The Gianni Moscon Bandwagon Jumping Thread

[Cannibal72]

I'm surprised that Moscon's taken so long to get a bandwagon started; very strong at under-23 level, including 2nd at the youth Ronde van Vlaanderen and victory in the Italian nationals, before moving over to Team Sky in the in the winter for this, his first season as a pro. He's perfectly suited to the northern classics, and that's been shown vey nicely this season. 18th at Strade Bianche is impressive enough, but he was magnificent as a domestique in Kuurne-Brussels Kuurne and attacked strongly in Nokere Koerse, eventually finishing 7th. That brings us to today's performance, his debut Paris-Roubaix, where he was a key part of Sky's drive for victory. He was well placed enough to follow Martin's acceleration, and chipped in with the peacemaking when the Boonen-Stannard group took off, but he was really impressive after all the groups came back together. As Cancellara and company were driving the chase group on, Moscon's efforts at the front of the race helped to hold them off. Of course, his most notable intervention in the race was his unfortunate crash, which also took out Luke Rowe, but impressively enough for a man whose 22nd birthday is just next week, he got back on his bike! He eventually came in in 38th place - the youngest rider in the top 50. He might well be racing in his homeland for his first GT this May, but what really sticks out is how prominent he's been on the cobblestones and how much stamina he already seems to possess. His peacemaking and moving up the bunch have been hard to miss, and while his strength has not been translated into results as eye-catching as Benoot's last year, he's made up for it with his willing self-sacrifice. He'll most likely stay on the domestique duty he's excelled at so far this year for a few seasons yet, since Ian Stannard is 28 and Luke Rowe 26; it will be fascinating to see if he graduates to duelling with his fellow major young talents like Benoot, Stuyven, Theuns, Küng, and Cort Nielsen.

Anyone else aboard the hype train?

 

[del1962]

really impressive debut season

 

[Pricey_sky]

Moscon also got taken down by the Cancellara crash too, makes his final finishing position today even better.

 

[Nirvana]

Moscon and Benoot in my opinion are not only classic riders, they showed also good climbing early this season (Benoot in Algarve and Moscon in Coppi e Bartali).

 

[May0maniac]

Before turning pro Moscon only race on the cobbles once (as far as I know), he got a 2nd place in the Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften, so it's not like he already had lots of experience on the cobbles.

 

[SafeBet]

Probably the best italian talent for Classics since Paolo Bettini. Amazing race awareness and versatility, last week he was riding on De Ronde walls like he was an experienced veteran. Good climbing skills as well. I don't even think domestique duties will hamper his chances in the coming years. Results will come regardless if he keeps improving.

 

[Cannibal72]

Re:

Moscon and Benoot in my opinion are not only classic riders, they showed also good climbing early this season (Benoot in Algarve and Moscon in Coppi e Bartali).

As a youth, Benoot got excellent results in the Ardennes, and I hope he tries to challenge there in the future: he certainly is an excellent climber, and Moscon was impressive as well in Coppi e Bartali.

Probably the best italian talent for Classics since Paolo Bettini. Amazing race awareness and versatility, last week he was riding on De Ronde walls like he was an experienced veteran. Good climbing skills as well. I don't even think domestique duties will hamper his chances in the coming years. Results will come regardless if he keeps improving.

Agreed.

 

[Nirvana]

According to PCS Benoot will ride Amstel and Liege.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

He'll most likely stay on the domestique duty he's excelled at so far this year for a few seasons yet, since Ian Stannard is 28 and Luke Rowe 26; it will be fascinating to see if he graduates to duelling with his fellow major young talents like Benoot, Stuyven, Theuns, Küng, and Cort Nielsen.

Ian Stannard is only 28? Wow, I remember when he joined T-Mobile as a stagiaire. He seems to have been around like forever.

Ah, the good old magenta days...

 

[TMP402]

He'll most likely stay on the domestique duty he's excelled at so far this year for a few seasons yet, since Ian Stannard is 28 and Luke Rowe 26; it will be fascinating to see if he graduates to duelling with his fellow major young talents like Benoot, Stuyven, Theuns, Küng, and Cort Nielsen.

Ian Stannard is only 28? Wow, I remember when he joined T-Mobile as a stagiaire. He seems to have been around like forever.

Ah, the good old magenta days...

