Comprehensive Climbers Ranking

[Red Rick]

For Evenepoel, Naichaca would find a headwind in a vacuum

 

[vappa]

just as a curiosity, aSLP guy has Jonas and Tadej efforts swapped, 629 vs 640. Looking forward to what Decathlon is cooking for TDF.

I wouldn't expect much more improvement from Decathlon for the TdF. Seixas was nearly peak in spring already, with a 2 month altitude camp and all

 

[Tim Cahill]

Noval Jr. 🚀

PCS has him at 72kg, he's a big lad to be a GC rider but I assume some of that is from offroad training so if he was to fully commit it could come down, 1.78m.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Noval Jr. 🚀

PCS has him at 72kg, he's a big lad to be a GC rider but I assume some of that is from offroad training so if he was to fully commit it could come down, 1.78m.

It's Armstrong numbers, so he'll probably be a decent classics rider in the first part of his career and then target GCs later on.

 

[Tim Cahill]

It's Armstrong numbers, so he'll probably be a decent classics rider in the first part of his career and then target GCs later on.

Hopefully he doesn't suffer the same love of culinary delights that his talented father did either.

Allegedly his PCS data is wrong though, and he is lighter now than he was at U-17.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Hopefully he doesn't suffer the same love of culinary delights that his talented father did either.

Allegedly his PCS data is wrong though, and he is lighter now than he was at U-17.

They're already calling him better than Seixas, so if INEOS send him to Tenerife over the winter it could be all over for dear Paul soon.

https://www.idlprocycling.com/cycli...mpared-to-paul-seixas-he-might-be-even-better

 

[Peyresourde]

Noval Jr. 🚀

PCS has him at 72kg, he's a big lad to be a GC rider but I assume some of that is from offroad training so if he was to fully commit it could come down, 1.78m.

Thanks for the video. I have analysed the climb just now, though not too thoroughly:

Benjamin Noval | 66 (-6): 6.56 W/kg for 17:26 on Picu Polio (Montana Central de Asturias Juniors 2026)*

*Edit: Caclulation from 6.25 to 6.56 w/kg as I previously had the wrong segment. Seriously impressive for a junior, especially considering the heat of 35°C.

 

[Peyresourde]

I have to revise my opinion, as I have made a mistake with the segment. The finish was 300m further than I first thought, so Noval actually did 6.56 w/kg.

This is extremely impressive for a junior, I don't know if e.g. Seixas did anything better as I have not really analyzed any junior races before.

 

[Berniece]

How far back do you go? I was wondering, the Giro that Nibali won because Kruijswijck crashed in snow (2016). How good was Kruijswijck during that Giro compared to other performances in that time?

 

[Red Rick]

How far back do you go? I was wondering, the Giro that Nibali won because Kruijswijck crashed in snow (2016). How good was Kruijswijck during that Giro compared to other performances in that time?

Very bad IIRC.

That Giro had a lot of very high altitude stuff and a number of super hard mountain stages, but on the easier stages the W/kg were super low.

But in those days hard stages just naturally went super low, like Lombarde is probably the best performance but that's after Vars and Bonette were climbed at under 5W/kg

 

[Peyresourde]

How far back do you go? I was wondering, the Giro that Nibali won because Kruijswijck crashed in snow (2016). How good was Kruijswijck during that Giro compared to other performances in that time?

I go back as far as there is good enough video/data, I have even posted some climbs from the 1950s in the OP.

Kruijswijk had performances of 68 and 70 (Giau and Valparola on the same stage) and 72 the next day on the Seiseralm TT. Overall, his level was one or two levels lower than the top GT riders of the time like Froome or Quintana.

Nibali was really out of shape that Giro, otherwise Kruijswijk would have had a hard time earlier in the race already. I think he was stronger when he podiumed the 2019 Tour. Of course, the Giro was quite a bit harder than Tour at the time, so this lowered the watts a bit.

