Maxime Monfort, the cyclist of “top 20” of the Grand Tours
Seventeen seasons among professionals, in which he has shown all his qualities as a climber: the Belgian Maxime Monfort, 37 years old on January 14th, knows what it means to run a Grand Tour. And he also knows what it means to run at high levels: sixth at the 2011 Vuelta, Monfort finishes sixteenth in the Tour and the 2017 Vuelta. It would seem two harmless results, at least discreet, but analyzing the performance of the Belgian climber we understand how it is about two placements of quite excellent results. Ranking in the top 20 at the Grand Boucle is likely to be qualified as excellent cyclists and perfect athletes. Repeating the placement also in the next stage race is another great result for a runner who has always made regularity his main objective. It does not end here, because Maxime uses to rank often and willingly between the tenth and twentieth in the GT in which he participates: this is the case of the 2013 Tour de France, concluded in fourteenth position by Monfort: and for the team it means obtaining a fair number of World Tour points, always important for the team classification and also for the rider, this is a good satisfaction. The following year, 2014, Maxime runs Giro and Vuelta. A question to Born To Cycle readers is quite spontaneous:
“How do you think he ranks in these two GTs?”
The answer is evident…in the first 20, of course. Between the tenth and twentieth positions. The prototype of the rule: fourteenth in the Giro won by Quintana, again sixteenth in the Vuelta. It looks like a machine, Maxime, that doesn’t go wrong. He almost seems to want to do it on purpose to always arrive 14th or 16th: a cyclist of a crystalline class, who never gives up and climbs at his own pace. Yes, he suffers from changes in pace, but thanks to his regularity he always manages to maintain his position in the GT rankings. In 2015 he even managed to improve his performance in the Pink Race: he came close to the top 10 finishing 11th in the Giro won by Contador. Sixteenth place cannot miss, and he arrives at the Tour of Poland, but at the Vuelta Monfort betrays himself (he jokes, eh), finishing 27th, seven positions out of his standards. In 2016, same history, same place and same races! Maxime shows up at the Giro and the Vuelta: and how does he square himself? fifteenth in the Giro and sixteenth (guess what??) in the Vuelta. But how strange, what a news! Incredible engine but what amazes most of all is the regularity with which Monfort manages to reach its usual goals. The following year ends the Pink Race thirteenth and is forced to withdraw from the Vuelta. Too bad, the top twenty probably wasn’t even in the quotes, it was so obvious. Last season he still shows up in Spain but this time he finishes in 42nd place: age makes itself felt, and Maxime this year has raced the Tour, finished in 142nd place. Three times sixteenth in the Vuelta, sixth for an occasion, then a fourteenth in the Tour, four top twenty in the Giro: a prototype cyclist of regularity.
Monfort, give us another top 20 in a big stage tour, as only you can do.
