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Top 10 GT riders 2016

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Hugo Koblet

Hugo Koblet

May 9, 2010
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Another year and another three GT's has passed. So how would you rank the GT riders against each other at the moment? Here's my list. I looked mainly at the last two years with a bigger emphasis on this on than the last.

1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Nibali
4. Contador
5. Chaves
6. Aru
7. Valverde
8. Bardet
9. Porte
10. A. Yates

1 and 2 are pretty self-explanatory. Nibali I think is the third best currently. He seems to have been a level above Contador, Chaves etc. this year. Contador and Chaves are pretty close I think, but I'll give Contador the upper hand at the moment. Aru, Valverde and Bardet I also think are pretty even and I could be convinced of order between these. Porte showed this year that he's very good when he reaches his top level, but he's very inconsistent. The last spot I'm not really sure of. Yates got it but it could be someone like Kruijswijk as well.

What are your thoughts?
 
B

Brullnux

Mar 31, 2015
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Using the 2015 Giro route, I'd say:

1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Nibali
4. Contador
5. Chaves
6. Kruijswijk
7. Aru
8. Bala
9. Bardet
10. Porte

The top two are easy, Nibali showed that he is better than Chaves, and Contador struggled but I still thnk he is better. Crashweak would've won the Giro probably had he not crashed, so he might deserve to be ahead of Chaves based on that but Chaves showed he can do two GTs in a year while Crashweak crashed. 7-10 really close. Aru gets it because he has won a Vuelta, Valverde is difficult because he was inconsistent at the Giro nefore deciding to do 3 in a year. Bardet beat Porte this year so that sort of answers that question for me.
 
Gigs_98

Gigs_98

Feb 18, 2015
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1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Contador
4. Nibali
5. Aru
6. Bardet
7. Chaves
8. Valverde
9. Kruijswijk
10. Porte

1st and 2nd are obvious. I don't think Contador is generally as bad as he was in the Vuelta considering how good he was in spring. Therefore and because Nibali's last really good gt was in 2014 I put him on 3rd place.
Although 2016 was a very bad season for him I decided to still give Aru a top five place. He has finished 3 gt's on the podium and already won one therefore it seemed unfair to me to say someone who has had one gt podium is already a better rider than him. That rider with one gt podium is Bardet. However all the riders behind him haven't shown they could finish 2nd in the tour, so I decided that giving him the 6t spot. Chaves now already has 3 good gt's in a row including two podiums, Valverde is incredibly consistent but never has a superb gt where he really comes close to win it, Kruijswijk was the best rider of the giro this year but I think the giro is the only gt in which he can be successful therefore only 9th place, and Porte is one of the best climbers in the world, but he has only had one really good gt in his life, and even in that one he only finished 5th.
 
A

Anderis

May 10, 2013
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Re:

Brullnux said:
Bardet beat Porte this year so that sort of answers that question for me.
Click to expand...
Probably wouldn't if Porte didn't have mechanical on stage 2 so that doesn't prove anything about the actual ability ATM IMO.

1. Froome
2. Quintana
and further I have no idea, because it's hard to compare riders who had their peaks for different parts of the year and sometimes irreplicable circumstances come as a factor into the equation. We could all reach some sort of agreement only to find out it's not valid anymore as soon as the next GT comes with new variables making us thinking they're actually the constants of riders' performances again.
 
LaFlorecita

LaFlorecita

May 15, 2011
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Re: Re:

Anderis said:
LaFlorecita said:
How can Contador be 4th? He finished 1 GT and was 4th. Chaves was 2nd at the Giro and 3rd at the Tour, Bardet with 2nd at the Tour, Valverde with 3rd and 6th should all rank above him.
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Results ≠ actual abilities.

