Who's The Best All-Round Rider In Pro Cycling?

[Libertine Seguros]

There is a huge lack of depth, which is why I expect her to be more varied than most men's pros. Luckily, she is, being a WC on the track, in the field and on the road, winning in sprints, on cobbles and on mountains, and over single days and stage races.

They're getting to the point where they need to start inventing new races just so she can win something she hasn't already won.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Have to agree here. I think he wouldn't do too badly on the cobbles, is a reasonably good sprinter, and world class uphill sprinter, good climber, good ITT, competes for the win in hilly classics. Only rider that comes close would be Valverde, but his form since his comeback is less than stellar.

I'm talking about a good allrounder, mind you. I am personally also an allrounder, equally bad at everything.

No disagreements with you there.

Here's some pictures.

 

[K-0tic]

I was surpsrised not to see him mentioned on the first page.

For me this is the right answer. In good form and in good circumstances he can win or be close in almost every race. EBH is at least good in every part of cycling sport (TT, mountains, sprint, cobbles, hills)

The second bet is Sagan.


BTW it would be great to see a 4 stages race to decide who the bedst allrounder is ( long TT, L-B-L like hills,hard mountain stage,and Roubaix like cobbles)

EBH has the potential but did not prove himself in the classics yet. Also he won't win a very big stage uphill unless he's in the breakaway. Last, I can see him doing a good prologue but a long TT?

Cancellara will just fail on big climbs, proved himself on every other aspect.

In comparison to EBH I might even say Valverde.

 

[taiwan]

Edvald Boasson Hagen

Good shout.

Sagan, Evans, Samuel Sanchez.

Wiggins: give him a calendar of less chrono-heavy stage races and more hilly classics and he would not look quite so impressive. Declaring him the best all-rounder on the basis of this season is jumping the gun.

 

[taiwan]

No wait. Of course it must be Froome-Dog.

 

[auscyclefan94]

No wait. Of course it must be Froome-Dog.

July-Sky fans will soon be on here proclaiming that.

 

[will10]

ACF is back in Cadel mode. It's been a while.

 

[The Hitch]

Those naming cadel have been watching this tour? Cadel would only win this if.we.look to the past. Only if we look to the past.we get 2006-9.valverde who easily creams everyone.


Also why is recovery not seen as part of being.an all rounder.

Remember also, under such a game Contador would not spend all his time training to piut minutes into everyone on the.mountains as winning by a sec does just as well or even.coming top 5 is pretty much the same, so he could really practise all his weaknesses and same does not go for anyone else except can cav Gilbert maybe martin.
So contador 2nd.

Im.making that point to show that despite the ops wishes to ignore how dominant anyone is in any particular event, it could actually come into effect afterall.

 

[CobbleStoner]

what a ridiculous premise.
what makes cycling the greatest sport in the world is the diversity within the sport, there is no need to declare who is 'best' because it is impossible to determine, just look at the comments about last years World's.
der fuhrer McQuaid's stupid points system certainly doesn't do it.
Whomever you like best, whichever rider you think has the most courage, determination, guts, whichever rider inspires you the most to go out and ride your bike, that is the 'best' rider in the peloton.
Just like all women are beautiful in their own way, all riders that make it to the World Tour peloton are great.

 

[observer]

maybe someone like a Simon Gerrans. not sure what he is like in a long TT though, but if people are saying Cancellara, all Gerrans will have to do is play it smarter like he did in MSR.

 

[taiwan]

July-Sky fans will soon be on here proclaiming that.

Yeah call me a reactionary, but I'm not into reading the postings of people creaming themselves over the flavour of the month.

I don't know since when anyone would even have considered Wiggins when talking about best all rounder. He's exactly the sort of GC rider that you would try to avoid with such a title - you know Valverde or Vino were never the top GC riders but they were well balanced. Wiggins leans a lot towards the TT, now he's apparently one of the top climbers, but he's still of the indurain type, and he's all about stage races with chronos.

Thinking about it- it's the hilly day race credentials tht are lacking.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Thinking about it- it's the hilly day race credentials tht are lacking.

Day races period, I think.

2003:
97th, Milano-Sanremo (+3'57")
50th, Ronde van Vlaanderen (+6'38")

2005:
89th, Milano-Sanremo (+7'13")
81st, Ronde van Vlaanderen (+13'19")
44th, Amstel Gold Race (+1'58")
112th, World Championships (Madrid)

2006:
46th, Milano-Sanremo (+5")
58th, Gent-Wevelgem (+5'55")
49th, Paris-Roubaix (+6'49")

2007:
69th, GP Ouest France-Plouay (+16")
125th, Paris-Bruxelles (+46")

2008:
82nd, The Worst Race In The World® (+st)

2009:
108th, Milano-Sanremo (+8'19")
23rd, Gent-Wevelgem (+2'14")
25th, Paris-Roubaix (+6'32")

2010:
66th, La Flèche Wallonne (+1'07")
73rd, Liège-Bastogne-Liège (+9'34")
118th, GP Ouest France-Plouay (+1'40")
71st, Paris-Tours (+st)
DNF, Giro di Lombardia

2011:
44th, Milano-Sanremo (+5'23")
126th, The Worst Race In The World® (+1'03")
90th, Paris-Roubaix (+13'50")
108th, World Championships (København)(+3'14")

Now obviously, some races like the 2011 Worlds shouldn't count against him as he did his work for his teammate who won, but apart from a couple of passable cobbled races in 2009 there really isn't anything of any note whatsoever to speak of in his palmarès of one-day races; indeed this year, by far his best year on the road, he hasn't entered a single one.

