Hard men of the north or grand tour kings...?

[TRDean]

Just curious how you guys felt. Who do you admire/respece/follow more the tough one day classic guys or the grand tour champions? I personally think I may like the hard men. With the weather, cobbles, fans, and insanity I just seem to gravitate to those riders. Now don't get me wrong, I love the grand tour champs...but just not as much. What are your thoughts?

 

[Bluebeard]

These days it does seem to be a choice, not like back in the day when some did both. Being a Kelly man, I would have to say the hard men. Back in the day Merckx and a few others could manage doing both, but these days, one or the other seems to the limit of ambitions these days.

When thinking on this I noticed that the year he won his Grand tour was 1988, and he only won one of the classics - Ghent Wevelgem - and it wasn't one of the monuments. Which Grand Tour winners since then have managed to win a classic, or better again a monument the same season they won a Grand Tour?

 

[Jarvis]

I prefer the northern hardmen. Always have done, and even more so in these cynical times as the evidence has always suggested that there is a better chance for the clean rider to win. (see Cavendish, Hammond, Backstedt)

 

[TRDean]

Good point!!

 

[mr. tibbs]

I like the hardmen right now. But ask again between May and September and I might have a change of heart.

And as for Cavendish being a classics guy...hmm... I had him pegged as a sprinter. Maybe he should RIDE one of the cobbled classics before we include him in that gorup.

 

[BrandonT]

I think that majority of people will side with the "Hardmen" these days. Due to the lack of a really great Tour rider. Other then Lance (whom a lot of people really seem to have a problem with) who else has been a great tour champion in recent years? Contador? Peirero ? Sastre? Basso?
Contador seems to be the only one who could take the reins.
I love watching the one day classics and the tactics that are used for each race are much more evident. That makes it extremely entertaining to watch.

 

[elapid]

For me, the hard men. No question. Nothing about drugs or suspicious riders. Just love the racing better, especially Paris-Roubaix and Flanders.

 

[jaylew]

Close call for me. Actually, I prefer the Ardennes/hilly classics guys over both generally.

Overall though, I guess the riders I tend to like the most are the ones who can win different types of races.

 

[Stani Kléber]

I like both, one of the attractions of the sport is the variety, you can watch the circus of Paris-Roubaix or the three week soap opera of the Tour de France, with its multied storylines. Even now the Grand Tour riders are in their build up for the summer and come July, we'll see Cavendish and Boonen battling for the Green Jersey.

 

[skidmark]

They're totally different battles, and I love 'em both. But if you asked me now, it would have to be the GT riders, although the gap closes every year. I love the one day races, where it's definitely do or die... although it's exciting to see attacks in Grand Tours, it's annoying that someone can just limit their damages and I always feel a bit cheated when mountain finishes end with like a 20 second difference when a guy has a 3 minute lead or something. So there are pluses and minuses. But the recovery, tactics and consistency that are required for a Grand Tour win are much more on the grand scale than any one day race, and I find that fascinating. It's much more calculating, and I admire that. Of course, instinct and will in the moment are very exciting too... damn, it's a tough choice.

 

[bianchigirl]

Jalabert, 1995
Milan-San remo
Grand Prix Primavera
Fléche Wallonne
Paris-Nice
Critérium International
Tour de Catalogne
Tour d'Espagne
Cinq étapes du Tour d'Espagne
Deux étapes du Critérium International
Deux étapes du Tour de Catalogne
Une étape du Challenge de Majorque
Une étape du Tour de Valence
Une étape de Paris-Nice
Une étape du Midi Libre
Une étape du Tour de France
Une étape du Tour de Gallice

Quite an amazing season - and he won all 3 jerseys at the Vuelta.

I like all types of racing - I actually like the baroudeurs best of all (and you could count Merckx and Coppi and Hinault in their number)

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

To take it up a notch from just being a Classics fan; there is a record out there that is going to be a hard one to equal. The 5 Monuments - MSR, Flanders, Roubaix, Liege, and Lombardy. Only three riders have won all five in their careers, and they're all Belgian. Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy. You think anybody racing today can catch these guys?

