Who is the best descender (modern time) ?

[Red Rick]

I think Nibali gets bonus points (from a viewer’s perspective) for being a ballsy descender willing to take risks even at the most crucial moments of a race. And it cost him too: crashes in fast descents in Rio, Florence, and Lombardy cost him a good shot at winning gold, a WC, and another GdL.

Nibali is simply the most famous great descender because he was around when nearly all of us were watching, and because his climbing skills consistently put him in contention for monuments and GTs for a long period.

 

[Red Rick]

Gijs Leemreize hard-dropping Van Der Poel, stage 17 of the 2022 Giro was exceptional, there was also a stage in 2016 (4 I think) where Marcel Kittel was in Pink, lost about 2 minutes on a climb and decided to full-send the descent and made it back. Carlos Rodriguez is also very good, he was gapping Ayuso in Basque who is pretty good himself, and there was the Tour stage he won. Vingegaard seems like the best of the top-GC guys, thought I suspect it might be the Froome thing where he's not technically that good but just has a screw loose, he always looks like he could fall off at any time.

Vingegaard is technically good, he picks really good lines. When him and Pogacar are together you notice he picks better ones. But Pogacar is much more explosive, which helps him kick out of corners much better.

 

[Elos Anjos]

Why even put a Chris Froome option when he in fact ended his career after crashing while descending and thus ending any remote possibility he could have had of being a "great descender"?

Provided that he descended well, "One swallow doesn't make Spring".

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Andy Schleck and Richie Porte next best....................

Has Ivan Basso really sunk so low in your estimation?

 

[proffate]

Piddock has a couple of viral videos. What did he do with descending to get big wins?

View: https://youtu.be/isKTxml-Fx8?t=83

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why even put a Chris Froome option when he in fact ended his career after crashing while descending and thus ending any remote possibility he could have had of being a "great descender"?

Provided that he descended well, "One swallow doesn't make Spring".

And even then, if one swallow made a spring, this swallow would make a sunnier spring.

 

[proffate]

Gijs Leemreize hard-dropping Van Der Poel, stage 17 of the 2022 Giro was exceptional, there was also a stage in 2016 (4 I think) where Marcel Kittel was in Pink, lost about 2 minutes on a climb and decided to full-send the descent and made it back. Carlos Rodriguez is also very good, he was gapping Ayuso in Basque who is pretty good himself, and there was the Tour stage he won. Vingegaard seems like the best of the top-GC guys, thought I suspect it might be the Froome thing where he's not technically that good but just has a screw loose, he always looks like he could fall off at any time.

I don't get that feeling from vingegaard at all. His center of gravity is much lower than Froome's and his line choices are very assured. Nothing flashy but his descending is far from a weakness.

But I do agree that Froome was more crazy than good.

 

[proffate]

Why even put a Chris Froome option when he in fact ended his career after crashing while descending and thus ending any remote possibility he could have had of being a "great descender"?

Provided that he descended well, "One swallow doesn't make Spring".

I would apply that metaphor to the idea that one crash makes one a bad descender. The fact that the one crash was particularly brutal doesn't seem relevant.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Too many hipsters throwing around names like gijs lemreeze and izagiure. The only guys in the debate are nibali, savoldelli, maybe mohoric, Sagan and piddock

 

[ice&fire]

One of the best descents never seen is probably Tourmalet '93. Indurain was 50s behind Rominger at the summit and caught him in only 9 minutes before they got to Bareges. Thanks to the French TV for denying the world those images of Big Mig.

 

[topcat]

1. Nibali
2. Savoldelli
3. Masnada

 

[QueenStagiaire]

1. Nibali
2. Savoldelli
3. Masnada

How did ilmaestro forget about him, actually? Early onset Alzheimer’s?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Cadel was a brilliant GC descender too, a big part of his Tour win came from attacking into Gap on stage 16, dropping Samu and Contador, giving us one of the funniest interviews in recent cycling history, Andy Schleck crying and complaining about losing time.

 

[WKA311]

Too many hipsters throwing around names like gijs lemreeze and izagiure. The only guys in the debate are nibali, savoldelli, maybe mohoric, Sagan and piddock

Moho got outdescendend by Nico Denz in the wet in the 2018 Giro when they battled for the win of stage 10.

Denz is actually an overlooked great descender. Remember in the 2020 Giro when DSM was leading the race he rode at the front of the peloton on one of the mountain stages leading them down a long descent and was just going his controlled tempo. After the descent he got told he had to take it slower as the peloton was splitting everywhere and not so great descenders really had to push it.

 

[Netserk]

Moho got outdescendend by Nico Denz in the wet in the 2018 Giro when they battled for the win of stage 10.

Keep in mind that Denz had a moto in front of him, Mohoric didn't.

 

[ZamlinusYoutubeious]

The correct answer

View: https://youtu.be/iv7srruB_Os?si=Pw_fCz5LGkICwFmz

 

[StryderHells]

Cadel was a brilliant GC descender too, a big part of his Tour win came from attacking into Gap on stage 16, dropping Samu and Contador, giving us one of the funniest interviews in recent cycling history, Andy Schleck crying and complaining about losing time.

Good call! He was an excellent descender, another good example of that was the Park City stage in the 2014 Tour of Utah, he closed a large gap on the descent and took the stage win.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm debating if Contador deserves some credit for actually making some winning descending attacks while still descending on the *** hoods or if I still have to treat him like a disgrace for it.

 

[perico]

Salvodelli was the best I’ve ever seen. LeMond was no slouch either.

 

[SawyerRamirez]

The correct answer

View: https://youtu.be/iv7srruB_Os?si=Pw_fCz5LGkICwFmz

Yes, you are right.

 

[tobydawq]

Yes, you are right.

Great contribution, Sawyer Ramírez.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

I had a conversation with Benoot once who told me the best descenders are sprinty-boys (his words) and big classic riders. They never descend before the cameras because they're at the back but they have perfected their skills in the years they've been dropped fighting against the time limit.

Edit: he explicitly mentioned Caleb Ewan as one of the best

 

[Lexman]

Savoldelli

 

[SafeBet]

I had a conversation with Benoot once who told me the best descenders are sprinty-boys (his words) and big classic riders. They never descend before the cameras because they're at the back but they have perfected their skills in the years they've been dropped fighting against the time limit.

Edit: he explicitly mentioned Caleb Ewan as one of the best

True, every rider you'll talk to will tell you sprinters are excellent descenders.
That said, it's hard to compare with the likes of Mohoric and Pidcock, because a top sprinter will seldom descend close to those riders when the result is on the line.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Sprinters are all relatively heavy for their size so they‘re naturally going to accelerate faster out of corners. I don‘t doubt they‘re very technically inclined as well, but guys like Benoot will always have trouble following the sprinters downhill.