The Monuments Men – Or who will win all 5 of them?

[Red Rick]

We can start by looking for the least specialized winners of every monument in the last years and go from there

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

We can start by looking for the least specialized winners of every monument in the last years and go from there

Zaugg and Ciolek are by far the least specialized Monument-winners post-2010. Nuyens and Hayman not far behind.

 

[WheelofGear]

The only rider with a chance of beating is Henao. And he has to attack. Martin can kick away from Valverde on such steep gradients. Valverde is way better on murk-like climbs than Martin.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

I don't see any of the established stars capable of winning all five. If Gilbert had more peak years left, and was able to replicate this form, he could've had a chance. Lombardia will be too hard for the other classics men.

Of the current pros, I think we have to look for someone like Moscon or Benoot to develop into a dominating force. Those seem like they could maybe have the climbing potential needed for Lombardia. They would need a lucky break in Sanremo, though, which doesn't happen often.

If Albanese turns out to be the real deal, he has the skillset to win the four spring monuments. Van der Poel should have the bike handling skills for Roubaix, but I'm under the impression that he could be more of a punchy hilly rider. Van Aert, on the other hand, is maybe too much of a rouleur for Lombardia. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.

In this day and age of specialisation, and deep field, I think it'll be next to impossible to win all five. Even if someone has the abilities, all five races are extremely competitive, and so much can happen in them. In addition to that, every rider normally has maybe 7-8 opportunities to ride the monuments while in their peak years. Even less if they need to slim down for LBL or Lombardia, or bulk up for Roubaix.

I am convinced G Thomas has/had the ability to win all five, and his career will ultimately be seen as one ruined by the obsession with stage races. Paris-Nice, E3 and Olympic medals is still a very decent career, but it's not what it might have been IMO. Having said that - incredibly, he seems never to have raced LBL or Lombardia so maybe I'm barking up entirely the wrong tree.

 

[WheelofGear]

Thomas lack the "punch" to win a classics. That's his main weakness. Stage racing is better for him.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Thomas lack the "punch" to win a classics. That's his main weakness. Stage racing is better for him.

If by punch you allude to a mental attribute, that can be taught. Look at GVA.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Thomas lack the "punch" to win a classics. That's his main weakness. Stage racing is better for him.

If by punch you allude to a mental attribute, that can be taught. Look at GVA.

I don't think Thomas is explosive enough to win a classics. He reminds me of Ion Izagirre and Jacob Fuglsang. Great all-rounder but no "punchyness".

 

[barmaher]

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=114192
http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=170989

Both of those races showed punch in my opinion.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Thomas lack the "punch" to win a classics. That's his main weakness. Stage racing is better for him.

If by punch you allude to a mental attribute, that can be taught. Look at GVA.

I don't think Thomas is explosive enough to win a classics. He reminds me of Ion Izagirre and Jacob Fuglsang. Great all-rounder but no "punchyness".

His E3 win would be the template for winning at least P-R, stay in the leading group, attack from 3-4km from the finish. Like Cummings and less often Kennaugh, track pursuiters don't need an explosive acceleration, they only need for example a nice line into a corner, to get a gap of about 10m and then they are very hard to catch. You could hope to win at least three of the five monuments this way.

 

[rallybanana]

Pogačar becomes the ninth person to have podiumed all five monuments.

Won 5
Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy

Won 4 + 2nd in the other
Kelly, De Bruyne, Kuiper

Won 4 + 3rd in the other
Gilbert

Won 3 + 2nd and 3rd in the others
Pogačar, Moser

 

[Red Rick]

How hard was Lombardia historically?

 

[Netserk]

How hard was Lombardia historically?

How far back? It varied a lot and how selective a given route is has obviously also changed a lot.

The late 80's had some of the hardest routes:

You can find more info about the old routes here (unfortunately the original host is gone, so only the archived pages are available):

GiroDiLombardia

The Kelly routes:

1983 (sprint of 18 riders):

1985 (sprint of 16 riders):

1991 (sprint of 2 riders):

 

[Escarabajo]

I never thought I would be alive to see who would be the rider to do it. I am not saying that something bad could happen to me before Tadej wins them all, but that that I would know the person who would do it. Incredible. So many stories about Eddy Merckx and now we have Tadej.

 

[sam6]

Pogačar becomes the ninth person to have podiumed all five monuments.

