Your current faves in the peloton...

jimmythecuckoo

Ok, I would post in this thread before it gets about drugs!! but all things being equal who are your favourite riders in the current peloton and why?

Albert TImmer - Stood with his family on the Cote de Saint Feillu at the Tour de France last summer, lovely people and a top rider. Gutted he wont be riding this summer.

I like the fact he enjoys being off the front of races and I reckon he will move to a bigger team this winter.





Xavier Tondo - Based solely on his Paris Nice solo stage win and supporting role for Saste in the Giro.

Really funny action and tall fellow but his was awesome on P-N and I hope he will continue to get better.

dave_1

Rein Tarramae of Cofidis for the Col De eze attack...Contador was well into oxygen debt pulling that attack back...am sure we'll hear more from him in 2010

rjh299

Cav because he's awesome, british and a gob shite! Love his attitude
Like to see Dan Martin do well also

IanLD

Cavendish and Cancellara

frenchfighter

CONTADOR (6). VOECKLER. LL SANCHEZ (4). SASTRE. MARTIN. BENNATI (2). GILBERT (2). BOONEN (4). CHAVANEL. CANCELLARA (4). EBH (4).

And Valverde, Sagan, Vinokourov and Cadel.

AndyRubio

Contador (overall greatness, elegant riding style, humiliated Armstrong) , Cancellara (found his advantage and uses it), Nicole Cooke (for being tough), Gilbert (as tough as Cooke), Cummings (bizarre I know), A Schleck (polite, awesome hillclimber).

I liked Arroyo before the Giro, mostly cos he was always nice to the fans even during mountain stages of the TdF.

For their names: Staf Schierlinckx, Maarten Tjallingii, Vladimir Karpets.

Finally, Steven Cozza for a fine moustache and making himself easy to spot in the peloton:

andyxm

Gilbert, always seems to be having a go to win, generally without much team support, wins a surprising variety of races - he's no one trick pony

nickwill

Cadel Evans for his guts and the way he maximises his talent!

DaveyL

Nickwill wrote:

Cadel Evans for his guts and the way he maximises his talent!

I agree with that. A lot of folk raved about his win in the Fleche but I think it still didn't get enough credit. The way he allowed a rider like Contador to go on the attack on the last climb showed experience, judgement and also supreme confidence in his form and ability.

I also took a liking to Ian Stannard for his ride in horrific conditions in, what was it, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne?

Bakunin

Flecha, Casar, Tarramae, Contador, and Nibs.

Monty Dog

Gilbert, purely for the fact that he races all year and he will try to attack rather than sucking a wheel. Ian Stannard deserves a mention for his ride at K-B-K

Anonymous

Last year until the world's it was anyone but Evans.

Since the world's he's da bom!

Absolutely fantastic now he's somehow got the confidence to realise he can attack and win!

haggisinlondon

Karpets - Great name

greeny12

After rooting for him throughout the Giro because of my PTP GC pick, I've now got a very soft spot for Michele Scarponi...!! I'll definitely be following him in other races now.

Outside of that it's Wiggins and Cav, coz they is British-like

takethehighroad

I was thinking about this on my ride tonight. I preferred Contador over Cav until 09 and my riding style matched it, but now it matches the Manxman's... Strange.

Always loved Boonen since before I followed cycling religiously, just the Tour (so around 04 then?)

The Kennington Kaiser

haggisinlondon wrote:

Karpets - Great name

Great name, great mullet.

This week I am supporting Johan Tschopp. Great gutsy win on the passo del tonale in the final Giro mountain stage, an avowed and ourspoken anti-doper and apparently he got grief off his forner team-mates at Phonak for his ecological leanings and teh fact he would never throw litter while racing.

smithy1.0

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

I was thinking about this on my ride tonight. I preferred Contador over Cav until 09 and my riding style matched it, but now it matches the Manxman's... Strange.)

Changing yourself from a climber to a sprinter takes a lot more than riding style.

FWIIIW, Cadel get's my vote. He's always looked to me like the results come from pure hard work and dedication.

ju5t1n

Hushovd, Gilbert, Boonen, Voeckler, and McEwan

ju5t1n

...and it was nice to see Chris Horner win the Tour of the Basque Country this year – cos he’s the same age as me

Moomaloid

haggisinlondon wrote:

Karpets - Great name

Is it me or has Vlad never actually lived up to all hype about him?

For me, i love Gilbert. A proper racer, always prepared to have a go. Chinny for being, well, an animal. This year though its been Cadel, head and shoulders. He's shown that you can wear the rainbow stripes with pride and holding the jersey has really given him a new lease of life it seems. How he suffered in the Giro was inspiring and painful to watch, but he shot up in my estimation ten fold. I really do hope he can pull of a tour win. i think the Vuelta may be his best chance.

Honorable mentions to Tommy V, Fumiyuki Beppu and Mark Renshaw.

CarbonCopy

After watching the Giro and seeing Cadel suffer like he did on the final week.No real support in the mountains from his team.Sweat running of his nose as grinded it out towards the top of the mountain proved he has some steel.
He does`nt seem to be built like a climber but he`s got a great mind and i enjoyed him flying past that vinokorouv like he was stationary towards the end of the stage almost catching the stage winner WoW what a finish!!!! Would like to see him take the Yellow jersey or at least give that schmuk armstrong a good old A$$ whoopin!

babyjebus

I like Gilbert because his name is almost my name, and because he always goes for it. I like Sagan because he obviously thinks he can do anything right now, and that'll surely change with experience. Cuddles is now a legend where once he was a bellend, a great racer.

Cleat Eastwood

Andy Schleck.....Cant be long before he has a team built round him

Contatdor.....cant be long long before he has a team built round JUST him

Boassen Hagen....I like the quiet way he goes about things(and he sounds like a lager)

Roman Feillu.....Ride roman ride show them what breakways are all about

RichN95.

I really like Samuel Dumoulin , purely because he's a dwarf.

I'm short myself, so I like the little guys

alex16zx

weirdly, Giovanni Visconti. The thread title is 'current faves', and over the last few months i've greatly enjoyed watching his attacks and general riding, especially in the Tour of Turkey, as well as in Tirreno-Adriatico.

Gazzaputt

Got be Cancellara guy is a legend (motor or not :roll: )

yakubu22

Nibali - Could have won the Giro, but supported his team mate for the last week, fair play to him. Always there or thereabouts, pity Sky couldn't tempt him over the winter. Strong contender for TdF Top 3.

autobahn

Funny no-one has mentioned Bradley Wiggins! Wonder why?Any reasons?

My fav is definetly Contador, he's the full package. I dont think we've seen the best of him yet and on a personal level seems like a shy, reserved decent bloke.

dulldave

NapoleonD wrote:

Last year until the world's it was anyone but Evans.

Since the world's he's da bom!

Absolutely fantastic now he's somehow got the confidence to realise he can attack and win!

+1 Evans is the man this year. Yeah Cancellara was amazing in P-R and Flanders I was particularly impressed with Flanders. But for me Evans has been lighting up races from the Tour Down Under to Classics to the Giro.

It's probably the contrast with my opinion of him around 2008 that impresses me so. Last year's Dauphine was when I first started to notice the difference. It's also great to see the World Champs jersey actually involved in races.

thomasmc

He is just about current but I have still have a soft spot for Christophe Moreau. Met him at the start village in Pau a number of years ago and could not have been nicer & more obliging

Having any favorite in the peloton is dangerous, setting yourself up for a fall!

redddraggon

Tom Boonen, Riccardo Ricco