Two stage wins plus a podium in Italy, and two podiums at the BinckBank Tour led up to the Vuelta, where he proved the top sprinter, winning two of the mere four sprint stages at the race. Hopefully the 23-year-old Colombian has recovered in time for the Tour. Previous. Bardet won it in 2019 and if he thinks his GC chances are evaporating he might be convinced to target it again. Favourites 2020 Tour de Pologne ***** Jakob Fuglsang, Remco Evenepoel **** Maximilian Schachmann, Esteban Chaves *** Diego Ulissi, Richard Carapaz, Ion Izagirre ** Wilco Kelderman, Rafal Majka, Simon Yates * Wout Poels, Tim Wellens, Ilnur Zakarin, Jonas Vingegaard Cyclingnews is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma): Remember stage 10 of last year’s Tour? Another podium finish would be a surprise this year, but the top 10 is a very plausible goal. Still, you can only beat who's put in front of you, and he'll be hoping to test himself at the Tour next year. In fact EF has three possible contenders in that regard. No comments. Expect more entertainment this year – he’s capable of great things on almost every stage. Like his compatriot Van Avermaet, Gilbert can win a small-bunch sprint, or win solo from a break in the mountains. Realistically, Pinot was probably lucky to finish second at the Dauphine, given Bernal and Roglic and others abandoned, which probably sums up his chances at the Tour. Both Démare and Ackermann racked up the wins against lesser fields with eight and five each, although Démare also took three wins when up against Bennett and Ewan. The Irishman is a full WorldTour stage win ahead of second place, with his 1,591 points built on the back of two wins at the Tour de France as well as one apiece at the Tour Down Under and Vuelta a España. Stage wins at the Tour Down Under and Paris-Nice, plus other top-fives bode well for a strong Tour de France performance. In true Ineos/Sky form, Bernal’s got a stellar team around him (even without Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas there). Even without Steven Kruijswijk there (also thanks to a Dauphine crash), Roglic has Tom Dumoulin, George Bennett, Sep Kuss and others to help in the mountains. Ranking the top 10 sprinters of 2019 Decades of History; Winners; Archive; Media. He’s likely to be up the road a bunch anyway, searching for stage wins, and if he decides he wants that jersey, he’ll be hard to stop. https://cycling.today/top-10-highest-paid-cyclists-in-the-world-right-now Pre-race favourite Primoz … Stage 17: An incredibly steep, narrow, and nasty finish on a bike track! Look to Adam Yates, Esteban Chaves, and Mikel Nieve to infiltrate breakaways on the mountain stages before setting off alone. Which storylines are you most interested in following at this year’s Tour de France? A return to the Tour de France after four years away was the highlight, but the Irishman was in the winning way from his debut for the Belgian team. Van Aert winning stage 1 of the Dauphine a few weeks back. Here’s my selection of the riders who have impressed most in the bunch sprints and racked up the Grand Tour stage wins. Upon the return to racing, he finished fourth at Milan-San Remo and then looked decidedly off top form at the Tour, where he took a third place among two fourths and two fifths. Expect that to change in the next three weeks. Bernal on his way to winning last year’s Tour. A une semaine de la course en ligne des Championnats du monde, Paris-Tours sera une répétition générale pour les sprinteurs. Like Ewan he has four wins for the year but unlike Ewan he hasn’t won a stage at the Tour before. The Frenchman was 12th at last year’s Tour — a top 10 is within his reach this year. Daryl Impey won a stage last year from the breakaway on a rolling stage and is one of the team’s best shots at glory this time around too. The Mitchelton-Scott team: The Aussie team has declared that it is chasing stage wins in this year’s Tour rather than GC. The Frenchman has bounced back from a rather quiet 2019, in which he took just four wins, to take 14 this season – the most of any season since 2014, and the most of any rider this year. Roglic winning stage 2 of the recent Dauphine. He’s had some promising results so far this year too: fifth at Paris-Nice, fourth at Route d’Occitanie, and then second at the Dauphine after being second best behind Roglic on the stage 2 summit finish. It's safe to say that Gaviria will be hoping for a much better 2021. And as usual at the Tour, there are quite a few of the world’s best sprinters in attendance. This week we're running a series reflecting on