Who is your Men's Rider of the Decade?

[Alexandre B.]

Peter Sagan, and I think it’s not a close contest. He has the results and the attitude.

113 pro wins, 3-time world champion, 7 green jerseys, winner of RVV, winner of Paris-Roubaix, among other remarkable achievements.

 

[Summoned]

Would go with Froome, as his accomplishments stand out more to me, though Sagan is certainly an acceptable choice. But one thing I will say in favor of Nibali is that he has results of note in each year of the ten-year span -- either a GT podium or monument victory in each year. As such, if the argument is who was the rider for the entire decade, then I think you have to go with Nibali.

 

[Thomson]

Voted for my man Sagan.

 

[tobydawq]

Nibali doesn't do jack outside one or two races a year and hasn't done so since 2013.

Such behaviour is annoying throughout the years but apparently unimportant in this discussion because "only big wins matter"?

 

[Red Rick]

Nibali doesn't do jack outside one or two races a year and hasn't done so since 2013.

Such behaviour is annoying throughout the years but apparently unimportant in this discussion because "only big wins matter"?

When deciding who's the rider of the decade, I really think it's decided in Grand Tours, monuments and major championships.

It's not like Nibali only does well in big wins. He has 17 podiums in major races, only matched by Valverde. He has 15 GT stages, only eclipsed by Sagan and other sprinters, beating all other GT riders. And it's not like he only shows up 3 weeks in a year. He challenges between Sanremo and Il Lombardia, while using the lesser stage races for training.

 

[tobydawq]

I just have a hard time declaring a rider with such an ordinary "normal" level equal to the likes of Sagan and Valverde.

And I feel that his palmarès is a statisical freak outlier for a rider with his abilities, and I guess his voodoo meme somehow supports that feeling.

 

[christopherrowe]

I went with Peter Sagan over Chris Froome for various reasons, mostly subjective. I like him better as a person. I like one-day races better than GTs. I think he has a more impressive palmares. Much of his success is owed as much to savvy as it is to raw talent (he exhibits quality in both of Henri Desgrange's demands of riders, la tête et les jambes--I've never been convinced that the "tête" behind Froome's victories is his own). But mostly (talk about subjective!) I liked Sagan's book a lot more than I liked Froome's, hah!

 

[Bolder]

Really only between Froome and Sagan, they each dominated the races that fit their strengths. I went for Froome, just because I think winning a GT is still the hardest thing to do in pro cycling. And Froome did it often and even, in some cases, with panache and grit. Sagan is my favorite rider to watch, even if he's down a bit he's still the man in any race he enters.

A larger and also interesting question is who's the best rider of the post Hinault era. You could make a case for Froome there, too, depending on the ground rules.

 

[Koronin]

Really? 2010? 2011?

2010 he had 5 wins in what he raced that were stripped along with several other podiums. So he was on track for a better season than 2019 was win wise. 2011 we have no idea what he could have done. On the other hand, he's said his year and a half off gave him a chance to disconnect and thus extend his career likely by years. Just take into account what he's done since his return and for me only Sagan is close and after the two of them for me only Nibali has a real case. I also place Gilbert over Froome.

 

[Cobbleeater]

And I feel that his palmarès is a statisical freak outlier for a rider with his abilities

Nibali is a rider with outstanding courage and killer instinct. I agree that he probably doesn't have the physical abilities as some of the other top riders, but cycling is (thankfully) so much more than just physical abilities.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

We could also make a topic for who we think will be dominate the next ten years.

Obvious names to think of would be Bernal, van der Poel, Pogacar, Evenepoel etc. Then we can come back in 10 years and laugh, if Evenepoel started playing golf at the age of 21, Bernal never won another GT again, fading away like Quintana, Pogacar got popped and van der Poel never won a monument and went back to being a full time crosser. Meanwhile Arensman, Van Wilder, Rubio and Bagioli each have 6 GT victories, Philipsen won the green jersey 8 times along with 3x PR + RVV. Price-Pejtersen crushes Bjergs time for the World Hour Record, which was already 800 meters faster than Campenaert's time. Karel Vacek retired from cycling to become a standup comedian. Andrea Tafi makes a comeback at 60 and wins PR after a massive crash in the first 20k of the race, taking out everybody except him and van Aert, who puts 32 minutes into Tafi with 30k to go, when his frame cracks, with no spare bike left.

 

[Breezy1985]

We could also make a topic for who we think will be dominate the next ten years.

