Monuments as a stage race

[Armchair Cyclist]

In one of the MSR threads a few days ago there was some speculation as to how a Grand Tour of Monuments might play out: all ridden in close proximity, with rest & travel time between them as necessary. It soon got overrun with more specific MSR conversation, but I thought it might be interesting to give it space to be a conversation.

With the right riders competing, and making this something of a priority, what do you think would happen? If you were running it, what order would you have the races in, and how ? Which race would be the most important for selection of teammates? How might the tactics play out (let's assume the main riders are all up for it)?

According to PCS, 264 riders have finished all five, including 16 who are still active. Taking their best gap to the winner in each, and allowing bonifications of 10-6-4 seconds, the GC between those 16 would look like this:

Mathieu van der Poel	00:00​
Gianni Moscon	00:55​
Matej Mohoric	05:29​
Tiesj Benoot	13:23​
Bob Jungels	15:45​
Matteo Jorgenson	16:07​
Toms Skujins	19:28​
Rui Costa	20:25​
Michal Kwiatkowski	20:46​
Simon Clarke	21:30​
Ion Izagirre	25:30​
Chris Juul-Jensen	28:12​
Max Schachmann	29:22​
Jan Tratnik	30:52​
Michael Gogl	31:31​
Magnus Sheffield	47:13​

Fuller detail

Spoiler

	MSR	RvV	Roubaix	LBL	Lombardia	Bonnifications
Mathieu van der Poel	00:00​	00:00​	00:00​	00:14​	06:28​	00:30​	00:00​
Gianni Moscon	00:05​	00:53​	00:00​	05:35​	00:38​	00:04​	00:55​
Matej Mohoric	00:00​	01:07​	01:47​	00:00​	08:57​	00:10​	05:29​
Tiesj Benoot	00:02​	00:08​	16:32​	00:07​	02:46​		13:23​
Bob Jungels	01:14​	00:17​	14:34​	00:00​	06:02​	00:10​	15:45​
Matteo Jorgenson	00:02​	01:19​	16:25​	01:31​	03:02​		16:07​
Toms Skujins	00:35​	07:19​	11:06​	01:18​	05:22​		19:28​
Rui Costa	00:35​	13:53​	12:12​	00:00​	00:01​	00:04​	20:25​
Michal Kwiatkowski	00:00​	01:57​	15:34​	00:00​	09:41​	00:14​	20:46​
Simon Clarke	00:00​	12:37​	12:24​	01:44​	00:57​		21:30​
Ion Izagirre	00:00​	17:51​	13:05​	00:03​	00:43​		25:30​
Chris Juul-Jensen	00:05​	08:46​	07:06​	03:06​	15:21​		28:12​
Max Schachmann	00:00​	10:30​	20:28​	00:09​	04:31​	00:04​	29:22​
Jan Tratnik	00:05​	00:48​	23:26​	03:53​	08:52​		30:52​
Michael Gogl	01:45​	02:49​	22:11​	00:28​	10:30​		31:31​
Magnus Sheffield	00:32​	06:09​	17:03​	06:50​	22:51​		47:13​

It'll never happen, so you'll never be proven wrong, so speculate away.

 

[tobydawq]

I think Pogacar might have a chance.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Imagine having finished within a minute of the winner in four of the five monuments and yet having Tour of Guangxi be your biggest career win.

 

[Sciatic]

Great thing about the classics (including monuments) is that they’re not GTs!

ed. Meant to say they’re not stage races. Each have their place in the cycling universe.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I think Pogacar might have a chance.

He would have to complete a Paris Roubaix within 6:46 of the winner to overtake van der Poel in the historic version of it (which would have been just ahead of the group including De Clercq, Van Moer, Biermans, Oliveira, and Resell last year)

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Van Aert to come 2nd after Pogacar.

 

[Red Rick]

This ranking is actually very different from a hypothetical stage race considering it would involve 0 actual stage race tactics and no recovery issues involved.

That said, Pogacar finishing within 6'46 in Roubaix is an absolute given. That's like 50th place.

 

[Tim Cahill]

A final stage Liege where top GC riders need time and are actually forced to attack early would be excellent, it is a monument that from the profile always looks like it should be good but never is.

 

[Brullnux]

I think Nibali in a pre-Pogacar era would have done well. Obviously has his wins at MSR and Lombardy, plus a podium at Liege and a respectable top 20 in Flanders, and the infamous 2014 Tour stage.

 

[Nick2413]

Shouldn’t the winner get a bonus of however many seconds they won by as well? So Van der Poel’s lead would be a chunk higher?

 

[rallybanana]

In one of the MSR threads a few days ago there was some speculation as to how a Grand Tour of Monuments might play out: all ridden in close proximity, with rest & travel time between them as necessary. It soon got overrun with more specific MSR conversation, but I thought it might be interesting to give it space to be a conversation.

I think the idea started in the Coffee and small Danish thread and it got overrun by a discussion about Jägermeister and myopia.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I think the idea started in the Coffee and small Danish thread and it got overrun by a discussion about Jägermeister and myopia.

That would account for my failure to find it in the MSR thread.