 

[Tim Cahill]

There is a little bit out there but junior race coverage is always very sporadic, I know Harry Hudson did 6.4w/kg for 13 minutes up the struggle when he was 16, good for 3rd in the British Hill climbing championships, and can probably do a decent amount more than that now (not today as he just crashed into a motorcycle). Andrew Feather did a comical performance but obviously not a real race.

 

[Red Rick]

I go back as far as there is good enough video/data, I have even posted some climbs from the 1950s in the OP.

Kruijswijk had performances of 68 and 70 (Giau and Valporala on the same stage) and 72 the next day on the Seiseralm TT. Overall, his level was one or two levels lower than the top GT riders of the time like Froome or Quintana.

Nibali was really out of shape that Giro, otherwise Kruijswijk would have had a hard time earlier in the race already. I think he was stronger when he podiumed the 2019 Tour. Of course, the Giro was quite a bit harder than Tour at the time, so this lowered the watts a bit.

I think Kruijswijk's results (and possibly Chaves) in past and future GTs are a better heuristic than the power outputs in this case, because the GTs do not compare very well, and I think it's worse in that era.

It may be an interesting exercise to get the average level of the winner or top 3 (3 best performances) for every GT and maybe compare this for different riders between the GTs. I have a pretty strong hunch the Giro would be the lowest of the 3 GTs for this.

 

[BahamontesPhantom]

Where is the chicken Rasmussen ?

 

[Peyresourde]

I think Kruijswijk's results (and possibly Chaves) in past and future GTs are a better heuristic than the power outputs in this case, because the GTs do not compare very well, and I think it's worse in that era.

It may be an interesting exercise to get the average level of the winner or top 3 (3 best performances) for every GT and maybe compare this for different riders between the GTs. I have a pretty strong hunch the Giro would be the lowest of the 3 GTs for this.

In pure watts/kg the Giro is the lowest for sure. This has to do with participation, route and weather. I think we already talked about that and that the top 3 performance average was a bad idea a few pages back.

Though I did try to do Kruijswijk a solid with my +21 adjustment for Valparola to get him to a 70 Index there.

Where is the chicken Rasmussen ?

On the first page I have listed his best performance from 2007. His career best performance in w/kg was actually Courchevel 2005 when he finished just 9 seconds back from Armstrong.

 

[Red Rick]

Though I did try to do Kruijswijk a solid with my +21 adjustment for Valparola to get him to a 70 Index there.

Yeah that stage doesn't get talked about enough really. 2.5 minutes to the the group with 4th+ on GC on the bloody Valparola is gigantic.

 

[Peyresourde]

Another mountain top finish today and the overall climbing level was quite similar to Blockhaus. Analysis:

Jonas Vingegaard | 89 (-1): 6.41 W/kg for 40'37 on Pila (Giro 2026)
Felix Gall | 84 (-1): 6.26 W/kg for 41'26 on Pila (Giro 2026)
Jai Hindley | 82 (-1): 6.20 W/kg for 41'35 on Pila (Giro 2026)
Davide Piganzoli | 82 (-1): 6.22 W/kg for 41'40 on Pila (Giro 2026)
Giulio Pellizzari | 81 (-1): 6.19 W/kg for 41'40 on Pila (Giro 2026)
Thymen Arensman | 80 (-1): 6.16 W/kg for 42'00 on Pila (Giro 2026)

-Vingegaard on the same level as Blockhaus. Considering his light weight, his real watts/kg were probably higher than on Blockhaus. And he looked quite relaxed this time.
- Gall slightly worse, which could also be seen due his reduced gap to the rest
-Hindley and Pellizzari seem to be over their illness, same index as Blockhaus

- Arensman slightly better than on Blockhaus, though the shallower gradients suit him better. Bernal was also stronger, even though he already did a PB on Blockhaus...

- Originally, I wanted to praise Mühlberger. But Piganzoli's level is simply insane. It is not completely out of the blue after Corno alle Scale, but today was even more insane. I think most experts always considered him less talented than Pellizzari, so Visma still seems better than Redbull in terms of prep.