Obvious names to think of would be Bernal, van der Poel, Pogacar, Evenepoel etc. Then we can come back in 10 years and laugh, if Evenepoel started playing golf at the age of 21, Bernal never won another GT again, fading away like Quintana, Pogacar got popped and van der Poel never won a monument and went back to being a full time crosser. Meanwhile Arensman, Van Wilder, Rubio and Bagioli each have 6 GT victories, Philipsen won the green jersey 8 times along with 3x PR + RVV. Price-Pejtersen crushes Bjergs time for the World Hour Record, which was already 800 meters faster than Campenaert's time. Karel Vacek retired from cycling to become a standup comedian. Andrea Tafi makes a comeback at 60 and wins PR after a massive crash in the first 20k of the race, taking out everybody except him and van Aert, who puts 32 minutes into Tafi with 30k to go, when his frame cracks, with no spare bike left.

And Eddie Dunbar does a Froome and comes from nowhere to be the greatest GC rider of his generation

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

And Eddie Dunbar does a Froome and comes from nowhere to be the greatest GC rider of his generation

I think Eddie Dunbar was always on the radar, unlike Froome. He wasn't top of his class, but he was definitely one to watch in the U23's.

 

[Breezy1985]

Peter Sagan, and I think it’s not a close contest. He has the results and the attitude.

113 pro wins, 3-time world champion, 7 green jerseys, winner of RVV, winner of Paris-Roubaix, among other remarkable achievements.

Froome Valverde and Gilbert come close but I went for Sagan and the attitude you mention is part of it. Of all the riders if seen live something about his stood out as if I was witnessing a rider who will become part of the legend of the sport and seeing him on stage to collect the green will be a story I'll tell the grandkids

 

[Bonimenier]

Not an easy choice. Picked Sagan just slightly over Froome. Nibali, Valverde and Gilbert are the next ones for me.

 

[hayneplane]

1. Sagan
2. Froome
3. Gilbert

For me the sheer panache and joy that Sagan brings alongside his talent on the bike makes him number one even if on pure palmares others have arguably a bit more. The 3 rainbow jerseys in a row is something that could go another 50 years without being repeated.

Froome is comfortably the best GC rider of the decade and has the full slate. Only knock on him is zero top results in one day racing.

Gilbert has come closer than anyone in this ere of ultra specialisation to getting the career sweep of monuments and in the process reinvented himself from King of the Puncheurs in 2011 to being able to win Flander and Roubaix at the back end of his career.

Nibali and GVA bring outstanding palmares but I always can’t help feeling like they have massively overachieved and have rarely been definitively the strongest rider during their big wins. For instance Nibali was very strong in the 2014 TdF but nothing he has shown in direct competition leads me to think he would have lived with Froome and Contador had they stayed in one piece to the end. GVA rose superbly to win the Olympic Gold but without the leaders crashing he surely would not have got back into contention.

I have always been a big Contador fan and love his attacking flair but 6th in the decade is as high as it gets because the ultimate measure of a GC guy is the Tour and other than 2010 (still a win for me) he has not done it. If I was measuring the full careers of each rider then he would be higher than in this list.

Cancellara next and his Olympic win was a real highlight as had been superceded by then as the best man against the clock but dragged himself to glory and a perfect career finale. Lower on the list as a lot of his best was before this decade.

Valverde is hard to rate as his endurance and consistency is unparalleled in modern times but his hesitancy in big races has often cost him wins and his tier 1 wins are less than others.

Cav has deteriorated alarmingly leading many to overlook how good he was at his peak. Winning a worlds elevates him above the other sprinters.

Kittel is a one trick pony dropped on shallow ramps and the only rider not remotely worthy of inclusion on this list

 

[Thomson]

Sagan for me has a monument missing from his palm-mares. Will he ever win it? Or look back wishing he did?

His three world champs in a row won’t ever be equaled. I mean the likes of Greg Van a. Kristoff. Nibali. Havnt won one.
The next five years I think Julian Alaphilippe will be mentioned in the great circle off the cycling legends.

 

[Red Rick]

1. Sagan
2. Froome
3. Gilbert

For me the sheer panache and joy that Sagan brings alongside his talent on the bike makes him number one even if on pure palmares others have arguably a bit more. The 3 rainbow jerseys in a row is something that could go another 50 years without being repeated.

Froome is comfortably the best GC rider of the decade and has the full slate. Only knock on him is zero top results in one day racing.

Gilbert has come closer than anyone in this ere of ultra specialisation to getting the career sweep of monuments and in the process reinvented himself from King of the Puncheurs in 2011 to being able to win Flander and Roubaix at the back end of his career.

Nibali and GVA bring outstanding palmares but I always can’t help feeling like they have massively overachieved and have rarely been definitively the strongest rider during their big wins. For instance Nibali was very strong in the 2014 TdF but nothing he has shown in direct competition leads me to think he would have lived with Froome and Contador had they stayed in one piece to the end. GVA rose superbly to win the Olympic Gold but without the leaders crashing he surely would not have got back into contention.

