Who Were The Best Sprinters and Classics Riders? | LRCP Awards 2024 | Lanterne Rouge x JOIN Cycling

[@sirrex-ug3ug]

Biggest sprint surprise this year, Vingegaard became the first ever rider to defeat the Slovenian in a two-rider sprint.

[@rossbroomfield5199]

MVDP did at Flanders 2 years ago…

[@schmizi9786]

​@@rossbroomfield5199that wasn't a 2 rider sprint though was between 4 riders in the end

[@rossbroomfield5199]

@@schmizi9786 It was a two man sprint that 2 more joined part way through. Pog got dropped off the wheel about 2 seconds before van barle and madouas pulled along side because they were coming with speed.

[@123sjonny]

Depends on how you formulate it. If it's a two-rider sprint for 1st place, you're right (if we exclude the Majka win where the were arm in arm when they crossed the finishline) otherwise it'd be Luka Pibernik during NC 2019.

[@rossbroomfield5199]

@ also I think Politt beat him in a not so serious sprint for 50th place or something in a stage race this year - ember seeing something on his instagram.

[@Thaddeus_Howe]

Toms Skujins is a stone-cold killer, not top 5 but definitely one of the most underrated riders of the last couple years.

[@Steve-Riverwood]

He's a very good domestique for Mads Pedersen! But he is a domestique!

[@kraknoix0075]

He can't be a stone cold killer if he doesn't win anything

[@igorpiasecki7909]

A puncheur is a sprinter so versatile that he makes regular versatile sprinters look like just sprinters

[@ShawnIsBatman]

My favorite sprinting highlight of the year is Bini taking the Green Jersey at the TdF. I don't believe you can say that Bini was the best sprinter of the year in any way, however, his breakthrough for Green was incredible!! Luke Lamperti for continued development in 2025 and a potential for a few bigger breakout wins. It is hard for me to lump all of the "Classics" together to come up with one best rider. The early Spring classics (Roubaix, RvV, etc.) are much different races than the hill classics and the late year races. It seems to be that there should be two different categories of classics riders for an award.

[@zinjx]

Sprint lead-out of the year, Mads Pedersen, 1000 meter for Jonathan Milan in Deutschland Tour stage 3.

[@Nick-rz6vq]

my man completely forgetting what Hirschi had done, not the biggest races but still 2nd in amstel, 2 world tour one day wins, 3 .pro‘s and a solid 6th at worlds, which makes him 3rd best one day racer behind pogi and mvdp in the uci rankings

[@gdhwkjbcak]

Not only Hirshi, they also forgot about the UAE team in general besides Pogi: Politt and Wellens were actually superstrong at the northern classics this year - in terms of pure performance, they were only behind MVDP IMO. Also, Jan Christen is going to be a sure bet for the 2025 top-5 one day (hilly) races.

[@charlierennie9192]

⁠@@gdhwkjbcakpolitt and wellens were strong yes but they’re not close to top 5 classic riders this year. They didn’t win anything.

[@Lion-wd1px]

vdp did not only neutralite pogi at MSR, he also closed like 2 other attacks down and two attacks from Pogi, to me he could have won it if he was selfish

[@MrMattie725]

If we're talking versatile sprinters, I'm hoping for a 2021 (2022?) WVA revival :D

[@GSCustomCards]

Remco did no classics in spring because the crash in Basque Country so you can not really blame him for no results

[@oxey_]

You can't blame van Aert either but if you're not there you can't prove you're the best

[@MDP1702]

@@oxey_ But you can still look at his other one day results with that context: 1,1,5,2 (last 3 being monument level)

[@pmckeown38]

This is great

[@Thaddeus_Howe]

I hope Visma gives up on WvA as a sprinter at the Tour and instead brings him to lead out Kooij and hunt for stage wins on the puncheur and breakaway stages. Laporte-WvA-Kooij might be the best GT sprint train in the peloton right now.

[@devoarco]

no way they bring laporte and kooij to the tdf while UAE has a pure pogi team. They need as much domestics for jonas as possible.

