5 grand tours maybe Cantador is the best ever

[jaylew]

Contador has a lot to do still to be considered but the one thing I do like about him vs. many other contenders for 'hall of fame' status is that he goes into almost every race with the goal to win or at least win a stage en route to a high placing. So even if his sole focus is to win a GT at least he gives it his all in the races he uses to prepare for it. It's a sign of respect to the sport.

Agreed. It's one of the things I really like about AC. It's been a long time since he's had a middle of the pack finish in any race he's entered. I think the only GT rider that wins as many races outside of GTs as he does is/was Valverde.

 

[movingtarget]

Early days yet. The Cannibal was far and away the best ever. Probably followed by Hinault. Contador should go past Armstrong in overall grand tour victories but too early to say whether he can or will reach Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories.

 

[AtletiSK]

certainly Alberto Contador will come down as one of the greatest in the history of sport but it´s very difficult to compare different eras
I think that AC´s goal could be to be the first to win all 3 GT at least 3 times, that would probably make him the best GT rider ever
where he will never be able to catch Merckx are the classics, but cycling is so much different today that this is impossible to do

 

[indurain666]

I think he is going to be one of the greatest. But greater than Merckx and Hinault? I don't know, too early to call. Nowadays, it seems that top cyclists specialize more on a particular event and they pretty much train year round. (e.g. Van Petegem/Musseuw for classics, Contador/Schleck for the TDF, Rominger/Indurain wouldn't race the spring classics) every year it just seems harder and harder to see GT racers doing classics. So I don't see Contador, or any other cyclist for that matter, challenging Merckx or even Hinault's palmares.