Bored tonight, thunder and lightning stopping me from going out on the bike, so went through National TT Championships and looked at Top 10 finishers from the bigger countries, as well as Top 5 finishers from smaller countries to see who could be added.
(28/05/1991) Pretty strong Time Trialist, as shown by his high placing at the French Nationals this year. Can climb too though, as shown by his 11th place overall at the Ronde de l'Isard and 6th at the Thuringen Rundfahrt, although he isn't brilliant.
(05/06/1989) Currently at Europcar, another rider who went well in the French National TT, finishing 10th. He also won the Tour de Normandie, although that seems more down to success on one stage which appears to have been won by a break, than being suited to the route.
(02/02/1989) Seems to be a Prologue and TT rider, but won a stage at the Tour de Normandie, again which appears to have been an attack rather than through strength, outsprinting young Brit Erick Rowsell.
(21/04/1992) Young Mexican riding in the USA, his country's national champion and seems to be a decent climber, as evidenced by a Top 10 finish on the first stage of the Tour of the Gila this year.
(08/04/1988) Austrian TT champion, and a rider who has shown that he can climb reasonably well in Continental races. Nothing special, but a good domestique at CT level, or perhaps a leader in CDiv2.
(20/01/1987) 4th at the Tour de San Luis in 2010, seems like a pretty good climber beating the likes of Mancebo and Rasmussen. Also Argentina's TT champion, although that may be down to the weakness of the field.
(03/12/1987) Namibian Road and TT champion, beating Dan Craven in both. Hasn't done a lot outside his own country, but beating Craven shows he is no slouch.
Matteo Trentin is currently a free agent in the db. I think he could use a heavy boost in his stats after showing great potential this season.
He was excellent in the cobbled classics, helping Boonen a long way into the races, and also sat in the Sagan group at the end of MSR, but crashed in the final corner. Otherwise he would've been Top 10 there. Also second on a stage in Volta ao Algarve, beating Haussler and Boasson Hagen in the sprint.
I'd give him a great stamina together with a decent sprint / acceleration and also high 60's-low 70's in hill. Definitely a guy to look out for in the future.
(25/05/1989) Young Hungarian national TT champion, can climb as well as he showed by finishing with the likes of Stefan Schumacher and Michael Rasmussen in the Mountain stages of the Tour de Serbie.
(27/09/1990) Runner up in the Tour de Beauce this year, he can climb and time trial, as well as showing some reasonable results in Belgian Continental Races such as Nokere Koerse.
(10/04/1980) Norwegian Time Trial champion is his most notable result, but he finished 12th at the Rogaland GP this year and 2nd in a stage of the Ronde de l'Oise which wasn't completely flat.
(23/10/1981) 3rd in the Spanish TT championships and 5th in the Vuelta a Asturias ahead of the likes of Txurruka and Moncoutie is the mark of a rider who isn't an amazing climber, but can work his way forward in stage races through his time trialing.
(22/06/1986) Another Spaniard, and similar to the one mentioned above. 7th in the National TT championships, and finished 2nd in the Tour of Romania, winning a mountain stage and being the only rider who could really stay with Matija Kvasina.
(29/07/1985) 9th in the Spanish TT Championships, and another rider who can climb and TT. No amazing results in races this year, but his level seems to be similar to that of Oscar Pujol Munoz, formerly of Cervelo as seen by results in the Tour of Azerbaijan.
His strongest way to win is in a breakaway, he likes to attack.
6th in GP Tartu infront off A.Blain, R.Taaramäe, R.Downing.
24th overall in Tour of Norway infront of f.ex T.Dekker.
Tour de Nomandie 12th overall after winning the opening TT stage.
A rider who trust in his sprint. His best result is 5th in Tallinn-Tartu GP where he was in the 9-man group who fight for the win and ha had R.Taaramäe and S.Schumacher behind him and Said Haddou won.
Together with M. Hoelgaard and Røinås he's the biggest junior talent from Norway. And this guy is kind of crazy. He has tested a VO2-max above 90, add he's tall and weighs about 72-75 kilograms, and you'll agree a VO2-max above 90 is crazy
He won the time trial for juniors in the Norwegian Championship, being 34 seconds faster than the silver medalist, and 56 seconds faster than Hoelgaard on a 30 kilometers long course. Time trial is as expected his big force, but he also climbs well on the longer climbs. He got 7th on the time trial in Trofeo Karlsberg, and 9th overall in Course de la Paix this year, thanks to a solid performance on the Queen stage, taking 4th on the stage. He's wanted by Joker Merida, they hope to sign him for 2013.
