Comprehensive Climbers Ranking

[Peyresourde]

@Pozzovivo
Comparing one specific race to one other is not always easy or recommended. But if somebody does a good performance, you know it is good and normally that rider has the potential to repeat it in other races.

I would not say for certain that the Vuelta always has better performances. Maybe in pure w/kg because of the unipuerto-stages, but not with adjustments. It also depends on the weather, the participation and the route (sometimes there are simply not many suitable climbs). I would say:
2017 Giro>Vuelta
2020 Giro>Vuelta
2021+22 Giro=Vuelta

 

[Peyresourde]

Today we approach the Top 10. We have the best performances of Ullrich and Riis. Ullrich on Arcalis did the best altitude performance in history after a 7.5 hour stage (and he also had 2 more 99 performances that Tour that just did not make the list). In this kind of shape, he could have won every subsequent Tour against Pantani and Armstrong easily.

Then we have the highest raw Watts in a road stage ever on Flumserberg, although after an easy stage.

Berzin is the only rider other than Pantani and Pogacar to have more than 1 performance on the list. Even though he could not climb in the high mountains (except for the 94 Giro), he was amazing in time trials and short hills.

And a special mention to Hautacam 1994 (in my opinion much more shocking than Riis in 96). Indurain and Pantani did the first 100 performance in history that day without even winning the stage. That win went to Hautacam-specialist Luc Leblanc who outsprinted Indurain after drafting more (99 Performance).

11 | Jan Ullrich | 105 (+15): 6.75 W/kg for 24:52 on Andorra Arcalis (Tour 1997 Stage 10)
12 | Bjarne Riis | 104 (-4): 6.96 W/kg for 34:41 on Hautacam (Tour 1996 Stage 16)
13 | Marco Pantani | 103 (-7): 7.29 W/kg for 23:33 on Flumserberg (Suisse 1995 Stage 8)
14 | Miguel Indurain | 103 (-1): 6.86 W/kg for 35:21 on Hautacam (Tour 1994 Stage 11)
15 | Evgeni Berzin | 103 (0): 7.62 W/kg for 11:55 on Arrate Usartza (Euskal Bizikleta 1995 Stage 5)
16 | Tadej Pogacar | 103 (+9): 6.76 W/kg for 28:26 on Valmeinier Top (Dauphine 2025 Stage 7)
17 | Marco Pantani | 102 (-1): 6.83 W/kg for 35:37 on Hautacam (Tour 1994 Stage 11)

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Pogacar's Hautacam performance so low? W/kg were great, gaps were huge and stage difficulty (climbs and weather conditions) way bigger than during Riis' stage (while just 28 seconds slower). It shouldn't even be below Riis performance.

 

[tobydawq]

Berzin really seemed set to topple Induráin in the '95 Tour. I wonder what happened there. According to Wiki the reason for his DNF was no less than 'being physically demolished and mentally broken'.

 

[Peyresourde]

@Krzysztof_O
In the end of the day, Pogacar was 12 s faster than Indurain in 94. Keep in mind that there was a slight tailwind, hot temperatures (less air density) and of course 2025 equipment. The Watts were very good (but not great). I know that everyone was suffering in the heat, but it is impossible for me to adjust by +10 points for something like that. The performance still ranks around rank 25 all time in my list.
Also, as I have mentioned before, the first mountain stage sometimes randomly has huge gaps (La Plagne 95, Pierre Saint Martin 2015).

Berzin really seemed set to topple Induráin in the '95 Tour. I wonder what happened there. According to Wiki the reason for his DNF was no less than 'being physically demolished and mentally broken'.

Berzin does not have a single great performance on a longer climb in a road stage in his career. His best is probably Mortirolo in the 1994 Giro with 84(+2): 6.13 W/kg for 44:21. This kind of level did not cut in the 90s.
In '95 he also did the Giro, then Euskal Bizikleta without break and was then probably tired for the Tour.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

@Peyresourde How is 28 seconds gap behind Riis during a more difficult stage translated to 5 points? It seems too much. As for the weather, it was killing guys. The hotter doesn't mean the easier: air resistance is the least of your benefits during hot stages.

