viviani being crap since team switch

It all happened at the same time leaving Bennett with somewhat of a void in competition.

 

[happytramp]

I have to say of that list the sprinter (Bennett) is mainly profiting from:
-Gaviria being crap lately
-Groenewegen / Jakobsen being absent
-Ackermann being crap lately
-Viviani being crap since team switch

It all happened at the same time leaving Bennett with somewhat of a void in competition.

True but he still had more WT wins in 2019 than any other rider when none of that was the case.... But yeah, there's a definite lack of competition right now that's making him appear more 'dominant' than he otherwise would be. I can only assume that the likes of Ackerman, Demare and Ewan will get better as the season goes on.

 

[ice&fire]

Me.

They're not dead horse

 

[the delgados]

Hey guys! Remember Peter Sagan?