Current Top GT Riders

[PremierAndrew]

Think it's safe to say that Froome Contador and Quintana are a cut above the rest.

Just out of interest, how would you rank the following in terms of current ability in 3 week races:

Kruijswijk, Aru, Landa, Nibali, Porte, TVG, Purito, Valverde, Pinot (and anyone else who you may think is in the top 5 right now that I have failed to mention)

I'd go with:

Landa
Pinot
Kruijswijk
Nibali
Aru
Valverde
Porte
Van Garderen
Rodriguez
Majka, Bardet, Roche, Pozzovivo, Konig etc

Jheeze that was tough

 

[hrotha]

One of these is not like the others.

And by one I mean Porte.

 

[rune1107]

If it is not based on current form I think Nibali is a clear cut above the rest.

Nibali
Aru
Pinot
Kruijswijk
Landa
Valverde
Van Garderen
Porte
Rodriguez

Nibali is the best GT rider behind the big 3, and I see Aru as his successor next year.
Pinot has proved himself in the Tour before, and I believe he can top 5 this year.
Kruijswijk is leading the Giro, and this far without showing weakness. Landa finished third in the 2015 edition of the Giro.
Valverde is a brilliant rider, but I do not see him as a complete GT rider, as he is missing something in the high mountains.
Van Garderen has been fifth in the Tour twice, but is not a consistent rider.
Porte is always a flop in the GT's and has failed to prove he is worth a higher spot on this list.
Rodriguez is past his prime as a GT rider, and should focus on classics and stage hunting.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Aru
Nibali
Valverde
Pinot
Tejay
Rodriguez
Landa
Porte

I have faith in Aru. Nibali hasn't shown too much since 2014. Valverde podiumed in a super hard TdF last year, Pinot has promise, but only really has his 3rd in a weak TdF to show for. Kruijswijk is super good right now (lets not get caught up, he still has to show more), Tejay is inconsistent but a super talent, Rodriguez is declining but is still consistent in the Vuelta, Landa is hugely inconsistent and Porte is Porte. When all is said and done, I wouldn't be surprised if Porte would be rated 1st after this Tour.
I miss Chaves and I really miss Mollema so we all can throw up under the bus and place him lower than Porte.

 

[Laplaz]

Fabio Aru for me, followed by Nibali and Pinot.

 

[PremierAndrew]

My problem with Nibali is that he hasn't shown much since the 2014 tour, apart from maybe the last week of the 2015 tour, where he was still at a pretty similar level to a top form Valverde and a clear cut below CF and NQ

I also remain unconvinced by Aru. Yes he's the only one in the list to have won a grand tour apart from Nibs, but he wasn't exactly dominant against a bunch of 2nd tier stage racers at the Vuelta (when you consider Froome crashed out and Nairo was ill for half of it, both having raced the TdF full gas). Nor did he have much competition in the Giro last year apart from Contador and Landa who was on a leash.

Kruijswijk could of course be a one hit wonder, but he's looked very good this Giro, and in this condition, he'd be capable of challenging the top 3.

There was no doubt about Landa's climbing ability after last year, but the drastic improvement in his TTing makes him a serious contender for the 4th place imo

 

[Squire]

This is almost impossible to gauge. They all have different reasons for not being considered among the best.

I voted Landa, because I believe he is the one with the highest assumed ceiling, especially with his seemingly improved TT. But he's never really been able to show what he can do yet.

From what they have actually shown, Nibali should be considered the best among them. Porte has amazing potential if he can actually string together a three-week performance, which I think he should be able to with some luck, but who knows. Aru seems solid on a level just below the best, same with Valverde. Pinot, with his new-found TT skills, could break into the absolute top tier this year, but we don't know yet. TJVG is a solid top five/podium rider who lacks the final 3%. Kruijswijk looks mightily strong at the moment, but is this a once-in-a-lifetime performance, or can he continue like this for the years to come?

I think Purito is done.

 

[Brullnux]

Nibali in superman is among Quintana, Froome and Contador. Not better necessarily (although I think he would've won, just, the 2014 Tour even if Froome and Contador hadn't crashed).

