What type of pro rider would you want to be

[MarkvW]

Dont know if there has already been a thread like this or if I should put it in here but I am curious to hear from u guys what type of pro rider would you want to be? Do you want to be a climber in grand tours or would you rather win Paris Roubaix? You can share your thoughts and maybe dreams on here

I'd like to be an independently wealthy pro rider. Only problem with that is that I'd be telling the DS to get stuffed too often.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'd want to be an exciting rider; someone who could win races in all different kinds of ways, and who'd be useful to my team when I wasn't trying to win myself.
I'd probably be a terrible rider; someone who could never win anything, and who'd be totally useless to my team anyway.

 

[Magrys]

I would be careful with Sagan
I'm 1.79 with 65 kg
I never thought about it, but I always liked Urlich

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I would probably want to be a climber. I've always liked mountains very much since I went on holidays to Switzerland with my parents as a kid. Sometimes during the summers when the TDF was on, as a kid, I would imagine climbing some epic mountain pass while riding my bike (which requires a lot of imagination in the Netherlands). I also can't deny imagining to be Armstrong while riding my bike as a kid.

But 'alas, then I grew up and became 190cm and 80kg. I used to be really skinny though, but I did some more sports than just cycling. Maybe if I focused solely on cycling I could've remained borderline underweight and become a Froome-like climber?

Nahh, these days I like the classics best anyway and I've had some experience with cobbles (mostly cobbled climbs) in Belgium by now, and I actually kinda liked doing cobbles, so yeah cobbled classic rider it is.

 

[Kiryienka]

Well, 1.70m, 67kg. I love dueling in a race up a nice long climb, but I'm better off with long solo efforts in sucky conditions, so realistically I'd probably hope to be a man for the classics, maybe time trials and pulling on the front of a group as well. If I could pick I'd want to be a Stephen Cummings sort, not so so good that anyone's too concerned if I go on the attack, but good enough on most terrain that I could pick my days and pretty consistently make something work.

 

[Riverside]

pure climber. someone who pushes the train at respected pace as far as he can...

 

[Koronin]

Since this is fantasy I can race in the men's peloton. I'd want to be a Cancellara type rider. A great ITT specialist and cobbled classics specialist. I'd want to race for Movistar and be one of Valverde's very trusted domestiques. Be able to actually keep them in the right spots when there are cross winds and pull the team in the TTTs. Be able to help a bit in the mountains, but at some point will fall back to a grupeto to get to the finish of those stages. I'd want to win Paris-Roubiax, Flanders, Strade Bianche, the ITT World's rainbow jersey, Olympic ITT gold, ITT pro log and yellow at the Tour, TTT pro log and maybe be allowed to cross the finish line first to wear the red for a day. Who knows, maybe help my team leader finally win Amstel. Help my team leader get that record number of Vuelta podiums and any other races he's decided to race.
In reality, possibly still be a TT specialist, but a domestique in the women's peloton.

 

[Valv.Piti]

What I would want to be? Thats difficult. When I was young I was always convinced I would be a climber and thats what I was most motivated by, the big mountain stages and the climbers. I would always try to climb like Andy Schleck, I thought he looked amazing on the bike. But as years have gone by, I honestly would prefer to be the kind of rider who could win a variety of races (mainly classics), with the Ronde van Vlaanderen as my speciality. So Im thinking of rider types like GVA, Gilbert and Kwiatkowski. I have really grown to love these races and coupled with the fact that thats the kind of terrain we have in Denmark and I always race in, thats my motivation when I go hard on the small climbs. I'd also be too big for the mountains and probably also L-B-L with my 74 kg and 182 cm, but Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold, RVV, E-3, Omloop would be well within my reach.

 

[Pennino]

In Gran Canaria I discovered once again that with my 18,0 BMI, around Contador's and Froome's ones, just to mention two casual examples, it's still very hard to race up a climb. Especially since it's about watts and measurements. But I'm still pretty fine in that respect. Especially on gradients above 12% with my 67 kg (off season weight!!!) almost everyone has a hard time holding my wheel when I'm standing on the pedals. Continuing the effort is something quite different, though.

 

[Cookster15]

In my younger years I was a strong rouleur but on a good day could climb pretty well on my trusty Reynolds 653 custom frame and tubulars. I'd like to be a rider like Vincenzo Nibali but maybe without that team car holding incident that blemished his reputation. Wins all three grand Tours, a superb bike handler, descender and can win less suited monuments in style such as on the weekend. The complete cyclist. Note: I am not old enough to appreciate Eddie Merckx

 

[Oude Geuze]

I’m 2 meters and 91kg, so climbing is out of the question! I’d be the Magnus Backsted guy with one race on my calendar: Paris Roubaix. Apart from that I would be a strong flatlander domestique like Tim Declercq and Nils Politt and number 3-4 lead out guy.

If we’re going full fantasy I would be a modern tall TT/climber/GC guy like Major Tom. One day I will try to loose weight and train seriously for a year just to see how good I could become, but it’s hard when I do xc skiing during winter as it builds significant upper body which is useless come summertime and I would never sacrifice skiing for cycling performance

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

I’m 2 meters and 91kg, so climbing is out of the question! I’d be the Magnus Backsted guy with one race on my calendar: Paris Roubaix. Apart from that I would be a strong flatlander domestique like Tim Declercq and Nils Politt and number 3-4 lead out guy.

