Young Aussies the best ever?

[simo1733]

Are the current crop of young Aussie pro's the best they have ever had?
Are they in fact the best that any country has ever had!

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Are the current crop of young Aussie pro's the best they have ever had?

yes. Or so it appears. But this can be said for a lot of countries.

Are they in fact the best that any country has ever had!

no. Most certainly not.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

yes. Or so it appears. But this can be said for a lot of countries.



no. Most certainly not.

indeed, those were the Belgians from the 60's and 70's

 

[ak-zaaf]

But this can be said for a lot of countries.

I don't really think so. Not the traditional cycling countries anyway.

 

[simo1733]

yes. Or so it appears. But this can be said for a lot of countries.



no. Most certainly not.

It seems to me that they have at least 10 riders 25 and younger,most of whom have already produced world class performance in one form or another.I can't see any other countries who can make that claim.
I don't know about the 60/70s I am sure you are right.That is part of the reason I ask the question.

 

[Sydney21]

Trav Meyer
Cam Meyer
Bobridge
Howard
Goss
Roe
Docker
Wes Sulzburger
Matthews
Dennis
Walker
Lachie Norris
Durbridge
Hepburn
Freiburg
Tom Palmer
Ben King

Who Have I missed?? (obv not including Richie Porte and Haussler)

 

[auscyclefan94]

Trav Meyer
Cam Meyer
Bobridge
Howard
Goss
Roe
Docker
Wes Sulzburger
Matthews
Dennis
Walker
Lachie Norris
Durbridge
Hepburn
Freiburg
Tom Palmer
Ben King

Who Have I missed?? (obv not including Richie Porte and Haussler)

Excellent talent coming through for australia. But I think the dutch beat us in upcoming talent with the likes of Mollema, Van Emden, Boom, Kruisjwijk & momany more riders. The talent is just endless...

 

[Kwibus]

Excellent talent coming through for australia. But I think the dutch beat us in upcoming talent with the likes of Mollema, Van Emden, Boom, Kruisjwijk & momany more riders. The talent is just endless...

Are we talking about below 25? Because Gesink is still 24 isn't he?
Still I'm surprised you say this as a sworn anti dutch maffia person
I must say that Australia for a non-traditional cycling country is delivering great riders. Australia always finds it's way into the top of any sport which is impressive. Good mentality I guess.

 

[slartiblartfast]

Excellent talent coming through for australia. But I think the dutch beat us in upcoming talent with the likes of Mollema, Van Emden, Boom, Kruisjwijk & momany more riders. The talent is just endless...

Best crop of young Aussie riders - yes, by sheer weight of numbers. The more interesting question is who out of those riders listed will achieve success in the classics and grand tours.

Best crop of young riders ever - no way given the predominance of Spanish riders at the top level in the last few years (for whatever reason) and previously the great generations of French, Belgian, Dutch and Italian riders.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Are we talking about below 25? Because Gesink is still 24 isn't he?
Still I'm surprised you say this as a sworn anti dutch maffia person
I must say that Australia for a non-traditional cycling country is delivering great riders. Australia always finds it's way into the top of any sport which is impressive. Good mentality I guess.

I was being facetious about the dutch riders even though do have some strong young riders. I am still a little unconvinced about what Cam Meyer will be like on the road. He and some of his directors have directly said and hinted (in Cam's case) in becoming a guy who becomes a Overall contender in GT's. I am not convinced about his climbing and personally see Bobridge as having a bigger future in the sport in becoming a very good time trailler and cobbled classics rider.

 

[craig1985]

Wes Sulzburger has been around for a few years now.

 

[profff]

australia has a lot of talented riders, because of AIS work , good mentality and correct formation course. they do other sports before cycling, than track, that is very good for bike handling , cadence.....
in italy, cycling has no good recruitment, most of the riders starts cycling at 8 or 9, do not do other sports with no correct muscular balance, no track: the result is that the once dominating nation is not able to form complete riders.

other countries with abunch of talent : colombia, with duarte, henao, betancur, quintana, pantano.
not to forget france: sicard, pinot ( potentially very good in the hills), geniez,and coppel, offredo, may be lebon. not good as australia, holland and colombia, but the best situation for les blues since many many years

 

[Reuell]

France had always had a few talented riders. Yet somehow they never reach their potential.
The likes of Casar, Rolland, Moncoutie, Le Mevel, Moinard, Gadret, Riblon, Dessel, Di Gregorio have all been dubbed as the next French GT specialist......and the list could go on and on

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Trav Meyer
Cam Meyer
Bobridge
Howard
Goss
Roe
Docker
Wes Sulzburger
Matthews
Dennis
Walker
Lachie Norris
Durbridge
Hepburn
Freiburg
Tom Palmer
Ben King

Who Have I missed?? (obv not including Richie Porte and Haussler)

Simon Clarke and Leigh Howard

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You can only really grant a 'golden Generation' tag in retrospect really, because there have been so many people in the history of sport who've had incredible talent coming through the ranks but not been able to adjust to the top level. There are a huge number of Aussie prospects coming through, but if only, say, three of them turn into elite talents, it may still be Australia's best generation, but it's irrelevant if then, say, Italy has only four major prospects, but all of them turn into elite talents.