I have always been a big Contador fan and love his attacking flair but 6th in the decade is as high as it gets because the ultimate measure of a GC guy is the Tour and other than 2010 (still a win for me) he has not done it. If I was measuring the full careers of each rider then he would be higher than in this list.

Cancellara next and his Olympic win was a real highlight as had been superceded by then as the best man against the clock but dragged himself to glory and a perfect career finale. Lower on the list as a lot of his best was before this decade.

Valverde is hard to rate as his endurance and consistency is unparalleled in modern times but his hesitancy in big races has often cost him wins and his tier 1 wins are less than others.

Cav has deteriorated alarmingly leading many to overlook how good he was at his peak. Winning a worlds elevates him above the other sprinters.

Kittel is a one trick pony dropped on shallow ramps and the only rider not remotely worthy of inclusion on this list

Nibali overachieving is a hard sell for me considering how strong his best performances were and how many near misses he's had in massive races due to bad luck or once in a lifetime performances from other dudes.

Nibali winning MSR as a GC rider is the single biggest outlier in terms of rider type in the age of hyperspecialization in the 21st century. Putting him with GvA is frankly insulting.

 

[tobydawq]

And it doesn't make sense because if anything, Greg has been underachieving.

And with Greg's amazing consistency I can see why you would feel insulted on behalf of Greg for that comparison

 

[Blanco]

Nibali overachieving is a hard sell for me considering how strong his best performances were and how many near misses he's had in massive races due to bad luck or once in a lifetime performances from other dudes.

Nibali winning MSR as a GC rider is the single biggest outlier in terms of rider type in the age of hyperspecialization in the 21st century. Putting him with GvA is frankly insulting.

Equally as putting GVA above Contador, Cancellara and Valverde. Those are cycling legends, Greg is just a great rider.

 

[Bonimenier]

Equally as putting GVA above Contador, Cancellara and Valverde. Those are cycling legends, Greg is just a great rider.

Contador, Cancellara and Valverde however had parts of their success in the previous decade. Describing Greg as 'just a great rider' seems a bit harsh.

 

[tobydawq]

Yeah, I agree with that. I also think Greg is a legend.

He's always there in every race he rides. He never abandons (only nine times since 2009, then PCS becomes blurry). Last DNF in 2016. He has top 12 in all monuments, he has won Roubaix, won gold at the Olympics, won all Flemish classics apart from the big one and the smallest ones (Kuurne and Dwars), on two different occasions has he worn yellow in the Tour and gone on the attack to defend it one unlikely day more.

Amazingly, he has no medals at the world championships, but unsurprisingly, he is the only one to have finished the last 13 editions (and nobody is even remotely close to this).

He just keeps plugging away.

I think he is a bit underappreciated and taken for granted, but it's going to feel weird when he's not there anymore.

 

[Blanco]

Equally as putting GVA above Contador, Cancellara and Valverde. Those are cycling legends, Greg is just a great rider.

Being ''a great rider'' is not that bad. I'd put him in the company of Quintana, Kristoff, Kwiatkowski, Greipel. In fact I would put him on the top of that group, but to be a legend he needs to do more.

 

[hayneplane]

Equally as putting GVA above Contador, Cancellara and Valverde. Those are cycling legends, Greg is just a great rider.

I did so for this decade, for their full careers it’s a very different story and I would have GVA 4th out of the 4 of them.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Froome, and I don't think it is all that close. 2010 is a write-off, but after that we start with his podium in the 2011 Vuelta (or official victory possibly now), and with excellent results every season thereafter, except for 2019. Even in 2014 he had another 2nd place in the Vuelta, and probably a number of decent one-week results (these seem to be forever overlooked by fans). He has won all three grand tours, and even held the titles of all three at once. He did the Tour-Vuelta double, and came the closest of anyone this decade to the Giro-Tour double (unless you count Tom's two second's).

In regards to Sagan; not having won Milan-San Remo despite being somewhat of a sprinter, is a massive blight on his palmares. Now I know that this is a VERY difficult race to win, but still, it is held every year, and he couldn't win it once. And while his season to season consistency of high performances in numerous races is most impressive, he never dominated the cobbles quite like Boonen or Cancellara either (IMO).

Nibali is the most intriguing rider in this debate. Good results in each season of the decade, and in a variety of events. He has a great palmares - virtually a complete palmares - despite not being a dominant rider all that often. And he produced a performance that was from left field; winning MSR, that was huge. That could have just about given it to him over Froome. But for Finestre. Because Froome winning the Giro wasn't incredible, but the manner in which he won it was. It was panache, no matter how much you dislike the guy. That, plus his general dominance in GT's over a number of seasons gives him this hypothetical prize.

Side note: Gilbert should not be in the conversation. I like the guy. I'd love him to complete the full set of monuments. But he had like three or four seasons in a row there where he was very sub par.