Best ever single season by a rider?

[Hugo Koblet]

First of all: Has there been a topic like this before? I seem to recall one, but I can't find one.

I got the inspiration to this topic by reading the Fantasy Doping Thread in the clinic which brought back a lot of memories of great riders and great seasons. This led me to wonder which rider in the history of cycling have had the best ever season.

Let me start by nominating a few and then hopefully others will join in. Note that these are not necessarily in order.

Eddy Merckx 1969:

This was quite simply an incredible year by the Belgian. He started out by winning Milan-Sanremo, and then went on to win Paris-Nice followed by another victory in Ronde van Vlaanderen. He then had to settle for second place in Paris-Nice but took his revenge a month later when he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège. With a season to kill for already under his belt, Merckx went to Italy to defend his Giro d'Italia title and would most certainly have won if he hadn't been kicked out, but he did manage to win four stages before his disqualification. Seething with revenge, Merckx went to France where he put in one of the most dominating performances in the history of the race. Not only did he win the GC by almost 18 minutes, he also won six stages and the points and the mountains jerseys - a feat which has never been repeated.

Notable results:

1st Milan-Sanremo
1st Paris-Nice
1st Ronde van Vlaanderen
2nd Paris-Roubaix
3rd Amstel Gold Race
1st Liège-Bastogne-Liège
4 stages in the Giro d'Italia
1st Tour de France + points and mountains classification
6 stages in the Tour de France

Merckx had a horrible crash in 1969 which almost ended his career. According to himself, he was never again as strong as he had been in 1969 because of back problems. That didn't stop him from producing one of the best ever seasons in 1972 though - looking at palmarès only, 1972 was even better than his 1969 vintage.

Eddy Merckx 1972:

Once again Merckx started out his season by winning Milan-Sanremo. before heading to Paris-Nice where he finished second. This spring he also won Scheldeprijs, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne before heading to the Giro d'Italia which he won with four stages under his belt. He then completed the double by winning the Tour de France with six stage victories. Merckx rounded off what might be the best ever season by a single rider by winning Giro di Lombardia.

Notable results:

1st Milan-Sanremo
2nd Paris-Nice
2nd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
3rd Omloop Het Volk
1st De Brabantse Pijl
1st Scheldeprijs
3rd Gent-Wevelgem
1st Liège-Bastogne-Liège
1st Flèche Wallonne
1st Giro d'Italia
4 stages in the Giro d'Italia
1st Tour de France + points classification
6 stages in the Tour de France
1st Giro di Lombardia

Now, I could go on nominating more Merckx seasons, but let's turn to another of the sport's alltime greatest.

Fausto Coppi 1949:

I'm aware that Coppi's finest year doesn't come close to the best of Merckx, but in a world without Merckx, Coppi produced one of the best ever seasons in 1949.

As was the case in Merckx's finest years, Coppi started his season out by winning Milan-Sanremo, before he set his eyes on the two big stage races, the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. Coppi won them both with three stage victories in each. Coppi wasn't done, however, and later in the season he won the Giro di Lombardia and finished third in the World Championships Road Race, not able to drop Rik Van Steenbergen and Ferdi Kübler.

Notable results:

1st Milan-Sanremo
3rd Flèche Wallonne
1st Giro d'Italia
3 stages in the Giro d'Italia
1st Tour de France
3 stages in the Tour de France
3rd World Championships Road Race
1st Giro di Lombardia

From one Italian to another:

Alfredo Binda 1927:

Based on palmarès only, Binda's 1927 season probably lacks a bit compared to other great seasons by a single rider. However, Binda's performance in the 1927 Giro d'Italia was so dominating that I had to include him.

Unlike Merckx and Coppi, Binda didn't manage to win Milan-Sanremo, but he did come in second though. Instead he took his revenge in one the most incredible Grand Tour performances ever. Binda completely dominated his home Tour, as he comfortably won the Giro d'Italia by 27 minutes. However, that wasn't what made this ride legendary. Binda won the first stage and led the general classification from day one and till the end. The really impressive feat though, was that he also managed to win 12 of the 15 stages. Binda wasn't done yet though, and his fall was equally impressive as he became World Champion and won Giro di Lombardia.

Notable results:

2nd Milan-Sanremo
1st Giro d'Italia
12 stages in the Giro d'Italia
1st World Championships Road Race
1st Giro di Lombardia

The last rider I'll nominate had an equally impressive run in a Grand Tour. This time in the Vuelta a España.

Freddy Maertens 1977:

Maertens' 1977 was spectacular. He started out the saeson by winning the Trofeo Laigueglia before he went on to dominate the one week races by winning Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Paris-Nice. His spring campaign continued with a win in Omloop Het Volk and a third place in Paris-Roubaix. Maertens then went back to Spain and produced one of the most impressive ever performances in a Grand Tour. Maertens won the overall classification in the Vuelta a España, but on top of that he beat Binda's record 12 stage victories by taking 14 stage victories.

Maertens then turned his head to Italia, looking for an equally dominating performance in the Giro, and he was on his way towards his goal when he broke his wrist and had to abandon. Before that he won seven stages.

