Rideurs of the decade

No_Ta_Doctor

The Rider of the Decade thread was pretty convincingly won by Chris Froome, though obviously descended into debate regarding the relative merits of GTs, rainbow stripes and monuments. While half the fun is pitting this comparison of apples, pears and steak dinners against each other in a hopeless attempt to achieve a unified weighting system, there's a clear case for a thread where specialists in their cycling niche are played off against each other. We've had a good decade of racing, so lets celebrate the stand out performers.

This is an attempt at that thread.

Here are the categories. They're all in Franglais because that's how cycling should be.


Puncheur:
Stick a wall at the end of it - one day race or stage - and this bloke is first to the top.

Rouleur (also known as The Chronologist):
It takes a special kind of character to enjoy going out against the clock, and a special kind of character to enjoy watching it.

Cobbleur:
The rider that excels when the tarmac gives way to lumps of mis-shappen granite.

Sprinteur:
The guy who is faster than everyone else that hasn't done anything until the last 500 metres.

Poisson-piloteur:
The lead-out for the fast guy.

Classiciste:
The overall best one day rider.

Grimpeur:
Awarded for defiance of gravity when the road turns upward

Capitaine:
The road captain. Knows what's happening and makes sure his troops are assembled and ready for it.

Domestique:
Always gets his round in, suffers from wind. Known for murdering the break.

Domestique du Train de Montagne:
Always gets his round in, but a lightweight.

Publiciteur:
One job; to get the sponsors name into the break before inevitably being caught

Escapeur:
Gets into breaks but *sometimes* makes them stick

Semaineur:
The stage racer that's great for a week but can't handle a GT

Omniveur:
Eats any type of race. The jack of all trades, the generalist. GTs, one week races, classics, all goo fodder.

Demoiselle d'Honneur:
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Close, but no cigar.

Lanterne:
Well acquainted with the broom waggon driver, but never gets in.

RichN95.

Puncheur: Gilbert
Rouleur: Martin
Cobbleur: Cancellara
Sprinteur: Kittel
Poisson-piloteur: Morkov
Classiciste: Gilbert
Grimpeur; Froome
Capitaine: Rowe
Domestique: Oss
Domestique Montagne: Porte
Publiciteur: Voigt
Escapeur: Voeckler or De Gendt
Semaineur: Porte or Spilak
Omniveur: Thomas
Demoiselle: Rodriguez
Lanterne: Hansen

No_Ta_Doctor

Hey, I got a response! I thought I'd bobmc'ed the thread from the start.

blazing_saddles

Chris Froome's loses his recently owned title, as Cycling Weekly have now produced the PC Rider of the Decade top 10.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/best-riders-2010s-443961



They don't call it the comic for nothing......

rick_chasey

Imma get back to you with my take.

bobmcstuff

No_Ta_Doctor said:

Hey, I got a response! I thought I'd bobmc'ed the thread from the start.

I think you've got so many categories there it's going to need a fair bit if time to come up with an answer.

ddraver

Yeah, this is a dual screen kind of job...

Puncheur: Anna van der Breggen (male - Original Sagan)
Rouleur: T. Martin
Cobbleur: Sep Vanmarke, (see also Demoiselle)
Sprinteur: Cav (I know just...let me dream)
Poisson-piloteur: do teams do this anymore..? yeah maybe Morkov
Classiciste: Cancellara
Grimpeur; Bardet
Capitaine: Eisel
Domestique: assuming I can't have Eisel twice...Rowe
Domestique Montagne: Porte
Publiciteur: Anyone from Team Wanty Gobert
Escapeur: De Gendt
Semaineur: gosh, I don't know actually, nobody particularly stands out
Omniveur: Annemiek van Vleuten (male - Nibali)
Demoiselle: Sep Vanmarke
Lanterne: Kenny van Hummel

Must say I thought many more people stood out from 2000-2010, perhaps there is a little less specialization now. Or perhaps I just watched less.

