Top 5 GT Riders: Order & Discussion

[Hugo Koblet]

Its interesting you put Nibali behind Contador.You think he has less chance than
Contador?

It's probably close, but yes.

 

[Akuryo]

1. Alberto Contador
2. Nairo Quintana
3. Chris Froome
4. Vincenzo Nibali
5. Rigoberto Uran

Honorable Mention: Aru, Pinot

 

[cineteq]

If the matter of the subject is "list the top 5 best GC riders", then:

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Nibali
4. Quintana
5. Valverde

If the matter of the subject is "list the GC riders with the most chance of winning a(nother) GT in his career", then:

1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Contador
4. Nibali
5. Aru

It's interesting to see how the media does its job with Froome. As always, all you need to do is watch races to realize where he really stands.

 

[theyoungest]

Froome is very vulnerable, as are all the tall guys who have to be ultra-skinny to climb with the mountain goats. He needs perfect (warm) conditions, and no crashes, to perform. He got lucky in a Tour and in a Vuelta, he'll probably get lucky again... but one serious crash, or seriously bad weather, and he's out of it.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

It's interesting to see how the media does its job with Froome. As always, all you need to do is watch races to realize where he really stands.

No, all you need to do is watch the Tour 2013.

 

[SeriousSam]

Quintana isn't the best climber in the world. Eventually he will be, but he isn't yet and probably won't be next year. It remains to be seen whether he will reach the heights of peak Contador and peak Froome.

Time trialling, climbing and recovery are the most important attributes of a GT contender. Froome time trialls better than anyone and climbs better than everyone par Contador. His recovery appears to be worse than Contador's although it's hard to tell. Quintana seems to have notably good recovery as well and it's only going to get better. Still, Froome is the most potent GT rider and the most likely to win next year's tour. Contador doesn't time trial as well and is 2 years older but he can challenge Froome and is way more likely to win the 2015 Tour than Nibali and Quintana. Quinata has age on his side which is good because not even at his theoretical peak aged 28-30 I could see him beat a peak Contador and a peak Froome as they'd out time trial him and climb to a stalemate.

Nibali will likely continue to be capable of beating the rest of the field if Contador and Foome crash out and Quintana joins them so he's got that going for him.

 

[JRTK73]

Quintana is probably the best pure climber in the world. I reckon he would beat the other guys in a really steep ITT. I also think he would have the best chance on a crazy difficult, really long stage. On most stages where they are a couple of cat 2's which end with a MTF then he would do very well to beat Contador/Froome. Contador and Froome both have better teams and supremely better tactics.

 

[Carols]

Unfortunately we were robbed of the Contador v Froome comparison, in my opinion it's Froome who has shown the best form In the last 18 months so isn't it Contador who must prove he can beat Froome not the other way around? That's no disrespect on Contador and his past achievements either.

Did you watch the Dauphine? Froome trying to dislodge AC with repeated accelerations but AC was still there. AC was 2011 AC this year. Then Froome had a bit of a crash; no big deal really but enough to put him off his game a touch. But AC just rode away from him 2 days later and the next day left him crumpled like a cheap suit being towed in 5 mins later. Yeah we missed the show down in the Tour but I don't think Froome was going to be the one riding away.....

Let's see the Froome, Quintana match up that will show a lot. But I think Froome is already burned out on the Sky program like Wiggins was. You can only be a riding skeleton for so long doing hard training without the body rebelling. Soon Brailsford will dump him for a new Frenchman to reach his new goal of winning the Tour with a Frenchman.

Of course I could be entirely Wrong LOL

 

[Pricey_sky]

Did you watch the Dauphine? Froome trying to dislodge AC with repeated accelerations but AC was still there. AC was 2011 AC this year. Then Froome had a bit of a crash; no big deal really but enough to put him off his game a touch. But AC just rode away from him 2 days later and the next day left him crumpled like a cheap suit being towed in 5 mins later. Yeah we missed the show down in the Tour but I don't think Froome was going to be the one riding away.....

Let's see the Froome, Quintana match up that will show a lot. But I think Froome is already burned out on the Sky program like Wiggins was. You can only be a riding skeleton for so long doing hard training without the body rebelling. Soon Brailsford will dump him for a new Frenchman to reach his new goal of winning the Tour with a Frenchman.

Of course I could be entirely Wrong LOL

Of course, I enjoyed the one stage showdown in the Dauphine but even Contador said he had no energy left to get around Froome on stage 2 but it was great effort from both, I am sure we would have seen some great battles in the Tour as both love to attack each other on the climbs. I wouldn't downplay Froome's crash either, he was still showing the affects of it when he crashed and ripped his shorts on stage 4 of the Tour, that's nearly a month on.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if your point about Froome burning out was true, that's something Sky really need to work on as the training program is hurting a lot of the team.

 

[Carols]

Of course, I enjoyed the one stage showdown in the Dauphine but even Contador said he had no energy left to get around Froome on stage 2 but it was great effort from both, I am sure we would have seen some great battles in the Tour as both love to attack each other on the climbs.

At loose ends yesterday so I watched and archived the Dauphine off my DVR.

Yes they both were very strong in the Dauphine. But IMO ACs tactical superiority would out do Froome's brute strength. He was matching Froome's brute strength but was unable to surpass it.

I wouldn't downplay Froome's crash either, he was still showing the affects of it when he crashed and ripped his shorts on stage 4 of the Tour, that's nearly a month on.

