Riders who don't win as often as they should

[Zinoviev Letter]

I'm not talking about riders who simply don't have much talent. Nor about ones who underperform their talent in general. I'm talking about ones who do well, who are prominent in races and in their teams, while always falling short of actually winning.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck is an easy example. Robert Gesink gets a bit of a hard time for being fragile and underachieving, but he does actually get a couple of wins pretty reliably every year. Van Den Broeck is on a similar sort of level in every aspect bar one: He just doesn't win.

You could also compare Bauke Mollema and Daniel Martin. Again, two very similar riders, same age, both climbers with a kick, same uncomfortable looking style, they even came to prominence with wins in the same race. But since then Martin has 10 more and Mollema 0. And again, as with Van Den Broeck it's not a case of him sucking. Mollema has a lot of good placings since then, most obviously 4th in the Vuelta.

There are many other examples (I didn't even bother mentioning the most famous one of all). So what is it that stops these riders from actually sealing the deal more often? Why doesn't a Van Den Broeck pick up races like the Tour of California or the Giro D'Emilia?

 

[Ruudz0r]

Because VDB only hits topform at a race he cannot win.

 

[Panda Claws]

I'm not talking about riders who simply don't have much talent. Nor about ones who underperform their talent in general. I'm talking about ones who do well, who are prominent in races and in their teams, while always falling short of actually winning.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck is an easy example. Robert Gesink gets a bit of a hard time for being fragile and underachieving, but he does actually get a couple of wins pretty reliably every year. Van Den Broeck is on a similar sort of level in every aspect bar one: He just doesn't win.

You could also compare Bauke Mollema and Daniel Martin. Again, two very similar riders, same age, both climbers with a kick, same uncomfortable looking style, they even came to prominence with wins in the same race. But since then Martin has 10 more and Mollema 0. And again, as with Van Den Broeck it's not a case of him sucking. He has a lot of good placings since then, most obviously 4th in the Vuelta.

There are many other examples (I didn't even bother mentioning the most famous one of all). So what is it that stops these riders from actually sealing the deal more often? Why doesn't a Van Den Broeck pick up races like the Tour of California or the Giro D'Emilia?

Tour. Might want to correct that.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Because VDB only hits topform at a race he cannot win.

Is that really true though? I mean, he clearly isn't in Tour form right now, but he didn't seem any further away from it or to be trying any less hard than Gesink, Wiggins, Quintana etc just a few days ago. It's not as if everyone else rides around in July form all year either, but they still win races.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Tour. Might want to correct that.

No, I mean Vuelta, I was talking about Mollema at that point. I'll go back and make sure my sentence structure is clear though.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

The correct answers are DANIEL OSS and IAN STANNARD. Both riders with the ability and skills to win numerous races but neither of them ever win anything.

 

[Descender]

Come on, Oss is still very young.

 

[gooner]

I would add in Roche as well.

Outside of a stage win in Beijing he has no wins whatsoever to write home about and I wouldn't exactly call Beijing a huge win either.

Too much obsessed about making it as top challenging GC rider when he will be nothing better than a top 10-20 in future GTs. He would be much better at focusing on stage wins and not over ambitious GT aspirations to the detriment of it.

 

[roundabout]

Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil.

 

[Roderick]

The correct answers are DANIEL OSS and IAN STANNARD. Both riders with the ability and skills to win numerous races but neither of them ever win anything.

Stannard lacks one great skill. He has no decent sprint at all.

I'd go for GVA here. He has a very decent sprint. He is able to compete at any kind of race, but besides P-T he didn't win anything decent since 2009 while he has had a ton of top-10

 

[Descender]

Cancellara
Andy Schleck

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Rojas must have more 4th places than any rider in history.

Stannard could pick up many a win if he was ever allowed to go in breakaways and he had an ounce of tactical sense.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Marcato, EBH

 

[roundabout]

9 days ago I would have picked Ciolek.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Oss is 26, which is the same as or close to the age of most of the riders mentioned in the thread. In his case though, doesn't he have the excuse of mostly being stuck with domestique duties so far?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Cancellara
Andy Schleck

Schleck Junior is too easy. Cancellara's an interesting choice though - he'd be an overperformer with almost anyone else's talent level, but with his...

 

[Pentacycle]

Van Garderen
Talansky
Uran
Henao
Rujano
Terpstra
Roelandts
Fuglsang

 

[the asian]

Kolobnev the obvious one.

Other classics riders- Pippo, Breschel, Flecha

GC- Schleck, VDB (mainly because they peak only for tour)
Anton, Gesnik (can't stay on their bike)

 

[the asian]

Marcato, EBH

Marcato finally won PT, but agree he should win more.

EBH is an enigma. Don't think he has the engine to win the monuments. May be he can become a stage hunter in stage races(Lulu, Fedrigo type), and winnning reduced sprints.

 

[trevim]

Because VDB only hits topform at a race he cannot win.

That's true for most of the riders that go to the Tour. And unfair to VdB: I'm far from being a fan but he's been going well since the beginning of the year. He just doesn't seem to have the kick or tactical awareness to get wins. Unlike someone like De Gendt that while being far from his top shape can ride breakaways and get wins out of them.

 

[jaylew]

Machado...

 

[Flamin]

Bjorn Leukemans.

 

[jaylew]

Van Garderen
Talansky
Henao

I'd give them a pass for now as they haven't been pro very long. Besides, Talansky has 3 wins in just over two seasons and Henao has a win in just over 1 season. It's not like they're sprinters. I wouldn't put them in TJVG territory just yet.

 

[gruppeto993]

Flecha, Monfort, Chavanel, EBH, Gallopin

Cancellara I think has won too many time trials that you lose count and forget about them. But I agree, with his talent he should have won more monuments.

Schleck, no comment.
Gesink tries really hard but can't stay on the bike.

 

[gruppeto993]

I think most of the riders mentioned here just lack some sort of tactical sense or crack under pressure or aren't natural born leaders. EBH would make a great classics domestique for someone like cancellara where he'll get his chances in sprints.