Right now, he isn't. However, I don't think/refuse to believe that he is declining. So I'd say Nibali, Aru, Landa and Pinot; then Valverde. Krushweak is having an absolutely outstanding Giro but needs to prove more perhaps. So does Landa, although he is talented. Pinot and Aru I rate similarly, and Valverde is slightly old and cannot deal with cold or high altitude very well. Also not that great a high mountain climber comparitively. Then the rest.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

My problem with Nibali is that he hasn't shown much since the 2014 tour, apart from maybe the last week of the 2015 tour, where he was still at a pretty similar level to a top form Valverde and a clear cut below CF and NQ

I also remain unconvinced by Aru. Yes he's the only one in the list to have won a grand tour apart from Nibs, but he wasn't exactly dominant against a bunch of 2nd tier stage racers at the Vuelta (when you consider Froome crashed out and Nairo was ill for half of it, both having raced the TdF full gas). Nor did he have much competition in the Giro last year apart from Contador and Landa who was on a leash.

Kruijswijk could of course be a one hit wonder, but he's looked very good this Giro, and in this condition, he'd be capable of challenging the top 3.

There was no doubt about Landa's climbing ability after last year, but the drastic improvement in his TTing makes him a serious contender for the 4th place imo

And Bala, of course. I think you probably have to go Nibali here.

 

[Tonton]

July will tell us between Aru and Pinot. Head to head (see PCS), Pinot dominates, but head to head on the big stage, i.e. #1 objective of the season, it will be a first. So it's either one of them, with Valverde, Landa, and the declining Nibali just below. Crushweak? I don't know how to make of his (soon to be) Giro win. Heck, one more DNF and JCP was the '14 TdF winner . The rest? meh.

I voted for Pinot. Of course .

 

[Jancouver]

My favorite TLMRP made this list? Hahaha that is funny.

You should put Zubeldia there instead as he has seven TOP 10 and Porte only one.

 

[Jspear]

1. Aru and Pinot - I agree with Tonton to a certain degree. Right now I would go with Aru as the next best, but I'll wait till after the Tour to make a final decision. They haven't really clashed in top form.
2. Perhaps Landa. He seems to have a lot of potential.
3. Kruijswijk has more to prove imo, but he's doing great right now so I'll stick him in 3rd.
4. Valverde. He's always up there.
5. Majka - when in top form he's a very good climber

It's hard to say with the rest....one could be stronger than the other on any given day. They aren't really all that consistent. I don't know what to think when it comes to Nibali. 2014 Tour was the last time we saw him in great form. Has he messed up his preparation in his last 2 gt's, or is he declining? I don't consider Porte a GT contender.

 

[rafaelalencar]

The title says "Current" so I voted on Aru because he is the only one with a recent GT win. Of course if we were counting the previous accomplishments Nibali will be the first one with a large margin.
After the Tour we should do another one, lol!

 

[StryderHells]

I'll give you 10
Aru
Nibali
Pinot
Kruijswijk
Valverde
Van Garderen
Rodriguez
Landa
Chaves
Majka

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

One of these is not like the others.

And by one I mean Porte.

Just one?

 

[RattaKuningas]

I think that Aru is 4th best. He won GT and definitely has a fighting spirit equal or even better compared to the top 3 cyclists mentioned above.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

In my opinion many of the riders on the list are hard to judge, i.e. Pinot and Kruijswijk. Last year Pinot completely failed at the Tour, while so far he's been looking very good in 16'. Kruijswijk hasn't yet won the Giro and apart from that there's not much to suggest he is in the same league as Nibali, Aru or Landa.

Valverde and Rodriguez are consistent, and you always know what to expect from the two. Yet it seems like both lack that one day where they can just crush their rivals (Aru: Cortals D'Encamps 2015 Vuelta; Nibali: every MTF in 2014 Tour; Landa: Finestre+Aprica 2015 Giro). Rodriguez had those legs in 2012 (and parts of 13'), but not since. Valverde won his Vuelta in 09' mainly through damage controlling and sometimes winning small seconds at the finish, but he never really managed to drop his rivals for good.