He actually rode for Van Vliet-EBH Advocaten in 2006, prior to T-Mobile. The fact he seemed older is not helped by the fact he's always had the same hair (ie not much). So if you subscribe to the miles-on-the-clock theory rather than simple age being when a rider reaches their peak or is past it, Stannard is more like in his early thirties and may not have another ten opportunities to win P-R.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Probably the best italian talent for Classics since Paolo Bettini. Amazing race awareness and versatility, last week he was riding on De Ronde walls like he was an experienced veteran. Good climbing skills as well. I don't even think domestique duties will hamper his chances in the coming years. Results will come regardless if he keeps improving.

Pls don't change your avatar for him

 

[May0maniac]

Moscon already has a nice nickname, Il trattore della Val di Non (the tractor from the Non-Valley) , he comes from a family of apple farmers.
The 14th place in the Ruta del Sol ITT was a big surprise, he finished 11th in the 2014 U23 NC ITT (1min behind Davide Martinelli), but other than that he only rode a few Prologues and TTTs as an amateur.

 

[Gloin22]

Re:

Moscon already has a nice nickname, Il trattore della Val di Non (the tractor from the Non-Valley) , he comes from a family of apple farmers.
The 14th place in the Ruta del Sol ITT was a big surprise, he finished 11th in the 2014 U23 NC ITT (1min behind Davide Martinelli), but other than that he only rode a few Prologues and TTTs as an amateur.

Isn't nickname supposed to be catchy?

 

[Cannibal72]

Apparently he also plays the accordion, which might inspire a catchier nickname...

 

[yaco]

Question is whether Moscon will be allowed to develop at Sky
Seems to be that you can't be a serious rider till you are 27+

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Question is whether Moscon will be allowed to develop at Sky
Seems to be that you can't be a serious rider till you are 27+

Like 26 year old Rowe?!

 

[Vasilis]

Re: Re:

Question is whether Moscon will be allowed to develop at Sky
Seems to be that you can't be a serious rider till you are 27+

Like 26 year old Rowe?!

Well, he's a Brit
Although I honestly do think that he can develop here, he's already performing at the front in his first year.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Question is whether Moscon will be allowed to develop at Sky
Seems to be that you can't be a serious rider till you are 27+

Like 26 year old Rowe?!

How long has Rowe been at Sky.

Fact is Sky don't allow young riders freedom.

 

[Cannibal72]

Kwiatkowski is 25.

The tactics and personnel of classics Sky is completely different to that of GT Sky.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Is he riding Il Giro?! Fan.

 

[Cannibal72]

He was considered (I think) but the final squad from PCS is Landa, König, Sergio Henao, Kiriyenka, Lopez, Knees, Viviani, Boswell, Sebastian Henao. König's not raced yet this year, however, so I hope he can make it in.

To add to the interesting facts file: he's currently studying industrial engineering. Respect.

 

[CTQ]

As I was impressed with his start to the season, I watched some races on youtube. 2 wins

2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yw3eG8KpaM
2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7afc_ayb-Fw

 

[TMP402]

Re:

As I was impressed with his start to the season, I watched some races on youtube. 2 wins

2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yw3eG8KpaM
2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7afc_ayb-Fw

Some very "tactical" sprinting in both.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

Probably the best italian talent for Classics since Paolo Bettini. Amazing race awareness and versatility, last week he was riding on De Ronde walls like he was an experienced veteran. Good climbing skills as well. I don't even think domestique duties will hamper his chances in the coming years. Results will come regardless if he keeps improving.

Pls don't change your avatar for him

I promised somewhere that I wouldn't change my avatar until Moreno gets back to his dominant self, which will probably never happen so you shouldn't worry.

Hopefully he won't ride any GT this year. Much better to get some opportunities in smaller races.

 

[kenk09]

Re: Re:

Question is whether Moscon will be allowed to develop at Sky
Seems to be that you can't be a serious rider till you are 27+

Like 26 year old Rowe?!

How long has Rowe been at Sky.

Fact is Sky don't allow young riders freedom.

That's not really a fact. In their first years Edmondson and Dombrowski were given freedom in races as big as TdS, also in Beijing; Boswell led them in Tour of Austria and Pro Challenge in his first year. Likewise Puccio in races like Tour of Luxembourg. Seb Henao was given complete freedom in THE GIRO as a neo pro. Moscon is quite clearly being given freedom in all sorts of races.