If we're talking the country with the most amazing young prospects at the moment there's a good chance Colombia is that country - but we've seen so many Colombians not quite impose themselves on the Euro péloton that we're not saying 'are the young Colombians the best ever?'.

 

[profff]

sicard , world champion U23, pinot and geniez, very strong in the hardest euro U23 stage race (giro valle d' aosta), have results that no ther young french had in the recent past. different than casar, digregorio and the others.
than cycling is a little changing, the speed is decreasing (maybe this is a clinic issue..) and the french have more chance to emerge.

obviously for cultural reason it is easier for an aussie to find his way in europe than for a colombian.
maybe things are going to improve for colombians ,too: cafe de colombia-colombia es passion has a proconti status, the road of GTs are changing and becoming more suitable for grimpeurs and escarabajos....
if just a colombian find his way in europe, than teams will give real chances to other guys, i hope.

french and colombians coming back will be a very good thing for cycling...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I don't really think so. Not the traditional cycling countries anyway.

yeah I was referring to a lot of countries developing into cycling nations.

You can only really grant a 'golden Generation' tag in retrospect really, because there have been so many people in the history of sport who've had incredible talent coming through the ranks but not been able to adjust to the top level. There are a huge number of Aussie prospects coming through, but if only, say, three of them turn into elite talents, it may still be Australia's best generation, but it's irrelevant if then, say, Italy has only four major prospects, but all of them turn into elite talents.

If we're talking the country with the most amazing young prospects at the moment there's a good chance Colombia is that country - but we've seen so many Colombians not quite impose themselves on the Euro péloton that we're not saying 'are the young Colombians the best ever?'.

this post.

 

[The Hitch]

Are they in fact the best that any country has ever had!

Id like to nominate italy 15 years ago for this.

1969-1974

Ivan Gotti -1969 2 times winner of Giro d Italia
Gilberto Simoni - 1971 2 times winner of Giro d italia
Marco Pantani - 1970 Winner of Giro d Italia and Tour de France in same year
Alessandro Petacchi - 1974 Gt points jersey Grand slam, + MSR and PT
Davide Rebellin - 1971 Several great races including Ardennes sweep in 1 week
Paolo Bettini- 1974 Winner of 5 of the 7 biggest 1 dayers, MSR, LBL, GDL, WRR,ORR
Gabriele Colombo-1972 Winner of Milan SanRemo.
Paolo Savoldelli -1973 2 times winner of Giro D Italia
Stefano Garzelli -1973 Winner of Giro D Italia
Michele Bartoli - 1970 Ardennes sweep, RVV and Lombardia.


They didnt turn out too bad. By comparison if this Aussy golden generation achieves just ONE of the above feats ill be surprised.

Or if you want you can take out Bettini Salvodeli and Garzeli for Cipo. And behind the scenes theres successes like Piepoli and Bruzhegin, also this generation.

A side note to the still developing Spain 1978- 83 generation. Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Oscar Pereiro, Samuel Sanchez have all won big. Luis Joaquim Rodriguez, Luis Leon Sanchez, Igor Anton maybe will.

Again, well beyond what the Aussy crop can hope to achieve.

 

[hrotha]

Gods, take Colombo out of that list. That's a sacrilege. He was a one-hit wonder, winner of MSR and the Giro d'EPO. I agree with your post otherwise, although I'd limit it to 1969-1971 because those were the guys duking it out together as amateurs.

 

[The Hitch]

Gods, take Colombo out of that list. That's a sacrilege. He was a one-hit wonder, winner of MSR and the Giro d'EPO. I agree with your post otherwise, although I'd limit it to 1969-1971 because those were the guys duking it out together as amateurs.

I made a list, then figured id go through the history of the 3 main Italian races to find anyone who fits the bill. You win a monument, your in the list.

I did 1970-74 because i figured many start at 20, and young jersey finishes at 25 so a 5 year period, though i found no one from 1975 anyway.

Its a testament to how great that generation was that merely winning MSR makes him look crap on the list.

 

[theyoungest]

Most of the current Australian youngsters are fast, have a good time trial, or a mixture of both. That's probably due to their track background. There isn't really any GC talent coming up, though. The only young Aussie climber I know of is Timmy Roe. Matthews is also a pretty decent climber, but for now he's more likely to develop into a sprinter. So it really depends on what you value in a crop of talent to consider Australia the most promising nation.

