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Which riders are you excited to see this season
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| Dusen |
Posted on 03-03-2015 09:06
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Hey guys.
I was just sitting around thinking about cycling and the riders i was either expecting something from, or just hoping the best for.
I hope you guys will join in with a few of the riders you hope to see something from or just have a good eye to 
A few of mine:
Bonifazio - 21 years of age and already 6 pro wins. This guy can become one of the new top tier riders in a few years. Looking forward to this youngster, as it seems he has the nose for winning. Somehow i don't think his win in SuisseGas Gran Premio Città di Lugano will stand alone for his 2015 campaign.
Sagan - After a bad season in 2014 (his standards) I look forward to seeing him for Tinkoff. Will he do better this season? So far he haven't been to convincing.
Rohan Dennis - After two decent years in 2013 and 2014 he may have had his breakthrough with his overall win in TDU and a few weeks later beating the new hour record. I think there are more GC wins for him this season.
Also maybe a little "off topic" 
Boonen/Cancellara "the duel" - They are both closing in on retirement. They both have an impressive record list on the cobbles (also off the cobbles). Who will be the strongest? Or will neither of them, and instead a new champion will rise for glory  ?
Edited by Dusen on 03-03-2015 09:07
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| Wilier |
Posted on 03-03-2015 14:11
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@Dusen
Agree with you on Bonifazio. Really excited to see what he can do this season. Hugely talented.
I especially am looking forward to the youngsters. Only exception is Vanmarcke, who I really hope can step up and get his Monument win.
Miguel Ángel López
Won tour de l'avenir with ease last year and joined Astana. His talent combined with Astana's 'guidance' he could storm the ranks of the current GT-contenders.
Sep Vanmarcke
Still waiting for his first Monument win. Already showed some very strong form early on and had a lot of bad luck last year.
Davide Formolo
Showed his talent last year. Hope he can step up this year and get a good GT result or something.
Caleb Ewan
Looking forward to see what he can do between the big sprinters. Hugely talented.
Tiesj Benoot
He could be the Belgian Valverde. Very exciting allround rider.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 03-03-2015 15:34
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Same as Wilier on Vanmarcke.
Dylan Groenewegen
Already had some good results in both Elites and u23 (in the latter even excellent). It'll be interesting to see what his focus will be this season in the PCT. Didn't ride too well at the Omloop and KBK, but I do think he can set some more performances.
Guillaume van Keirsbulck
Etixx is definitely not my favourite team, but I've always quite liked him. Won De Panne last year and hopefully he'll get a free role in some cobble classics this year, having been called the new Tom Boonen already a few years back.
Warren Barguil
Top-10 TDF? Hopefully he will
Thomas de Gendt
It would be very nice to see the Stelvio-De Gendt back once, and with LottoBelisol I think he should have chances to do so.
Danny van Poppel
Still very young, but who remembers him in the 2013 Tour? Hopefully he'll show himself in a GT this year, maybe picking up a stage win even.
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| roturn |
Posted on 03-03-2015 15:43
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Quite a lot of those are already mentioned like Vanmarcke, Formolo or Barguil. Definitely some of the most interesting.
Benoot is not really interesting as I am quite sure he will be a regular top10 rider already. 
But others, who I will follow are
Davide Villella and Moreno Moser
First already showed some potential, while 2nd was really good in 2013, but had a really anonymous 2014. With the team change I think both could have a nice season with Garmin. Definitely a great trio they are having there with Formolo.
And most interesting Kristian Sbaragli
Already last season I said, he is the better sprinter in comparison with Ciolek and he was having some nice results as some top10`s in the Vuelta for example. So far he is starting well into the season and I think it`s just a matter of time until his first win. I think he will be MTN`s best sprinter after the season. Goss, no idea what to expect. Farrar, good results here and there but missing something, Bos big questionmark, could do well but I don`t think so this season, Ciolek? No way, some good classics but no sprinter at all. Same with Boasson Hagen.
Also Niccola Ruffoni could make the next step. He was improving over the least 2-3 years and will be interesting to see him in the bigger races this year.
Fabio Felline had a great start to the season and it will be interesting to see if he can continue like this in the mid season when many riders are peaking.