 

[Peyresourde]

Heat makes it more difficult to perform of course, but you are faster if you push the same watts.
I adjust Hautacam 2025 (35-36°C in the valleys) with +2 just for the temperature. Of course the real effect is probably much greater, but it is very difficult to estimate which is why I like to err on the side of caution. On other stages, similarily hot temperatures have also affected riders much less. This might also have to do with humidity and the temperature the days before. In the end, it is too complicated to estimate correctly for me.

Riis: 6.96 W/kg for 34:41
Raw Index: 108 Adjustment: -4 --> Final Index 104

Pogacar 6.71 W/kg for 35:09
Raw Index: 98 Adjustment: +1 --> Final Index 99

You do not have to take my numbers for gospel, there is always uncertainty in the data. But Riis had a much heavier bike and was faster, so I am 100% certain that he pushed significantly more watts. A difference of 0.25 W/kg equals exactly 10 points in my system and it is not like the '25 stage was the hardest in history (in fact it was more average or slightly harder than average).

 

[Pantani_lives]

Berzin really seemed set to topple Induráin in the '95 Tour. I wonder what happened there. According to Wiki the reason for his DNF was no less than 'being physically demolished and mentally broken'.

Evgeni Berzin remains one of the most enigmatic "future Tour winners". As a leader of the controversial Team Gewiss he crushed the opposition in Liège and the Giro in 1994, but afterwards he couldn't live up to the expectations. It has been said that he couldn't handle the transition from the rigorous Eastern Bloc system to the lifestyle of freedom in the West. In later years he struggled with his weight and lacked the discipline to stay in top shape. He became a classic example of an early peaker.

 

[Peyresourde]

Now ranks 10-3. For people like Red Rick who want to see big gaps, all of these performances deliver huge gaps relative to the climb length. They are also all by the same riders and in the same ballpark of watts, which makes my estimates more plausible.

We start with Montecampione: Pantani vs. Tonkov in the shape of his life. IMO the best long climbing performance ever (45+ min) and after a 7 hour stage. Tonkov even took some pulls with Pantani, perhaps thinking he had the Giro already in the bag. I am sure he regretted that later.

10 | Marco Pantani | 105 (+3): 6.56 W/kg for 49:44 on Montecampione (Giro 1998 Stage 19)

9 | Jonas Vingegaard | 105 (+2): 6.73 W/kg for 40:58 on Plateau de Beille (Tour 2024 Stage 15)
8 | Tadej Pogacar | 105 (0): 6.83 W/kg for 37:44 on Isola 2000 (Tour 2024 Stage 19)
7 | Tadej Pogacar | 105 (0): 7.24 W/kg for 21:22 on Ganda (Il Lombardia 2025)
6 | Marco Pantani | 106 (+3): 6.79 W/kg for 37:15 on Alpe d'Huez (Tour 1994 Stage 16)
5 | Marco Pantani | 106 (+1): 6.85 W/kg for 36:55 on Alpe d'Huez (Tour 1997 Stage 13)


For our number 4 we have Combloux Cote de la Cry from the Dauphine 2025. This is a climb in 3 parts (steep-false flat-medium gradients). The first 2/3 of this climb were used in the legendary 2023 time trial, where Vingegaard sealed the Tour win. In 2025 Pogacar pushed around 8 W/kg for the first 6 minutes to get rid of Vingegaard (~30 secs faster than Vingegaard in 2023). As a standalone performance this would already be a 97.

For the first 2/3, Pogacar was still ~15 secs faster than Vingegaard in 2023, although a TT-Bike is a big advantage on the false flat and this was not yet the finish in 2025. This shows the improvement since 2023 and how good this effort was.

4 | Tadej Pogacar | 107 (-2): 7.39 W/kg for 19:50 on Combloux Cry (Dauphine 2025 Stage 6)


Third Place is the only TT in the list. The adjustment here is only -4 because it is a 23 minute effort and the climb to Peyragudes starts at around 1000m. This represents 1986 VAM without draft on 8.0%!

