The Best Domestique

[Bobby G]

i think you mean 04 when he finished 5th overall and destroyed every1 cept armstrong, basso, kloden and ulrich on the mountain stages.

but ya azevedo was always a fantastic mountain domestic all his career, probably the best of the last decade i would say working both at once and postal.

Gotta say, as impressive as Azevedo, Heras et al. were as Armstrong's Senior Lieutenant, they stole most of the Glory..... but Rubiera was always there laying such impressive foundations. He'd whittle the group down to 10-15 and ride such a strong tempo before letting Heras/Azevedo finish the job. He get's my vote for best mountain Domestique.

Best sprint Domestique, Renshaw.

Best pure Domestique, Cancellara.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Gotta say, as impressive as Azevedo, Heras et al. were as Armstrong's Senior Lieutenant, they stole most of the Glory..... but Rubiera was always there laying such impressive foundations. He'd whittle the group down to 10-15 and ride such a strong tempo before letting Heras/Azevedo finish the job. He get's my vote for best mountain Domestique.

Best sprint Domestique, Renshaw.

Best pure Domestique, Cancellara.

Renshaw is so overrated. Hondo is the best sprint domestique of the last 3 years. He does a more varied job, does it on his own and is required to do more. Renshaw's best work came in the autobus with HTC, acting as the big brother for Cavendish to hide behind if his mouth wrote cheques his a*s couldn't cash.

 

[Bobby G]

There aren't many cheques Cav's A$$ can't cash, it's big enough.

Great admirer of Hondo, but I do think Renshaw is of the highest caliber. Some of the hopeless situations Renshaw seemed to get Cav out of were really something to behold. Like all riders though, he needs the right surroundings. Not sure if Rabo is doing him much good.

 

[Frosty]

Brett Lancaster is a guy i never hear praised - im sure he's a lot better rider than his ranking would suggest and does a lot of hard work chasing/in the lead out. I can see him being a big help for Goss in the tour this year.

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/rider.asp?riderid=797

(ok, i probably only started remembering his name because i keep on calling him Burt Lancaster but he still is good)

 

[Frosty]

There aren't many cheques Cav's A$$ can't cash, it's big enough.

Great admirer of Hondo, but I do think Renshaw is of the highest caliber. Some of the hopeless situations Renshaw seemed to get Cav out of were really something to behold. Like all riders though, he needs the right surroundings. Not sure if Rabo is doing him much good.

Thought his positioning was good in the Giro, although you would expect that from an ex-lead-out man. Just dont think he has the speed in the big sprints - there's always at least one guy faster who has good position too.

 

[airstream]

They all suck compared to Heras 01-03 regarding mountain domestiques. The 2004 Tour was the only Azevedo's spark. Piepoli was not a helper in the true sense of the word he was #1 star on that stages.

 

[Bushman]

What about Stuart o'grady? Has been a very good domestique in the classics for a long time, and for some years ago also in the sprints and sometimes Even in the mountains. He has also had the role Of capitain de route (If Thats What Its called) and havent had a lot Of victories.

 

[Frosty]

What about Stuart o'grady? Has been a very good domestique in the classics for a long time, and for some years ago also in the sprints and sometimes Even in the mountains. He has also had the role Of capitain de route (If Thats What Its called) and havent had a lot Of victories.

Ha! Was just looking through the TdS results and thinking what a good guy to have in the GreenEdge team he must be.

 

[Bushman]

Ha! Was just looking through the TdS results and thinking what a good guy to have in the GreenEdge team he must be.

Yeah, he really must be a fantastic rider to have in the team. He's always been a very dedicated domestique, while many others with his qualities would have a hard time riding in a supporting role i think.

 

[Frosty]

Lloyd Mondory really is a 5-8th place rider isnt he* Just always going to be some guys faster than him.

*well apart from in the mountains classification at the tour of beijing.

Edit: oops, wrong thread

 

[AngusW]

They all suck compared to Heras 01-03 regarding mountain domestiques. The 2004 Tour was the only Azevedo's spark. Piepoli was not a helper in the true sense of the word he was #1 star on that stages.

Not quite. Azevedo also finished 6th in the 2002 Tour while working for Beloki and Gonzalez de Galdeano.