 

[taiwan]

Nicely illustrated. I'd add that the team reliant, tempo riding tactics of Sky and the unnecessary and sometimes inexplicable solo moves do not point to a rider that is comfortable on any terrain, although that could be down to team orders and not the man himself.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Yeah call me a reactionary, but I'm not into reading the postings of people creaming themselves over the flavour of the month.

I don't know since when anyone would even have considered Wiggins when talking about best all rounder. He's exactly the sort of GC rider that you would try to avoid with such a title - you know Valverde or Vino were never the top GC riders but they were well balanced. Wiggins leans a lot towards the TT, now he's apparently one of the top climbers, but he's still of the indurain type, and he's all about stage races with chronos.

Thinking about it- it's the hilly day race credentials tht are lacking.

the hell?
A Vuelta victory + a third and a fith place in the tour says otherwise

 

[Warhawk]

If I were a betting man I'd probably put my money on Chavanel or EBH.

 

[Arnout]

Those naming cadel have been watching this tour? Cadel would only win this if.we.look to the past. Only if we look to the past.we get 2006-9.valverde who easily creams everyone.


Also why is recovery not seen as part of being.an all rounder.

Remember also, under such a game Contador would not spend all his time training to piut minutes into everyone on the.mountains as winning by a sec does just as well or even.coming top 5 is pretty much the same, so he could really practise all his weaknesses and same does not go for anyone else except can cav Gilbert maybe martin.
So contador 2nd.

Im.making that point to show that despite the ops wishes to ignore how dominant anyone is in any particular event, it could actually come into effect afterall.

Valverde had major troubles winning and being consistent in GTs and is only world class in (slightly) hilly TTs between 25-35km. Too many ifs and buts for him to be considered the best allrounder, in my opinion.

That said, I don't think this is a particularly valuable discussion, as it is kind of arbitrary and as you say not something anyone aims for specifically.

 

[The Joker]

I'd say EBH & Peter Sagan are currently the best all-rounders

 

[ingsve]

There is no way that Wiggins would be best suited for something like this. You would have to be a lot more explosive than Wiggins to win something like this. Riders like Sagan, Gilbert, Chavanel, Cancellara etc. would have the edge in almost every stage other than ITT (where Canc still has an edge) and MTFs but even in MTFs and ITTs the riders mentioned would still do pretty well so they wouldn't be that many places behind. A rider like Gilbert or Chavanel might lose many minutes on a MTF against Wiggins but if they really went for it they wouldn't be that many places behind him.

 

[Caruut]

Can we change the title from "Who is the best all-round rider?" to "Who would win a strange contrived competition designed with one rider in mind?"

 

[gustienordic]

Sagan, EBH, Gilbert.

Of the GC riders, Evans, Nibali.

 

[Ferminal]

Boonen, would be nice if he started winning prologues though.

 

[jordan5000]

For me it is Sagan, he would do extremely well on the sprints, TTs and hill finishes. I'm surprised Thor Hushovd isn't getting more support, he'd do well on the cobbles, sprints and uphill finishes.

 

[mscaviy2601]

Can we change the title from "Who is the best all-round rider?" to "Who would win a strange contrived competition designed with one rider in mind?"

As the OP creator, I can say that it was in no way "contrived" or designed with "one rider in mind". It was meant as the starting point for a discussion. The nature of the "contrived" format was to make all things equal and I chose Wiggins because I genuinely believed he'd have the best chance of top 30ing all the disciplines. I don't claim any certainty in that position and after Sagan's climbing today, I'll happily consider him instead.

Anyway, thankyou for your contribution, I'm sure it was worth the effort.

 

[ericthesportsman6]

Devolder and Spilak...

Spilak maybe but he has to show something first and his TT still seems to be improving, at the moment Chavanel is a pretty good bet but his climbing of the high stuff is too weak.

I would say the rider has to be able to properly be capable of climbing mountains and therefore we are looking more at Contador who can sprint, descend, do well in Ardennes, climb and TT.

Devolder of a few years back could climb, (mountains and hills) time trial, descend, ride cobbles, and packed a decent finish. Spilak is a bit of a long shot but he's one of the few good climbers who is good on the cobbles. He's also got a decent time trial. A lot of people's picks seem to be overlooking the cobbles section of this. Contador, Rodriguez? Both finish way back on the cobbles portion.

 

[Andre.J]

Gilbert is the best one day racer. Contador is the best in stage races.