The best one week stage racers of the 21st century

[OlavEH]

Roglic now have 6 wins in one week races in just over 4 seasons. It would probably be 8 if not for the crashes. That is pretty unique. Contador used 11 seasons to win 7 one-week tours.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Plot twist:

From the 2019 Giro:

VN: "Hey Primoz; Come and check out my trophy cabinet!"

PR: "Eh? It's okay."

Primoz is a nice guy. His mother had taught him, that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Yet Primoz had viewed Vincenzo's trophy cabinet with one week goggles, and inside he scoffed:

"This is barely on a par with Simon Spilak's! Oh man, stick those forks in me, I'm done."

During the following years Primoz considered inviting Vincenzo to see his trophy cabinet many times, but he did not want to embarrass a fellow professional bike racer.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So looking at the 7 one weekers that we have repeatedly identifed in this thread, taking the top ten for each edition since 01/01/2000 (CQ's application of historic disqualifications) and issuing points per CQ's TdF stage top ten allocation (80, 50, 35, 25, 15, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1), we would have a top 15 of:

1​	CONTADOR VELASCO Alberto	1261​
2​	PORTE Richie	906​
3​	VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro	829​
4​	QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander	780​
5​	EVANS Cadel	693​
6​	KLÖDEN Andreas	571​
7​	COSTA Rui Alberto Faria	568​
8​	ROGLIC Primoz	555​
9​	SPILAK Simon	552​
10​	FROOME Chris	548​
11​	THOMAS Geraint	510​
12​	FUGLSANG Jakob	461​
13​	RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquim	449​
14​	MARTIN Daniel	443​
15​	KREUZIGER Roman	425​

Make of that what you will.

And to apply the same calculation to the earlier riders with >4 victories:
Kelly 1263
Rominger 1128
Jalabert 907
Merckx 900
Cañardo 886
Zoetemelk 856
Anquetil 851
Zulle 777
Ocana 771
Roche 703
De Vlaeminck 685
Kubler 665
Indurain 607

and I checked Hinault as well (because it seem wrong not to) but he was 'only' 510.

Canardo and Kubler got all of their points in their own countries, which might reflect on the fields in those eras.

None of the historical ones top tenned in all seven of these, I wasn't looking for that feat on the more recent ones, but I suspect it remans still to be done.

And interpolating the two lists gives an all time top ten of
Kelly 1263
Contador 1261
Rominger 1128
Jalabert 907
Porte 906
Merckx 900
Cañardo 886
Zoetemelk 856
Anquetil 851
Valverde 829

 

[Ancalagon]

A

And to apply the same calculation to the earlier riders with >4 victories:
Kelly 1263
Rominger 1128
Jalabert 907
Merckx 900
Cañardo 886
Zoetemelk 856
Anquetil 851
Zulle 777
Ocana 771
Roche 703
De Vlaeminck 685
Kubler 665
Indurain 607

and I checked Hinault as well (because it seem wrong not to) but he was 'only' 510.

Canardo and Kubler got all of their points in their own countries, which might reflect on the fields in those eras.

None of the historical ones top tenned in all seven of these, I wasn't looking for that feat on the more recent ones, but I suspect it remans still to be done.

And interpolating the two lists gives an all time top ten of
Kelly 1263
Contador 1261
Rominger 1128
Jalabert 907
Porte 906
Merckx 900
Cañardo 886
Zoetemelk 856
Anquetil 851
Valverde 829

Amazing, thank you !

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I think Ion Izagirre must be mentioned here. I'm not arguing he is a top 5 one week racer of the century but he has 23 top 10s (of which 14 top 5s (of which 10 podiums (of which 2 wins))) in one-week WorldTour races and just one 9th place in the Vuelta.

10 podiums is a pretty impressive feat for a rider of his calibre!

I put up the top 15 by my method since 2000: Izaguirre was 16th (394), but Vinokourov and Rebellin would have been higher if I had included their pre-2000 results.

 

[KZD]

Having Costa and Spilak in the list but no Pogačar is curious to say the least. I voted Roglić has he rarely loses one of these races (if he manages to stay upright of course)

 

[gregrowlerson]

And to apply the same calculation to the earlier riders with >4 victories:
Kelly 1263
Rominger 1128
Jalabert 907
Merckx 900
Cañardo 886
Zoetemelk 856
Anquetil 851
Zulle 777
Ocana 771
Roche 703
De Vlaeminck 685
Kubler 665
Indurain 607

and I checked Hinault as well (because it seem wrong not to) but he was 'only' 510.

Canardo and Kubler got all of their points in their own countries, which might reflect on the fields in those eras.

None of the historical ones top tenned in all seven of these, I wasn't looking for that feat on the more recent ones, but I suspect it remans still to be done.

And interpolating the two lists gives an all time top ten of
Kelly 1263
Contador 1261
Rominger 1128
Jalabert 907
Porte 906
Merckx 900
Cañardo 886
Zoetemelk 856
Anquetil 851
Valverde 829

"The second place is no good."

 

[hayneplane]

It shows how much Nibali merely used the one week races as prep work in the second half of his career to be even behind Dan Martin and Kreuziger.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

The cancelled 2010 results for Valverde would have been 180 here, for 4th on the all time scores.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

"The second place is no good."

