Teams & Riders The Big 6

[Devil's Elbow]

Wins of the so-called 'big 6' in 2023:

Pogacar: 14 (including monument and WT Stage race)
Vingegard: 12 (including 2 wt stage races)
Remco: 9 (including monument, Wt stage race and Gt stages)
Roglic: 9 (including Giro and 2 wt stage races)
Vander Poel: 4 (with 2 monuments)
WVA: 2

If Belgian pozzato doesn't win 3+tdf stages + world championships can we now call it a big 5??

Not yet, but if his 2024 is similarly poor, there's a very good chance he gets replaced by an oil money-backed upstart in black and white. Again, just like Tottenham.

Spoiler

 

[AlfaLum]

Has Skjelmose already replaced van Aert on this list of the big six?

 

[RedheadDane]

Has Skjelmose already replaced van Aert on this list of the big six?

Everyone knows that the "Big Six" varies between 3 and 8, give or take.

 

[Red Rick]

Not yet, but if his 2024 is similarly poor, there's a very good chance he gets replaced by an oil money-backed upstart in black and white. Again, just like Tottenham.

Spoiler

I'm not booting Van Aert from the Big 6.

Source: Tennis Big 4 propagandist

 

[Scarponi]

I'm not booting Van Aert from the Big 6.

Source: Tennis Big 4 propagandist

No big 5 with Wawrinka ?? Haha

 

[houtdffan]

Van Aert was never part of the big 6

Hincapie 2.0 as I said before. He is a tremendous dom and frequent contender in classic, but not one of the top champions

 

[Blanco]

I'm not really a fan of Wout Van Aert, but I must say that judging by the quality, he certainly belongs to the very best of the pro peloton right now, call it a big 6 or whatever.
But judging by this current season alone, he's not up there. I mean when your biggest feat of the season is "I should've (could've) won Paris-Roubaix without that puncture" or that famous Gent-Wevelgem gift, it's just obvious that something is missing.
He needs to step up big in the upcoming races (Tour, WC) to join that crew again.

 

[OlavEH]

Van Aert was never part of the big 6

Hincapie 2.0 as I said before. He is a tremendous dom and frequent contender in classic, but not one of the top champions

Lets compare:

Category	Van Aert	Hincapie
Monument + championship wins	1	0
Monument + championship podiums	9	2
Semi classic wins	7	3
Semi classic podiums	13	4
GT stage wins	9	0

And here I've been kind to Hincapie and included his voided results. One can also mention that of Hincapie's three wins in semi classics only 1 was in one of the 6-7 biggest races. 6 out 7 for Van Aert were in the same races. It's fairly knockout for Van Aert. He is much, much more than a Hincapie 2.0.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Lets compare:

Category	Van Aert	Hincapie
Monument + championship wins	1	0
Monument + championship podiums	9	2
Semi classic wins	7	3
Semi classic podiums	13	4
GT stage wins	9	0

And here I've been kind to Hincapie and included his voided results. One can also mention that of Hincapie's three wins in semi classics only 1 was in one of the 6-7 biggest races. 6 out 7 for Van Aert were in the same races. It's fairly knockout for Van Aert. He is much, much more than a Hincapie 2.0.

Hey, you‘re ignoring his GT stage win. Negotiating skills are also skills.

 

[houtdffan]

Lets compare:

Category	Van Aert	Hincapie
Monument + championship wins	1	0
Monument + championship podiums	9	2
Semi classic wins	7	3
Semi classic podiums	13	4
GT stage wins	9	0

And here I've been kind to Hincapie and included his voided results. One can also mention that of Hincapie's three wins in semi classics only 1 was in one of the 6-7 biggest races. 6 out 7 for Van Aert were in the same races. It's fairly knockout for Van Aert. He is much, much more than a Hincapie 2.0.

But WVA never won a 6 climb stage to Pla D'Adet

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Are fans still pretending that WVA, remco and Roglic are on the level of Pogacar, vingegard and van Der poel????? Things can change every quickly but for me right now there is only a big 3.

 

[Earns1985]

Are fans still pretending that WVA, remco and Roglic are on the level of Pogacar, vingegard and van Der poel????? Things can change every quickly but for me right now there is only a big 3.