Wheelspinner

Puncheur has to be Moscon, surely? 🥊🥊

Extra category: Mangeur, (perpetual trophy to Betancur).

RichN95.

ddraver said:

Must say I thought many more people stood out from 2000-2010, perhaps there is a little less specialization now. Or perhaps I just watched less.

Doping and improved dope testing accounted for a lot of changes. There weren't many riders successful in 2002 who were still successful in 2009

ddraver

Yeah, but I meant more that for each of the catagories there was a clear standout winner for me.

Recently at least the best lead out man is also a Cyclo-cross megastar for example. The best domestique at the tour probably won the giro...etc

No_Ta_Doctor

On stand-out rideurs, there aren't that many that have won the same monument twice in the course of the decade (though a couple have a win from last decade)

MSR - none - Oscar Freire won in last decade and beginning of this one
Flanders - one - Cancellara has 3, Boonen took one but has two from last decade
Roubaix - one - Cancellara has 2, Boonen took one but has two from last decade
LBL - one - Valverde has two, Vino has one and one from last decade
Lombardia - two - J-Rod has two and so does Nibali. Gilbert has one and one from last decade

That's four riders. All were active for much of the previous decade, two are retired, two are mid or late thirties and won't be around much longer. Only Cancellara achieved any real dominance, with five wins on the cobbles (not to mention a bunch of podiums in MSR). In fact, on three separate occasions Cancellara was on the podium in all three of those races in the same season.

If you throw in the WC then obviously Sagan had 3 in a row.

GTs and stage races is a very different matter, with a head-and-shoulders stand-out in Froome.

No_Ta_Doctor

Anyway, here's my list, not all that different from Rich and ddraver:

Puncheur: Gilbert
Rouleur: Martin
Cobbleur: Cancellara
Sprinteur: Cavendish - head and shoulders above Kittel (see below)
Poisson-piloteur: Mørkøv gets the nod over Renshaw
Classiciste: Gilbert just edges Cancellara, for the variety of his monuments - only MSR missing.
Grimpeur: Froome - would like to have someone else, but at his best nobody can hold his wheel.
Capitaine: Eisel, though could have been Rowe for his echelons
Domestique: Oss - good shout from Rich, especially for the classics.
Domestique Montagne: Wout Poels
Publiciteur: Voeckler
Escapeur: De Gendt
Semaineur: Porte
Omniveur: Nibali - three different GTs, MSR and Lombardia twice. That's a varied diet.
Demoiselle: Sep Vanmarcke - from looking at his results you'd think he was massively overrated to be named as a favourite every spring. But then you check the mechanicals...
Lanterne: Craddock (the only rider to ever hold the lanterne for the entire 3 weeks)

Oh and for ddraver: Cav is a fine choice over Kittel - Cav won more Tour stages than Kittel in this decade alone (20-16), at the Giro it's 10-4 and Vuelta 3-1. He also took the points jersey at all three GTs and a WC - all in this decade.

TheBigBean

Puncheur - Gilbert
Rouleur - Martin
Cobbleur: - Cancellara
Sprinteur - Cavendish
Poisson-piloteur - Renshaw
Classiciste - Cancellara
Grimpeur - Froome
Capitaine - Not sure, slightly overrated position in my opinion.
Domestique - Not sure. Tiralongo?
Domestique du Train de Montagne- Porte
Publiciteur - Thomas Voeckler
Escapeur - Thomas De Gendt
Semaineur - Porte
Omniveur - Valverde
Demoiselle d'Honneur - Sep Vanmarke
Lanterne - Not sure.

TheBigBean

I seem to have gone for the same as everyone else now that I have looked.

No_Ta_Doctor

We're probably still missing a category or two....

Descendeur
Gets down the mountain faster than a bag of rocks dropped from the top, but looks classy doing it

My pick: Bardet, for the lines he paints when he's on his home turf.