 

[Tuarts]

Wes Sulzburger has been around for a few years now.

Still only 25

Trav Meyer
Cam Meyer
Bobridge
Howard
Goss
Roe
Docker
Wes Sulzburger
Matthews
Dennis
Walker
Lachie Norris
Durbridge
Hepburn
Freiburg
Tom Palmer
Ben King

Who Have I missed?? (obv not including Richie Porte and Haussler)

Johnny Walker
Tanner?

Shed-loads of talent in the teams of Drapac, Jayco and Genesys too.

I think Australia has had a "boom" in cyclists. The likes of Rogers, O'Grady, McEwen, Evans stand out and then you have riders such as Davis, Lloyd, Cooke, Brown, Lancaster up there as well. I don't think 10 years ago there was such Aussie talent in the European peloton. Most of these stars are ageing now (some have retired eg McGee) but now there's emerging talent all over its hard to say whether these riders were part of a golden generation or just a platform for more success. I think its ben great and a privledge to see cyclists from here mix it with the likes of those from Italy, Spain, Belgium etc and I hope the standard will be maintained.

Oh and "best ever" is a purely subjective so I'm not going to comment on that...

 

[ingsve]

Trav Meyer
Cam Meyer
Bobridge
Howard
Goss
Roe
Docker
Wes Sulzburger
Matthews
Dennis
Walker
Lachie Norris
Durbridge
Hepburn
Freiburg
Tom Palmer
Ben King

Who Have I missed?? (obv not including Richie Porte and Haussler)

It's impossible to draw any conclusions about a crop of riders this early. I bet that a chunk of those riders will possibly not even by riding in five years and only 5-8 of them or something like that will have a full respectable career. That just how it goes. If you look at The Hitch's list of italians from 69-74 then that is only the riders that made it. If you would have made a list of them in 1994 then there would have probably been 30 riders that were all promising riders but most of them fell through.

In the early 2000s we had a very talented bunch of riders in Sweden based in two TT3 teams with Team Crescent dominating the domestic scene completely and having success in europe as well and Team Mälarenergi that also had a respectable team. A similar list at that time in Sweden would have been:

Gustav Larsson
Thomas Löfkvist
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Jonas Ljungblad
Stefan Adamsson
Petter Renäng
Fredrik Modin
Tobias Lergård
Jonas Olsson
jonas Holmqvist
Kristoffer Ingeby

Out of these only 5 riders ended up even reaching the top levels of the sport while the others all retired early despite being just as talented as the ones that made it. Jonas Olsson was an even better TTer than Gustav Larsson and won the european u-23 TT championship but he never managed to get a pro contract. Jonas Holmkvist had 8 victories in UCI classified races by the age of 22 and a year later he was retired.

My point is that having talents is one thing but reaching the top of the sport and having success there is a long way off from that. You don't know until after the fact who is going to make it.

 

[Anonymous]

Are the current crop of young Aussie pro's the best they have ever had?

Possibly, certainly in a fair few years, but lets ask again in 5 years and see which of these riders actually have any longevity.

Are they in fact the best that any country has ever had!

No, not by a long shot.

 

[simo1733]

Id like to nominate italy 15 years ago for this.

1969-1974

Ivan Gotti -1969 2 times winner of Giro d Italia
Gilberto Simoni - 1971 2 times winner of Giro d italia
Marco Pantani - 1970 Winner of Giro d Italia and Tour de France in same year
Alessandro Petacchi - 1974 Gt points jersey Grand slam, + MSR and PT
Davide Rebellin - 1971 Several great races including Ardennes sweep in 1 week
Paolo Bettini- 1974 Winner of 5 of the 7 biggest 1 dayers, MSR, LBL, GDL, WRR,ORR
Gabriele Colombo-1972 Winner of Milan SanRemo.
Paolo Savoldelli -1973 2 times winner of Giro D Italia
Stefano Garzelli -1973 Winner of Giro D Italia
Michele Bartoli - 1970 Ardennes sweep, RVV and Lombardia.


They didnt turn out too bad. By comparison if this Aussy golden generation achieves just ONE of the above feats ill be surprised.

Or if you want you can take out Bettini Salvodeli and Garzeli for Cipo. And behind the scenes theres successes like Piepoli and Bruzhegin, also this generation.

A side note to the still developing Spain 1978- 83 generation. Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Oscar Pereiro, Samuel Sanchez have all won big. Luis Joaquim Rodriguez, Luis Leon Sanchez, Igor Anton maybe will.

Again, well beyond what the Aussy crop can hope to achieve.

You are right.That Italian list is pretty usefull.You may have missed a couple.