Won 5
Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Van Looy

Won 4 + 2nd in the other
Kelly, De Bruyne, Kuiper

Won 4 + 3rd in the other
Gilbert

Won 3 + 2nd and 3rd in the others
Pogačar, Moser

How many have also podiumed in all 3 grand tours and worlds?
I believe only Pogi and Merckx. But (Eddy) Merckx never podiumed in the Olympic road race which Pogi did in 2021 so I think that Pogi is the only rider to have podiumed in all 10 of the biggest races

 

[Wyndbrook]

How many have also podiumed in all 3 grand tours and worlds?
I believe only Pogi and Merckx. But (Eddy) Merckx never podiumed in the Olympic road race which Pogi did in 2021 so I think that Pogi is the only rider to have podiumed in all 10 of the biggest races

Technically yes, but a big but!

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I was not a forum user at the time, but I remember proudly predicting that bob jungles would win all 5 monuments some time soon after Liege 2018

 

[jono]

How many have also podiumed in all 3 grand tours and worlds?
I believe only Pogi and Merckx. But (Eddy) Merckx never podiumed in the Olympic road race which Pogi did in 2021 so I think that Pogi is the only rider to have podiumed in all 10 of the biggest races

It is worth noting that during Merckx' career professionals were not allowed to compete in the Olympics road race. Merckx competed once as a 19 year old amateur (4th in 1964 Tokyo games).

 

[Potomac]

Re:



I am convinced G Thomas has/had the ability to win all five, and his career will ultimately be seen as one ruined by the obsession with stage races. Paris-Nice, E3 and Olympic medals is still a very decent career, but it's not what it might have been IMO. Having said that - incredibly, he seems never to have raced LBL or Lombardia so maybe I'm barking up entirely the wrong tree.

Well he did manage a top 10 in two different monuments.

 

[Rockestar_33]

Hard to see MvdP getting Lombardia. I didn't think Pogi would even finish top 10 on Sunday though tbh.

 

[hayneplane]

In 2020 it looked fairly obvious that Wout Van Aert would have got fairly close by now but that ship has sailed and left with a very slim haul.

MVDP has a full haul of top 10 finishes thanks to the covid influenced start list of 2020 Lombardia but it’s hard too see him getting any higher up and going top 5 there.

Pogacar now has the full podium collection and is favoured to win at least one of the two monuments missing from his palmares at some point in his career.

I could definitely see Remco getting top ten across the board if luck is on his side.

Matt Brennan/Tibor Del Grosso/Thibau Nys all have the skill sets that could make them contenders in at least 2 different monuments but to do well in all 5 seems out of reach for the foreseeable future.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Throwing a hail mary on Morgado and Christen, especially if they can play the Devolder/Terpstra role in some of the races.

 

[Red Rick]

Van Aert legit had a window of opportunity for both Liege and Lombardia in 2020. And Liege maybe 2021 too

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Hard to see MvdP getting Lombardia. I didn't think Pogi would even finish top 10 on Sunday though tbh.

So little faith in Pogi? He has a lot of power and isn't absurdly light, also we knew he's good on cobbles. With vdP and Lombardia it's a different story because he'd have to loose weight for it. The one Lombardia he rode, he came in 10th, but 6:28 off the pace of the winner Fuglsang. He's a stronger rider now, but he's still to heavy because Lombardia involves much longer climbs than what suits him. Pogacar basically can ride PR with his normal classics weight. So the way it looks after Sunday "all" that Pogacar needs to win PR is a subpar vdP or just more luck than him. For vdP even if Pogacar doesn't ride Lombardia and he does, there's still a lot of better climbers in that race that'll just get rid of him. I don't think he's willing to make the sacrifice necessary to even have a shot at Lombardia. That is if he doesn't win Liege, which is more realistic, but that's hard to come by if you don't race it very often. That maybe could be a motivation to try, but then he'd still have Pogacar/Remco/better climbers in between him and victory. So overall I think he's not even interested in trying tbh.

 

[Tonton]

I was not a forum user at the time, but I remember proudly predicting that bob jungles would win all 5 monuments some time soon after Liege 2018

He got close...

 

[SHAD0W93]

I was not a forum user at the time, but I remember proudly predicting that bob jungles would win all 5 monuments some time soon after Liege 2018

Jungles won the Tour for me in the 2017 TdF video game so that counts.