If we’re going full fantasy I would be a modern tall TT/climber/GC guy like Major Tom. One day I will try to loose weight and train seriously for a year just to see how good I could become, but it’s hard when I do xc skiing during winter as it builds significant upper body which is useless come summertime and I would never sacrifice skiing for cycling performance

Reminds me of my buddy, former Swimmer who also did xc skiing at the same time durning highschool, 201cm tall and 96kg, the guy is just scary strong on the flat.

 

[macbindle]

I'd be a GT winner :lol:

I'd never be anywhere near a pro for the simple reason that I dont like working hard. Funny thing is I'm not actually slow and I ride with the fastest group in the local club, but I don't like going into zone 4 or 5. Matter of fact I can't do it on the road for long, only on a turbo, which I hate. When I look at the HRM files of my friends in races they are 100% in 4/5. I just can't bring myself to work that hard.

 

[yetiyeti]

I'd love to think I would want to be a GC leader or a Classics leader, but my mentality really doesn't suit that. I think you have to be willing to "use" your team and I'd suck at that. I'd probably get as much personal fulfillment out of being a mountain dom and burying myself for the team leader - and the mountains is where my own physical skillset would work best, even if it's so far below the level required that it's not really worth discussing. I do suck at descending on a road bike though. I'm really just a mountain biker who watches road racing and skinny tires just seem......well, skinny.

 

[Nobody73]

I would be a rider like Kwiatkowski. Able to do it all. And if I desired, specialize. As it is, he could easily captain a team as well as being a super domestique.

 

[Velolover2]

65-66 kg at 1.76 m. Mid weight and mid height. I have a great 1 minute effort which is suited for short, steep hills. I tend to do better on shortish ramps than muritos. As a mountain biker, I'm also great in bad weather (rain is my favorite weather), love riding on cobbles and gravel and taking risk downhill.

I've always suffered on longer climbs (anything longer than 4 km, actually) but when I weighted less my pace was a lot better. My times against the clock are also quite bad. My endurance is good, I'm able to handle long rides but my 30 minutes effort has always been bad. So MTF and time trials (all kinds) are my weak points.

In theory, I should be better in the Ardennes than the Northern classics due to my size but I enjoy the later much more.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Philippe Gilbert, from his punchy days. Obviously much, much, much worse.

 

[nayr497]

I'd like to be a good teammate. From my sporting days, I was never the best athlete, never the tallest, fastest, strongest. But I am happy to say I maximized my potential. Based on that, LOVE to be a general team rouleur protecting the studs and leading them out for wins I'd love to give my all for the sake of a valued teammate.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I'd be a retired multimillionaire, if that's a permitted type.

It suits my age and bodytype.

 

[geisterhome]

I guess I'd be a rider like Lutsenko. Not very tall but at the same time not too light either. I was also told before that I have a bit the body type of Alexandre Vinokourov, while I'm a bit more muscular than him by nature. Although I don't know how far I'd get if I really tried to reduce my weight.

When running I'm actually a pretty fast sprinter, that however doesn't seem to translate to the bike very much. Idk if that could be an indicator that I have some potential there- I never practice sprinting on the flat with my bike. Anyways a Sprinter would be the last thing I'd want to be.

When training I'm always aiming for a high cadence , while in fact I don't know if that would be the way to go for me when riding competitively, at least when I'm riding with friends (or aiming for good times on Strava) am still fastest when I just shift down a couple of gears going at a ridiculously low cadence with a lot of power.

Overall I guess I'd try to be a climber- GC rider. If that won't work cos I'm just too strongly built and heavy no matter what I try, I'd go for the hilly classics and some 1 week races.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

This guy.

 

[RedheadDane]

Can I say cross rider? It looks like so much fun!
I'd probably be a terrible one, but... still...

 

[sir fly]

The winning one!

I'd assume that Boonen, Cancellara, Gilbert, Van Avermaet, Sagan and the rest would need to reconcile with the fact there are fewer podium places for them with me in the mix.
However, Boonen would certainly have an edge over me on domestic roads, as Cancellara would in the time trials. The Ardennes Gilbert would be able to wait for the ascents to drop me, while Sagan would take most of our sprint duels.
On a good day in the GT I think I could even make to the Etape reine breakaway in order to offer help later on.

So, pretty much GVA's palmarès.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Someone like Nibali, great in one day races and gts, able to attack on all kinds of terrain.
I'm 66kg at 183cm, I could go down to 65kg while eating like a pro without loosing my upper body mass (I put on 2kg of upper body mass in about 1.5 years).
I'm a diesel climber, I like long efforts and I'm good at steep murito efforts that are around 5min, +/- 2min. My big weakness are 10-20min efforts and more irregular climb, I have a good long sprint with decent top speed on my Mtb. Overall I'd probably have a skillset like Gesink, hopefully minus the crashing.

 

[Tonton]

1,82m, was 73kg in '17, 79kg in '18, and I got as high as 83kg in '19...too much work, Pinot DNF and I get on a binge of beers and chips twice , broke two bikes and was forced to "rest" mainly.

All that extra padding has affected my ability to fly and after moving to the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia, building a new bike, I ate slices of humble pie over the local climbs, riding with some very good riders. Now is time to get thinner before the spring: Wintergreen (check it out, it's AdH in Virginia) I'm coming...soon.

Besides the easy answer (Eddy Merckx), climber and attacker are my most favorite traits in a rider...I used to like Virenque, Contador, but I don't like scandals, so being Alaf', Nibali, De Gendt or Tibopino (of course) would be great.