Hard-working guys with obvious talents (Appraisal thread)

[mrhender]

I would like to use this resting day focusing on a rider type that is often overseen.. We must not forget the "little" man..

I nominate Lars Bak

He is practically in front of the peleton all day long in flat stages..

Yesterday he was riding fast in the wind and the other riders told him to slow
down as he was gooing too fast..
His response after the stage was that they should stop whining and from now on he would decide the leeway given to breakaways
Given that they only caught the break at the finish line I can understand his
frustration of also having to go full gas the final 10 k's because others where whining earlier on..
I've also heard reports of him tutoring the other teams chasing-guys like the Chinese from Giant..
I never hear him complaining that Greipel doesn't win and I actually
think he enjoys sitting there with the nose in the wind -bossing the chase..

He's one of my favorite riders in the peleton because of his obvious qualities and no BS personality.. I am probably biased as we share nationality so what do you think?

Seriously this guy is strong as an oxe, I wonder if he's talent wasted?
He has done well in PR and won a stage in Giro D'Italia in 2012..

Who do you nominate?
(no rules as to rider type)

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Thomas (perhaps not a "little man").

Allrounder.
Initial job was to take part in Froome's industrial train.
Switched to pulling Porte on the cobbles and parts of final climb during key stages.
Switched to pulling Nieve on the climbs.
Good in interviews. Clear headed, concise and above all rarely whines.

I hope he will have another go, perhaps already on stage 16.

Bak is another one of my favorite riders in this our. I say this tour, because my backing typically resets at the beginning of a race.

Other riders I like in this tour is De Marchi. Man, what a fighter.

 

[notrolfsorensen]

Seriously this guy is strong as an oxe, I wonder if he's talent wasted?
He has done well in PR and won a stage in Giro D'Italia in 2012..

I don't know if he's a wasted talent, but he did win Tour de l'Avenir in 2005. Those winners (Gimondi, Zoetemelk, Lemond, Fignon, Indurain) tend to end up not just pulling the break back. However it was always his tempo qualities that were his trademark, and the winners in the mid-2000's of that race were not really always the biggest talents like today with for instance Quintana.

If i should nominate a rider I would nominate Tosatto, for his obvious positioning skills and ability to ride as a domestique to all kinds of leaders. I rembember Boonen having him as his leadout back in the the days when Boonen was the fastest guy in the peleton, and now he leads out Bertie. He has at the same time always struck me as a guy that creates a good atmosphere at a team. + The guy has done like 27 GT's or something.

 

[karlboss]

I would like to use this resting day focusing on a rider type that is often overseen.. We must not forget the "little" man..

I nominate Lars Bak

He is practically in front of the peleton all day long in flat stages..

Yesterday he was riding fast in the wind and the other riders told him to slow
down as he was gooing too fast..
His response after the stage was that they should stop whining and from now on he would decide the leeway given to breakaways
Given that they only caught the break at the finish line I can understand his
frustration of also having to go full gas the final 10 k's because others where whining earlier on..
I've also heard reports of him tutoring the other teams chasing-guys like the Chinese from Giant..
I never hear him complaining that Greipel doesn't win and I actually
think he enjoys sitting there with the nose in the wind -bossing the chase..

He's one of my favorite riders in the peleton because of his obvious qualities and no BS personality.. I am probably biased as we share nationality so what do you think?

Seriously this guy is strong as an oxe, I wonder if he's talent wasted?
He has done well in PR and won a stage in Giro D'Italia in 2012..

Who do you nominate?
(no rules as to rider type)

Happened last year in Corsica also, when cannondale split the peloton for Sagan, Bak was doing what he could to get the sprinters back up, and every time they hit a small bump Bak was riding away.

 

[CycloAndy]

^ This guy

 

[Wallenquist]

Svein Tuft
Sylwester Szmyd
Pablo Lastras

 

[pugdog]

Quémeneur

10chars

 

[mrhender]

Happened last year in Corsica also, when cannondale split the peloton for Sagan, Bak was doing what he could to get the sprinters back up, and every time they hit a small bump Bak was riding away.

Yes, that is true..
He really knows how to make the others suffer

I also recall his attack in the final of the 2011 Champs ellyseés..
The trains had a hard time pulling him in for sure.. That was an awesome effort!!

 

[Fzotrlool]

Luca Paolini
Rory Sutherland
Vasil Kiryienka
Greg Henderson
Pablo Lastras
Alexis Vuillermoz
Gianluca Brambilla
Gregory Rast

 

[mrhender]

Svein Tuft
Sylwester Szmyd
Pablo Lastras

Good picks.. Especially Tuft.. His whole background screams of a documentary..
Riding his bycycle across the world with a trailer on the back if I remember correctly.. Then goes on to be a GT rider with nothing but respect sorrounding him.. Sometimes the Grupetto guy is the true story of cycling...

