Rank the young GT talents

[Jspear]

Horner's son is already riding?

Sorry I meant Chris. He is 42 in the morning. Once his day gets going, he is 25...I thought that counted as young.

 

[SafeBet]

I don't get why you guys rank Majka so high. He's older than the others, he was clearly beaten by Aru at the Giro (and by Betancur last year). Plus he's very conservative when riding for GC. Unless he improves dramatically, he's got little chance of winning a GT.

 

[damian13ster]

Future GT Winners
1. Quintana - already has one....he will be the new top dog.
2. Aru
3. Talansky

All the other great young talents have one flaw or an other that make it harder for me to picture them winning a GT. Of course they could if big names aren't there (like the 2014 Tour ) or if the course suits them perfectly, but in general I think these will mainly podium or be top 5 contenders.

Majka, Kelderman, Pinot, Bardet, Horner,....there's probably others. But these are the big one's I'm expecting to see with high GC results over the next 10 years.

He is forever young To be honest I am still not a Quintana fan. He was destroyed by Froome in TdF by huuuge margin, he won Giro in a very questionable way without showing his dominance at all and playing dirty. He is obviously very talented if not most talented among this group but dominance? No way

 

[Big Doopie]

Talansky
Quintana
Pinot
Bardet
Dennis
Kelderman
Dan Martin
TJVG

I believe Talansky - without his falls - would be challenging Nibali for the win.

 

[Escarabajo]

He is forever young To be honest I am still not a Quintana fan. He was destroyed by Froome in TdF by huuuge margin, he won Giro in a very questionable way without showing his dominance at all and playing dirty. He is obviously very talented if not most talented among this group but dominance? No way

Are you being sarcastic, or you just want to initiate a brave discussion.

 

[damian13ster]

Dont want to initiate any discussion and I am not being sarcastic at all (well, except for Horner part ). Just my personal observation/opinion. No need to get defensive over it

 

[fantomas]

Results at Giro prove otherwise....unfortunately he got a stomach flu/infection in a third week, was curling in pain instead of sleeping, but next year he will prove you otherwise. He will never be Contador/Froome level, but Valverde, Rodriguez, why not?

Yeah, when you have a bad day, it's always due to "stomach flu" or something like that. Majka is a superb rider, but I don't think he will ever be a GT contender.
Top 3, maybe, but that's it.

 

[damian13ster]

Well, I dont think he is going to win GT unless circumstances allow it but there is more than one contender per race and only one winner. Also, those are not his words but from his roommate. Anyway, we will find out soon enough.

 

[Fzotrlool]

I think Kelderman will be the most versatile. Possibly a future winner of Liege and Lombardy.

But Quintana (the Pantani of the 10's) will be the best rider of his generation, unless a new Armstrong/Froome-like rider emerges (Kennaugh?).

Aru (Basso)
Kwaitkowski (Vino)
Pinot (Mayo)
Majka (Sastre)
Bentancur (Rebellin)
Bardet (Andy?)
Kelderman (Valverde)

 

[trevim]

At this point Majka doesn't look like he has a chance to take on Aru, Quintana or Pinot. Things change faste though, who would've said Andy Schleck wouldn't win more GT's then Nibali back in 2007-2009?
But riding for GC he looks to me like one of the most consistent GT riders out there; his bad days are usually OK. Regarding his conservative nature I would disagree a bit: he attacked a lot in 2013 Giro (usually in the wrong places though ) but he was a big wheelsucker that would make the old version of Cadel Evans proud in Giro 2014. I hope he finds a middle ground in the future, attacking cleverly in the mountains and being active in a race.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Not convinced about Aru if the parcours gets a bit tough. Strikes me as being one dimensional. We shall see.

Quintana
Pinot
Kelderman
Aru/Bardet

 

[trevim]

I think Kelderman will be the most versatile. Possibly a future winner of Liege and Lombardy.

But Quintana (the Pantani of the 10's) will be the best rider of his generation, unless a new Armstrong/Froome-like rider emerges (Kennaugh?).

Aru (Basso)
Kwaitkowski (Vino)
Pinot (Mayo)
Majka (Sastre)
Bentancur (Rebellin)
Bardet (Andy?)
Kelderman (Valverde)

Majka/Sastre, I totally agree with that. Good climber and solid TT. Now he just need a nervous breakdown from an Evans-like rider to win the Tour

 

[fantomas]

Well, I dont think he is going to win GT unless circumstances allow it but there is more than one contender per race and only one winner. Also, those are not his words but from his roommate. Anyway, we will find out soon enough.

He will never be a contender unless something freakish happens, like he gets in a breakaway in the early stages of a GT and gains 10 minutes on the real contenders. He can do solid rides and fight maybe fight for podium in some GT's.
I think he should improve his climbing even more and focus on that, Stage victiories and top-5. Somewhat like a lot of other guys.

 

[Kokoso]

König deserves a mention. Last year Vuelta was his first GT and he finished 9th, this is his second one and so far he did even better. And probably he has worse conditions in Netapp than he'd have in Protour team.

