ninjaman

^^Maybe, but if you were to pick the current racers with the best tactical sense, who understand exactly what to do and exactly when to do it, Rebellin would be at the top. (don't worry Lance-lovers, he would be up there too.). While Rebellin is unquestionably in fantastic shape and trains as hard as anyone, but the real reason he's still one of the most dangerous riders in the peloton is his racing brain.

botto 

the same can be said about horner, sastre, erik dekker (when he was still racing) and a slew of other wily vets.

fly:yes/land:no

Roman Kreuziger?

Vladimir Karpets?

Luis Leon Sanchez?

Matti Breschel?

classic1

That is just plain evil botto. Has Belgium actually gotten over all that yet?

classic1

Sanchez I'd tend to agree. Karpets keeps failing when it counts. The other two are still young.

erader

horner rode with Française des Jeux in his mid-20s (97-99).

ed rader

vinofan

I'll say everyone, except Lance and Levi during February.

botto 

isn't it?

erader

i see guys like rodgers and menchov as under-performers .

ed rader

ninjaman

+1, but Breschel and Kreuziger will certainly give us a lot to look at in the next few years. Karpets hasn't seemed to capitalize on opportunities when they've been there in a race, perhaps if he were ever able to ride for himself? I will always remember Sanchez's incredible descent on the last stage of last year's Paris-Nice, I was checking that they didn't have the wrong Sanchez onscreen. Classic! I keep forgetting he's only 24. Maybe we should start another sister thread about who we expect huge things from in the next 5 years?

classic1

Menchov has won the Vuelta, so I'd probably disagree on the old evil looking diesel powered ex-KGB siberian salt camp inmate looking Russkie.

Rogers I can see where you are coming from, but he has had major injuries and illness the last 1-2 years.

YMCA

twice

jfmckenna

Underrated pro's? Aren't they called Domestiques? I think some of the hard men of cycling like Ekimov and Andre Tchmil should get more attention if for anything racing there bikes for 25 years.

CrimsonKarter21

Janez Brajkovic
Geert Steegmans

ninjaman

Julian Dean

bloke

Linus Gerdemann. He won a stage and wore the yellow jersey in the 2007 TdF. You might remember that he missed most of last season, after he crashed in the stage 5 TT of Tirreno-Adriatico (still finishing 8th on his spare bike). After he returned he won three races straight away, including the Deutschland Tour. I think he is the most talented of the present riders, but gets much less attention than most.

YMCA

They got paid.

carpediemracing 

I think guys like Horner are not necessarily underrated. I think he and others were overrated and never got rid of that label. If you think of Horner as a domestique, good for 2 climbs in a 5 climb stage, then he meets expectations. If you expect him to be pulling on the 5th climb of the stage, well, he doesn't do that too much. I think he's strong, but he doesn't have the magical touch to be more than a really good domestique.

I think you have to do the Vaughters thing. He and Guimard seem to be able to find guys with talent. Guimard, okay, his track record is pretty spectacular (Van Impe, Hinault, Fignon, Lemond), but Vaughters is very interesting. He's the one that got Vande Velde to almost podium in the Tour. Who heard of Cozza before his day long break at MSR last year? He's had a few duds too, but those duds were guys that I thought were good too (notably Danielson). I figure Vaughters must have a lot of underrated pros on that team (and a few that are really good).

I think Dominique Rollins will be a huge hit in the future. His old team (that missed ToCA one year, and that was the last year the team existed) thought he was a star of the future. His stage win the following year was incredible. I think in a couple years we'll be reading a lot about him. He seems like the Cancellara type, fast, powerful, tough. I see him doing well in the spring classics for sure.

Having said all that, I have to say that no matter what I say about Horner, he is freakin fast. He blew by me and a friend on the road one day. Horner was chatting to a BMC rider, and they were hauling. I ramped it up to about 25-28 mph to see if that would do the trick but that was about their speed, going up a short climb, into a stiff cross headwind. And he was chatting away, gesturing, and not showing any effort.

cdr

Dubbayoo

Flecha

grolby

I don't think Steegmans is really all that underrated. He's been getting a fair share of press since 2007/early 2008, and he has a reputation as a very strong Classics rider and fast sprinter. You don't win stages two years running in the tour by being mediocre. But he also has a well-deserved reputation of being unable to deliver the results that he is capable of when under pressure. I think the biggest difference between him and Tom Boonen is psychology, not talent. I hope that he'll continue to bloom, as it were, over the next couple years. He's a very good rider. If by underrated you mean that people don't realize just how strong he is, I'll give you that, but if by underrated you mean that he delivers results without much hype, I'd disagree. He's gotten great results, but he's physically capable of more.

ninjaman

Wasn't Steegmans more lauded than Boonen when they were competing against each other as juniors? If Brajkovic can stop celebrating 2nd place finishes, he might be a good leader for a team without 5 Grand Tour leaders already.

grolby

I've heard this, too.

botto 

No, he was more successful.

YMCA

Nobody was more lauded as a child than Boonen.
Well, maybe Lebron James.

CrimsonKarter21

And you're not even from Cleveland....