I wouldn't have discounted it so easily if I hadn't witnessed Froome earlier on the day he folded. AC was isolated with 50km to go! Froome attacked multiple times and covered multiple moves so must have been feeling pretty good. But AC slipped away using his brains and legs and Froome just folded. Maybe a combo of physical and mental issues? Just plain tired himself out, hubris did him in? Because he sure Looked Very Strong up until that point!

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if your point about Froome burning out was true, that's something Sky really need to work on as the training program is hurting a lot of the team.

We'll find out more in the Vuelta. At least Froome was forced to take a bit of a rest, that should help! With good weather throughout he might be an alien again . Then we will see what Nairo is truly made of.

 

[Red Rick]

I wonder why everyone thinks Quintana is the best climber. His Giro victory is overrated, he won 2 stages with 7 seconds on Hesjedal and on Aru

 

[Futuroscope]

1. Froome and Contador. Contador is stronger in the third week though but Froome is better at TTs. Two best climbers in the world.
2. Quintana and Nibali. I might put Quintana above Nibali after this Vuelta.
...
5. Tie between several riders.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I wonder why everyone thinks Quintana is the best climber. His Giro victory is overrated, he won 2 stages with 7 seconds on Hesjedal and on Aru

Tour 2013 says hello.

Edit: Of course that doesn't prove that he's the best climber as Froome destroyed him a few times, but it definitely shows his climbing skills. I'm not saying he's the best climber either, that title belongs to Froome.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I wonder why everyone thinks Quintana is the best climber. His Giro victory is overrated, he won 2 stages with 7 seconds on Hesjedal and on Aru

He also turned over a 3'30 deficit into a 3m+ advantage in only 3 mountain stages
On a lot of guys in the top 10 he gained over 8 minutes in the final week alone...

 

[Escarabajo]

I wonder why everyone thinks Quintana is the best climber. His Giro victory is overrated, he won 2 stages with 7 seconds on Hesjedal and on Aru

It is not our fault that you have not watched races in the last 3 years!

 

[Red Rick]

He also turned over a 3'30 deficit into a 3m+ advantage in only 3 mountain stages
On a lot of guys in the top 10 he gained over 8 minutes in the final week alone...

Of which 4 minutes on a super controversial stage. Put Nibali, Contador or Froome in his situation and you get the same massacre. I forgot to mention that he had to wheelsuck Pozzovivo for a climb in the 2nd week

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think the MTT speaks for itself really. Yeah Aru stayed close, but he is a major pure climbing talent like Quintana himself. The rest wasn't even close. Guys that finished in the top finished at 4/5 minutes

But yeah, you'll see for yourself in the Vuelta.. We'll save the quotes..and for nothing, because in August you'll be gone, like all other july watchers

 

[Pentacycle]

Of which 4 minutes on a super controversial stage. Put Nibali, Contador or Froome in his situation and you get the same massacre. I forgot to mention that he had to wheelsuck Pozzovivo for a climb in the 2nd week

Contador and Nibali have also struggled in some GT's they won, but no one will argue about their places among the best GT specialists.

 

[Escarabajo]

Of which 4 minutes on a super controversial stage. Put Nibali, Contador or Froome in his situation and you get the same massacre. I forgot to mention that he had to wheelsuck Pozzovivo for a climb in the 2nd week

You see, you didn't even watched the stage!

 

[ILovecycling]

Im wondering again and again how people dont remember what quintana did on stage 8 and 15 last year.
Also,this giro he had a lot in the tank left imo.Someone calculated here he made up 17 seconds on Aru in last km of that MTT as he saw Aru was really close to his time check.
That doesnt mean he is clearly better than Froome.Vuelta will show us who is better (ok maybe only stage 16 lol).Otoh we still need Contador comparison as Imo he is a bit better climber than dawg.

 

[Afrank]

Of which 4 minutes on a super controversial stage. Put Nibali, Contador or Froome in his situation and you get the same massacre. I forgot to mention that he had to wheelsuck Pozzovivo for a climb in the 2nd week

Much of the time gained on the "super controversial stage" came from him leading the full way up the climb. He set a pace much faster then the peloton (who hadn't been working as hard on or after the descent) that he kept adding more time to his lead and ended up riding his companions off his wheel.

The way he rode the climb IMO demonstrates in itself he would likely have won even without the controversy as well as what a great climber he is.

 

[ILovecycling]

I think the MTT speaks for itself really. Yeah Aru stayed close, but he is a major pure climbing talent like Quintana himself. The rest wasn't even close. Guys that finished in the top finished at 4/5 minutes

But yeah, you'll see for yourself in the Vuelta.. We'll save the quotes..and for nothing, because in August you'll be gone, like all other july watchers

Agree with you with one exception,red rick is not JOfan

 

[kingjr]

I don't think Quintana was at his best at the Giro, if he was that would put him behind Nibali.

 

[ILovecycling]

Much of the time gained on the "super controversial stage" came from him leading the full way up the climb. He set a pace much faster then the peloton (who hadn't been working as hard on or after the descent) that he kept adding more time to his lead and ended up riding his companions off his wheel.

The way he rode the climb IMO demonstrates in itself he would likely have won even without the controversy as well as what a great climber he is.

Indeed,its sad someone doubts his epic performance because idiotic Rcs decesion.

Give that guy credit for god sake,it was the best gt perfomance stage since fuente de.

 

[ILovecycling]

I don't think Quintana was at his best at the Giro, if he was that would put him behind Nibali.

Very good point.Or rather great point!!!
We will see how he will ride at vuelta,im looking forward to burgos more tham libertine himself