Sören Kragh Andersen - Denmark - 10/8/1994
A strong overall rider with a great time trial. He won the Queen stage in Course de la Paix, taking 2nd overall. He then went on to show his strength in time trials/prologues, winning a 2.9 kilometers long prologue in Tour Du Pays De Vaud with 7 seconds. Later in the same race, he got 2nd on the individual time trial. To underline his strength in general, he also got 2nd overall in Tour of Istria, after riding away with a fellow countryman on the final stage, giving him 2nd on the stage and in the overall standings. Because I'm Norwegian, I also has to mention that M. Hoelgaard was in this winning move, on his way to the overall win, but had a technical problem some kilometers away from the line, loosing the overall win on that
Niklas Eg - Denmark - 1994
Another strong Dane, with great power on the flats and hilly terrain. He was the rider breaking away with Kragh Andersen in Course de la Paix, taking the stage and overall win.
Mads Pedersen - Denmark - 1994
Another strong time trialist from Denmark, and just like the others, he's overall strong aswell. 10th in Paris - Roubaix for juniors, overall 5th in the mentioned Course de la Paix. He then won Trofeo Karlsberg overall, after winning the individual time trial.
Markus Fäglum - Karlsson - Sweden - 30/7/1994
To quote the link from mb2612: 17 year old Swedish talent who attends the cycling-college in Skara, where he studies to become an electrician. That's however, a BIG if because first and foremost his dream is to make it as a professional cyclist. He is well on his way! Double Swedish junior road and TT champion from 2011 as well as 4th in the junior World TT's in Copenhagen. His role-models are Philippe Gilbert and Johnny Hoogerland because of their aggressive riding styles, something the young Swede has incorporated in his own way of racing as well. 1.80cm and 70kg - Markus Faglum-Karlsson is an excellent time trailist; he does however, also have good pedigree for racing in the bunch. Opportunistic and determined there is no denying Faglum-Karlsson is a name to watch for the future.Edited by ember on 23-06-2012 22:50
Good in long climbs and hills, and with a decent kick in the finish (nothing spectacular though, he's no Valverde). He's not as strong as two seasons back, but he was 5th in the Tour of Slovenia at 22, so he could still be an useful rider for a CT team.
Matej Mohoric
19-10-1994
Stage racer
The guy has done well in the Course de la Paix, the Trofeo Karlsberg, the Regio Tour and the Tour of Istria, wityh strong performances in both hard stages and time trials, although he's not a TT specialist, he can limit his losses very well, specially in stage races (a bit like samuel Sánchez does, for instance). He's also done well in hilly one day races, but lacks the speed to win those. And he was top 15 in the Paris Roubaix juniors, not that he's gonna be a good cobbler, but shows he has power for the flats, so not a pure climber.
Martin Otonicar
08-05-1994
Classics/Allrounder
A guy for the classics no doubt. He's done well in several one day hilly races, such as the GP Dell'Arno or the Trofeo Dorigo Porte. He has also won mass sprints in U23 races (such as the GP Patton), and was 4th in the last Paris - Roubaix junior, and 14th in the junior Worlds. He seems like a cobbler who can sprint and, to a lesser extent, get over the hills. Similar to Tom Boonen thus, but obviously not as good.
Luka Pibernik
23-10-1993
Puncheur
Another guy for the hills. Not a future world beater, but showed he's decent by being the closest to the impressive Rybalkin at the queen stage of the Tour of Istria.
Already in the DB:
Klemen Å timulak
Puncheur
The guy could do with a stats/potential boost. He's crap in the DB at the moment, but he's a good talent for the hills, as shown by some of his U23 results, he's done a good Coupe des Nations Ville Saguenay this year, specially shining in the hills, and podiumed the Trofeo Piva Banca di Venezia. He kinda can TT a bit too.
Kristijan Durasek (Croatian)
Puncheur
Another guy who is crap in DB, but has shown decent form lately. He was 7th in the Giro dell'Apenino (arriving in the front group with Scarponi, Capecchi, Pozzovivo, Niemiec, etc), podiumed the GP Industria & Artigianato (beated by Pozzato and Taborre, but beating the likes of Pozzovivo and Betancur). He's also won other minor hilly races, plus he was the Croatian RR & TT champions last year (yes, Croatia, but he smashed Kvasina in the TT).
Edited by kumazan on 24-06-2012 18:14
Here is a rider from Chile just for something different:
Luis Miguel Mansilla Almonacid - DOB: 26/8/1986
A really strong all-rounder, he won 3 stages at the Vuelta Ciclista De Chile. 2 of those were hilly and 1 was a mass sprint where he outsprinted Maximiliano Richeze (who is really quick) and a few other Continental sprinterse. He came 2nd in the TT there and showed that he can do everything and he might have won the race if he hadn't lost 16 minutes on a mountain stage. He also raced the Tour de San Luis, where he finished 7th overall, which shows that he can actually climb the high stuff fairly well because he finished in the top 15 of every stage except one flat one, whether it was a sprint or a climb. He also came 8th in the TT there.