Would you bet all of your money that Chaves beats Contador in the next GT?
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Oh I thought this was a top 10 of 2016 based on results, not abilities. It's easier to judge. For all we know MAL might be the 3rd strongest GT rider of the year purely based on ability :)
 
Ruby United

Ruby United

Jan 3, 2012
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Re:

LaFlorecita said:
How can Contador be 4th? He finished 1 GT and was 4th. Chaves 2nd at the Giro and 3rd at the Tour, Bardet with 2nd at the Tour, Valverde with 3rd and 6th should all rank above him.
Click to expand...

He's ranking them against each other based on overall quality in his opinion and not results this year.
 
LaFlorecita

LaFlorecita

May 15, 2011
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Re: Re:

Ruby United said:
LaFlorecita said:
How can Contador be 4th? He finished 1 GT and was 4th. Chaves 2nd at the Giro and 3rd at the Tour, Bardet with 2nd at the Tour, Valverde with 3rd and 6th should all rank above him.
Click to expand...

He's ranking them against each other based on overall quality in his opinion and not results this year.
Click to expand...
Well that's quite arbitrary don't you agree? :p Think a list of this year's top GT riders based on results would be more interesting instead of this list of hypotheticals, for example how would you rank Nibali's 1st at the Giro or Valverde's 3rd and 6th compared to Bardet's 2nd at the Tour? :)
 
A

Anderis

May 10, 2013
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Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
Well that's quite arbitrary don't you agree? :p Think a list of this year's top GT riders based on results would be more interesting instead of this list of hypotheticals, for example how would you rank Nibali's 1st at the Giro or Valverde's 3rd and 6th compared to Bardet's 2nd at the Tour? :)
Click to expand...
Quite the opposite, IMO. If the list is based on results only, it would basically come down to discussing if 3rd in the Vuelta is worth more than 5th in the Tour or something like that. We could be well talking about inventing the best mathematic formula instead of the riders.
 
MacBAir

MacBAir

Jun 13, 2016
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Re:

Rollthedice said:
Froome
Nairo
Nibali
Chaves
Bardet
Valverde
Contador
Porte
Kruijswik
Adam Yates
Click to expand...
This year (the last few, actually) proved without a doubt that if on shape, Porte will destroy Contador on every terrain. Heck, what makes you believe that the guy that was stronger than Nibali at the Giro wouldn't, too?
 
M

More Strides than Rides

Mar 15, 2011
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Re:

Red Rick said:
Edit, nvm.

This is so much dependent on circumstances and parcours it's not even funny.
Click to expand...

Is it so dependent on parcours though? Parcours wouldn't change Froome at number 1, Quintana at number 2... I can't imagine a course where 2016 Contador would have beaten Chaves unless there were 150km of TT. Valverde was good on every type of course. The routes in 2016 didn't feature any cobbles that upended the final standings inappropriately. No snowstorm/neutralized descent attacks that skewed the results. Put another way, no top rider's performance was so dependent on the route that their performance can't be seen as a real reflection of their ability.

It is dependent on circumstances, sure. Contador's and Kruijswik's crashing, etc. But that doesn't mean there isn't room for discussion.
 
RedheadDane

RedheadDane

May 5, 2010
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Re:

LaFlorecita said:
How can Contador be 4th? He finished 1 GT and was 4th. Chaves 2nd at the Giro and 3rd at the Tour, Bardet with 2nd at the Tour, Valverde with 3rd and 6th should all rank above him.
Click to expand...

That awkward moment when LaFlo is protesting a high placement of Contador in a fan top-10. :p
Also, you mean the Vuelta, right? Chaves was third at the Vuelta.
 
F

Forever The Best

Apr 15, 2016
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Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
Netserk said:
I'm surprised how low people are ranking Contador. Where do y'all think he would have finished in the Tour without any bad luck?
Click to expand...
Assuming progression since the Dauphine? 2nd, at least, and maybe a win. Though if we assume Froome doesn't crash winning would very hard as well.
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This year he had a big chance to win the Tour indeed with a horrible Quintana and a Froome not as strong as last year in mountains.But he crashed :(

He was so bad in Vuelta though that I can only explain with crashes or he had an ability decline between Tour and Vuelta.

I would have also put Quintana to 4th before the Vuelta by the way.
 
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