Decorateur
Custom paint jobs, custom kit when they hold a jersey, never seen looking like another rider (just wearing a rainbow/national/competition jersey doesn't count, they're properly invested in this)

My pick: Greg van Avermaet - four years on a gold bicycle for winning a single race

Arriviste
Best new rider on the block - awarded to whoever just blew things up in their first couple of pro seasons (the jnr/snr cutoff is tricky to navigate here)

My pick: Bernal or MvdP, depending on judges ruling

Styliste
Just looks good whatever they do. Even if they're pedalling squares it seems to come out as cubist art.

My pick: Fuglsang

Anti-styliste
Just looks awful whatever they do. Even if they're tearing the legs off the opposition it seems to come out looking like a bag of spanners

My pick: Aru, Froome a close second

Expressioniste
A picture paints a thousand words. Some of the pictures seem to feature gargoyles and tell stories of terrible suffering. These aren't poker players.

My pick: De Gendt. The drool is a nice touch

Handleur
Best skillz

My pick: Sagan, obviously.

No_Ta_Doctor

TheBlueBean said:

I seem to have gone for the same as everyone else now that I have looked.

Original thinking is highly overrated.

RichN95.

No_Ta_Doctor said:

Decorateur
Custom paint jobs, custom kit when they hold a jersey, never seen looking like another rider (just wearing a rainbow/national/competition jersey doesn't count, they're properly invested in this)

My pick: Greg van Avermaet - four years on a gold bicycle for winning a single race

Surely this has to be topped by Alexander Kristoff's ludicrous bronze bicycle for coming third in a similar race fours years earlier. He was riding that thing when he won Flanders three years later.

No_Ta_Doctor

RichN95. said:

No_Ta_Doctor said:

Decorateur
Custom paint jobs, custom kit when they hold a jersey, never seen looking like another rider (just wearing a rainbow/national/competition jersey doesn't count, they're properly invested in this)

My pick: Greg van Avermaet - four years on a gold bicycle for winning a single race

Surely this has to be topped by Alexander Kristoff's ludicrous bronze bicycle for coming third in a similar race fours years earlier. He was riding that thing when he won Flanders three years later.

Oh my Lord, how did I miss that?

TheBigBean

It would be wrong to let such an opportunity pass, so forgive me. There are plenty of national jerseys out there that I would rate below 3rd in the Olympics.

No_Ta_Doctor

TheBlueBean said:

It would be wrong to let such an opportunity pass, so forgive me. There are plenty of national jerseys out there that I would rate below 3rd in the Olympics.

Indeed. But the principal holds that getting a custom paint job for a race where you were only beaten by two other riders is clearly unacceptable.

m.r.m.

Puncheur: Gilbert
Rouleur: Martin (Cancellara is better, but doesn't suffer for others)
Cobbleur: Cancellara (hon. mention Boonen)
Sprinteur: Cavendish
Poisson-piloteur: Richeze
Classiciste: Gilbert
Grimpeur; Valverde
Capitaine: Rowe
Domestique: Luca Paolini
Domestique Montagne: Porte
Publiciteur: Voeckler
Escapeur: De Gendt
Semaineur: Porte
Omniveur: Thomas
Demoiselle: Purito
Lanterne: Cummings
Descendeur: Mohoric
Arriviste: MvdP
Expressioniste: Voeckler

RichN95.

m.r.m. said:

Rouleur: Martin (Cancellara is better, but doesn't suffer for others)

I'll disagree with your assessment of Cancellara there. He used to put in some huge shifts on Schleck/Sastre's behalf in the Tour. He was a terrific domestique when needed.

m.r.m.

But was that this decade?

I stand corrected otherwise.

rick_chasey

Puncheur:
Stick a wall at the end of it - one day race or stage - and this bloke is first to the top.

Strictly speaking this should be Moreno or J Rodriguez as they were the purest puncheurs, but let's face it, Valverde was the class act of this given how often he won on the Muur.