 

[skidmark]

The only person I can possibly think of is Cancellara, he's shown some good holding power in the hills in recent years, and if that aspect of his riding develops he could be a threat for Lombardia and LBL... although I guess he still has to win Flanders, which it doesn't look like he'll do this year.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Yes, I agree with your Cancellara pick. And it seems the older the current Classics specialists get, the better they climb. Although I'm really impressed with Heinrich Haussler. Watch out, He might do something special in April! This 5 Monuments record is going to hold for a long time I think. Somebody will either equal, or break my Roubaix record of 4 wins first.

 

[Notso Swift]

Classics for me (not just northern, though the spring cobbled are the best)
The racing is consistantly better, I feel, but a good stage race is still exicting, as are individual stages.
But the cobbles deliver again and again, too bad we only have limited TV over here.

PR x4... well Roger, long time coming... only Boonan has more than one in the current peleton
Going the 5 Monuments, the sport is so specialised now I can't see anyone who could do The Falling Leaves or LBL, maybe Cancellara for LBL, bit surely not Lombardia.
I am down on record as a big Haussler fan, I agree he is has the the most potential of the newer crop.
Think of it, the last bloke to go close was Kelly, and he was a freak even in his own career, a sprinter who won a GT, amazing! (if only he had a rainbow)

 

[il_fiammingo]

To take it up a notch from just being a Classics fan; there is a record out there that is going to be a hard one to equal. The 5 Monuments - MSR, Flanders, Roubaix, Liege, and Lombardy. Only three riders have won all five in their careers, and they're all Belgian. Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy. You think anybody racing today can catch these guys?

Gilbert/Ballan

 

[unsheath]

GC. Love the majesty of the mountains. The climbers through and through.

 

[LugHugger]

When I was young and innocent it was the GT contenders and the climbers. Now that I'm older and wiser and have a shorter attention span and less access to live daytime viewing , definitely the Classics riders.

Hard men, terrible conditions, max HR, wattage and racing not poodling around the countryside. God I love this time of year!

 

[tifosa]

Hard men of the Classics tell epic one race stories.
Tour "kings" stories, on any given day of a stage race, are sometimes obscured by le maillot jaune, and that's a pity.

I bow before both kinds of racers. Both tell equally compelling stories.

 

[Angliru]

To take it up a notch from just being a Classics fan; there is a record out there that is going to be a hard one to equal. The 5 Monuments - MSR, Flanders, Roubaix, Liege, and Lombardy. Only three riders have won all five in their careers, and they're all Belgian. Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy. You think anybody racing today can catch these guys?

Only Cancellara who seems to be quite ambitious, setting goals, marking them off and setting new goals. His performance in the Olympic road race made me think that he has a chance in the Ardennes classics and Lombardy. His potential seems almost limitless. Last year in the Tour he climbed like I had never seen him do before.

By the way I'm a lover of the climbers so in this order: Grand tours, Ardennes classics,M-SR,Roubaix/Flanders, weeklong stage races. For me the grand tours unfold like a good book, with the mountainous stagies bringing the real drama and the in- between stages acting as transitions to those climbing battles.

 

[Gruffydd]

That's a tough choice. Maybe the real hard men, produce results in both the one day classics and the grand tours.

 

[jaylew]

To take it up a notch from just being a Classics fan; there is a record out there that is going to be a hard one to equal. The 5 Monuments - MSR, Flanders, Roubaix, Liege, and Lombardy. Only three riders have won all five in their careers, and they're all Belgian. Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy. You think anybody racing today can catch these guys?

I don't see it happening, but as you guys have mentioned, I guess Cancellara has the best shot - he's already got MSR out of the way which is the hardest one for the non-sprinter to win and his Olympic performance on that hilly circuit says he's got the potential.

I think it would take someone actually trying for it as they would probably have to change their training and go for races they usually don't shoot for and which don't particularly suit them. That or a natural development into a different style of rider.

Someone already mentioned Gilbert and Ballan. Others with very slim outside shots: Devolder, Friere, Pozzato