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Climbers
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| Dan-J-92 |
Posted on 08-05-2011 00:58
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Why is it northern europe (Scandinavia, Uk) has no real world class climbers?? Its not as if we live on pan flat terrain. Is there any you can think of?? |
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| evilhumer |
Posted on 08-05-2011 01:07
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There has been great climbers from both Scandinavia and UK in the past. The best Scandinavians right now is propably guys like Chris Anker Sørensen,Jacob Fuglsang and Thomas Løfkvist. While UK has Bradley Wiggins. But previously there has been guys like Petterson,Riis,Rasmussen and Millar and im sure there will be guys as strong as these in the future.
Edited by evilhumer on 08-05-2011 01:07
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| Dan-J-92 |
Posted on 08-05-2011 01:37
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Im pretty new into cycling so dont really remember far back but i wouldnt say out of the Scandinvians and Brits right now are able to cope with the quality of the spanish and italian climbers. I just hope in the future we come up with some good talent. Is there any talents in mind which you could see doing well in the future? Peter Kennaugh only comes to mind but im british so i am less aware of scandinvian talent but am big fan or riders of that region.
Im hoping Sky will bring in more norwegian, swedish and finnish riders next season i Know there isnt many out there but to see more within team sky would be amazing. With GreenEdge likly to come in and take some aussie riders away do u think this is likely to happen?
Edited by Dan-J-92 on 08-05-2011 01:39
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| Christer |
Posted on 08-05-2011 02:09
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Frederik Wilmann is argueably the best Norwegian climber as of this date. He or Nordhaug.
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| E_Hagen |
Posted on 08-05-2011 08:32
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Personally, I would have to say that Nordhaug is very close to Lövkvist when he is in top form. |
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| issoisso |
Posted on 08-05-2011 09:38
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Although the terrain isn't dead flat, it's a lot flatter than in most countries.
This means that to show quality in youth races, you have to be good on the flat. If you're only good in the mountains, you're unlikely to be able to shine and you'll never get a pro contract.
Look at Gesink and Vandenbroeck. They're some of the world's best climbers, but as youths their results were in time trials, because there was no place in the Benelux for them to show climbing skills.
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| kissaha |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:07
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E_Hagen wrote:
Personally, I would have to say that Nordhaug is very close to Lövkvist when he is in top form.
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Posted on 24-11-2024 20:43
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:08
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E_Hagen wrote:
Personally, I would have to say that Nordhaug is very close to Lövkvist when he is in top form.
Come on. His best result this season is Top 10 on the mountain stage in Critérium International.
What a result! 
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:28
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Actually, I think Nordhaug's more like those French guys (Voeckler, Fédrigo) who have good climbing skills, and can be in the top-10 in one week races, but in GTs, they're more stage hunters. I could see Nordhaug fight for a win in a breakaway in a mountain stage at this Giro, but it depends in his shape. And which stage too.
Edited by FreitasPCM on 08-05-2011 10:28
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:30
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FreitasPCM wrote:
Actually, I think Nordhaug's more like those French guys (Voeckler, Fédrigo) who have good climbing skills, and can be in the top-10 in one week races, but in GTs, they're more stage hunters. I could see Nordhaug fight for a win in a breakaway in a mountain stage at this Giro, but it depends in his shape. And which stage too.
Montevergine. That's the only climb I can see him be the strongest on.
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| Heine |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:33
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I can see him do some good results in single stages, but for me his chanse of doing well in stages races depends on the top riders not showing up. For stage wins it's all about being in the right break, and you need a lot of luck in addition to skill for that.
He's a very good domestique though (imo).
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| ANFreeman |
Posted on 08-05-2011 11:21
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I think one of the reasons why Britain has so few climbers (I would say none, but I suppose we have to be fair to Wiggins, he can manage it when on form) is because of the British Cycling system. Their largest focus is on the track. Just look at the British domestic races; the majority of top riders in the British Road Race series are also the track riders.
This means there is very little focus on riders mountainous climbing ability, and those that can prove their climbing ability, it tends to be on short, sharp climbs, rather than mountainous climbs, like in Italy, or Spain.
Edited by ANFreeman on 08-05-2011 11:21
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| Dan-J-92 |
Posted on 08-05-2011 11:33
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Well surley with team sky saying they want to win the tour de france within the next few years i think they said, they have to change that. GTs are always won by the best climbers so surley sky and british cycling have to develop the climbing skills. Sky have no chance at the minute of evening coming close to a top 10. Wiggins seems to be fading and Løfkvist seems to of lost his time trial ability in order to focus on climbing. I think Skys next best hope is Peter Kennaugh but this wont be for many years get and by then who knows what will happen with team sky. I think maybe the best thing to do for now is become a points jersey team trying to win sprints.