Gilbert runs him close, and shout out to Dan Martin.

Rouleur (also known as The Chronologist):
It takes a special kind of character to enjoy going out against the clock, and a special kind of character to enjoy watching it.

Very difficult to look past no-shoulders Tony Martin.

Shout out to Cancellara who did still manage to bag a Worlds TT in this decade alongside MANY MANY MANY prologues and of course, the Worlds.

Equally, Wiggins gets a shout out for the Olympics, Worlds, destroying everyone in pretty much every TT in 2012 and the hour record. Arguably unbeatable in top form.

Cobbleur:
The rider that excels when the tarmac gives way to lumps of mis-shappen granite.

As much as this ought to be Boonen, it is in fact, Cancellara. While Boonen got a number of wins in ahead of the time threshold, more of Cancellara's cobbled wins were in the '10s, and let's face it, on the rare occasion they were on good form together, Cancellara borderline humiliated Boonen.

No-one else comes close.

Sprinteur:
The guy who is faster than everyone else that hasn't done anything until the last 500 metres.

Cavendish. Again, his career spans across a couple of decades so we can't count his mental '08 and '09 years, but he was still imperious for the first few years and topped it off with a worlds.

No-one really runs him close as his closest rivals could only muster something approaching his 2016 year, let alone his 2010, 2011 & 2012.

Poisson-piloteur:
The lead-out for the fast guy.

Sabatini edges it over Morkov for me since he's been at it longer.

Classiciste:
The overall best one day rider.

Really hard to say, this one. I mean, plainly, on breadth of palmares, Gilbert is the obvious candidate, but he is often out of the picture.

Cancellara is an obvious choice too, having been not only a prolific winner of the cobbled races in this decade, but consistently always on the podium in three monuments - MSR, Flanders, Roubaix.

Boonen as per above wasn't quite on the level.

Difficult to include Valverde as he was a bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to one-dayers.

On balance, I'd say Cancellara as he was so consistently a threat as well as a winner.

Grimpeur:
Awarded for defiance of gravity when the road turns upward

Refuse to give it to Froome on the basis he could not look less like an idea of a "Grimpeur" if he tried, even if on his day he was probably faster than anyone uphill (and arguably he was too fast on the flat to be considered a climber - a bronze olympic TT on a flat course doesn't shout "climber")

Contador gets an obvious look in but you feel his best days were just before the decade.

Andy Schleck gets a shout in too, but again, he had two good years, and one was in 2009 the other in 2010.

Alaphilippe would but he can't do it in the high high mountains.

On balance, Contador, as he did the majority of his damage going uphill, and he looks like one.

Capitaine:
The road captain. Knows what's happening and makes sure his troops are assembled and ready for it.

I guess it has to be Rowe for his Tour success (and how long he's been doing that)

Domestique:
Always gets his round in, suffers from wind. Known for murdering the break.

On balance probably Oss but shout out to Tim DeClercq who I think can put his name to assisted wins more than pretty much any other rider in the past 5 years.

Domestique du Train de Montagne:
Always gets his round in, but a lightweight.

Poels gets it over Porte as he's been in a supporting role for a lot longer.

Publiciteur:
One job; to get the sponsors name into the break before inevitably being caught

Err, de Gendt, right? I'm making a bit of a point here.

Escapeur:
Gets into breaks but *sometimes* makes them stick

de Gendt as above.

Semaineur:
The stage racer that's great for a week but can't handle a GT

Dunno why everyone says Porte like it's a no brainer - can't remember him winning all that many week long races bar Paris Nice. Spilak gets a shout obviously, as does Rui Costa. On balance, probably Porte, but it's quite close.

Omniveur:
Eats any type of race. The jack of all trades, the generalist. GTs, one week races, classics, all goo fodder.

Nibali, beyond any doubt.

Valverde a decent 2nd

(I think de Gendt has the engine to be a better Valverde, but alas, his head's not in the game).