[@romanzbazin]

@@devoarco wwa is not in tdf for the sprint stages, hes sprinting because he is the only one from the jonas domestics who has a chance for a good result

[@devoarco]

@@romanzbazin never questioned that, only saying it's unlikely they bring laporte AND kooij to the tour. If WVA is fit he will of course go on the team

[@romanzbazin]

@@devoarco yeah i know im just cointinuing your comment

[@adrianbuck8772]

​@@devoarcoLaporte should be in the Tour de France Team regardless. They need guys for hilly and flat terrain and break away formation phase and he is really good at it. Kooji is an debatable but Laporte (and Van Art if hes willing to work) are too good to leave out of the Team.

[@jawel10564]

Theuns-Stuyven-Consonni-Pedersen-Milan could be a great lead-out in the Tour 2025. And Nys can go to the Giro after the Arden Classics then.

[@florianfeldwisch1750]

Hirschi Top 5 Classics, with his 50 wins :D...

[@florianfeldwisch1750]

Magnier, talking about the Top 5 Sprinters, breaking in. Therise is often so fast.

[@adrianbuck8772]

Magnier is really really good already and considering his age could turn into an elite bunch sprinter soon.

[@BenjiNaesenTV]

Good call on Magnier.

[@Thaddeus_Howe]

Surprised at the almost complete lack of De Lie in any of this discussion. Sure, he didn't have quite a good a season as 2023, but he could totally be the next green jersey perennial favorite if he can develop further. He's like a Sagan-Philipsen hybrid.

[@arcticchrisx7724]

De Lie looked really strong in the Tour but results just didn’t go his way.

[@adrianbuck8772]

I think his positioning isnt close to Sagan or Philipsen which hurt him against taffer competition. What do you think?

[@arcticchrisx7724]

@ tough comparison for anyone as Sagan was almost godlike in terms of surfing the peloton and finding the gaps at the right time.

[@adrianbuck8772]

@@arcticchrisx7724 Sagan was the best in terms of positioning himself I can think of. So its unfair to compare anybody to him. But I dont think De Lie has been in good position in many of his Sprints (especially against higher competition) which is an combination of his Team and his own ability.

[@MDP1702]

Yes, Remco didn't ride spring classics due to his basque crash, but he still got 1, 1, 5, 2 in the one days he did ride, the last 3 being monument level and nearly on his own in 3 of those 4 races, so you could put him above Philipsen imo. Is there a separate classification for puncheurs (Alaphilippe, Nys, Williams, Hirschi, Pogacar and Roglic obviously too, ...)?

[@xtrachrisb488]

Third - i swept the podium

[@Lion-wd1px]

think vdp has RVV in his pocket 2025, you forget that he will also improve and that he looked monster in worlds. Third, 6-12 months ago everyone would have said that MVDP can not even podium or top 5 worlds because of the elevation gain (come on MVDP😂🎉). +if WVA is at RVV he will panic and close Pogi or work with VDP together to close Pogi if he escapes early

[@pedrodiogo4807]

Wishful thinking. Pogacar has already beaten MVDP in RVV 2023 and he improved more than him this season, so MVDP will have a hard time beating Pogacar again there.

[@Queen-be6md]

@@pedrodiogo4807 Tadej did beat him however not by a large margin, MVDP still came close. On the other hand his improvement on mountains doesn't necessarily translate to doing classics, Tadej would need to gain more weight, furthermore do not forget Tadej was still beaten sometimes this season (Giro de Italia against Narvaez, Tdf early stages..). 1 of the Canada WT classics. Anyway judging MDVP's feats this year it is doubtful Tadej would have beaten him.

[@franciscomolina5389]

The disrespect to MVDP is crazy.

[@arnaudvanderlinden4459]

Exactly, patrick is talking as if MVDP lost minutes to Pogacar in rvv 2023, but he only lost with 16 to 20 seconds

[@super8hell]

Marc Hirschi second best one day racer.

[@brandonvillegas9249]

Yes but not for the world tour. Completely different beast.

[@jawel10564]

Wout-Mathieu-Matthews-De Lie can also be included in sprinters, although they are no pure sprinters of course.

[@tadao7195]

Watch out for Gudmestad next year, he may be AG2R main sprinter next year. Just keep an eye on him, and come back to this…

[@yoshlin1179]

Hi guys the thumbnail has a spelling mistake “spinters”

[@kasperhansen6548]

Benji: So winning Gent-Wevelgem + 3rd in Roubaix and 4th in Sanremo is not good enough for top 5 classics rider...? Interesting.