Second overall both in Ronde de l'Isard (behind Lecuisinier) and Giro della Valle d'Aosta (behind Aru) this year. Also completely annhilated the mountain time trial on the last stage, winning by 34 seconds over Aru. On this climb.
He showed potential already last year with a fourth place in Klasika Amorebieta, ahead of riders like Txurruka, Anton, Lastras, Atapuma and Intxausti.
Also note that Lutsenko, who I mentioned in this thread earlier, placed sixth on the Aosta MTT. Clearly not a bad climber either.
Overall, I think the results from the Aosta Giro are worth looking at.
Everyone likes people from crazy countries, so here are some from the rather obscure ones (sorry if they have been suggested so far):
Dominique Mayho - 29/11/1993 - Bermuda
Double champion of Bermuda! That's like... two championships at once! He smashed everyone in the TT and has won another national TT event this year... on Bermuda. He outsprinted the fieldd of 11 to take the win in the RR. He has won mountain bike races on the island as well.
Phetetso MONESE - 22/09/1984 - Lesotho
Doublt champion of Lesotho last year and RR champion the year before. Also 2010 Tour of Lesotho winner. He mostly rides Mountainbike, with MTN. I don't think there is a rider from Lesotho in the DB yet... so here is one.
Jimmy Ernesto LOPEZ - 11/08/1987 - El Salvador
Another country with no one in it. Double champion there again. I can't see anything else that he has done, but he probably isn't a terrible climber. Certainly never going pro though IRL, so maybe just basic domestique stats?
Joon Yong SEO - 14/03/1988 - South Korea
Won a stage at the Tour of Thailand and came second in another one. Also 2nd in a stage of the Tour of Langkawi from a break. Also 11th at Tour of Korea. Seems to not mind the hills and has a bit of a kick on him.
Edited by CountArach on 27-07-2012 15:30
A real all-rounder. Came 4th at the Tour of Korea this year, which is usually a race for sprinters. 2nd at the Tour de Hokkaido last year, including 3rd on a mountain stage ahead of Rubiano Chavez. He was also 9th in the ITT in that same race.
Josef Cerny - Czech Republic - 11/05/1993
He showed his talents in this year's Czech Tour, when he ended 6th overall in Mazovia Tour and ended 3rd in one of stages of Czech Tour, he was 66th in this year's U23 WC RR. He definetely is typical fighter as a cyclist, he signed a contract with CCC Polsat for the next season.
Jan Hirt - Czech Republic - 21/01/1991
Young Czech climber, who showed his climber skills for Leopard Trek where he rode 2nd part of the season as a stagiare. He was 30th overall in Tour de l'Ain, but he was 13th in the queen stage, when he beated some well-known names like Coppel, Le Mevel or Lutsenko and was in the same group with Talansky, Gadret or Rolland. He was 9th overall in Czech Tour and 5th in Tour of Slovakia as well.
Jiri Polnicky - Czech Republic - 16/12/1989
Bronze medalist from this year's Czech NC RR as he was right behind Milan Kadlec (who is sadly too old to be added) and Frantisek Rabon. Not only a road race rider, he is a cyclocrosser as well and he seriously is a Stybar or Boom type of a talent.
Michael Boros - Czech Republic - 09/08/1992
Young Czech time trialist, 9th in Czech NC RR and 3rd in prologue of Okolo Jiznich Cech.
Frantisek Padour - Czech Republic - 19/01/1988
The winner of this year's Czech Tour and a solid all-around rider who stepped up with his results in this season, almost made the national team for WC.
I presume Joe D is now in the game if he wasn't before?
Otherwise, I'm tired of seeing Rich Cleaver, Ben Curfs, whichever one Levi is (as I recall he and a couple of his friends are in game, I know Ryan Eastman is one of them) and some of the other PCM members in the game. Regardless of whether I get in, I want to be in as well. Potential up to whoever adds me. I don't really care if I'm a future world beater or a CT domestique.
So:
Sam Judson - USA - DOB: 14/7/1993
Strengths:
Mountain, Recovery, Stamina, Endurance, Fighter
Average:
TT, Hill, Acceleration
Below Average:
Downhill, Flat
Awful:
Sprint, Prologue, Cobblestone
Hopefully I didn't miss any, if I did it can probably be inferred from the rest of the list...