Notable results:

1st Trofeo Laigueglia
1st Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
1st Paris-Nice
1st Omloop Het Volk
3rd Paris-Roubaix
1st Vuelta a España + points classification
14 stages in the Vuelta a España
7 stages in the Giro d'Italia
2nd Tour de Suisse

 

[robin440]

gilbert 2011!!!

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

gilbert 2011!!!

That is definitely one of the best in modern time!

 

[robin440]

Stephen Roche in '87 was nice:

Tour de Romandie overall
A stage in Paris Nice
2nd Liege Bastogne Liege
Giro d'italia overall + 3 stages
Tour de France overall + 2 stages
and world road race champion

insane!!

 

[HelloDolly]

Stephen Roche 1987

Wins -
Giro D'Italia (including 3 stage wins)
Tour De France (including 2 stage wins)
World RR Championship
(Triple Crown)

1st Overall Tour de Romandie - (1st Stages 5a & 5b (ITT)
Ist Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana - (1st Stage 4 (ITT)



2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
2nd Overall Critérium International
2nd Overall Tour of Ireland

1st Stage 7b (ITT) Paris–Nice & 4th overall

 

[HelloDolly]

robin440 great minds think alike...we posted almost at the same time

 

[Echoes]

Binda in 1927 is overrated. In those days Italian cycling was mainly isolationist and Italian races had pretty depleted local fields. He had a good win at the World Championship but the Tour of Italy and of Lombardy wins should not be considered as high in those days as they are now.

Merckx 1969 is a bit overrated too, mostly by those who do believe that the tragic crash in Blois changed the rest of his career. In those days his main rival were old opponents to Anquetil who did not make the turn of the decade: Altig, Janssen, Pingeon, Dancelli, etc. Those riders were nowhere to be seen in the seventies. They could not adapt to new training methods and new diets that were developing. On the other hand, arch-rival De Vlaeminck was still just a kid.

I have a soft spot for 1975. Three spring classics, the fierce mano a mano with Verbeeck "he rode 5 per hour too fast for us", the Puy de Dôme punch, the Omnium Euro championship and then the peak of the Merckx/De Vlaeminck rivalry, the latter making himself one of the best single season ever, started by the Cyclocross World title despite racing for his brother and an amazing Paris-Roubaix. Also this was a year were cycling really got modern in its preparation and international and even intercontinental with Eastern riders, Colombian riders, Scandinavian riders and Australian riders.

Achievement-wise it has to be 1972, though. With one particular achievement that is not even mentioned in the OP ... &#63

 

[SeriousSam]

I know some like to ascribe this to the decline of genuinely talented riders, but winning a whole range of different types of races has become almost impossible in the modern era of specialism. So if you look purely at what they won, of course riders like Merckx come out on top with no hope of anyone ever matching him.

We need to take these trends into account to relate palmares of the past to those of today. One way of doing this would be to look at something like quantiles of results within each era. How rare was Merckx's season? Let's look for a season as rare in today's era. But even that fails to adjust for talent pools being deeper today. It's more impressive to be better than 90 people out of 100 than 9 out of 10.

 

[MatParker117]

Wiggo 2012?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Binda in 1927 is overrated. In those days Italian cycling was mainly isolationist and Italian races had pretty depleted local fields. He had a good win at the World Championship but the Tour of Italy and of Lombardy wins should not be considered as high in those days as they are now.

Merckx 1969 is a bit overrated too, mostly by those who do believe that the tragic crash in Blois changed the rest of his career. In those days his main rival were old opponents to Anquetil who did not make the turn of the decade: Altig, Janssen, Pingeon, Dancelli, etc. Those riders were nowhere to be seen in the seventies. They could not adapt to new training methods and new diets that were developing. On the other hand, arch-rival De Vlaeminck was still just a kid.

I have a soft spot for 1975. Three spring classics, the fierce mano a mano with Verbeeck "he rode 5 per hour too fast for us", the Puy de Dôme punch, the Omnium Euro championship and then the peak of the Merckx/De Vlaeminck rivalry, the latter making himself one of the best single season ever, started by the Cyclocross World title despite racing for his brother and an amazing Paris-Roubaix. Also this was a year were cycling really got modern in its preparation and international and even intercontinental with Eastern riders, Colombian riders, Scandinavian riders and Australian riders.

Achievement-wise it has to be 1972, though. With one particular achievement that is not even mentioned in the OP ... &#63

It's always hard to compare opponents from different eras. That said, you're definitely right that Binda didn't have the same level of competition in 1927 than say Merckx in 1972.

I deliberately left out the Hour Record and other track results. Obviously they meant a lot back then and to complete the palmarès of the likes of Coppi and Merckx they should be included, but since only a few road race cyclists does the track these days, I thought that for comparisons sake they should be left out. It's an interesting question though, and the more I think of it, the more I actually like them being included as the cycling world is under constant change, otherwise we wouldn't be able to include races like the Olympics.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

I know some like to ascribe this to the decline of genuinely talented riders, but winning a whole range of different types of races has become almost impossible in the modern era of specialism. So if you look purely at what they won, of course riders like Merckx come out on top with no hope of anyone ever matching him.