Other top domestiques:

Udo Bolts (for Riis and Ullrich)
Eddy Schepers (for Stephen Roche)
Tyler Hamilton, Roberto Heras, Floyd Landis & Manuel Beltran (for Armstrong)

 

[Parrulo]

Not quite. Azevedo also finished 6th in the 2002 Tour while working for Beloki and Gonzalez de Galdeano.

Other top domestiques:

Udo Bolts (for Riis and Ullrich)
Eddy Schepers (for Stephen Roche)
Tyler Hamilton, Roberto Heras, Floyd Landis & Manuel Beltran (for Armstrong)

and 5th in the giro while working for Abraham Olano, the guy was a domestic in the true sense of the word much like szmyd, but even better, because he never really stepped up to be a team leader like heras eventually did. he had his chance in 06 but he was terrible in the tour that year the portuguese media was really hoping for the first portuguese podium since agostinho and so was i to be honest

in the tour he was working for beloki and igor G.G. it was a shame to see him pace the always dropped igor over the mountains.

 

[Galic Ho]

Kloden always. For whatever reason, he always rides selflessly for his leaders, even if he's arguably better than them (Tours 2004 & 2007).

Perhaps you forgot why Vino left T-Mobile? Kloden and Ullrich could be petulant little children at times. In the right environment, his attitude was repulsive. I remember them both pulling Armstong back to their own team mate on multiple occasions.

Then there is the 2009 Tour. Wrong environment, but the right attitude. Irony is he was vastly better than Lance in 2009 and yet he pulled Lance around France and until stage 17, was ahead on GC. He dropped back to help old Lance catch back some time and then dropped the time he himself needed to make the podium. But I can contrast that with him working against Contador. Heck, he pulled the peloton in parts of the Andorra Arcalis stage after AC attacked everyone. Why? To pace Lance. He's a good rider, but ultimately has many not so nice psychological traits.

Traits that explain why he isn't a great leader. Or a brilliant domestique. Maybe he's gotten less biased and less easily manipulated in his older age than when Lance and Ullrich were in his ear. Perhaps the Schleck's will get full support...oh wait, he won't have anyone else to pull for and can't lead...no brainer what's going to happen this year.

 

[the asian]

Hincapie, Voight , O'Grady, Paolini as Bunch Pullers or Road Captains. Renshaw, Hondo as lead out men. Szmyd, Popovych as Mt Domestiques.
for Specific instances, Rijs did a ggod job as Ulrich's domestique in 97 Tour.

 

[karlboss]

Cancellara, who else can get you back in the bunch just by telling everyone else to stop racing, or blunt your attack by telling your breakaway companions not to ride with you?

 

[the asian]

Hincapie, Voight , O'Grady, Paolini as Bunch Pullers or Road Captains. Renshaw, Hondo as lead out men. Szmyd, Popovych as Mt Domestiques.
for Specific instances, Rijs did a ggod job as Ulrich's domestique in 97 Tour.

 

[Shardi]

US Postal Service / Discovery (majority of the tour lineups)

For LA

 

[JA.Tri]

Cancellara, who else can get you back in the bunch just by telling everyone else to stop racing, or blunt your attack by telling your breakaway companions not to ride with you?

As a one off that was a spectacular bit of work/ persuasion, and astonishing in that it succeeded!

 

[Richeypen]

As a one off that was a spectacular bit of work/ persuasion, and astonishing in that it succeeded!

Hardly. There were over 50 separate crashes on that stage involving a lot of team leaders. Most teams would have wanted the stage stopped.

 

[dlwssonic]

Hardly. There were over 50 separate crashes on that stage involving a lot of team leaders. Most teams would have wanted the stage stopped.

People still complain about that stage and cancellara stopping the peloton.
But I think it was the right thing to do.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Whether or not it was right to stop the stage, once everybody bar Chavanel was back together, it was absolutely ridiculous that they weren't then allowed to at least contest the points.

 

[flappingdinglehatch]

+1 for eddy schepers.

from the early 90's, id add jean francois bernard and pedro delgado.
bernard turned out to be a much better domestique than gc leader.

 

[Motion]

Kash @ Vuelta 06 comes to mind.

But the best has to be Gadret for Roche in the Tour 11.

Vino also was good helper for Jan

 

[Magnus]

Whether or not it was right to stop the stage, once everybody bar Chavanel was back together, it was absolutely ridiculous that they weren't then allowed to at least contest the points.

Since when did you care about the points competition?