Demoiselle d'Honneur:
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Close, but no cigar.

Kinda should be Sagan, but I guess he wins stuff too.

J Rod for the heartbreak

Lanterne:
Well acquainted with the broom waggon driver, but never gets in.

Absolutely no idea.

RichN95.

rick_chasey said:

Semaineur:
The stage racer that's great for a week but can't handle a GT

Dunno why everyone says Porte like it's a no brainer - can't remember him winning all that many week long races bar Paris Nice.

Paris-Nice (twice), Catalunya, Romandie, Suisse, Tour Down Under, Trentino. Also five other WT podiums.

rick_chasey

Fair.

ddraver

I had a similar dilemma to you with the Semaineur but agreed with everyone else that Porte probably takes it.

A lot of it is the total disconnect between his clear ability in 1-week races vs his utter, almost comic, hopelessness over 3 weeks

m.r.m.

rick_chasey said:

Puncheur:
Stick a wall at the end of it - one day race or stage - and this bloke is first to the top.

Strictly speaking this should be Moreno or J Rodriguez as they were the purest puncheurs, but let's face it, Valverde was the class act of this given how often he won on the Muur.

Gilbert runs him close, and shout out to Dan Martin.

Rouleur (also known as The Chronologist):
It takes a special kind of character to enjoy going out against the clock, and a special kind of character to enjoy watching it.

Very difficult to look past no-shoulders Tony Martin.

Shout out to Cancellara who did still manage to bag a Worlds TT in this decade alongside MANY MANY MANY prologues and of course, the Worlds.

Equally, Wiggins gets a shout out for the Olympics, Worlds, destroying everyone in pretty much every TT in 2012 and the hour record. Arguably unbeatable in top form.

Cobbleur:
The rider that excels when the tarmac gives way to lumps of mis-shappen granite.

As much as this ought to be Boonen, it is in fact, Cancellara. While Boonen got a number of wins in ahead of the time threshold, more of Cancellara's cobbled wins were in the '10s, and let's face it, on the rare occasion they were on good form together, Cancellara borderline humiliated Boonen.

No-one else comes close.

Sprinteur:
The guy who is faster than everyone else that hasn't done anything until the last 500 metres.

Cavendish. Again, his career spans across a couple of decades so we can't count his mental '08 and '09 years, but he was still imperious for the first few years and topped it off with a worlds.

No-one really runs him close as his closest rivals could only muster something approaching his 2016 year, let alone his 2010, 2011 & 2012.

Poisson-piloteur:
The lead-out for the fast guy.

Sabatini edges it over Morkov for me since he's been at it longer.

Classiciste:
The overall best one day rider.

Really hard to say, this one. I mean, plainly, on breadth of palmares, Gilbert is the obvious candidate, but he is often out of the picture.

Cancellara is an obvious choice too, having been not only a prolific winner of the cobbled races in this decade, but consistently always on the podium in three monuments - MSR, Flanders, Roubaix.

Boonen as per above wasn't quite on the level.

Difficult to include Valverde as he was a bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to one-dayers.

On balance, I'd say Cancellara as he was so consistently a threat as well as a winner.

Grimpeur:
Awarded for defiance of gravity when the road turns upward

Refuse to give it to Froome on the basis he could not look less like an idea of a "Grimpeur" if he tried, even if on his day he was probably faster than anyone uphill (and arguably he was too fast on the flat to be considered a climber - a bronze olympic TT on a flat course doesn't shout "climber")

Contador gets an obvious look in but you feel his best days were just before the decade.

Andy Schleck gets a shout in too, but again, he had two good years, and one was in 2009 the other in 2010.

Alaphilippe would but he can't do it in the high high mountains.

On balance, Contador, as he did the majority of his damage going uphill, and he looks like one.

Capitaine:
The road captain. Knows what's happening and makes sure his troops are assembled and ready for it.