3 | Tadej Pogacar | 107 (-4): 7.47 W/kg for 19:31 on Peyragudes ITT (Tour 2025 Stage 13)

I will put the Top 2 in a different post, even though everyone should already be able to guess those.

 

[Red Rick]

If you were Naicaca I would say 2 is Pogacar on Plateau de Beille and 1 is Evenepoel on a random climb where he got dropped but he did slightly more pulling into an invented headwind.

 

[kingjr]

No. 1 should be Pogacar on PdB, no. 2 Pantani on Oropa 1999? Even though there was quite a bit of drafting involved

 

[Netserk]

no. 2 Pantani on Oropa 1999?

alpe d'huez record

 

[kingjr]

alpe d'huez record

Oh, right, 1995 is missing...

 

[Tim Cahill]

Alaphilippe on Monte Giove obviously!

 

[Pozzovivo]

Could you expand on why there is a +4 difference between final climb of lombardia 24 to 25, @Peyresourde?

 

[Peyresourde]

@Pozzovivo

Sormano '24: Altitude -3, Stage Hardness +4, Approach/Clear Start -2, Follow-up +3, Regularity +2 --> +4 Adjustment
Ganda '25: Altitude -2, Stage Hardness +3, Approach -3, Follow-up +2 --> 0 Adjustment

My model "does not like" Ganda because of the easy approach (descent followed by false flat downhill is the best/easiest possible approach for me).
Sormano also gets a +2 for regularity because there is 1km of flat (or even slight downhill) in the middle of the climb.

All these adjustments are of course debatable, but they fit quite well also with the observed performance of the next riders (Evenepoel etc.).

 

[Red Rick]

All the adjustments are also fairly mild, unlike W2W which can have swings as big as - or +10 or more

 

[Peyresourde]

There are only 3 performances which could legitimately be the best of all time:

2 | Marco Pantani | 109 (+2): 6.9 W/kg for 36:50 on Alpe d'Huez (Tour 1995 Stage 10)

The day before, on the stage to La Plagne, Pantani crashed on his head and was probably a bit concussed. Indurain destroyed him and put 2 and a half minutes into Pantani. But regardless of circumstances or form, Pantani always delivered on Alpe d'Huez.

The climb entry was not shown on TV, so the actual ascent time could be as fast as 36:40. Pantani also misjudged the last corner, costing him ~5 seconds. So if we assume a theoretical time of 36:35, this performance would be slightly better than Pogacar on PdB.


1 | Tadej Pogacar | 111 (+2): 6.89 W/kg for 39:50 on Plateau de Beille (Tour 2024 Stage 15)

Everything technical about this legendary performance has been said in this thread already. This was the only time watching a climb live that I got goosebumps. You could literally see the speed on TV and the gaps were insane.
Keep in mind that no one can accurately estimate the effective windspeed/direction influencing the riders on the ground. It is just an educated guess. So if the tailwind was a bit stronger, this performance could be a bit worse. But the first 70 % are switchbacks with at least some forest, so I am confident that Pogacar pushed a minimum of 6.8 W/kg (of my model).


And now the final Wildcard Performance:

According to rumours, Pantani once climbed his training climb Cippo Carpegna in 16:22 (Pogacar in Tirreno 2022 did 18:48). The exact date and segment (there are 2 viable roads at the bottom) are unclear. But if the time is accurate, Pantani did at least 7.8 W/kg if I am being conservative. It could be as high as 8.3 W/kg if he took a different road.

7.8 W/kg for 16:22 would be an incredible raw Index of 120. But considering it was Pantani and he might have done it in fresh condition, it is barely plausible.

If anyone (@Pantani_lives ?) has a source or additional information on this, please leave a reply.

 

[mikks]

Do you have the Plat d'Adet before/after attack split?

