Who are your favourite riders?

[Cathryn]

Just for fun. Pick your top 3 male and female riders! You can explain why if you want.

I’ll go first

Female
1) Kasia Niewiadoma. Gutsy.
2) Elisa Longo Borghini. Also gutsy.
3) Puck Pieterse. Gutsy. Can bunny hop.

Actually I found picking my third very tricky. I like nearly all the riders…just can’t warm to Wiebes although I admire her strength enormously. I’m happy to see everyone else win.

Male
1) Alaphilippe. Piratical. Gutsy.
2) Filipino Ganna. Handsome (sorry!)
3) Wout van Aert. Gutsy

So it turns out I admire gutsy riders who generally don’t win as much as they should do.

 

[wakemalcolm]

Female
1. Lotte Kopecky. Managed to carry the weight of expectations Belgium at a time when they had literally less than half a dozen pro riders
2. Vos. The boss
3. Lizzie Deignan. Love her no nonsense attitude in the media although her racing style was a bit old fashioned: just ride fast.

Male
1. Tom Pidcock. So much versatility and potential. Can't wait to see if he specialises or just tries to be quite good at lots of stuff.
2. Richard Carapaz. I think he's the most tactically astute racer in the peloton. If his legs matched his racecraft he'd be unstoppable.
3. Matteo Trentin. Just comes over as a decent all round bloke. A good outsider for lots of 1 day races, although well past his peak

 

[M.R.M]

Female
1. Lorena Wiebes - generational talent in sprinting. Is so fast that she doesn't have to have a lead out. Can basically win from anywhere and is getting better and better as an overall rider. Has potential to even win the big classics
2. Lieke Nooijen - TT talent. Could develop into an elite rider
3. Lise Revol - junior rider. Junior World Champion in CX. Very good on the MTB as well. Has potential to follow in the footsteps of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot

Men
1. MvdP
2. Pogacar
3. Mohoric, Pidock - the two best descenders in the world who get there in quite different ways. Pidock has the greatest cycling clip I've ever seen where he overtakes on the outside in a crit. It's so beyond anything I've ever seen anyone do on a bike. If he were 10 kg heavier with the corresponding FTP increase, he'd be the greatest rider ever.

I can climb and TT quite well, so I think I tend to like riders who have a completely different ability profile.

 

[DeadCalm]

Female

1. Audrey Cordon-Ragot (I know she has retired but she's still my favourite)
2. Jutatip Maneephan
3. Fariba Hashimi

Male

1. Remco Evenepoel
2. Paul Seixas
3. Thymen Arensman

 

[I like Skol]

I only dip into the cycling for the TdF so have limited knowledge but here's my tu'ppence....

Women, haven't a clue, but would say my niece who was doing great at the British Cycling squad in Newport and was tipped to have a good chance of riding to represent the UK. Unfortunately she was put off by a creepy, pushy, grooming middle-aged male who was paying her waayyyyy toooo much attention, so she just gave it up! Why do woman have to face this shizzle? Really, WHY?

Male riders I have slightly more experience.
#1 Sagan. Cheeky, naturally skilled, powerful and determined, prepared to be different. I always got the impression he didn't take it too seriously and would probably have done much better if he had been more single minded, but wanted to enjoy what he was doing rather than being religiously bound to the cult.

#2 Wout. Yes, he's a domestique on speed. He's the man you can count on and always delivers whether that's a bottle, a lead out or a stage win. I don't think he cares if he wins, as long as he does a great job. He probably knows he's a machine, and that's enough for him. Gets a great big thumbs up from me

#3 is difficult, but also very easy. The Yates boys, Born and grew up just along the road from me. Twins and both naturally capable, in a very Northern way (it's t'hills that do it....Pennines breeds a different kind of rider). They just rock, and I loved the 2023 stage 1 and other races where they have butted up to each other. Racing your twin sibling has got to be the true definer?

 

[cyberknight]

Amniek van vlueten
Anna van de breggan
Marianne vos

Bernard Hinault
Wout van aert
Matthieu van de pol

 

[Alex321]

Female
1. Kasia Niewadioma
2. Demi Vollering
3. Lizzie Deignan

Male
1. Julian Alaphilippe
2. Tom Pidcock
3. Wout van Aert

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I have limited knowledge of pro racing, watched far more of TDF in last three years than rest of my lifetime of 48 years put together.

I recognise a few female rider names, but I don;t know enough to call any favourites.

From the men riders, it's the puncheurs who are my favourites, who get in the breakaways on mildly hilly stages and deny Pog/Vin plus the sprinters.
MVDP
JA (before his massive accident around '21)
Wout

 

[Dogtrousers]

Assuming retirement is no problem.

Men: Cav, Pinot, Wout
Women: Archibald, Jackson, Vos

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Women:
Laura Trott (now Kenny). Nothing in the world as exciting as a Trotty Devil.
Beryl Burton. Probably the greatest cyclist, male or female, ever.
Nicole Cooke. Top performer and great campaigner for clean and honest cycling.

Men:
Eddie Mercx. Just the best male cyclist ever (though waiting for Tadej to top out).
Charly Gaul. Individualist Luxemburger who rode through a foot of snow to win the Giro.
Brian Robinson. Pioneering Brit who rode on the continent in the 1950s and 60s and won a TdF stage by over 20 minutes.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Current riders only:

Women
Vos & Pauline Ferrand-Prévot double act (the bling they've won between them, over so many disciplines is mind blowing),
Puck Pieterse (she seems nice, handles a bike well and her CX preview vids are always fun)
Loads more. Can't I have a full team? Dideriksen (local), Emma Norsgaard (sound), Nienke Vinke (just for the name!), Pfeiffer Georgi, Cat Ferguson, Zoe Backstedt (young Brits)

Men
Mads P: animates every race and is incredible in interviews, sometimes when they're not even his own
Wout: capable of turning himself absolutely inside out for a GC rider and winning the race for them, but on his day a superb classicist
Vingegaard: not cold, just introvert - always gracious and hugely courageous
Loads more: Tao - local to where I grew up, Skjelmose - local to where I live now, Kron - one of the nicest guys in the peloton and a phenomenal racer when fit, Toms Skujiņš - who doesn't love the potato fan?

Sorry, never been good with numbers...

 

[Dorset Boy]

Current Men:
MvdP
Pogacar
Warmed to Mads P a lot over the last year, and like Remco too

Women
Kasia
PFP - what a palmares, and I have (briefly) ridden with her recently - she really is tiny
Huge respect for Mariana Vos too, again one of gthe GOATs in women's cycling
Probably then the upcoming Brits - Zoe Backstedt (having seen her race and destroy the boys at U14 & U16 level) and Cat Fergusson

 

[Dogtrousers]

Of course, reading this I keep thinking, oh yeah - I should have included him/her.

 

[Aravis]

Women:

1. Kata Blanka Vas.

There's no-one else really, but if pressed:

2. Nicole Cooke. Stuffing Vos at the Worlds was possibly the most beautiful thing I've seen in cycle racing.
3. Évita Muzic. Not delighted to see that her hero is Vos, but that's probably at least three-quarters of the peloton femmes.

Men:

1. Primož Roglič.
2. Winner Anacona.
3. Lauren Fignon.