Then there is Porte and Van Garderen. I think they've had their chances to proof themselves and only Van Garderen has shown potential in GT's with 2x top 5 in the Tour. However, he doesn't really seem to be capable of anything more than that, regardless of the high thoughts he has of himself. Porte just isn't a GT contender in my opinion. It's really telling that the best result he has in a GT is still that 7th place in the 2010 Giro, where he was handed a 12 minute advantage on the L'Aquila stage.

 

[Kwibus]

The last 2 days in the alps will tell us something about Kruijswijk. If he's able to extend his lead in the GC then it was a real dominant performance and then I can't imagine it was a 1 time superform fluke win. Winning a stage will also help him, because so far he wasn't able to win a stage (3 times 2nd though) to really show off his dominance.
Actually everytime an other rival seems to lose time on a stage while he's just the most consistent.

He pretty much still has a lot to proof after this Giro if he wins it. Aru has shown high level in more GT's for example and thus should be rated higher. Just like Nibali should be rated higher, despite his dissapointing giro.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Add up all the World Tour points earned by these riders in GTs over the last couple of years. Rank them by the number of points. And presto, you have your list.

 

[Gigs_98]

For me it has to be Nibali. I know some people say he is already declining but I don't think we can really say anything about it since his shape right now is just so incredibly bad that it's simply obvious that this isnt a decline, but just a completely f*cked up preparation. I also don't really believe that he can get into 2014 shape again but imo even his 3rd week shape from the tour last year would have been enough to win the giro this year.

Behind Nibs its quite difficult. Aru is the only one who already has won a gt but there hasn't been a race yet where he was able to dominate his rivals. In the Vuelta he had one really good day where he gained a lot of time but on the other days failed to really drop anyone (besides Dumoulin on stage 20). The reason why I would still put him on 5th place is that he has already shown great constancy because in his last 4 gt's he was never worse than 5th, was in the top 3 in 3 of them, won 5 stages and the only gt where he didnt win a stage was the one in which he won the gc.

Next level for me is Valverde, Landa, Pinot and maybe Kruijswijk (we don't know yet if he will be able to repeat this performance). Valverde is also very consistent and was 3rd in the tour last year beating both Contador and Nibali (mostly because both had a very bad shape though), Landa is a great climber and it seems as if he also learned how to TT, but he never entered a gt as a leader and then really fought for the win. Pinot actually only had one really good gt 2014 was just completely strange so I don't even know if it is even a good evidence for how strong he is. However he is a rider who already had some very impressive stage wins in smaller stage races and the tdf which at least shows that he wasnt a nine day wonder, but he just has to show more to be rated on the same level as Aru and Nibali.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Add up all the World Tour points earned by these riders in GTs over the last couple of years. Rank them by the number of points. And presto, you have your list.

Here we have it: The definitive list (based on 2014 and 2015):

1. Contador: 2284
2. Aru: 2194
3. Valverde: 2187
4. Nibali: 1933
5. Froome: 1848
6. Quintana: 1804
7. Rodriguez: 1272
8. Pinot: 864
9. Landa: 795
10. Kruijswijk: 524
11. Van Garderen: 384
12. Porte: 203

 

[Scarponi]

Aru winning and doing a podium in two GTs of the same year is pretty impressive no matter how you spin it

 

[The Hegelian]

Not really a fan, but it's surely Nibali. Look at his skill-set compared to the others - he ticks all the GC boxes in a way no one else in the list does (yet). Consistency, recovery, climbing prowess, tt'ing, bike handling/descending + racing instincts. Everyone else in that list is trying to get all that, and he has it, and has delivered with it.

Too early to assert that he's lost it - let's at least wait until the Giro is over.

 

[Red Rick]

INEFC

Lo Squalo

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Add up all the World Tour points earned by these riders in GTs over the last couple of years. Rank them by the number of points. And presto, you have your list.

Here we have it: The definitive list (based on 2014 and 2015):

1. Contador: 2284
2. Aru: 2194
3. Valverde: 2187
4. Nibali: 1933
5. Froome: 1848
6. Quintana: 1804
7. Rodriguez: 1272
8. Pinot: 864
9. Landa: 795
10. Kruijswijk: 524
11. Van Garderen: 384
12. Porte: 203

Awesome. Thanks, man!