Edited by roturn on 03-03-2015 15:53
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| Riis123 |
Posted on 03-03-2015 15:56
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Its kinda the usual suspects for me (look below ), but for the sake of not being boring I will throw some youngsters in:
Ruben Fernandez - just moved over this winter and has impressed the heck out of me so far. He got the potential to be Spain's next GT-rider.
Dayer Quintana - Quintanas littlebrother. Its not the case of 'my littlebrother is even better than I am' like the Schlecks, but this guy clearly has some talent.
Hoping he gets selected for the Vuelta this year.
Johan Chaves - had a good year and hoping he can build on that. Me may never be pure GT-material, but along with Arredondo, one heck of a talented climber.
Michael Valggren - Im as high on him as other danes. Insanely strong last year and will probably get the call for the Tour de France. In the future, he could win the ardennes, hopefully.
Meintjens and Kudus - both lightweighters and extremely talented, I hope both of them will get on the TdF-roster.
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 03-03-2015 16:02
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Ok for me, these riders are the riders i will watch this season.
Tony Martin
...for obvious reasons...
Tiesj Benoot/Louis Vervaeke
Those 2 riders are youngsters with a huge potential who could maybe get a win or 2 this season.
Chris Froome
Will he win a GT? Nobody knows...
Tom Boonen
Like you said, close before retirement. Can he beat Cancellara? I don't think so, but I hope so.
Peter Sagan
Has so much talent, but he needs to learn, that being too aggressive doesn't earn you wins.
Phillipe Gilbert
Only for AGR reasons.
Sep Vanmarcke/Niki Terpstra
I think they will battle out the big cobble classics...
Bora - Argon 18
I want to see, what they can do in their first season.
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| Kirchen_75 |
Posted on 03-03-2015 16:05
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Sep Vanmarcke - I really like Sep and I feel this year has to be his year. He's come close 2 times in Roubaix and de Ronde. This is the year I think he'll snatch one of those.
Sylvan Dillier - I'm excited to see how he progresses this year. I really like his aggresive riding style. Exciting prospect and racing style.
Michał Kwiatkowski - Just like Sep I think this is Kwiatek's year in ardennes and he bound to win one of Amstel/Fleche/LBL classics also will be interesting to see how he deals with rainbow jersey pressure on his shoulders, all the media and that stuff.
Bob Jungels - Still very young but well known for cycling fans. Hope he takes another step forward this year. Took 10th in GC in Andalucia which is a good sign.
There are many more I'm excited for this season but these 4 came to my mind right now 
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| Maddox |
Posted on 03-03-2015 16:09
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Magnus Cort
A good friend of mine due to my work as a journalist, and we went to the same school a couple of years ago.
Joao Gaspar
Due to my work as a journalist, I enter a lot of results, and my heart just belongs to him now.
A many other riders, but I don't have time to write them |
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| Omloop |
Posted on 03-03-2015 16:41
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Jurgen Van den Broeck
Always liked him and wish him a good season without injuries. I think he can perform great in the Giro/Vuelta this year.
Sylvain Chavanel
Simply because he's my favorite rider.
Jelle Vanendert
I've had a mancrush on him since Plateau De Beille. He rarely perfoms, but I think this could be a good year for him.
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Had his best year with Sky in 2012. Won Montreal and rode good in the Ardenne classics, but had a lot of bad luck. If Sky rides for him he'll perform in the punchy classics. |
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| Riis123 |
Posted on 03-03-2015 18:02
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Maddox wrote:
Magnus Cort
A good friend of mine due to my work as a journalist, and we went to the same school a couple of years ago.
Joao Gaspar
Due to my work as a journalist, I enter a lot of results, and my heart just belongs to him now.
A many other riders, but I don't have time to write them
I suppose you work for feltet.dk then? Would like to see some work on Cort this season, definetely one of the bigger talents on the scene atm. |
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| lluuiiggii |
Posted on 03-03-2015 21:00
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Maddox wrote:
Joao Gaspar
Due to my work as a journalist, I enter a lot of results, and my heart just belongs to him now.