Only if you think Raymond Poulidor was no better in the Tour de France than Wim Vansevenant.

One might say that 2nd is not a success, one can't say it is not the mark of a good racer.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

It shows how much Nibali merely used the one week races as prep work in the second half of his career to be even behind Dan Martin and Kreuziger.

Not just behind Martin and Kreuziger, but also Horner, Mayo, Jaksche, Rogers, F Schleck and others

 

[Netserk]

The cancelled 2010 results for Valverde would have been 180 here, for 4th on the all time scores.

Contador's cancelled Catalunya win robbed him of #1

 

[Ancalagon]

Having Costa and Spilak in the list but no Pogačar is curious to say the least. I voted Roglić has he rarely loses one of these races (if he manages to stay upright of course)

I followed Armchair's top ten.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I have seen there is a poll now. Just to let everybody know i voted for Primož Roglič.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Having Costa and Spilak in the list but no Pogačar is curious to say the least. I voted Roglić has he rarely loses one of these races (if he manages to stay upright of course)

Too be fair, 3 > 2 but Pogacar will almost certainly finish with more wins then them. Plus their 16 and 19 top tens with the 3 wins. If WT week stage races were included he’d be past their mark.

 

[perico]

Either you put great weight on minor races like Down Under, or you put very great weight on diversity of wins (over number of wins and placings).

And I can't see how "prestige of races won, strength of field beaten and dominance" would favour Porte over Contador.

Stage wins	Contador	Porte
Paris - Nice	5	5
Tirreno - Adriatico	2	0
Volta a Catalunya	0 (1)	0
Itzulia Basque Country	7	1
Tour de Romandie	2	1
Dauphiné Libéré	3	1
Tour de Suisse	1	0

Plus if you look at the minor one week races Contador won, then he’s actually underrated. People forget just how dominant he was in his prime. Even after 2014 he was still always up there and winning or competitive.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Delete what I said earlier about no-one having made the top ten in all of the 7 big one week races: I now notice that Porte completed the set this year. And that 4th is his worst best position in any of them.

Edit: And maybe it is an Aussie goal, because I now notice that Cadel Evans had them.

 

[Orbit501]

Put up all the stats known to man, and woman alike. I'm still voting Little Richie Porte on principal.

Ah look mate... Have you not heard about Old Willunga Hill?

 

[Pantani_lives]

I wonder if the current big 7 were always the 7 biggest shorter stage races? it comes up a lot in discussions of palmares that oldy timey one day races weren’t ranked as they are today and that the Vuelta used to be much less significant, but as the shorter stage races are less prestigious and count for less in those discussions, their evolving relative weight isn’t discussed as much.

I know that Suisse for instance used to be a bigger deal than it is now, but as it is still one of the top group of shorter stage races that doesn’t change very munch. Presumably there must be equivalents to Paris Tours that used to matter a lot and don’t now.

In France the Midi Libre and the Critérium International used to be pretty important. Now they're off the calender. In certain years the Tour of Germany was gaining importance, and later the Tour of California, but that didn't last long.

 

[hayneplane]

In France the Midi Libre and the Critérium International used to be pretty important. Now they're off the calender. In certain years the Tour of Germany was gaining importance, and later the Tour of California, but that didn't last long.

Criterium international is a real sad loss to the calendar. A real condensed all round test of a GC rider.

 

[SHAD0W93]

I was going to bring up Levi since I thought he won more of the 7 then TdS and CdD but realized he only won 1(2) and the rest other stage races.

 

[Extinction]

Not really. I do think he had some potential to do respectable at the LBL and IL, but those aren't won by pure climbers either. Also Liege had the Ans finish and IL didn't go to the Civiglio route until after Contadors prime. Maybe he spins the wheel of fortune at a few WCs, like Mendrisio or something, but whatever.

If he'd been Belgian or Dutch he probably would've just been more Tour focused and been a bit worse for it.

Also let's be real. Alberto Contador sounds frigging cool. Bert Boekhouder fuckign doesn't.

I don't think so on focussing more on the Tour, as Belgium in particular has a long tradition with the Northern campaign and Worlds. Probably the biggest hinderance to Contador was that Spain had Valverde for the Ardennes and Worlds. I agree that at his career peak, but from another country, he could have challenged for victory at LBL and on the right course Worlds.

 

[Blanco]

I don't think so on focussing more on the Tour, as Belgium in particular has a long tradition with the Northern campaign and Worlds. Probably the biggest hinderance to Contador was that Spain had Valverde for the Ardennes and Worlds. I agree that at his career peak, but from another country, he could have challenged for victory at LBL and on the right course Worlds.

Worlds ok, but Valverde didn't rode for Spain in Liege...

Truth is, he was not a good finisher, and in one-day races it matters a lot. He simply didn't had a terrain to make a difference.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I was going to bring up Levi since I thought he won more of the 7 then TdS and CdD but realized he only won 1(2) and the rest other stage races.

But he should get at least double points for that TdS for how unforgettable it was.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Worlds ok, but Valverde didn't rode for Spain in Liege...

Truth is, he was not a good finisher, and in one-day races it matters a lot. He simply didn't had a terrain to make a difference.

Contador also wasn't that great over longer distances, at least during the second half of his career. He had epic day to day recovery, but possibly didn't get as many 'second winds' as other riders during a single day's race.