Best climbers in history?

[jamiephillips]

Pantani

I would love to have seen a Pantani in top shape vs Armstrong.

Yeah would have been great if Pantani had ridden the '99 tour with his giro form.

As for the question, there is no answer! Too many variables!

 

[icefire]

+1

And there's a fun story (the reason) about his bad descending:

"He landed in a cactus bush descending the Montserra as an amateur and thereafter refused to descend mountains alone, once waiting at the top of a col in the Tour de France for other riders to arrive. He reached the top minutes before a chase group arrived, and famously passed the time eating ice cream by the side of the road."

How different a rider he would have been with race radios

 

[Midnightfright]

+1

And there's a fun story (the reason) about his bad descending:

"He landed in a cactus bush descending the Montserra as an amateur and thereafter refused to descend mountains alone, once waiting at the top of a col in the Tour de France for other riders to arrive. He reached the top minutes before a chase group arrived, and famously passed the time eating ice cream by the side of the road."

Excellent story and one I didn't know. I myself have become a lot more cautious (to put it politely) after a bad fall going down hill so can defo relate.

 

[jordan5000]

That's mostly true, but Contador can also destroy people on mountains without one of his explosive accelerations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK5SfRC4Uig

One of his most impressive victories IMO

Very impressive, did I see that right though? from 6.6km to 2km banner in about 10m (27.6km/h)???

 

[Futuroscope]

Yeah would have been great if Pantani had ridden the '99 tour with his giro form.

As for the question, there is no answer! Too many variables!

Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking of (giro 99). I was just watching stage 19 @ alpe di pampeago and he was on fire. He was never the same after they threw him out.

 

[Anonymous]

For me its pantani.

 

[greenedge]

I think Contador only just pips Coppi, Lance, Pantani and Merclx. I would have liked to see Contador VS Lance each in their prime. Lance was better in the ITT's but Contador undoubtedly a pure climber. And he is not inconsistent like some, Anton, JROD.

How is Hivert in that group on that Paris-Nice vid???

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Landis!!!!

Now that's funny. So funny that if I LOSE a certain avatar bet I have to sport his mug in my avatar next season... and that's not funny.

Pantani.

I will never forget 2006 stage 17 though, after all the Mayo disappointments that's what got me hooked again.

My pick too. Fastest ever up the Alpe d'Huez.

 

[LaFlorecita]

That's mostly true, but Contador can also destroy people on mountains without one of his explosive accelerations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK5SfRC4Uig

One of his most impressive victories IMO

That was a great win, yes.

 

[3wheeler]

Lucien Van Impe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Van_Impe

Merckx was a Beast on The Climbs To considering he was Not a Small Guy and could Drop Most on any given day if the need was there...

Pantani.. Say no More.. Attacking second Nature..

 

[LaFlorecita]

Now that's funny. So funny that if I LOSE a certain avatar bet I have to sport his mug in my avatar next season... and that's not funny.



My pick too. Fastest ever up the Alpe d'Huez.

Do you have a list of recordtimes up the Alpe? I can only find the recordtimes of it during the TdF. And according to the NOS (dutch tv station) Contador's time in the Dauphiné was the fastest ever. They could be wrong though.

 

[The Hitch]

Do you have a list of recordtimes up the Alpe? I can only find the recordtimes of it during the TdF. And according to the NOS (dutch tv station) Contador's time in the Dauphiné was the fastest ever. They could be wrong though.

I dont know where they got that from, Contadors time up Alpe in Dauphine was significantly slower than Pantanis record.

And record times up Alpe during tour are the record times up Alpe.

It doenst get used much else and when it does, times arent so great.

 

[Le breton]

Do you have a list of recordtimes up the Alpe? I can only find the recordtimes of it during the TdF. And according to the NOS (dutch tv station) Contador's time in the Dauphiné was the fastest ever. They could be wrong though.

It certainly wasn't.
I was there that day. Considering the wind that day on the last few kms it would truly have been phenomenal. From memory he climbed in a little over 42'.
On the lower part he and Brajkovic were climbing at a pace that would have put their final time at just above 40' if it had not been for the wind higher up.

I will not vote on this poll which includes ridiculous names in the list.

Only 4 racers (post WWII) stand out according to the criteria defined in the 1st message

Coppi, Gaul, Merckx and Hinault.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I dont know where they got that from, Contadors time up Alpe in Dauphine was significantly slower than Pantanis record.

And record times up Alpe during tour are the record times up Alpe.

It doenst get used much else and when it does, times arent so great.

You're probably right, I remember that the guys from eurosport said his time was around 43 minutes. Plus Brajkovic would have had the same time as Contador, which would be even more ridiculous. Add to that the fact that Contador wasn't that great in the 2010 season...

 

[vcampbell]

My pick too. Fastest ever up the Alpe d'Huez.

Sorry for this, but it's a bit *** to pick the best like this. The time depends on what the weather was, how the race was going, who needed to attack, how far from the finish started the attack, the pace on the first half of the climb etc.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, that's why Contador set such a fast time up Plateau de Beille because he was constantly trying to drop Rasmussen. He was nearly 2 minutes faster than fastest time of Armstrong on Plateau de Beille. He probably also holds the record on Verbier and Monte Etna(last time they rode there was when Fignon won I think), though I'm not sure.

Pantanti's time on Plateau de Beille doesn't count as it was 100 meters shorter. Still an incredible performance though.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah, that's why Contador set such a fast time up Plateau de Beille because he was constantly trying to drop Rasmussen. He was nearly 2 minutes faster than fastest time of Armstrong on Plateau de Beille. He probably also holds the record on Verbier and Monte Etna(last time they rode there was when Fignon won I think), though I'm not sure.

