Who are the best Domestiques in the peloton?

[Shogun]

Horner.

I guess Voight, O'Grady and other Saxo Bank riders are considered "super domestiques", but they IMO are still the best workhorses when July rolls around.

 

[TwoWheelsGood]

Johan Van Summeren's work in last year's Tour de France has to make him one of the front-runners.

 

[Master50]

Mike Barry

Gets my vote.

 

[180mmCrank]

I think Voigt will go down as one of the best in current times

 

[BroDeal]

He retired a couple of seasons ago, but I would rate Giovanni Lombardi highly. Zabel and Cipollini owe a lot to Lombardi.

 

[asockpuppet]

I'll vote for Jens Voight & pretty much the whole TDF saxo bank team from last year...O'grady, Cancellara, Arveson....these guys pretty much handed the win to Sastre in what was an otherwise pretty uninspiring tour....sastre got to sit in an armchair for 2 weeks & 6 days, pretty much

 

[Non Grimpeur]

Jens Voigt is an animal. Alongside Sean Yates as one of the best ever domestiques.

 

[75kilos]

Jens Voigt is an animal. Alongside Sean Yates as one of the best ever domestiques.

+1 for that. Having Jens, and/or Cancellara/O'Grady pulling for you, life must be that much easier....
I hope Jens gets a win this year somewhere.
Have you all read the Jens Voight thread elswhere....?

 

[Henri Desgrange]

Wegeluis is a great domestique, thought of very highly in Italy. Yates was a fantastic one too, shame he's got the attitude he has as a DS.

 

[elapid]

Jens Voigt - unparalleled.

CSC were fantastic in last year's TdF - how could Sastre not win with "domestiques" like Voigt, O'Grady and Cancellara on the flats (and even the hills), and the Schleck brothers and Arvesen in the mountains. Awesome.

 

[ak-zaaf]

kevin hulsmans

 

[JavierOtxoa]

I'll vote for Jens Voigt too. He's a helluva rider, a good team mate, dedicated to team, a nice person and he is speaking a dam' good English. Eine Klasse fur sich!

 

[Anonymous]

hincapie by a mile for me...

 

[Bartoli]

hincapie by a mile for me...

Yeah, he did really an amazing job for Cavendish, it reminded me of Van Petegem in the 2005 worlds where he singlehandedly lead Tom Boonen to the title. Another one i would like to mention is Servais Knaven who has allways been a great help for some fantastic cyclists. Besides that he is a great person (as far as one can judge from meeting a rider like 2 times and hearing him talk on tv)

 

[Cosette]

I don't know who I'd vote for as being the best. But I would like to mention Koos Moerenhout. He does so much work....
Did a lot for Landis and Rasmussen in the TdF, and both times it all came down. So sad...

 

[Bala Verde]

The best ones are ususally invisible, so I don't believe Voigt is a good pick. Sure he does a lot of work, but in many cases he is allowed to go in the break, even in the tour (not always with the intention of helping team mates in the later section of the race). A superdomestique is there to serve, all the time, 100%. Spending energy in breakaways is therefore, a waste...

I think the likes of

Grischa Nierman
Koos Moerenhout
Sebastien Rosseler
Wim Vansevenant

Not too familiar with the Fr, Sp, It helpers though


And let's not forget Erwin Nijboer la sombra de Indurain

 

[XbrokenX]

Johan Van Summeren's work in last year's Tour de France has to make him one of the front-runners.

I councur, and am shocked that he has not received more nods in this thread. His impressive work cannot be limited to just the Tour, however. He can be found at the front of the peloton throughout the entire year, particularly in the cobbled Belgian classics, in addition the Tour de France. Another reason that I think that he is such a great domestique is that he is so versatile. He can put in hard efforts working for Cadel when the road heads up, for Robbie when the profile is flat and fast, or for Leif on the pav?. That cannot be said for many riders. I love when he actually gets the opportunity to fight for a win himself, but he is so dedicated to his leaders, that this does not seem to happen often.

Another memorable domestique performance for me was seeing Robbie Hunter, typically considered a sprinter, turning himself inside out in the mountains for Floyd Landis in the 2006 edition of le Tour. It is a shame that the ensuing scandal has left his work then largely unrewarded.

But yes, I would be hard pressed to argue with the other names that have been mentioned in this thread. Voigt and Horner are consistently fantastic to watch, particularly as they both can frequently be seen with a smile on their faces, even if they are absolutely suffering.

 

[skidmark]

How about the best individual performances as a 'domestique'? I've only been watching alot of racing for a couple of years, so my knowledge is limited, but here are a few:

- Axel Merckx faithfully towing a hopeless Landis on Stage 16 of the 2006 TdF after he bonked

- Andy Schleck at last year's LBL, going on the attack early and hard so that Valverde and Rebellin towed Frank back up to him... then getting dropped on the climb after caught, regaining composure, catching back up, and attacking again! Of course Frank couldn't make the counterattack stick, but it was an amazing piece of work.

- Kloeden staying with a dropped Vino on the first mountain stage of 2007 TdF, losing 2 minutes on a move that he could have followed (he's shown a spirit of sacrifice in last year's Giro and Vuelta too, and probably will in this years Tour)

- Chris Anker Sorensen dying a thousand deaths to get the Breschel group to catch Ballan at last year's worlds (didn't work, but holy crap was he spent)

Those are the first few that stick out in my head.

 

[Angliru]

...and how about Joaquim Rodriguez in last year's Vuelta and the past 3 years in LBL and his work for Caisse d'Epargne and Valverde? He's been a steady presence in the Ardennes classics and was exemplary in the Vuelta dropping everyone but Leipheimer, Contador and Valverde on the Angliru stage.

 

[Jarvis]

- Kloeden staying with a dropped Vino on the first mountain stage of 2007 TdF, losing 2 minutes on a move that he could have followed (he's shown a spirit of sacrifice in last year's Giro and Vuelta too, and probably will in this years Tour)

He showed spirit of sacrifice by getting his medicene sent to his girlfriends house.

 

[skidmark]

He showed spirit of sacrifice by getting his medicene sent to his girlfriends house.

What in the world does this have to do with being a domestique and making an effort for a teammate on the road?

 

[Anonymous]

What in the world does this have to do with being a domestique and making an effort for a teammate on the road?

it doesnt.. but we are back on topic now.. dont panic..

 

[Kazistuta]

I'll concur with Rodriguez, because even domestiques get their results. I know he isn't considered as such (and possibly get paid very well), but his unselfish work for Valverde in several races almost made for him make him a brilliant domestique in my book.
I too will go along with Lombardi, who didn't just deliver the big sprint canons, but also helped Basso navigate through the peloton in the GT's. That was a big job!

Also guys like Nicki Sørensen and Bingen Fernandez has made a living from helping his team mates. And obviously already mentioned Marco Velo has too. Actually it's kind of difficult to find a french rider fitting this category - not enough knowledge or just the fact that the french teams seldom showed team effort in the TV transmitted races??? Maybe Nicolas Jalabert qualifies...

 

[Jarvis]

What in the world does this have to do with being a domestique and making an effort for a teammate on the road?

It shows that he'd sacrifice pretty much anything for his career...

 

[Angliru]

Johan Van Summeren's work in last year's Tour de France has to make him one of the front-runners.

Well according to Cadel and his fans, there was no help on the Silence-Lotto team. Cadel was virtually riding solo versus the other teams of 9.