I guess it has to be Rowe for his Tour success (and how long he's been doing that)

Domestique:
Always gets his round in, suffers from wind. Known for murdering the break.

On balance probably Oss but shout out to Tim DeClercq who I think can put his name to assisted wins more than pretty much any other rider in the past 5 years.

Domestique du Train de Montagne:
Always gets his round in, but a lightweight.

Poels gets it over Porte as he's been in a supporting role for a lot longer.

Publiciteur:
One job; to get the sponsors name into the break before inevitably being caught

Err, de Gendt, right? I'm making a bit of a point here.

Escapeur:
Gets into breaks but *sometimes* makes them stick

de Gendt as above.

Semaineur:
The stage racer that's great for a week but can't handle a GT

Dunno why everyone says Porte like it's a no brainer - can't remember him winning all that many week long races bar Paris Nice. Spilak gets a shout obviously, as does Rui Costa. On balance, probably Porte, but it's quite close.

Omniveur:
Eats any type of race. The jack of all trades, the generalist. GTs, one week races, classics, all goo fodder.

Nibali, beyond any doubt.

Valverde a decent 2nd

(I think de Gendt has the engine to be a better Valverde, but alas, his head's not in the game).

Demoiselle d'Honneur:
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Close, but no cigar.

Kinda should be Sagan, but I guess he wins stuff too.

J Rod for the heartbreak

Lanterne:
Well acquainted with the broom waggon driver, but never gets in.

Considering we agree on most of it I wonder why you're so terrible at PTP.

*nukes launched*

rick_chasey

The first hurdle for PTP is being organised enough to get in your choices on time.

I had a flounce about the 12pm cutoff and have not played since.

rick_chasey

Descendeur
Gets down the mountain faster than a bag of rocks dropped from the top, but looks classy doing it

I mean, Sagan is the obvious candidate, but Alpahilippe and Nibali make the podium as all of them have won big races (tour stages or monuments) through their descending ability.

Froome disqualified as he does not look classy doing it.

Decorateur
Custom paint jobs, custom kit when they hold a jersey, never seen looking like another rider (just wearing a rainbow/national/competition jersey doesn't count, they're properly invested in this)

Voeckler

Arriviste
Best new rider on the block - awarded to whoever just blew things up in their first couple of pro seasons (the jnr/snr cutoff is tricky to navigate here)

Evenepoel - not even close

Styliste
Just looks good whatever they do. Even if they're pedalling squares it seems to come out as cubist art.

Nibali or Valverde - can't decide.

Anti-styliste
Just looks awful whatever they do. Even if they're tearing the legs off the opposition it seems to come out looking like a bag of spanners

FROOME. NO CONTEST

Expressioniste
A picture paints a thousand words. Some of the pictures seem to feature gargoyles and tell stories of terrible suffering. These aren't poker players.

Fabian Wegmann was the king of the pain face and since he rode in the WT till 2011, he still sneaks in.

Handleur
Best skillz

Sagan obvs.

poptart242

Puncheur: Gilbert
Rouleur (also known as The Chronologist): Cancellara - two golds and all the rest
Cobbleur: See above, 5 monuments
Sprinteur: Cav (no, you can't argue with 20 tour stages and a rainbow jersey)
Poisson-piloteur: Renshaw, see above
Classiciste: GvA, most consistent IMO
Grimpeur: Landa, a romantic pick
Capitaine: Rowe, no question
Domestique: Tim Declerq, the tractor
Domestique du Train de Montagne: Porte, I miss the old days. Or week three Wout.
Publiciteur: TdG spends the most time out there, I know he wins but...
Escapeur: as above
Semaineur: Ah, the Spilak award
Omniveur: Valverde
Demoiselle d'Honneur: Recent memory bias suggests Steven Kruijswijk?
Lanterne: I'd like to think big Stevo Cummings, certainly on chatting terms with the wagon albeit never in danger of being dropped.