Next major tour winners

Here are a list of a few potential 'future' tour winners...

Ivan Basso
Iban Mayo
Hamar Zubeldia
Juan Miguel Mercado
Tom Danielson
Damiano Cunego

These guys are all pretty young...so perhaps we could see one of these guys win 3-5 tours. These are definitely my favorites of all the young guns out there. Also..I expect someone that we have never heard of to come out of no where...like Zubeldia did last year at the tour..and Cunego did this year at the Giro.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by oneradtec
Here are a list of a few potential 'future' tour winners...

Ivan Basso
Iban Mayo
Hamar Zubeldia
Juan Miguel Mercado
Tom Danielson
Damiano Cunego

These guys are all pretty young...so perhaps we could see one of these guys win 3-5 tours. These are definitely my favorites of all the young guns out there. Also..I expect someone that we have never heard of to come out of no where...like Zubeldia did last year at the tour..and Cunego did this year at the Giro.

I'd take out Danielson...doesn't seem to be adapting to European life. All the others are spot on.
Mercado did a brilliant ride on the Ventoux yesterday.

after reading the giro reports daily cunego reminds me of a young Ullrich. Denying that there was ever any plan to do anything but work for his leader then coming out and wining like Ullrich did in his 2nd yr after supposedly working for Riis for a few days. He is my tip. Damiano. Also dont count out Ullrich. I think if Armstrong wins this yr, Ullrich will come out and win another couple of tours (thats if Jan doesnt win it himself this yr). Does anybody count Cadel Evans as being a chance? Im not sure of his age, but he is a gun. Can TT and climb with the best!

[.

Hamilton, Beloki: how old are these two? If they're 25-28, maybe the can win a few tours themselves.... otherwise, no more than 1-2.

Any other? [/B][/QUOTE]

I believe Hamilton is 33, so probably a couple more good years or should I say great years. His worst would be far better than the average riders best.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ItalianStallion
[B]Hi guys, I was just thinking about who could be the next multiple grand tours winner.
So who is the next 5-timer? Or at least the next rider who can win more than 1 grand tour.
First name that springs to mind is Cunego. The guy is only 22, goes well in the mountains, but is a bit slow in the TT. He surely can win Giros and Vueltas, but Tours?

Cunego does appear to be very talented.
He had a superb Giro - he can climb and he is a rouleur.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ItalianStallion
Second on the list is Basso: if he does well at this year's Tour, he maybe favourite to take the 2005 crown. Riis is a phenomenal coach, maybe that'll sort him out!!

To me Basso is certainly going to be a contender - year on year he has progressed.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by ItalianStallion
Popovych: to be honest I expected a lot from him at the Giro, but he didn't quite deliver. Still good for the future, if he improves in the mountains.


Another good cyclist who is coming along well is the young french rider Sylvian Chavanel : he was beaten in to second place by LA on the Luz stage in the 2003 TDF.
This guy is a good rider.
He finished well on GC in the 03 TDF.

I notice that a lot of people seem to think Cunego will have trouble with TTs. While this may be the case, we should also remember that, with the exception of maybe Indurain and especially Armstrong (ok, I forgot Ullrich), there are few guys who can spank people in a TT and then really challenge the climbers in the real mountains.

Maybe, once Armstrong retires, we will see more people like Cunego or Mayo (or Basso?) having a fighting chance at the GC win while only defending themselves in the time trials.

What do you think?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Powerful Pete
I notice that a lot of people seem to think Cunego will have trouble with TTs. While this may be the case, we should also remember that, with the exception of maybe Indurain and especially Armstrong (ok, I forgot Ullrich), there are few guys who can spank people in a TT and then really challenge the climbers in the real mountains.

Maybe, once Armstrong retires, we will see more people like Cunego or Mayo (or Basso?) having a fighting chance at the GC win while only defending themselves in the time trials.

What do you think?

With the exception of Pantani, the last 15-20 Tours have been won by time triallists over mountain climbers. That however is not the case for the Giro and the Vuelta, dominated in the last few years (7-8) by climbers.

The winner, in my opinion, depends on whether the organizer wish to give more relevance to the mountains or to the best all-rounder, or the time trialliast. The vuelta organizers have decided to give more emphasis on the mountains, whereas at the tour you always have 2-3 time trials, one of which is the team's. A good balance IMHO was this year's Giro. A long TT, where people could lose up to 4 minutes easily, plus 3 big mountain stages. Had you put one more TT, Gonchar would have won. One more Mountain stage, and the top 3 would have been all climbers. The Tour of the last few years just didn't have that.

Having said that, in the last 5 years the best TTrialist was also the best climber!!!

We'll see, either way, cycling is still going to be as exciting as it always has been!!

Let's not forget about Valverde -- he's wallowing away on Kelme this year, but doing well nevertheless, he'll be a top contender soon.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by 39-25-(36)
Let's not forget about Valverde -- he's wallowing away on Kelme this year, but doing well nevertheless, he'll be a top contender soon.

good point

39-25-36 also sounds very interesting !

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by limerickman
good point

39-25-36 also sounds very interesting !

The first two numbers might be sprockets, or maybe not🙄

Cadel Evans is doing great at the moment. I think he's capable of winning a Tour or two - needs to have the opportunity to be a team leader. (and what a great guy he is). He will be great support for ullrich this year. Two other riders no one has mentioned yet: Oscar Sevilla. A possible 1 time Tour winner. Also, who knows what Bobby Julich is capable of in CSC. Maybe not a Tour victory, but definitely capable of the podium.

Cunego at 22 is a shocking talent. He can sprint and climb and recover. TT at his level is all about sustainable power -- and at 22 he's 6 years away from his peak at that. I think he could win MULTIPLE TDF's. He could have won that Giro by a lot more if he'd wanted to. Scary stuff this kid.

and a natural haematocrit of 53%....giddyup.

What has most impressed me, beyond his cycling abilities, was his ability to stay calm in what seemed to be a rather difficult situation with Simoni on the same team, attacking him on a major mountain stage.

I believe that, notwithstanding the so-so competition he faced in the Giro this year, that he could become a major contender for the Tour and the Vuelta.