Pantanti's time on Plateau de Beille doesn't count as it was 100 meters shorter. Still an incredible performance though.

Fignon was riding tricycles last time Etna was included - 1967

Contadors time up Beille was 1.22 not 2 minutes better than Armstrongs best.

And Pantanis time should not be eliminated just because it finished lower. A pure comparison can not be made but Pantani finished 38 seconds faster those 100m down. 100m in 38 seconds, he would have had to slow to 1/2 his speed not to beat Contadors time.

 

[El Pistolero]

Fignon was riding tricycles last time Etna was included - 1967

Contadors time up Beille was 1.22 not 2 minutes better than Armstrongs best.

And Pantanis time should not be eliminated just because it finished lower. A pure comparison can not be made but Pantani finished 38 seconds faster those 100m down. 100m in 38 seconds, he would have had to slow to 1/2 his speed not to beat Contadors time.

Il 26 maggio 1967 la 7ª tappa del Giro d'Italia edizione 1967 si è conclusa sull'Etna partendo da Catania.
Il 22 maggio 1989 la 2ª tappa del Giro d'Italia edizione 1989 si è conclusa sull'Etna partendo da Catania, con la vittoria del portoghese Acácio da Silva.
Domenica 15 maggio 2011 L'Etna è stata la sede di arrivo della 9ª tappa del Giro d'Italia 2011, con partenza da Messina, vinta dallo spagnolo Alberto Contador che, nell'occasione, ha conquistato anche la maglia rosa.

And it doesn't matter regarding to Pantani, he'll never hold the record up that climb as it was shorter than what they use nowadays. Nor should any times matter from the 90s as they were all riding with 50% hematocrit. Not that cycling is clean today, but cleaner which obviously reflects in slower average times. It's actually very suspicious Contador was so fast on Plateau de Beille

I'd love to see the Etna times though. That was a crazy acceleration by Contador. Although I don't know if there are differences between the climbs. In 1967 and 1989 they climbed from Catania to the top of the Etna and in 2011 they climbed from Messina.

 

[jens_attacks]

man comparisons of the time ascents don't say much that often,only if you really did follow those races and watched all the factors involved.which is difficult.

as an example for me the most impressive performance on alpe d'huez is coppi's and by far. he did it in 45 minutes but watch out ,that was DA BOMB!!!he did it after 8 hours of racing!!!(stage of 260 km),on a pretty heavy bike and the roads back in those days were tough not like this.needless to say that le tour was something like 5000 km then.
that certainly is one of the most extraterrestrial performance i've ever heard of.people say that 90's blablabla epo blood transfusions blablala was the shiit but they are wrong.for me those guys riding in that era were out of this world.i don't even imagine those guys being one day in a grand tour awake,i think they were drunk or high every second because you couldn't endure pain staying awake like that,i don't think it's possible.
i've read also about bahamontes performances somewhere,puy de dome and superbagneres.out of this world.the pubers these days we'll say he was on epo,but even on epo you couldn't get close of those performances.

 

[El Pistolero]

man comparisons of the time ascents don't say much that often,only if you really did follow those races and watched all the factors involved.which is difficult.

as an example for me the most impressive performance on alpe d'huez is coppi's and by far. he did it in 45 minutes but watch out ,that was DA BOMB!!!he did it after 8 hours of racing!!!(stage of 260 km),on a pretty heavy bike and the roads back in those days were tough not like this.needless to say that le tour was something like 5000 km then.
that certainly is one of the most extraterrestrial performance i've ever heard of.people say that 90's blablabla epo blood transfusions blablala was the shiit but they are wrong.for me those guys riding in that era were out of this world.i don't even imagine those guys being one day in a grand tour awake,i think they were drunk or high every second because you couldn't endure pain staying awake like that,i don't think it's possible.
i've read also about bahamontes performances somewhere,puy de dome and superbagneres.out of this world.the pubers these days we'll say he was on epo,but even on epo you couldn't get close of those performances.

I'm pretty sure Bahamontes wasn't on epo

Coppi was a doper though, everyone knew that. Though the dope back then was totally different and I'd say necessary if you see how hard Grand Tours were back then.

 

[Duartista]

I'm pretty sure Bahamontes wasn't on epo

Coppi was a doper though, everyone knew that. Though the dope back then was totally different and I'd say necessary if you see how hard Grand Tours were back then.

Coppi actually won the Giro in 1953 due to doping less than his main rival, Koblet. He had pretty much given up, but one of his teammates found out that Koblet hadn't been sleeping because of the amount of amphetamines he'd been taking, and convinced Coppi to attack him on the Stelvio. Also, you have to remember that some of the stuff they used (alcohol for example) to dull the pain was actually detrimental to performance. Gaul was another guy who was allegedly totally reckless with amphetamines - that is partly why he excelled in the cold and struggled in the heat.

 

[spalco]

I'm happy to contribute the vote that gives Pantani the lead.

 

[sultanofhyd]

I'm happy to contribute the vote that gives Pantani the lead.

 

[luckyboy]

Where is Moncoutie?!

 

[jordan5000]

I dont know where they got that from, Contadors time up Alpe in Dauphine was significantly slower than Pantanis record.

And record times up Alpe during tour are the record times up Alpe.

It doenst get used much else and when it does, times arent so great.

The time depends on the measurement, the start of Alpe D'huez is disputed.