Edited by Dan-J-92 on 08-05-2011 11:34
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 08-05-2011 14:21
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Dan-J-92 wrote:
Well surley with team sky saying they want to win the tour de france within the next few years i think they said, they have to change that. GTs are always won by the best climbers so surley sky and british cycling have to develop the climbing skills. Sky have no chance at the minute of evening coming close to a top 10. Wiggins seems to be fading and Løfkvist seems to of lost his time trial ability in order to focus on climbing. I think Skys next best hope is Peter Kennaugh but this wont be for many years get and by then who knows what will happen with team sky. I think maybe the best thing to do for now is become a points jersey team trying to win sprints.
You forgot Uran. He is tipped to be leader at Tour ahead of Wiggins as well. Uran is well capable and from his performances so far he is looking very good indeed.
Nordhaug is great domestique for sure. He is only 26 so he will certainly developed at Sky and me think in a year or two he will be there challenging Top 10 in GT's especially Vuelta would suit him.
Edited by Alakagom on 08-05-2011 14:21
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| SotD |
Posted on 08-05-2011 14:48
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Denmark has had some good climbers:
Bjarne Riis (Winner of the Tour de France)
Michael Rasmussen (Winner of the Polka Dot, and looked to win TdF)
Claus Michael Møller (Doper for years, doing well in Spain and Portugal
Bo Hamburger (Around 10th TdF at some point)
Jakob Fuglsang (Probably the best bet for a new top result)
Nicki Sørensen (Decent in hills/mountains, came in 20th TdF at some point)
Chris Anker Sørensen (Great pure climber, could be a winner of the Polka Dots some day)
Besides those we have had (and has) some quite good allrounders like:
Rolf Sørensen, Matti Breschel, Lars Bak, Brian Vandborg, Jakob Piil, Martin Pedersen, Michael Mørkøv, Lars Michaelsen, Frank Høj, Peter Meinert, Brian Holm, Rasmus Guldhammer, Mogens Frey, Michael Blaudzun, Kim Andersen, Ole Ritter mv.
EDIT:
You say that we don't live in a pancake flat area, but we actually do. We don't have any real mountains that can practise endurance going upwards, we don't have the hight to practise lower intake of air and so on. And another aspect is size. In the Northern Europe we are higher, and heavier when looking at the average guy. Why I don't know, could be because of the climate... The heavier the guy, the slower he should go uphill (On paper).
We do have several riders capable of going very fast up hills though, which is probably because we have an almost infinite amounts of hills,
Edited by SotD on 08-05-2011 14:51
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| chrica04 |
Posted on 09-05-2011 21:51
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I would say the Northern Hemisphere riders (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, etc) have not always been great climbers, because there is less to choose from. Most of those ancestors had to deal with cold/frigid winters, and so most are big boned, and larger (Thor, Viking, etc). So there is a smaller sample to choose from, when looking at the smaller Italians, Spanish, etc.
Just my two cents...hopefully someone agrees! |
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| Aquarius |
Posted on 09-05-2011 21:58
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That's a possibility. Another is that in every country, you need to show your potential among amateurs before getting a chance to turn pro.
By the way, this logic sometimes fail when, like in France, D.S. from the main pro teams couldn't name 3 of the 30 best amateurs from the season or the previous season...
So, to shine and get a chance to turn pro, you need to have the qualities for the domestic races, which are held in the country, and have to deal with its geography.
To give an example : a talented climber in a pancake-flat area would hardly be able to get good enough results among amateurs, so he'd never get to show his climbing skills, and would never reveal himself as the wonderful climber he could have been among the professionals. |
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 09-05-2011 22:06
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Whereas, someone like Thomas Faiers, who left the UK, went and lived in Spain, got given a pro contract based on who he knew, and the fact that he could supposedly climb. Not that any of us saw that happen.
The key, I'd believe, to be good at climbing, would be to go and live near and around climbs. And then practice climbing again and again and again, and even then, unless your physiology happens to be pointing in the right direction, you might never make it big on the climbs.
And as to the Team Sky winning the Tour, well, Uran wouldn't do it for them. The aim is to get a British winner (within 5 years) to win the Tour. So, cancel out this year, Kennaughs got another 3 years to go.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 09-05-2011 22:11
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rjc_43 wrote:
Whereas, someone like Thomas Faiers, who left the UK, went and lived in Spain, got given a pro contract based on who he knew, and the fact that he could supposedly climb. Not that any of us saw that happen.
Not bitter are we?
Yeah, could never understand that - he had the word of Grahm Baxter training camps (or something like that) and a couple of promising results in a couple of spanish amateur races. Not normally enough to warrant a pro contract.
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| rjc_43 |
Posted on 09-05-2011 22:22
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He had the backing of Valverde, whom he could apparantly follow up the climbs. Not bitter, just feel that if he was so good, why'd he move to the USA, and not go back to being amateur in Spain, or somewhere with climbs [that matter, unlike in the US, where the majority of coverage is on flat crits].
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