Great Breakway Riders...

[LabMonkey]

As the title really, who in the pro peloton do you consider to be the guys who give it a go in the breaks...?

Niki Terpstra and Carlos Barredo spring to mind for me!

 

[ingsve]

Voeckler certainly.

Though what really is a great breakaway rider? Someone who is very good at getting in the right break or someone who is good at winning when they do get in a break? Those are two very different talents I think.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Voeckler certainly.

Though what really is a great breakaway rider? Someone who is very good at getting in the right break or someone who is good at winning when they do get in a break? Those are two very different talents I think.

Voeckler for sure.

And those are two different talents. For me, I like to think of a great breakaway rider as one who can win once in a break.

That said, I also like Sylvain Chavanel.

 

[trompe le monde]

As insgve and on3m@n@rmy say, Voeckler certainly.

I'd add Heinrich Haussler to the mix as well. That stage he won at Le Tour in 09 was quite impressive, especially given the wet conditions. The Jens Voigt of I forget how many years back was a good breakaway rider as well.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I know this thread is supposed to be for the current peloton, but I can't resist dredging up the past, from which I really liked to watch JaJa later in his career and Virenque.

 

[GoGarmin]

My two favorites are Voeckler and Jens Voight. I'd love to see him on a team where he didn't have to do so much work for a race leader but alas ...

 

[WonderLance]

There is only one.............

 

[Parrulo]

jalabert and virenque were indeed some breakway beasts. some of my first cycling memories are from them riding in the breakaway for the KOM jersey points.

from the current peloton jens still has it just doesn't has the chances in some of the big races. voeckler really seems to have an eye for the breakaways as he always gets in the right one.

others would be barredo, kyrilenka and txurruka.

 

[profff]

jacky durand as shown before,, but also fabio roscioli.
eros poli , winner of an incredible ventoux stage with a great breakaway.
arrieta a great domestique, but also capable of long breakaways.

pereiro sio, he won a tour with a breakaway

ciao

profff

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Txurruka, Hoogerland, de Gendt, Kiryienka, Ignatiev, Chavanel, Pineau, Moncoutié, Voeckler, Riblon, Egoí Martínez, Serafín Martínez, López Gil, Sánchez Pimienta, Chuzhda, Gutiérrez, Gerdemann, Sérgio Sousa, and anybody in an ISD-NERI jersey.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Floyd Landis

 

[Roland Rat]

 

[El Pistolero]

Goodd breakaway guys are strong cyclists without a real winning weapon.

 

[Roland Rat]

Goodd breakaway guys are strong cyclists without a real winning weapon.

Balls. So Cancellara hasn't got a winning weapon? When I was 15 I went an entire season unbeaten in criteriums even though I couldn't particularly sprint, including the national champs. Every single one was won with a solo attack in the last kilometre. A breakaway in itself is a winning weapon.

 

[WonderLance]

Goodd breakaway guys are strong cyclists without a real winning weapon.

Double balls. Evens has the winning weapon of a drunk sloth but would you call him a great breakaway rider.

Breakaways take a huge amount of courage, to lay it on the line for nothing over and over. See my first post.

 

[maltiv]

I might be biased, but in my opinion EBH is incredible when in a breakaway/small group, he wins pretty much 99% of the time. Either by keeping it together, neutralising all attacks and then win the sprint, or by simply attacking himself at the perfect moment. Too bad we haven't seen much of this lately, because earlier this was pretty much his only way of winning and it made him the most winning cyclist of 2007. ToB in 2008 is a great example of this, as well as his giro stage win and dauphine win this year.

Seems like the DSs of team sky prefers to use him almost exclusively as a sprinter now though, which is a shame. Hopefully we will see a return of EBH the attacker next year.

 

[Barnaby]

Acacio da Silva, Frans Maassen, Twan Poels, Henk Lubberding.

 

[Roland Rat]

Double balls. Evens has the winning weapon of a drunk sloth but would you call him a great breakaway rider.

Breakaways take a huge amount of courage, to lay it on the line for nothing over and over. See my first post.

Careful, you'll upset your hero.

 

[dancing on pedals]

the greatest breakaway i ever watched was Pantani's on stage 15 (?) of the 1998 TDF.
he only wanted a stage win - the conditions were terrible- epic stuff.
of current riders - the young guy from Footon in this years TDF gets my vote -
Barredo has been a star though
thanks

 

[Moncoutie]

the greatest breakaway i ever watched was Pantani's on stage 15 (?) of the 1998 TDF.
he only wanted a stage win - the conditions were terrible- epic stuff.
of current riders - the young guy from Footon in this years TDF gets my vote -
Barredo has been a star though
thanks

Rafael Valls Ferri

 

[dancing on pedals]

its my age - Ferri gets my vote-
thanks

 

[The Hitch]

Pretty much LS's post.

Vino for that awesome awesome break on stage 12 into Mende, crushing the entire Saxo team,and then, despite exhausting himself earlier, being very very impressive on the jallbert, losing by a second and coming back the next day to win the stage.

 

[ingsve]

I might be biased, but in my opinion EBH is incredible when in a breakaway/small group, he wins pretty much 99% of the time. Either by keeping it together, neutralising all attacks and then win the sprint, or by simply attacking himself at the perfect moment. Too bad we haven't seen much of this lately, because earlier this was pretty much his only way of winning and it made him the most winning cyclist of 2007. ToB in 2008 is a great example of this, as well as his giro stage win and dauphine win this year.

Seems like the DSs of team sky prefers to use him almost exclusively as a sprinter now though, which is a shame. Hopefully we will see a return of EBH the attacker next year.

I think we will see a lot of that in the future as well but in bigger thougher races. Right now he's too high profile for teams to let him get away in the races he's in. And it's not like it's completely gone. His Dauphine win this year was like that and last year both his GW and Giro stage wins were in breakaways.

 

[IE_Sprinter]

Moncoutie? He has won two TDF solos...

Surely Gilbert deserves a note...He may not break away all day but it's only because they would never let him. Could you imagine Gilbert and Voekler away they would never see them again.

Jacob Piil was in like EVERY break away during the 2003 and 2004 TDF's I think.

Flecha? He has tried MANY times...succeeded once on the TDF and once in Het Volk or Ghent I think.

 

[IE_Sprinter]

I think its also worth mentioning that break away guys are far more exciting to watch than the GC race....Nothing wigs me out more than the guy who is like 15 seconds ahead at 1k and may or may not make it....Good stuff