Edit: Watts lowered by 0.01-0.02 for all riders.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Very high level in general. Jonas very strong while Gall somewhat weaker than before (as I thought based on relative gaps). Piganzoli guy had pretty crazy performance, BORA guys also had more consistent level today than before.

 

[Red Rick]

Watts2win has 6.6 and I'm saving it for the purposes of propaganda and overreaction FC.

For my pursuit of truth I shall wait for more reliable sauces

 

[SafeBet]

- Originally, I wanted to praise Mühlberger. But Piganzoli's level is simply insane. It is not completely out of the blue after Corno alle Scale, but today was even more insane. I think most experts always considered him less talented than Pellizzari, so Visma still seems better than Redbull in terms of prep.

Pellizzari was a late bloomer compared to Piganzoli, and he developed so quickly that almost everyone assumed he had more room to grow. But Piganzoli has been hyped since his last year in the junior ranks, and it was clear Polti was never going to bring out the absolute best in him.

 

[E_F_]

Watts2win has 6.6 and I'm saving it for the purposes of propaganda and overreaction FC.

For my pursuit of truth I shall wait for more reliable sauces

LRCP boy says 6.4

 

[Red Rick]

LRCP boy says 6.4

Because no Evenepoel or Pogacar *taps temple*

 

[Rou]

Watts 2 win have Jonas from today at: 6.31 W/KG
Jonas to me looks slightly better than his Catalunya shape. He is able to do better watts because of a better team and better pacing.

Vingegaard vole vers le rose à Pila pour conclure la grosse journée de la Visma ! - Watts2Win

Jonas Vingegaard was the fastest on the climb of Pila. Discover all times and watts estimations on Watts2Win. Discover all climbing times, estimated Watts/kg and Performance Indexes on Pila during Giro d'Italia 2026. Let's analyze the ultimate power performances of the peloton.

watts2win.eu

 

[Peyresourde]

Watts 2 win have Jonas from today at: 6.31 W/KG
Jonas to me looks slightly better than his Catalunya shape. He is able to do better watts because of a better team and better pacing.

Vingegaard vole vers le rose à Pila pour conclure la grosse journée de la Visma ! - Watts2Win

Jonas Vingegaard was the fastest on the climb of Pila. Discover all times and watts estimations on Watts2Win. Discover all climbing times, estimated Watts/kg and Performance Indexes on Pila during Giro d'Italia 2026. Let's analyze the ultimate power performances of the peloton.

watts2win.eu

+/- 0.1 w/kg from my calculation is easily possible. His shape is definitely better than in Catalunya though. Even with better pacing on Pal he could not have pushed the watts he did today. And on Queralt he barely had any margin over the others.

Just to put his current level of form into more of a perspective, 90 indexes are just barely out of Vingegaard's top 10 career performances.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

The commentators and some on here have been talking like Vingegaard is in bad shape. He might not be in his best shape ever, but matching the peak performances of both he and Pogacar from 2020-2023 isn’t exactly bad.

Today we reach the 2010s, specifically the years from 2011 until 2019 which are now often called the 'Sky Era'. Sky dominated until the Tour de France 2019 with 7 wins in 8 years, before the Vuelta 2019 marked a change of the guard.
The peak level in this decade was more or less consistent, but the densitity of riders 'capable of climbing' did increase in the second half of the decade.

2011| Joaquim Rodriguez | 83 (0): 6.4 W/kg for 32:07 on Collet d'Allevard
2012| Joaquim Rodriguez | 80 (-10): 7.75 W/kg for 6:46 on Mirador de Ezaro
2013| Chris Horner | 81 (-3): 6.23 W/kg for 42:15 on Angliru
2014 | Nairo Quintana | 83 (-7): 6.23 W/kg for 52:39 on Grappa ITT
........... | Fabio Aru | 83 (-7): 6.23 W/kg for 52:40 on Grappa ITT
2015 | Nairo Quintana | 83 (+3): 6.14 W/kg for 41:20 on Terminillo
2016 | Richie Porte | 81 (+3): 6.33 W/kg for 30:20 on Finhaut Emosson
........... | Nairo Qintana | 81 (-2): 6.56 W/kg for 25:43 on Covadonga
2017 | Richie Porte | 88 (-11): 7.84 W/kg for 7:41 on Willunga
2018 | Gonzalo Najar | 87 (+6): 6.25 W/kg for 36:58 on Colorado (very uncertain)
2019 | Miguel Angel Lopez | 85 (+7): 6.53 W/kg for 22:39 on Javalambre