Evenepoel and van Aert are higher than Pogacar and van der Poel in this years World Ranking and even Roglic is higher than van der Poel. (14.03.2024)

So no!

 

[Netserk]

Tennis is still not a sport.

 

[Keldergoat]

Evenepoel and van Aert are higher than Pogacar and van der Poel in this years World Ranking and even Roglic is higher than van der Poel. (14.03.2024)

So no!

Marc Hirschi is currently higher than Van der Poel on most cycling rankings. Nobody knowing one iota of cycling would consider him the better cyclist. Rankings don't define who the better cyclist is, wins of the biggest races do (Monuments, WCs and GTs).

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Marc Hirschi is currently higher than Van der Poel on most cycling rankings. Nobody knowing one iota of cycling would consider him the better cyclist. Rankings don't define who the better cyclist is, wins of the biggest races do (Monuments, WCs and GTs).

Yeah, that's why Van Aert is hard to justify being in the big whatever number you want to choose.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Are fans still pretending that WVA, remco and Roglic are on the level of Pogacar, vingegard and van Der poel????? Things can change every quickly but for me right now there is only a big 3.

Things can change very quickly indeed. It only takes 5 seconds to actually compare palmares of Van der Poel and Evenepoel on PCS. So things can change in 5 seconds.

 

[Keldergoat]

Yeah, that's why Van Aert is hard to justify being in the big whatever number you want to choose.

Agree. Although I love WvA as a cyclist, and his palmares is quite impressive with 'second tier' one day races and the number of stages wins, in order to be seen on the same page as Pogi, MvdP, Vingo and Remco (I do see him as top tier, looks as his wins) he needs to ramp up those numbers in monuments.

 

[Blanco]

Things can change very quickly indeed. It only takes 5 seconds to actually compare palmares of Van der Poel and Evenepoel on PCS. So things can change in 5 seconds.

I don't see Remco being ahead, they stand pretty close imo.
Both have better palmares then Vingegaard though...
But I think Ilmaestro was talking about their current level, and Van Der Poel's level last year was bit higher than Remco's . Vingegaard's too.
That was last year though, we shall see this year how things will go.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I don't see Remco being ahead, they stand pretty close imo.
Both have better palmares then Vingegaard though...
But I think Ilmaestro was talking about their current level, and Van Der Poel's level last year was bit higher than Remco's . Vingegaard's too.
That was last year though, we shall see this year how things will go.

I did not claim he is ahead (even though he is, but not by much), so either you include both or neither. Vingegaard i understand if you overly focus on TDF.

 

[Sciatic]

Yeah, that's why Van Aert is hard to justify being in the big whatever number you want to choose.

Depends how you define “big”. I assume you mean monuments plus worlds. But winning Strade, E3, Gent, and several of his important stage wins are still plenty big to most fans.

 

[Keldergoat]

Big for me is defined by, what do the best riders pinpoint as their main targets throughout the season? Then you indeed can limit the definition to: Monuments, Worlds, GTs and Olympics. I mean, WvAs palmares is definitely spiced up by all the AGR, SB, GW, E3s that he won, but in the end not yet winning one of his main targets will 'stick' to him in order to compete with a Pogacar, VDP or Evenepoel.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Depends how you define “big”. I assume you mean monuments plus worlds. But winning Strade, E3, Gent, and several of his important stage wins are still plenty big to most fans.

Big as the big races, Monuments, GTs and Worlds.

But for July fans, Van Aert is huge.

 

[Potomac]

As much as I like and respect Roglic, if I had to predict which of the "Big Six" could drop off the list this year it would be him because of his age and changing teams. He had amazing support at Visma. Time will tell how much support Bora is capable of giving.

 

[Potomac]

For me the Big N riders would be the collection that make up very heavy favorites for the 5 monuments, the big 1 week stage races, and of course the 3 GTs.

In my mind only Pog and Vingo have shown themselves to still be in the elite Big N, whatever number N might be this year.

And there's no requirement that N even exist in any year. But for me the last couple of years the Big 6 was indeed the Big 6

 

[Slavique Nuke]

MvdP does about 5 real race days a year. I don't know how he deserves to be in the same league as the guys who win stage races and GTs all year round.