Interesting to see someone mention Gaspar, specially considering he didn't get any impressive results in the european U23 races last year. In fact Caio Godoy, the other Brazilian who went with him ride in UCI's training team got consistently better results despite being 3 years younger. Though Joao was also rather unlucky, having to go through a surgery for appendicitis just before l'Avenir, missing that and the WC also. What results have you seen that got him noticed?
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 03-03-2015 21:10
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Kirchen_75 wrote:
Michał Kwiatkowski - Just like Sep I think this is Kwiatek's year in ardennes and he bound to win one of Amstel/Fleche/LBL classics also will be interesting to see how he deals with rainbow jersey pressure on his shoulders, all the media and that stuff.
I forgot to mention him...same here
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| Shonak |
Posted on 03-03-2015 23:39
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Tim Wellens
Did some impressive racing in Giro, Eneco Tour and Il Lombardia. This year he should even top it. At the Tour (I think I read he rides it) he'll be an intrigung wildcard. It'll be especially exciting to see if and in what he will specialize for the future.
Carlos Betancur
One of his kind, it's... I just wanna see if he turns it around at some point or if he wastes his talent more and more.
Purito
Last year has been largely disappointing, so I wonder if he can make a turn-around and still achieve big results or if he is declining and won't be coming back.
Patrick Konrad
Mostly for petty national bias, I'd like him to see him develop as a rider even more and become a real top contender in coming years. Tour of Oman was a very nice start.
Sep Vanmarcke
Another Vanmarckian here. He has to take a monument win this season. Eeny- meeny-moe.
Igor Anton
I'm just waiting for him to kick ass again.
Besides that, usual suspects are all welcome to watch such as the Top Tier Contenders (Contador d'uh), varius classic riders and anyone that is the cause of some exciting, entertaining racing.
Edited by Shonak on 03-03-2015 23:40
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| gargatouf |
Posted on 04-03-2015 16:03
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Being French, I'm going to concentrate on French riders:
Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet, Jean-Christophe Peraud:
Will be interesting to see how they cope with all 4 main GT contenders in this year's Tour. Obviously anything can happen like last year but it would be good if all 4 finish (without losing too much time in cobbles or keep falling over) to see how far (or close) they are from the best.
Warren Barguil:
Still young (23 I think, so younger than Bardet and Pinot) and already had very good results in GT's (2 stage wins in the Vuelta in 2013 and a very good 8th place in the GC last year). Also won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2012. Not sure of his schedule for the season but will be interesting to see him against the best in the big races. Also said in an interview at the start of the year that he wants to win LBL. Probably not for this year, but looking forward to see him race there and see how he does.
Tony Gallopin:
He had some very decent results last year, culminating in wearing the yellow jersey on Le Tour. He said in an interview last year that he thinks he can do something in one of the Ardennes Classics this year, so let's hope he can. He also finished a promising 6th in E3 last year so maybe also has a future on the cobbles??
Arnaud Demare:
I think Demare has a choice to make in the next couple of seasons as he might not be good enough to deal with the best sprinters but seem to be pretty good in the classics. He could reinvent himself as a Classics rider. Already a decent 10th place finish on Omloop this season, let's see if he can carry on after his 2nd place on Gent-Wevelgem last year.
Nacer Bouhanni:
I think he made the wrong choice going to Cofidis and won't have the results he wished he had. Seems to have a high opinion of himself so let's see if he can back it up by being the main man in the team.
Julian Alaphilippe:
Turned pro last year and had a couple of wins and also a couple of podiums. Only 22 with decent potential I think. Also comes from a Cyclo-cross background so would be good if he could make a comeback.
Pierre-Roger Latour:
A bit early as it's his first year as a pro but he finished a promising 6th in Le Tour de l'Avenir last year and has signed for AG2R. In a solid team where he can get some decent results in his first pro season. |
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| Riis123 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 21:54
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Yeah, it definetely seems like France has gotten a golden generation there. Im looking forward to see some of those as well.. |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 04-03-2015 21:59
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My interest in cycling have faded the last years(mostly because I dont have the Channel that broadcoast it in Sweden anymore) but this year it will be fun to see if Team Tre Berg will make any good result and maybe get my interest back on top! |
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