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Who is your Men's Rider of the Decade?

Who is the Men's Rider of the Decade

  • Fabian Cancellara

    Votes: 2 1.4%
  • Mark Cavendish

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Alberto Contador

    Votes: 9 6.1%
  • Chris Froome

    Votes: 50 33.8%
  • Philippe Gilbert

    Votes: 8 5.4%
  • Marcel Kittel

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Vincenzo Nibali

    Votes: 16 10.8%
  • Peter Sagan

    Votes: 48 32.4%
  • Greg Van Avermaet

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Alejandro Valverde

    Votes: 12 8.1%

  • Total voters
    148
  • Poll closed .
Obviously voted for Valverde. Here's just part of the reason why: set multiple records in many different races. In this decade 2 Ardennes doubles, 4 WC podiums (including his victory), 4 Vuelta podiusm, 1 Giro and 1 Tour podium each, multiple GC wins in a bunch of races including Valencia, Catalonia and Basque, multiple 1 day race wins including the aforementioned Ardennes and WC plus others, and tons and tons of stage wins including everything from field sprints to mountain top finishes. By results his worst year was as World Champion where he only won 5 races, but had around 15 second places. He started his decade off in 2012 with a Vuelta podium and finishes 2019 with a Vuelta podium.
 
This poll should really be only between Froome and Sagan imho. For me it's Froome, simply because GC victories require having to fight and not affording any mistake over longer periods of time than stage/one-day wins, making it seemingly a bit more impressive (even when considering "Sky-train" factor which in fact killed most of the competition many times).
 
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Nibali has the most diversity in his greatest victories, but ultimately never felt like the undisputed best rider in the world at any point in the decade. Froome and Sagan both did something exceptional by holding all three GTs at once and the WC threepeat + green jersey record respectively, but six (or seven, depending on how you count 2011) GTs (plus 4/5 podiums) matter more to me than two monuments, 3 WCs and a truckload of green jerseys. It still feels like there are gaps in Sagan's career (mainly San Remo, but also the amount of monument wins in general), when the only thing Froome didn't achieve that he realistically could have in this decade is that fifth Tour win.
 
I could argue Froome for having 6/7 Tier 1 wins

I could argue Nibali for having 6 tier 1 wins including all 3 GTs and 2 different monuments

I could argue Sagan for 5 tier 1 wins, as well as fuckloads of lower level wins and placements.

For all his lesser wins, consistency and placements, Valverde still only has 3 tier 1 wins this decade and they're all one day races.

I wouldn't have put Kittel, Contador, GvA or Cavendish in the poll
 
Nibali has the most diversity in his greatest victories, but ultimately never felt like the undisputed best rider in the world at any point in the decade. Froome and Sagan both did something exceptional by holding all three GTs at once and the WC threepeat + green jersey record respectively, but six (or seven, depending on how you count 2011) GTs (plus 4/5 podiums) matter more to me than two monuments, 3 WCs and a truckload of green jerseys. It still feels like there are gaps in Sagan's career (mainly San Remo, but also the amount of monument wins in general), when the only thing Froome didn't achieve that he realistically could have in this decade is that fifth Tour win.
When did Valverde or Sagan? Unless you narrow down their specialties a LOT they never really dominated and you might as well argue Gilbert or Cavendish over them.
 
I could argue Froome for having 6/7 Tier 1 wins

I could argue Nibali for having 6 tier 1 wins including all 3 GTs and 2 different monuments

I could argue Sagan for 5 tier 1 wins, as well as fuckloads of lower level wins and placements.

For all his lesser wins, consistency and placements, Valverde still only has 3 tier 1 wins this decade and they're all one day races.

I wouldn't have put Kittel, Contador, GvA or Cavendish in the poll

I calculated 7 Tier 1 wins to Nibali (4 GT's, 3 monuments) in the questioned years of 2010-2019. But don't know what you calculated as "argued" wins :)

On Tier 1 podiums Nibs and Valverde seems tied (17) and head above others.
 
It pains me having to vote Froome, but there's not really any other correct answer to the question. He's a bit lucky that the start of the decade coincides with the start if his domination. In the decade between 2005 and 2015, Contador would have been the best rider, with strong competition from Boonen&Cancellara.
 
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