the 2020 Flat season so far and where we stand in each division – in part two Ben Linfoot tackles the sprinters. Bennett kicked off his 2020 campaign with victory on the opening stage of the Tour Down Under, going on to pick up two further podium places at the race before winning the inaugural Race Torquay days later. Not bad for a 20 year old. Sagan was runner-up in the points classification both there and at the Giro, where he took his best results of the year in the form of four second places (one in a non-sprint finish) and that solo win in Tortoreto. Who knows whether he will have recovered fully in time. Which is to take absolutely nothing away from Martinez — he was excellent at the Dauphine and there’s no reason he can’t push for a top 10 at the Tour. Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma)3. Please refresh the page and try again. Three further podium placings, plus fourth on the opening day in Nice, saw him wrest the green jersey from seven-time winner Peter Sagan. Expect the Aussie to add to his tally in 2020. Team joining: EF Education First Pro Cycling. After enjoying a hugely successful season in 2019, Bennett has managed to improve even more thanks to his move to Deceuninck-QuickStep. Strange. Stage 6: Mostly flat then a bunch of climbing in the last 50 km. He was brilliant at last year’s Giro and led the race early before drifting to third overall by race’s end. Just last week he won a stage of the Tour de Wallonie and was second in another, … For more context on how the top four took their wins, we looked at how many results they each managed to get when racing against other riders in the top four. He’s an incredible talent. Demare and his lead out train focused on the Giro d’Italia, where he won the points jersey as well as four stages along the way. In October he headed to the Vuelta a España to take his seventh and final win of 2020 in Ejea de los Caballeros. He's far from a spent force, then, but the 30-year-old might struggle to challenge the pure sprinters in future if 2020 is anything to go by. The Strade Bianche winner will likely be riding for Roglic and Dumoulin in the mountains like he did brilliantly at the Dauphine, but like on stage 1 of the Dauphine, he’ll almost certainly get his own chances as well. That’s quite a few opportunities for the fastmen. Finishes atop Mont Aigoual, made famous by Tim Krabbé’s seminal cycling novel, The Rider. You will receive a verification email shortly. Ewan was second last year thanks to his three stage wins, with Viviani after him. Sign up to the Cyclingnews Newsletter. Stage 13: Possibly the hardest stage of the race. Beyond those two, it’s probably a sprinter that’s got the best shot. He bookended the Tour de France with two second places in Nice and Paris, which along with a fifth place mid-race aided his vault up into our top 10. Post navigation . Every supporter makes CyclingTips better for all and keeps it free for everyone. With all that said, there are a few big favourites for the overall. It would be great for the race if Jumbo-Visma let Van Aert go for green. Kasper ASGREEN. Maybe Matteo Trentin is a chance? Visit our corporate site. Another rider who's more of an all-rounder than a pure sprinter, Van Aert showed off his talent on just about every terrain imaginable in 2020. © Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe): Unfortunately Buchmann was yet another casualty at the Dauphine, crashing out in the same incident that felled Kruijswijk. You’ve read [number_of_articles_read] articles in the past [number_of_days] days. The UAE Tour was the only occasion where the four met each other on the road, with Ewan and Ackermann taking a stage apiece. Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic): A few years back Quintana would have been among the outright favourites but nowadays it’s harder to see him taking the top step. To win, absolutely everything will have to go his way which, historically, hasn’t happened for Pinot. Elia Viviani (Deceuninck - Quick Step)2. Fun fact: Valverde has seven top-10s at the Tour, from nine finishes, and 19 Grand Tour top 10s in total. Who can beat him? He started the year as he ended it, in Spain, taking second places at two of the Challenge Mallorca races and a win at the Clásica de Almería, also taking a win at the UAE Tour before racing was shut down. He’s a pure sprinter though and will struggle with any climbs so the points competition is harder. Our tweaked points system from 2019 remains, with more weight given to Tour de France results over the other Grand Tours, while results from the WorldTour down to .1-level events are awarded points on a sliding scale. Stage 20: The race’s only time trial and the place where the Tour will be decided. Sam Bennett (BORA-Hansgrohe)4. He’s got the sprint and the climbing ability to challenge Sagan, assuming he commits early and gives it 100%. He’s even better in 2020. The 26-year-old was fastest to the finish on stages 5 and 7 in France, also finishing third in a very tight finish in Poitiers, site of the Sagan shoulder barge. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 725 points, 1 win. Mark Cavendish is seeking his first Six Day London win in October. New Spanish champion Luis Leon Sanchez, Alexey Lutsenko, Ion and Gorka Izagirre, Omar Fraile — these are all dangerous riders who can do great things. He took two more wins upon his return to racing at the Vuelta a Burgos and Tour du Limousin, as well as grabbing a few podiums at Tirreno-Adriatico and winning the Giro della Toscana. He kicked off his year with one on the final stage of the Vuelta a San Juan, plus two at Paris-Nice. Note that Landa was yet another rider to leave the Dauphine injured — back pain scuppered his chances of overall success and he ended up 18th. He can win in the mountains or on the more rolling days. Just last week he won a stage of the Tour de Wallonie and was second in another, and he has a total of four wins for the year. Bennett best as sprinters battle out Race Torquay. https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/ranking-the-top-10-sprinters-of-2019 There’s no doubt he’s an absolute prodigy — he was third at the Vuelta last year in his debut Grand Tour, winning three stages along the way. Sponsors ; Media partners; History. Note that like Carapaz for Ineos, Dumoulin is a Giro d’Italia winner and a Tour contender in his own right (he was second at the 2018 Tour don’t forget). Who knows what impact that will have. He had a disappointing Tour campaign, though, finishing third on stage 3 before leaving the race on stage 8 due to a knee injury. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) lead our table of top sprinters, which has seen a decisive shake-up compared to last year. Before we consider the top favourites for the race overall, a quick note about the lead-in to this year’s Tour. Stage 15: Finishes with the Grand Colombier (17.4 km at 7.1%). And you’re not alone. Sam Bennett tops our season ranking ahead of Arnaud Démare. BA1 1UA. 968. It would probably be a surprise for him not to win a stage of some description, given how impressive he’s been in 2020. Photo Gallery; Video gallery; Partners. With eight or so stages for the sprinters, one time trial, and half a dozen important GC days, that leaves plenty of chances for the stage hunters and the opportunists. In short, Ineos has a great shot at winning its eighth Tour in nine years. Viviani has a few second places for the year but he’ll hoping that everything falls together at the Tour. Wins at the Tour Down Under, UAE Tour, Tour de France and Scheldeprijs saw him take a 7-5 'win' against the Deceuninck-QuickStep man. And let’s not forget that Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz will be on the squad too. While any rider can lose time on any stage for any reason, some days are more conducive to changes in the GC than others. Israel Cycling Academy: 41: 342: 4: Paret-Peintre Valentin: AG2R Citroën U23 Team: 31: 421: 5: Bauce Davide: Gallina Ecotek Colosio: 22: 553: 6: Zambanini Edoardo: Zalf Euromobil Fior: 19: 632: 7: Michalička Štefan: Slovakia: 18: 649: 8: Hellemose Asbjørn: Velo Club Mendrisio: 16: 706: 9: Heinschke Leon: Development Team DSM: 13: 812: 10: Baroni Alessandro: Gallina Ecotek Colosio: 12.5: 819: 11: Puppio … A win at the Tour Down Under and second at the Race Torquay in Australia saw him gather points early on, while he triumphed again on stage 2 at Paris-Nice. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Stefan Bissegger. For more information about how to do this, and how we hold your data, please see our privacy policy. There was a problem. The young Belgian had a quietly consistent year, grabbing results throughout the calendar, despite a relatively low win tally. The Australian was a runaway winner last season with five Grand Tour stage wins and three further WorldTour wins on his resumé, but he's dropped slightly this season, despite no discernible drop in his ability. Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT): The newly minted Italian champion has had a great year. Cycling Groups; Starting List 2020; Gallery. He shared few race days with his fellow top four finishers (16 with Bennett, 11 with Ackermann and 6 with Ewan), and 11 of his wins came with none of the trio present. The Tour begins in Nice this Saturday August 29, takes a quick dip into the Alps, then runs west for a brief stint in the Pyrenees. GER. Davide Formolo (UAE-Team Emirates): The Italian took a stellar solo stage win at the Dauphine a few weeks back in what was confirmation of great form. Here’s are some of the riders you should watch out for in the fast finishes. In terms of total race days shared with at least one other rider in the top four, Bennett lies on 90, Ewan on 67, Ackermann on 46, and Démare on 33. He’s been one of the best sprinters in the world – exclude the BinckBank Tour and he’s won stages in every stage race he’s started for a two year spell between 2017 and his Katowice crash – and won’t be starting here just to dip a toe in the water. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ): If Roglic and Bernal are five-star favourites for overall victory, Pinot is somewhere around four stars. He’s shown some good signs this year: third at Ruta del Sol and second at Vuelta a Burgos, but nothing that makes him stand out as a contender to win the thing overall. So, like Ineos, Jumbo-Visma has a great chance of winning the Tour. Not super long or difficult, but should create the first meaningful time gaps. No hugely long climbs, but lots of climbing with an uphill finish. By Stephen Puddicombe 2020-08-08T19:54:57Z. 8. It was the best year yet of Van Aert's nascent road career, and there'll only be more to come – although with cobbles, Classics and time trials to focus on, he won't be a pure sprinter. The Slovakian did manage to rack up nine further podiums across the season, with eight of them coming at WorldTour level – the main source of his ranking points. Either way, expect to see Pogacar feature in some capacity. Well, it’s starting two months later than normal, and there’s a good argument to say it shouldn’t be happening at all, but here we are, just a few days out from the 2020 Tour de France. Navigate through the vast database of information on cyclists, their teams and countries, and the races they participated in. Say you aren’t able to watch every stage of the Tour, but you want to make sure you catch the most exciting ones. You can unsubscribe at any time. Top 5 Cycling Sprinters 2019 (New) Welcome to my RHB DEPORTES channel where all you will see is sport, mainly from the activity that I love cycling. Ackermann and Démare both met Ewan on just 11 race days each, while the German and Frenchman met just twice – in the UAE and at the European Championships. The first-ever Challenge of the Stars, on May 23rd and 24th, on the BKOOL virtual cycling environment will pit grand tour winners, world champions, climbers and sprinters … You’re one of the millions of people who have read CyclingTips this year and we want to make it even better for you. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was the fastest in the bunch dash at the end of a tough day for the peloton on the south coast of Victoria at Race Torquay. A second at Milano-Torino saw Démare best him on a rare meeting, while he grabbed a Tour de Wallonie stage win before heading to the Tour. Other candidates include the likes of Warren Barguil (winner in 2017) — a strong climber that is prepared to fight to be in the breakaway almost every day in the mountains. Much of the Astana lineup: Miguel Angel Lopez will focus on GC for the team, but the outfit also has a bunch of great opportunists for days where GC support isn’t needed. Notre top 10 des finisseurs de la saison. By national sport reporter David Mark. We've yet to see where he'll end up next year, but if he can sustain his 2020 form, he should be further up our next list. A top season for Bennett, then, and there's no reason not to think he can do more of the same in 2021. Alaphillipe won two stages and the KOM jersey at the 2018 Tour. A fit and in-form Quintana could well threaten the podium. For years he was talked about as a potential winner (or at least podium finisher). We’ve already given you a stage-by-stage breakdown of this year’s route; now it’s time to bring you up to speed on the contenders, other riders to watch, and how you can watch the race to begin with. That method changed little at the top, with Sam Bennett succeeding Caleb Ewan as the top sprinter of the season. A well-deserved third place on our ranking, but you can't help but feel it would've been good to see him fight with the best at the Tour de France. Racing a largely different calendar to the rest of the top four afterwards, he grabbed a few podiums at the Vuelta a Burgos before taking victories at Milano-Torino, the Tour de Wallonie (two stages and the overall), the Tour de Poitou-Charentes (three stages and the overall), and a stage of the Tour de Luxembourg. Conor Dunne, the 2018 Irish champion, rode his second Grand Tour in 2019, finishing his maiden Giro d’Italia in 135th place overall for the Israel Cycling Academy. CyclingRanking.com given an overview of the rich history of cycling between 1869 and 2021. Amid chatter of a decline, Sagan took just one win, albeit a spectacular (non-sprint) one. Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale): The Frenchman is a three-time stage winner and has finished second and third overall in the past. He won a stage solo, he won a time trial, he was second on the Col du Tourmalet ahead of most of the GC men — he was simply brilliant. He racked up podiums through the season, too, with two at the Tour Down Under, as well as one apiece at the Tour of Luxembourg, BinckBank Tour and Vuelta. Ewan after winning his first Tour de France stage last year. Nationality: Swiss. Nizzolo's biggest success, however, came at the European Championships road race in France, where he beat both Démare and Ackermann in Plouay. Not super long or difficult, but should create the first meaningful time gaps. Pinot winning on the Col du Tourmalet last year. He won Classics, was runner-up at the Worlds time trial, and was a mountain domestique at the Tour. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal): De Gendt is the premier breakaway rider in the peloton as exemplified by his masterful solo win at last year’s Tour. He’s certainly shown good form: he was sitting third at the Dauphine before he abandoned. Greg Van Avermaet (CCC): The Belgian is yet to take a win in 2020 but has been close a bunch of times. Changing teams usually means a period of adjustment for sprinters, and 2020 really hasn’t been conducive to that. It was a year of consistency rather than the spectacular for the Bora-Hansgrohe star. Stage 10: The possibility of strong crosswinds, including near the finish, mean you should probably tune in. It’s not hard to imagine the Frenchman repeating his third-place finish from 2014 though. But none of those races are the Tour de France. Van Avermaet spent eight days in yellow at the 2018 Tour after BMC won the stage 3 TTT. Good signs. Daniel Martinez (EF Pro Cycling): Martinez won the Dauphine but won’t win the Tour. Expect to see him in the top 10 and to be animating the race in the mountains. Who are among the best 400 meter sprinters in the Class of 2020? He hasn’t been at his brilliant best so far this year, but the top 10 isn’t beyond him. Démare also edged out Bennett thanks to wins at Milano-Torino and Wallonie. Deceuninck-QuickStep's Sam Bennett celebrates his Tour stage victory on the Champs-Élysées, Groupama-FDJ's Arnaud Démare celebrates four sprint wins at the Giro d'Italia, Pascal Ackermann pipped Sam Bennett to the line on the final stage of the 2020 Vuelta a España in Madrid, Caleb Ewan capped his season with a dominant Scheldeprijs win, There were no sprint wins for Peter Sagan in 2020, but he's still sixth in our ranking, Wout van Aert celebrates his second Tour stage win in Lavaur, Jasper Philipsen took his first Grand Tour stage win at the Vuelta, Fernando Gaviria's Vuelta a Burgos stage win was a high point in another tough year, Mads Pedersen won two sprints in 2020, including this one at the BinckBank Tour, Giacomo Nizzolo's European title was the highlight of his season, Procycling 12 digital issues for £12/$12/€12, Garmin Edge 1030 cycling computer with 40% off, 300-lumen rear Lezyne light for under £35.00, Blackburn Mag 5 turbo trainer | was £139.99, now £125.99 | 10% off, Over 60% off Specialized, Endura, Pearl Izumi and more, Tour Down Under (6), UAE Tour (5), Paris-Nice (3), Milan-San Remo (1), Tour de France (21), UAE Tour (5), Paris-Nice (3), Euros (1), Vuelta (18), UAE Tour (5), Burgos (5), Milan-San Remo (1), UAE Tour (5), Paris-Nice (4), Milan-San Remo (1). Martinez after winning the Dauphine a few weeks back. After a two-month delay due to COVID-19, the 2020 Tour de France starts on Saturday, August 28 in Nice with a tough road stage that will determine the … With this being a sprinters-only ranking, we've done our best to cut out results that weren't from large bunch sprints. Tadej Pogacar wins stage 20 of last year’s Vuelta. A proven winner on the big stage and a fast finisher, particularly in reduced bunch kicks where the pure sprinters have been dislodged by late climbs. Younger men such as John Degenkolb, Caleb Ewan, Marcel Kittel and Peter Sagan are kicking at his heels, but at age 31 Mark Cavendish remains in a class of his own among modern-day sprinters. Deceuninck - Quick Step. It's a bit of a shame that these men battled each other so rarely this year, but hopefully 2021 will see the calendar get back to some semblance of normality. He probably won’t have as much pressure this year. Philipsen's teammate Gaviria had a tougher time of it in 2020, with the Colombian enduring yet another season undermined by bad luck. In Australia, you can catch every stage on SBS TV and its associated online platforms. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana): Fifth at the Dauphine, third at the Volta ao Algarve: Lopez has been thereabouts this season, without truly excelling. As Dane Cash noted, one-week racing isn’t three-week racing and, besides, the Colombian certainly benefited from Bernal, Kruijswijk and Roglic abandoning the race. The German was fourth overall last year. However, the Hagens Berman Axeon alumnus won at the 2.1 Tour du Limousin as well as the BinckBank Tour and the Vuelta a España – his first Grand Tour stage victory. Despite winning Milan-San Remo, 'the sprinters' Classic' doesn't count here with Van Aert beating Julian Alaphilippe in a two-up dash. Like Bernal though, Roglic didn’t finish the Dauphine, thanks to a crash on stage 4. Stage 6: Mostly flat then a bunch of climbing in the last 50 km. That the fifth-placed rider on our list has one win in 2020 and not from a mass sprint, only illustrates the gap between the top four riders and the rest. Annemiek van Vleuten at the Giro Rosa 2020 (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images) No-one would argue with Annemiek van Vleuten being called the best climber of … The third week of a Grand Tour is always a bit of an unknown — who will cope best with the fatigue, who will fall by the wayside — but that’s doubly true in a year where riders haven’t had the volume or consistency of racing they normally would. Buchmann will start the Tour but his team has made it clear he’s not yet back at 100%. Stage 20: The race’s only time trial and the final chance to create time gaps. That’s followed by a long slog across the middle of France, highlighted by an uphill finish at Puy Mary. Accordingly they bring a strong team of opportunists. Cycling. Hopefully Roglic is fighting fit by the time the race starts. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar): Now 40 years old, Valverde finally seems to be slowing down a little. Still at the tender age of 22, it looks like the only way is up for Philipsen. One thing that may come as surprise is that Bennett actually lost the win match-ups against his three rivals, taking fewer wins than Ewan, Ackermann and Démare in the race days they each shared. Like Bernal, Roglic is excellent uphill, he’ll be very hard to beat in the time trial, plus he also has a strong kick which gives him an advantage at the end of long climbs, to snag those all-important time bonuses. Australian track cycling leading the sprint to change coaching of elite female athletes . The GC contenders tend to feature strongly, by virtue of being the best climbers, but normally its a breakaway specialist that ends up taking the polka dots. There's still a case to be made that Ewan is the top sprinter in the world having raced a full 20 days fewer than Bennett and also matched the Irishman at the Tour with two stage wins. And then it’s on to Paris. His best haul came in 2013, where he dominated with five wins, but it was his last appearance, leaving his Giro d'Italia tally on 15. He’s clearly more than capable of a stage win if his team can get him in the right position. Well, Wout van Aert probably can. Next. a member, stage-by-stage breakdown of this year’s route, without Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas there, his starting the Tour is still in question, Your guide to greatness in the 2021 CyclingTips Giro Fantasy Competition, Primoz Roglic has come to terms with his 'brutal defeat' at the Tour, 'I need to improve': Pogacar will work on time-trialling ahead of his Tour defence, Hirschi to UAE, Belgian CX champs: Daily News Digest, 2020 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards: The judges' shortlists, Landa eyes Giro and Tour, Cofidis will have a women's team in 2022: Daily News Digest. Now, following his maiden Classics win at Strade Bianche last week, he’s the winner of one of cycling’s five …

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