We need to take these trends into account to relate palmares of the past to those of today. One way of doing this would be to look at something like quantiles of results within each era. How rare was Merckx's season? Let's look for a season as rare in today's era. But even that fails to adjust for talent pools being deeper today. It's more impressive to be better than 90 people out of 100 than 9 out of 10.

This is completely true. That said, I don't mind that thread logically will revolve around riders from the past. I think it's interesting to discuss riders from a different era.

 

[Ramon Koran]

Re:

Wiggo 2012?

Thé best season of since Roche without a doubt probably top 5 of all time. He was preety much invincible all season.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Wiggo 2012?

Not even the best that year going by CQ ranking &#128528

 

[Ramon Koran]

Re: Re:

Wiggo 2012?

Not even the best that year going by CQ ranking &#128528

No, but that not good source, what special was Wiggins invincible Paris nice, romandie, dauphine, tour, Olympic tt. Imagine Alberto do season like that how special it would be. Just because it Wiggins doesn't make it less special.

 

[Red Rick]

If any season from post 2000 is in for consideration it's Gilbert in 2011.

Wiggins 2012 shouldn't even be up for debate. Yes he won 3 WT stage races and he won the Tour, all of these were very tt heavy, with flattish climbs where his ridiculously strong team could drag him him to the top. Won the Tour, but his best competitor had to ride for him.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

If any season from post 2000 is in for consideration it's Gilbert in 2011.

Wiggins 2012 shouldn't even be up for debate. Yes he won 3 WT stage races and he won the Tour, all of these were very tt heavy, with flattish climbs where his ridiculously strong team could drag him him to the top. Won the Tour, but his best competitor had to ride for him.

I think that Boonen's 2012 season deserves a mentioning as well if we're discussing this era.

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Wiggo 2012?

Thé best season of since Roche without a doubt probably top 5 of all time. He was preety much invincible all season.

Top 5 of all time? Not even top 15.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

If any season from post 2000 is in for consideration it's Gilbert in 2011.

Wiggins 2012 shouldn't even be up for debate. Yes he won 3 WT stage races and he won the Tour, all of these were very tt heavy, with flattish climbs where his ridiculously strong team could drag him him to the top. Won the Tour, but his best competitor had to ride for him.

Exactly. He won by crushing the TTs and TTing up the climbs. Good job, but not extremely impressive (aside from the TTing)

 

[Lanark]

Re: Re:

If any season from post 2000 is in for consideration it's Gilbert in 2011.

Wiggins 2012 shouldn't even be up for debate. Yes he won 3 WT stage races and he won the Tour, all of these were very tt heavy, with flattish climbs where his ridiculously strong team could drag him him to the top. Won the Tour, but his best competitor had to ride for him.

I think that Boonen's 2012 season deserves a mentioning as well if we're discussing this era.

Boonen 2005 would automatically be better than 2012.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

If any season from post 2000 is in for consideration it's Gilbert in 2011.

Wiggins 2012 shouldn't even be up for debate. Yes he won 3 WT stage races and he won the Tour, all of these were very tt heavy, with flattish climbs where his ridiculously strong team could drag him him to the top. Won the Tour, but his best competitor had to ride for him.

I think that Boonen's 2012 season deserves a mentioning as well if we're discussing this era.

Agree

 

[Akuryo]

2012 was a really funny season, cause Boonen won practically every classic he entered and Wiggins every stage race.

 

[Ramon Koran]

Re:

If any season from post 2000 is in for consideration it's Gilbert in 2011.

Wiggins 2012 shouldn't even be up for debate. Yes he won 3 WT stage races and he won the Tour, all of these were very tt heavy, with flattish climbs where his ridiculously strong team could drag him him to the top. Won the Tour, but his best competitor had to ride for him.

Gilbert 2011 was overhyped his main competitor was absent, he got lucky in a lot of races like liège where thé Schleck brothers should have easily got rid of him, he was far from stellar on thé pavés. If Valverde had been riding we wouldnt even be talking about Gilbert. Imo Valverde 2015> Gilbert 2011. I would say over last t'en years 1- wiggo 2012, 2- Valverde 2015, 3- froome 2013, 4- Boonen 2012, 5-Gilbert 2011

 

[dacooley]

huh, one might think demolishing everyone in tt like wiggins did is something elementary

 

[Lanark]

Although not among the absolute best, Jalabert 1995 deserves a mention at least. Winning Sanremo, Fleche Wallone, Paris- Nice, Criterium International, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and the Vuelta, where he won 5 stages, GC, mountain and points jerseys. Outside of that he won a ton of other stages and races.

 

[Miburo]

Gilbert got lucky in LBL 2011? What race have you been watching? Yea the schleck brothers are morons but gilber was the strongest in that race.

The schlecks were dominating LBL since '08, ok piti still won that edition but it's not that he was the strongest in the race since then. Gilbert '11 was a monster, absolutely insane shape. All the lotto were, and i think we all know why...