 

[mrhender]

I don't know if he's a wasted talent, but he did win Tour de l'Avenir in 2005. Those winners (Gimondi, Zoetemelk, Lemond, Fignon, Indurain) tend to end up not just pulling the break back. However it was always his tempo qualities that were his trademark, and the winners in the mid-2000's of that race were not really always the biggest talents like today with for instance Quintana.

If i should nominate a rider I would nominate Tosatto, for his obvious positioning skills and ability to ride as a domestique to all kinds of leaders. I rembember Boonen having him as his leadout back in the the days when Boonen was the fastest guy in the peleton, and now he leads out Bertie. He has at the same time always struck me as a guy that creates a good atmosphere at a team. + The guy has done like 27 GT's or something.

How could I forget l'avenir....
But yes, maybe he's doing exactly what he does best..
I'd like to see him get his chance more often though..

Tossato is surely underestimated, however he seems to thrive with some degree of anonymity which makes him perfect for this thread.. Hard to find a more experienced rider, able to do what he can..

 

[Afrank]

+1 to Tuft and Paolini.

I'd add Hansen, Morkov, and Navardauskas.
And also Martin, might be a little higher class then the guys this thread is meant for, but a beast of a rider that is more then willing to give his all for his teammates.

Edit: Yeah, most definitely Paolini. Look what I just stumbled upon on Facebook.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Thought I'd add Laurens Ten Dam, Ian Stannard, Florian Vachon, Chris Anker Sørensen...

Also the thread would seem to be built for a tribute to the king of the gritty domestiques in recent years, Movistar's DS José Vicente García Acosta, who broke the wind for Miguel Indurain, Abraham Olano, Chava Jiménez, Paco Mancebo and Alejandro Valverde in a fifteen year career with the team... Christian Meier once tweeted during a race how thrilled he was to spend some km on the front with Txente, and if he could become half the domestique Txente is he'd retire happy. It's wonderful to see that kind of praise and awe inspired simply by domestique duties, and it's great to see the domestiques given a bit of attention for the job they do as well. I like Meier, he's an entertaining tweeter, and he has immense respect for a lot of the classic domestiques.

 

[l.Harm]

Maarten Tjallingii also deserves a mention.

 

[kingjr]

Tobias Steinhauser, Udo Bölts, Rolf Aldag, Jens Heppner

 

[SafeBet]

Paolini is a big time whiner. Often calling for stages cancellation and among the most influent in policing the group when bad weather occurs. He's as deserving of a mention in this thread as Pippo Pozzato.

 

[De Snelle Duif]

Although he has had some chances in the last years: Stijn Vandenbergh

 

[murali]

How abt giving the veteran a lift: Jens Voigt.

other less-talked guys:
Peter Velits
Kevin Reza
Marcel Wyss

(Kevin Reza got a TV mention in the europcar attack.)

I think i shud not talk abt any HTC guy or OPQS guy, simply becoz i might end up missing someone.

 

[jens_attacks]

easily can insert here all the domestiques

 

[greenedge]

Cyril Gautier
Martin Elmiger

 

[42x16ss]

Some great names being mentioned here, especially Tuft, Hansen, Bak, De Marchi. Arashiro is another who is greatly underappreciated.

The guy who has really impressed me lately is Ji Cheng. Sure he climbs like he's carrying a pannier full of bricks, but anyone will after riding ~50km on the front every day for two weeks and he's done it before at the Vuelta too. To top it off he looks happy just to be there - he screams team player IMO.

 

[murali]

easily can insert here all the domestiques

i thought OP was looking for names of doms who had done well.

 

[Broth3r]

Lots of (honestly, more deserving) names already mentioned, but I'll add two: André Cardoso and Kevin Reza.

Cardoso is a fantastic climber with not a lot of talent elsewhere, but pulled major work for Hej in the Giro. Reza has really impressed me this Tour. I'm the bane of sprinters incarnate, but his work in positioning Bryan Coquard has been tireless, if fruitless; a one-man train.

 

[CycloAndy]

Burghardt has always impressed me.

 

[mrhender]

Starting his GT no 30 today... Deserves a mention i think...

I’m now older than that and in order to be competitive against the younger riders one has to work harder than them. I keep doing it because I love this job and I don’t mind suffering when I train in order to reach these races”
------
but in the last years I decided to put myself to the service of the team. I don’t feel bad about that decision, on the contrary I am proud of it, and I keep dreaming. If you stop dreaming, you’ll stop riding”,

http://www.tinkoffsaxo.com/news/tosatto-30th-gt-older-riders-now-able-compete-ever/