Notes:
1) Rodriguez was in amazing form in the 2011 Dauphine with 2 stage victories, rare for someone coming out of the Giro.
2) Horner makes the list with his legendary performance on the Angliru.
3) 2014 had more good performances then the years prior, perhaps a surprise for Quintana and Aru to top the list.

4) Richie Porte in 2016 and especially in 2017 was in really good overall shape. His performance on Leysin in 2017 Tour of Romandie could potentially be even better than Willunga Hill.
5) Najar in San Juan put on a display of force on Alto de Colorado. This calculation is quite uncertain (tailwind + shallow gradients).
6) Lopez on Javalmbre was a really strong performance, dropping Roglic and young Pogacar. Even in the 2023 Vuelta with the Jumbo sweep they did not even come close to this time.

I have Del Toro as 81, so a bit worse, but the pacing was also less regular. Jebel Hafeet is also not an easy climb for estimates (descent on the climb, flat parts, unclear start, strong wind influence with a tailwind this year and headwind in many others), so the uncertainty is higher than for other climbs. The probability is higher that I have underestimated the values than overestimated them.


This is the final part of my 3 rankings, the last 'scheduled' post if you will.
2020 saw a clear uptick in climbing perfromance, and had even more high level performances than 2021 and 2022. In 2023, the 2020 level was confirmed and even exceeded, before the level totally exploded in 2024. Here are the best per year:

2020| Tadej Pogacar | 90 (+5): 6.94 W/kg for 16:10 on Planche des Belles Filles ITT
2021| Mark Padun | 85 (-2): 6.25 W/kg for 45:14 on La Plagne
2022| Jonas Vingegaard | 87 (+3): 6.33 W/kg for 36:37 on Hautacam
2023 | Tadej Pogacar | 92 (0): 7.96 W/kg for 5:43 on Poggio
........... | Jonas Vingegaard | 91 (-2): 7.27 W/kg for 13:27 on Combloux ITT
2024 | Tadej Pogacar | 111 (+2): 6.89 W/kg for 39:50 on Plateau de Beille
2025 | Tadej Pogacar | 107 (-4): 7.47 W/kg for 19:31 on Peyragudes ITT

Notes:
1) 2020 as whole and especially the Tour had a really high level. E.g. Roglic did not improve on his best 2020 performances until the 2023 Vuelta or even 2024. Pogacar had just based on my numbers a better climbing level than 2021 and 2022 with performances of 90, 86, 85 and 83. Of course, race circumstances were different with more of a Sky-Train approach and a focus on the last climbs of the day.

2) The 2021 winner would have easily been Alaphilippe on stage 1 of that Tour, but he sat up too early again (costing him another victory...). I also consider other performances like Pogacar on Romme+Colombiere stronger, but we are talking single climb performances for this list.

3) I gave the nod in 2022 to Vingegaard, but Jay Vine on Pico Jano was basically equal if we are talking about a single climb.

4)The 2023 winner may surprise, but if you rewatch that MSR you will know why the watts were high. I still listed Vingegaard's TT if you want a real climb. Vingegaard's Tour in 2023 was amazingly consistent with Indexes of 91, 90, 88, 85, 85, 85 and more.


This was my last list. In the future I might (or might not) make some posts on legendary stages or races that have not yet featured prominently in my prior posts. I will probably also post about new climbing performances when they happen, but don't rely on it.

I hope for this thread to always stay open for dicsussions about climbers and performances, and if you have any questions, be free to ask. I might also update the lists on page 1 with new riders/performances when needed.