Who is your Men's Rider of the Decade?

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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 .
Koronin

Koronin

Oct 14, 2017
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Parker said:
Ask anywhere around the world. The Tour is the race they know. Ask people in the sport what the most important race is (to the sport not them) and you'll only get one answer.
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Most people in the US have never heard of the Tour.

Again ask people in different areas and you will get difference answers to the most important race as well.
 
P

Parker

Mar 4, 2011
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christopherrowe said:
It seems like by your logic the best writer of fiction in the English language has to be Dan Brown. I don't understand your hostility toward the races that first created and continue to define the sport. This being a text-based medium, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt regarding your tone.
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How many literary prizes has Dan Brown won? Someone like JM Coetze would be a more appropriate example (Nobel, double Booker winner etc)

No hostility towards those races. But if you don't understand that the Tour is the biggest and most important race in the sport, by a huge distance, then you don't know the sport. It pays for the entire sport. (Preferring other races is fine).

Every cycling fan goes through a phase when they dismiss the Tour and try and pretend other races more worthwhile to show their aficionado credentials . You'll grow out of it eventually.
 
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Koronin

Koronin

Oct 14, 2017
12,196
3,228
23,180
Parker said:
Every cycling fan goes through a phase when they dismiss the Tour and try and pretend other races more worthwhile to show their aficionado credentials . You'll grow out of it eventually.
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That is never going to happen because very simply I find the Tour to be one of the most boring races on the entire circuit. How many DECADES are you expecting this "growing out of it" to take? Especially when I first started watching pro cycling about 2 decades ago the only race on TV was the Tour. As I found other races I discovered how much better many of those other races are.

Breezy1985 said:
We are here to pick the best rider. Now I hate Froome and Ineos but a multi TdF winner beats a multi other GT winner any decade when it comes to picking the best.
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That would be picking the best GT specialist of the decade, not the best rider of the decade. Froome would be the best GT Specialist of the decade, but that's not what is being debated here. Thus you must thing consider the entire calendar to find the best overall rider.
 
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C

cantpedal

Sep 10, 2013
620
30
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Koronin said:
He's NEVER proven he can do anything in a one day race. Sorry, but he is NOT versatile. Exactly how many 1 day races has he won? How many podiums has he even been close to in one day races. He's not only never won a won day race, he's never come close a podium in one. Again winning a GT means the SAME as winning a one day race or a one week race. it is NOT more important and holds no more weight than other races. Valverde's GT podiums combined with his one day race wins AND podiums is much more impressive than Froome's GT's record is because it shows his versatility that Froome does NOT have. Froome also has a LOT less wins with 2 MORE years racing in this decade. For that matter Froome has LESS race days with 2 MORE years racing. Also as Froome has never shown an ability to race a one day race and being in his mid 30's it's virtually impossible for him to ever win any one day race and Fleche Wallone requires you to be a puncheur which Froome is not close to being. This doesn't take into account his injuries last year.
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You lost me at " winning a GT means the SAME as winning a one day race or a one week race"
 
benzwire

benzwire

Jul 27, 2010
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I've really enjoyed reading this thread and I am torn between Froome and Sagan. Of course we are looking at two very different riders and different races that each can win, but they are both incredibly impressive. Ultimately, for me, when comparing the achievements in respective races, I think that Froome's victories have more influence from his team than Sagan's victories. Would Froome have won as much if he had not been on Sky/Ineos? Most likely not. Would Sagan have won as much if not on his current/previous teams? I would argue he has been held back some by his team and lack of support at times. I therefore lean to Sagan as being the rider of the decade for winning as much as he has, with overall less help from his team when compared to Froome.
 
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water202

water202

Nov 1, 2018
29
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2,610
All this "rider of the decade" is a bit confusing.
In cycling we have multiple types of races and riders.
GC, TT, Classics, Sprints.
And somehowe of all of these I need to pick one.
Like in athletics. Who is better runner. Bolt or Farah.
It comes down to personal preferences and symphaties then.
 
spalco

spalco

Feb 1, 2011
9,403
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christopherrowe said:
[...]

(1) Monuments
(2) Other Classics
(3) World Championships
(4) Giro GC
(5) Vuelta GC
(6) TdF GC
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I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. I appreciate the argument of Sagan or Valverde over Froome (with Valverde especially I think there's some unconscious anti-Spanish bias going on with some, me included, in an english language focused forum), and certainly Nibali (all 3 GTs, numerous GT podiums, monuments), Gilbert, Cancellara and Contador are also legends of the sport - what a decade it's been, eh!?

But valuing the Giro and Vuelta GCs over the Tour and even apparently something like FW or CSS over the Tour is a joke. How many people even lets say watching on the road side during the Tour of Flanders do you think could name 3 out 5 of the last winners of Fleche Wallone vs the winners of the TdF since 2010?

christopherrowe said:
Hardly. We're specifically speaking of 2010-2019, yes? I stand by my assertion that both other GTs have been more exciting and better exempla of the sport, in aggregate, during that period.
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Fine, but this poll should still be an attempt at being objective. What race was more fun to watch as a spectator doesn't mean much. I enjoy MSR a lot more than LBL, but I would look like an idiot to most claiming MSR is more valuable.
 
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B

boneshaker

Nov 20, 2018
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Red Rick said:
GTs also have way less variability and GT riders also tend to have much less variety in palmares. Then also how strongly do you rank GTs compared to each other and how strongly do you rank monuments compared to each other, etc. If you just go by GTs>everything your best rider of any year/decade will just be your best GT rider.

Also, going by this argument, Sagan actually isn't close to Nibali in my opinion.

For Froome and Sagan you don't have to go that far back to have a rider get a rider who achieved similar in a similar time frame. Freire won 3 WCs and 2 monuments in an 8 year period, Contador 7-9 GTs depending on your definition in an 8 year period, and it's just a matter of cutoff.

Now who's the last guy before Nibali to win all GTs and 3 monuments?
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In your opinion, what is the difference between winnig 3 WCs/ all 3 GTs and winning them consecutively?
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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boneshaker said:
In your opinion, what is the difference between winnig 3 WCs/ all 3 GTs and winning them consecutively?
Click to expand...
For one day races, it's nice but not something that makes it bigger than simply winning more.

For GTs, it depends on which ones. I don't really put too much in Froome's three in a row cause there was a winter break inbetween, and targeting the Vuelta after winning the Tour has happened so little. In general I don't put much additional value in it apart from that it's the three different GTs.
 
V

VayaVayaVaya

Jun 1, 2015
2,007
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Red Rick said:
Funnily enough I see a lot of Dutch people thinking Kruijswijk has a chance to win either. Somehow they convinced themselves Kruijswijk is one of the best climbers in the world.

Dumoulin is once again forced to choose between being the favorite in the Giro and having almost no shot in the Tour. But then I'm kind of at a loss of how to rate his climbing. Probably prefer Dumoulin/Groenewegen in the Giro and Roglic/Kruijswijk in the Tour.

Then Dumoulin has to decide what the best route to Tokyo is. I think Tokyo ITT is the main reason for Dumoulin to choose Tour over Giro honestly.

Lastly, Groenewegen is already talking about the Tour and about getting helpers for the Tour. That just shouldn't happen.
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Koronin said:
Most people in the US have never heard of the Tour.

Again ask people in different areas and you will get difference answers to the most important race as well.
Click to expand...

In my experience as an American, almost everyone knows the Tour because of Lance Armstrong. He was just a step below Tiger Woods/LeBron James level are his peak.
 
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