Datalearning 2023: Best GC-riders
Thursday 14 December 2023 • Stats
Het wielerseizoen van 2023 gaat de boeken in als het jaar van de unieke klassements-triple van Jumbo-Visma. Het Nederlandse team ging er met Roglič, Vingegaard en Kuss in alle drie de Grote Rondes met de eindzege vandoor. Wat heeft dat met de GC-scores van deze drie toppers gedaan? En hoe verhouden zij zich tot de rest van het peloton?
In this article, team CyclingOracle looks back on the 2023 cycling season, using our well-known (and improved!) AI-model. Which riders have improved most in their GC-skill? Who has not been able to live up to expectations? And which ten riders are the best GC-riders after 2023?
In this article we look at the GC-specialty. How did the riders improve their GC-skill? Also check out our other articles, in which we specifically highlight the riders from the following categories:
Curious about how our improved AI model works? In this article we will take you through our considerations and adjustments.
Most progres 2023 - GC-riders
The AI model calculates the quality value of the classification riders at the beginning and end of 2023. This way you can see which rider has risen the most last season.
The rider who has made the most progress as a GC-rider is Milan Vader. This is mainly because of his victory in the Tour of Guangxi, from which he earned many points.
The progress of the young talent Uijtdebroeks is perhaps more impressive, because he now scores 87 as a GC-rider. This year, Uijtdebroeks finished top-10 in all stage-races he participated in. His highlight was the Vuelta a Espana (8th), where he finished 7 seconds behind team-leader Vlasov (7th) after three weeks of racing.
Rubio may also be able to make the jump to a score of 90 in 2024. He is the type of rider who is often in a breakaway, takes a stage-win here and there in the mountains, and then secretly finishes high at the GC. The Colombian finished 11th and 16th in the Giro and the Vuelta of 2023.
Van Wilder's rise is due to his unexpected result in the Giro. He started the Giro d'Italia as Evenepoel's most important servant, but after the retirement of the Flemish leader he was able to pursue his own goals. This gave Van Wilder a nice 12th spot overall in GC. The young Belgian also won the Deutschland Tour.
Biggest decrease in 2023 - GC
Fuglsang lost most GC-points. The years in which he was racing for top-20 of a Grand Tour seem to be over. This year the Dane did not get further than eighth place in the Tour of Castile and Leon.
Pozzovivo also is past his prime as a GC-rider. The fact that Dr Pozzo did not appear at the start halfway through the Giro d'Italia while he was in a 21st place in the GC, of course does not help his GC score.
Another notable decliner is Daniel Felipe Martinez, who saw his score drop by 9 from 88 to 79. He had to drop out of the Tour de France, but with his 51st place in GC, the Colombian was not going to achieve a good result anyway. Martinez did win the Volta ao Algarve this year, where he finished ahead of Ganna and Van Wilder in the final GC. Can he fight for a podium-spot in the GC of a GrandTour in 2024? It will be a big challenge with Vlasov and Roglic in the team at BORA - hansgrohe.
Best GC-riders
Who else than Jonas Vingegaard can call himself the best GC-rider of the moment? Let's go down the list again. This year the Dane won O Gran Camiño, the Itzulia Basque Country and Critérium du Dauphiné. To top it all off, Vingegaard was the strongest in the Tour and finished with Jumbo teammates Kuss (1st) and Roglič (3rd) on the podium of the Vuelta GC.
| Beste GC-riders after 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Rider | Start 2023 | End 2023 | Change |
| 1 | Jonas Vingegaard | 93 | 98 | +5 |
| 2 | Primoz Roglic | 91 | 95 | +4 |
| 3 | Sepp Kuss | 73 | 93 | +20 |
| " | Tadej Pogacar | 94 | 93 | -1 |
| 5 | Adam Yates | 90 | 92 | +2 |
| " | Joao Almeida | 90 | 92 | +2 |
| 7 | Pello Bilbao | 90 | 91 | +1 |
| " | Mikel Landa | 90 | 91 | +1 |
| " | Simon Yates | 83 | 91 | +8 |
| " | Jai Hindley | 91 | 91 | 0 |
| " | Remco Evenepoel | 91 | 91 | 0 |
| 12 | Aleksandr Vlasov | 91 | 90 | -1 |
| " | Geraint Thomas | 90 | 90 | 0 |
| " | Carlos Rodriguez | 84 | 90 | +6 |
| " | Enric Mas | 91 | 90 | -1 |
| " | Thibaut Pinot | 82 | 90 | +8 |
| " | David Gaudu | 89 | 90 | +1 |
| " | Damiano Caruso | 85 | 90 | +5 |
| " | Juan Ayuso | 89 | 90 | +1 |
Other Grand Tour winners Roglič and Kuss are the men who follow in this ranking. Roglič has thus passed his compatriot Pogačar. He won in the run-up to his GC-win victory in the Giro also GC of Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta a Catalunya. Roglič was also unbeatable in the Vuelta a Burgos, and in the Vuelta he took third place representing the Jumbo-Bees. We are very curious about 2024, now that the Slovenian is driving for BORA.
Even without Kuss' great Vuelta victory, he would have already achieved a nice GC score. Because he is usually the domestique who supports the Jumbo leader as far up the mountain as possible, and then often gets a top-10 result himself. It resulted in a 14th and 12th place in the Giro and the Tour in 2023, plus some bonus points on 'GC' because his leader took the overall win.
Behind Pogačar, who is at the same level with Kuss, Adam Yates and Almeida are the best GC-riders. Also Adam's twin-brother Simon is getting close to the top after 2023. The Yates-brothers both won a Tour de France stage and finished 3rd and 4th in GC.
We will follow our favourite rider Carlos Rodriguez with special attention. Rodriguez still competes in the youth classification for a few more years, but we expect him to perform well in the GC as well. He already finished fifth in the Tour de France this year.
Contact
The countdown to 2024 has begun. The transfers and preparations are in full swing. Which GC-prospect will you pay special attention to in 2024? Let us know through a DM at Instagram. If you have any questions or suggestions: feel free to connect. You can send us an e-mail at [email protected].