[@angusgrant6903]

Watch out for RB-Bora Pithie to step up into that classics top 5

[@nssomething8370]

Wiebes is absolutely going to be top 8.

[@labelos]

For next year's women's classics, how are you guys rating Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's chances?

[@chyall6752]

I think when you look at her you should take Puck as a comparison. They competed against each other in MTB for 2 seasons now and they both are star in multiple disciplines. I would dare to say that they both are top 3 best climber in mtb, giving the edge to pauline when she is in her peak. I would dare to say that they both prefer Ardennes over flemish classics but skilled enough to compete in both. On the other and Pauline is more of an event peak rider like mvdp while puck is more of a pogi, strong the whole season. My conclusion would be that PFP can be competitive in the classics as long as she doesn't all in for TDFF. Also she doesn't like the cold and the rain

[@trademark4537]

No love for Fabio Jakobsen? He definitely had the best season for a sprinter this year!

[@jfreck]

"i'm sorry but" 🤣🤣🤣 i'm honestly not sure if Benji is actually sorry anymore

[@chrisridesbicycles]

The most valuable thing Pogi ever did for his critics standing was RVV - change my mind.

[@borisvandepoel2703]

Van Aert shouldve won Roubaix this year imo, 2025 is going to be exciting

[@jawel10564]

Puncheur or not… let’s talk about Wout, that’s the most easy classification : allrounder ;)

[@willemcollier7909]

For such an analytical person, Patrick has a strange way of de-analyzing everything involving MVDP and Pogi. There was a lot more that happened before the final two climbs in RVV in 2023 that set up MVDP for failure, and Pogi for success. Patrick's entire perception of how RVV 2025 will go is as if those climbs happen in a vacuum. Patrick seems visibly either burnt out or defeated by Pogi, which is understandable but the lack of actually thinking about races in a more complete sense on the podcast is really taking away from its historical appeal. I guess we still have Benji for that, but without Patrick caring about the podcast its not very interesting at the moment.

[@Lion-wd1px]

+MVDP will improve 2025 too if not injured +if WVA is there he can use him to either work with him or use him to close down Pogi +his chain dropped 2023, making him lose 5-10 seconds easily, arguably the power he needed to follow Pogi in the end +MVDP has more race IQ, pogi will just attack 4 times and maybe even tell you where +mvdp improved a lot from 2023, 6-12 months ago no one would have believed he can podium worlds with 4,5k meters of elevation gain (yes I am a MVDP fanboy)

[@elonif4125]

I have to disagree. I think Patrick's analysis of "Whenever there's any hills in a race, Pogi will cook everyone" is currently the most accurate one

[@willemcollier7909]

@@elonif4125 This doesn't apply to RVV. van der poel can hang with Pogi there. Patrick is using a very strange worlds, where van der poel stated in interview that he didn't chase because he thought it was dumb, as a basis for concluding that van der poel can't beat Pogi at RVV. That's a silly take.

[@elonif4125]

@@willemcollier7909I just rewatched the post race of MVDP and he stated very clearly there that Pogacar was stronger and that he himself probably did his best performance in RVV and was still unable to beat Pogi. Maybe he changed his opinion in another interview?

[@rulifaller8474]

MVDP could have benefited from a different Pogi race schedule. At the Olympics he would have had a better chance WITH Pogi as an ally, and at the World Champs he would have had a real chance WIThOUT Pogi.

[@amandaadams2010]

Really feeling the loss of GCN especially for the women's races 😢

[@lordofthemound3890]

Hot take: Pogi will be even BETTER next year.

[@chrisrouisse1690]

Not a sprint result but Milan's gold medal in the individual pursuit should have been mentioned.

[@Al_Gepe]

They did mention the world record isn't that enough? 🤷‍♂️

[@chrisrouisse1690]

Gravel World Champs counts for 3 monuments, I will hear nothing else

[@whatsuphonkycat]

just put the women's stuff at the end lol

[@xtrachrisb488]

Second!

[@xtrachrisb488]

First!

[@paminafernandezcamacho920]

Bling erasure in classics awards 😅