I think Plat d'Adet had more recent fatigue compared to Plateau de Beille, with Tourmalet an Ancizan before the MTF without much flat inbetween, and that's also how you get tired domestiques.

Plateau de Beille is the sort of stage where you clearly had enough flats inbetween the climbs to recover, and the top 3 clearly recovered very well on the final flat before PdB to do a near peak performance, combined with a perfect pacing and tailwind.

To be honest, LR rouge claiming a headwind on Plateau de Beille is laughable itself, considering there were flags everywhere.

I'm also pretty sure positive splits are even better than perfectly even splits because of the air density difference over a large amount of altitude distance. Perfect Finestre had 6.3 W/kg in the first 33 minutes.

Another often forgotten factor is tarmac quality, especially if a climb is resurfaced to host a GT. now they tend to only distinguish between tarmac and gravel or hormigon style stuff.

I have not posted here for 10+ years (so I had to make a new account), although I have continued reading. I do remember, from back in the day, some debates—mostly from another part of this forum whose name I am not going to mention—where some very passionate debaters took race videos apart frame by frame to determine how strong the wind was and from which direction it was blowing. Sometimes, even after analyzing videos frame by frame, different sides were still unable to agree on either the wind direction or its strength.



My point is not to say that your observation about the wind on Plateau de Beille is incorrect—I actually think you are right—but rather to make a more general point. If, from time to time, honest observers cannot agree (even after repeatedly watching race videos) on something as supposedly observable and measurable as wind direction and strength, then it becomes even harder to determine other factors such as tarmac quality, race-specific variables, approach to the climb, how hard the race was beforehand, etc.


That is why I am also a bit skeptical about w/kg estimates or attempts to determine what was the best climbing performance or, say, the 14th-best climbing performance. There are many things we still don’t know or fully understand about performance in general, and about specific rides and riders in particular.


For instance, in 2019–2020 I strongly believed that Evenepoel would become a dominant climber. Why not? He is small, light, very aerodynamic, and can push enormous watts on flat TTs—why shouldn’t that transfer to climbing? And while Evenepoel has become a good climber, he is not a dominant one. Why? Who knows. Maybe it has something to do with what Pozzovivo said about “differences in body position, altered biomechanics, muscle recruitment, and efficiency, which in turn affect power output.” Or maybe Evenepoel wastes too much energy before the climb starts. Or maybe it is something entirely different.


Anyway, still great work from Peyresourde. A lot to think about. Even if I have doubts about specific estimates, they still reveal broader trends and differences between riders.

 

[kingjr]

I have not posted here for 10+ years (so I had to make a new account), although I have continued reading. I do remember, from back in the day, some debates—mostly from another part of this forum whose name I am not going to mention—where some very passionate debaters took race videos apart frame by frame to determine how strong the wind was and from which direction it was blowing. Sometimes, even after analyzing videos frame by frame, different sides were still unable to agree on either the wind direction or its strength.

Mont Ventoux 2013!

 

[Peyresourde]

@mikks thanks for your reply.
IMO the biggest source of error for these estimates are the segments themselves (specifically the elveation gain). Some claim to have a margin of error of +/- 2 meters which is unrealistic in my opinion. The data is only really reliable for famous climbs like Alpe d'Huez that have a very clear start - and end point.

Then the second source of error is indeed the wind, extremely difficult to get right (so climbs with a lot of switchbacks or tree cover are preferred) .

Nevertheless, many riders also post their power data on strava nowadays. And looking at those, the w/kg estimates of most sites are quite close to reality. (and the standard weight method is often more accurate than actual measured power as rider weight fluctuates even during a stage)

Evenepoel is a really good climber and will probably even improve slightly this year. Various accidents and the contrast to Pogacar make him seem worse than he is.

One of my theories about body proportions: I think the lanky climber type (tall and thin like Wout Poels and Sepp Kuss) is much better on steep gradients due to leverage and worse on shallow gradients due to bad aerodynamics. The opposite could be true for Evenepoel (at least when he is not at his climbing weight).

2013 Ventoux was indeed one of Froome's best performances.