Future GT Winner (Edition 2019)

[geisterhome]

Well, he did finish fourth in the TdF this year, just as a certain Slovenian did in 2018. But yeah, he would have to be considered a pretty long shot, although Bora's strength this year has caught me by surprise. On the right course he could be at ... Kruisjwijk's level...which I know isn't a ringing endorsement...

As somebody else said, Buchmann was already better this tour than SK (which was the very best version of Kruisjwijk), he would have finished in front of him if not for the TTT.
He has improved every year since 2014, his increasing World Tour points tell all the story pretty much. Question is has he peaked? If he can take another of his regular yearly steps forward he will be among the absolute best GT contenders, that is how close he is already.

 

[KZD]

I voted Pogacar, Evenepoel, Lopez and Pinot.

Pogacar is a huge talent and with the level that he showed in the Vuelta I think he can win a Grand Tour. He can still get better in the time trial, if he trains more and gets a better bike and in the mountains if he sheds a couple of kilograms.

Lopez is one of the world's best climbers although he is not very tactically smart and versatile. His choice of skipping the Tour this year was also odd given the high altitude route. However I still think he will get an almost perfect circunstance and win a GT.

Pinot is not getting any younger and the bad luck continues affecting him. However if he keeps the level that he showed recently I feel that he can still win a GT, not necessarily the Tour though.

Evenepoel is the big question mark of the list. He is the only one from the list that never raced a GT and despite his huge talent he seems stronger flatter terrain than in the high mountains. However, like many of the last GT winners he is a great time trialist and in a TT heavy route I can see him winning a GT already at a young age since he can lose minutes in the mountains for the climbers and still manage to win.

I also think Mas is going to win a GT at some point in his career

 

[Brullnux]

I still think Pinot could win a GT, although his best chances may have gone sadly. Maybe next year will be his best bet, when the new generation isn’t yet ready perhaps to win Tours (other than Bernal ofc, and Pogacar, even if i’d back Pinot to climb better than him). Hopefully he can finally string three weeks together