 

[42x16ss]

How I see things ATM:

Guys just hitting the big time:

Quintana - the top dog, rider to beat from now on
Aru - Perennial Giro contender, should bag at least one, will contend at the Tour when there
Pinot/Bardet - Tour contenders similar to Beloki or pre-12 Andy, should get a win but not certain, Giro certainly possible if they race it
Talansky/TJVG/Keldermerckx/Kwiatkowski - Regular 3rd-10th place at Tour, will contend at other GTs, need TT miles to win a TdF
Betancur - Giro and Vuelta guy, similar to Rodriguez
Majka - Will be consistent, especially at Giro but not sure if he'll ever win one though

Guys with potential:

Formolo - oozes potential, should become a classy rider
Chaves - looking good, will have to see how he handles the setbacks so far
Adam Yates - bags of potential, can hopefully cash in
Henao - not totally convinced he's a GT contender
Dennis - good TT, not sure about climbing or staying power over 3 weeks

 

[Czapiewski]

Yeah, when you have a bad day, it's always due to "stomach flu" or something like that. Majka is a superb rider, but I don't think he will ever be a GT contender.
Top 3, maybe, but that's it.

I do not like hearing excuses and was rather wary of this strange sickness of Majka, but what he showed in lthe ast stages of TdF rather supports his explanation - he looked much more dynamic in the last climbs than in Giro, and Giro was supposed to be his main peak of form, TdF was really without preparation. So at the moment we really do know little where his ceiling is, not like in the case of Quintana as seems to be best climber of coming years
(as much as I do not like him).

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I do not like hearing excuses and was rather wary of this strange sickness of Majka, but what he showed in lthe ast stages of TdF rather supports his explanation - he looked much more dynamic in the last climbs than in Giro, and Giro was supposed to be his main peak of form, TdF was really without preparation. So at the moment we really do know little where his ceiling is, not like in the case of Quintana as seems to be best climber of coming years
(as much as I do not like him).

Don't think Majka's performance in this year's tour can be used to gauge his class as a serious GC contender. Rides with the grupetto for two weeks and then getting form later will not provide the answers imo.

I still have him as top 5 material however.

 

[SafeBet]

Not convinced about Aru if the parcours gets a bit tough. Strikes me as being one dimensional. We shall see.

Quintana
Pinot
Kelderman
Aru/Bardet

What do you mean with tough? Hilly/cobbles/tricky descents or several multi mountain stages? If you mean the latter I think he proved himself in the Giro, even if he was clearly fading a bit in the Zoncolan stage. But if you're talking about classics type of racing you might be right. We should see him in the Ardennes next year though.
He's ok in bad weather.

Agree with the mention for Konig, interesting rider indeed.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

What do you mean with tough? Hilly/cobbles/tricky descents or several multi mountain stages? If you mean the latter I think he proved himself in the Giro, even if he was clearly fading a bit in the Zoncolan stage. But if you're talking about classics type of racing you might be right. We should see him in the Ardennes next year though.
He's ok in bad weather.

Agree with the mention for Konig, interesting rider indeed.

Yep, I mean different terrain across all three weeks which test the GC riders. Not just 1 or 2 multi mountain stages in the last week. Don't think it tests the riders enough (a climber can peak for the last week and win it, not a fan of the concept). The Giro did confirm Aru as a top climber and recovery is good etc.

Hope to see him in the Ardennes races. MSR with the new design as well.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Are you serious? Kelderman didn't responded to Froomes attacks. Only Contador did.

Froome/Contador did af Contador/Schleck 2010 and kept on watching each other. Otherwise they would both have gone and gained more than a minute on the others.

I think Quintana is level above the rest, and then Majka/Aru/Kelderman and maybe Pinot will follow. But we just dont know yet.

You might want to rewatch the first mountain stage. Yes he did not respond to the first two big attacks, but the ones in the final kilometer, he did.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

My ranking would be

Quintana (multiple GT dominator)
Aru/Pinot (closest to Quintana, might win if he's not there)
Bardet/Talansky/Majka (regular podium finishers)
Kelderman/TJVG/Betancur/Kwiatkowski + some i forget (3rd to 10th.. might win a Vuelta or Giro if there is the right field with the right course)

 

[SafeBet]

You're underestimating Wilco here, DT. He's younger than most riders mentioned here and has shown huge potential in his first year as a leader in a GT.

 

[RedheadDane]

On future GT potential:
Quintana

Quintana's GT potential isn't future, it now!

(Unless you meant Dayer)

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I'd say something like

Quintana
Aru/Pinot
Kelderman/Talansky/Bardet
Majka/Betancur/Barguil/Konig

Majka might move up if he becomes more confident. I heard Karsten Kroon saying Majka was super nervous and panicked all the time. I can imagine Majka will move up a bit if he gets it together in his head. Maybe we'll see the truth to those stories of Majka outclimbing Contador on training sessions and stuff.

Betancur moves up to Aru/Pinot level or even beyond, if he stops being a lazy fat guy.

There are several riders who I think will most likely be up there but I still have to see them ride a GT to see if they're GT material. I'm thinking of Yates brothers, Sebastian Henao, Formolo, Chaves and especially my favourite Merhawi Kudus.

By the way, if Quintana, Pinot and Aru will really be the top notch GT contenders of this generation, then GT's will become very exciting the coming few years. There's some other upcoming GC talents who ride in an entertaining way as well.

 

[ILovecycling]

My ranking would be

Quintana (multiple GT dominator)
Aru/Pinot (closest to Quintana, might win if he's not there)
Bardet/Talansky/Majka (regular podium finishers)
Kelderman/TJVG/Betancur/Kwiatkowski + some i forget (3rd to 10th.. might win a Vuelta or Giro if there is the right field with the right course)

What about chaves and henao marin?
I think you are a bit underestimating Wilco,imo he should be in talansky / bardet group.
Kwia in group with betancur? (not even when he is fat cat)