Best One Day Road Rider of the Decade 2000-2009

[Francois the Postman]

Bettini, Rebellin, Boonen, Zabel in that order.

And Museeuw a mere 5th simply because "of the decade" will never be 1993-2002, one he would sweep. So 5th, simply for "just" PR twice in the noughties. Someone came back from losing a ball. This guy came back from almost losing his knee/leg, to tame the race twice. As sweet an accomplishment as Kneteman's Amstel Gold in 1985. Awesome.

 

[il_fiammingo]

An overview of the riders with at least 3 big one day victories:

1 BETTINI, Paolo 13 (2 WC, MSR, 2 LBL, 2 Zurich, 2 Lombardia, Olympics, Lazio, HEW, SSebastian)
BOONEN, Tom 13 (WC, 2 RVV, 3 PR, Wevelgem, 4 E3, 2 Scheldeprijs)

3 REBELLIN, Davide 8 (AGR, LBL, 3 FlecheW, Frankfurt, Veneto, Emilia)
ZABEL, Erik 8 (2 MSR, AGR, 2 Paris-Tours, HEW, 2 Frankfurt)

5 BARTOLI, Michele 7 (AGR, 2 Lombardia, Lazio, Het Volk, Milano-Torino, Emilia)
DI LUCA, Danilo 7 (AGR, LBL, Lombardia, FlecheW, Milano-Torino, Veneto, Emilia)
MCEWEN, Robbie 7 (HEW, Scheldeprijs, 5 Paris-Bruxelles)

8 FREIRE, Oscar 6 (2 WC, 2 MSR, Wevelgem, HEW)
GILBERT, Philippe 6 (2 Paris-Tours, Lombardia, 2 Het Volk, Piemonte)
POZZATO, Filippo 6 (MSR, Lazio, HEW, Het Volk, E3, Veneto)

11 MUSEEUW, Johan 5 (2 PR, HEW, 2 Het Volk)

12 CUNEGO, Damiano 4 (AGR, 3 Lombardia)
VALVERDE, Alejandro 4 (2 LBL, FlecheW, SSebastian)

14 ASTARLOA, Igor 3 (WC, FlecheW, Milano-Torino)
BALLAN, Alessandro 3 (WC, RVV, HEW)
CAVENDISH, Mark 3 (MSR, 2 Scheldeprijs)
CIPOLLINI, Mario 3 (WC, MSR, Wevelgem)
DEKKER, Erik 3 (AGR, Paris-Tours, SSebastian)
PETACCHI, Alessandro 3 (MSR, Paris-Tours, Scheldeprijs)
SIMONI, Gilberto 3 (Veneto, 2 Emilia)
VAN PETEGEM, Peter 3 (RVV, PR, Het Volk)

 

[ak-zaaf]

An overview of the riders with at least 3 big one day victories:

1 BETTINI, Paolo 13 (2 WC, MSR, 2 LBL, 2 Zurich, 2 Lombardia, Olympics, Lazio, HEW, SSebastian)
BOONEN, Tom 13 (WC, 2 RVV, 3 PR, Wevelgem, 4 E3, 2 Scheldeprijs)

3 REBELLIN, Davide 8 (AGR, LBL, 3 FlecheW, Frankfurt, Veneto, Emilia)
ZABEL, Erik 8 (2 MSR, AGR, 2 Paris-Tours, HEW, 2 Frankfurt)

5 BARTOLI, Michele 7 (AGR, 2 Lombardia, Lazio, Het Volk, Milano-Torino, Emilia)
DI LUCA, Danilo 7 (AGR, LBL, Lombardia, FlecheW, Milano-Torino, Veneto, Emilia)
MCEWEN, Robbie 7 (HEW, Scheldeprijs, 5 Paris-Bruxelles)

8 FREIRE, Oscar 6 (2 WC, 2 MSR, Wevelgem, HEW)
GILBERT, Philippe 6 (2 Paris-Tours, Lombardia, 2 Het Volk, Piemonte)
POZZATO, Filippo 6 (MSR, Lazio, HEW, Het Volk, E3, Veneto)

11 MUSEEUW, Johan 5 (2 PR, HEW, 2 Het Volk)

12 CUNEGO, Damiano 4 (AGR, 3 Lombardia)
VALVERDE, Alejandro 4 (2 LBL, FlecheW, SSebastian)

14 ASTARLOA, Igor 3 (WC, FlecheW, Milano-Torino)
BALLAN, Alessandro 3 (WC, RVV, HEW)
CAVENDISH, Mark 3 (MSR, 2 Scheldeprijs)
CIPOLLINI, Mario 3 (WC, MSR, Wevelgem)
DEKKER, Erik 3 (AGR, Paris-Tours, SSebastian)
PETACCHI, Alessandro 3 (MSR, Paris-Tours, Scheldeprijs)
SIMONI, Gilberto 3 (Veneto, 2 Emilia)
VAN PETEGEM, Peter 3 (RVV, PR, Het Volk)

If the Giro del Veneto and Scheldeprijs count, you could say Kuurne and Fleche Brabanconne should also be in there.

 

[il_fiammingo]

If the Giro del Veneto and Scheldeprijs count, you could say Kuurne and Fleche Brabanconne should also be in there.

Fleche B: since 1961
Kuurne: since 1946

Veneto: 1909
Scheldeprijs: since 1907

That makes the difference for me in terms of history/prestige.
And certainly Veneto has quite an impressive list of winners.

 

[Wallace]

by that argument you could say that boonen only is at his best between 2005 and 2009, thats half a decade.. and in 2009 he was crap.. so really boonen was only at the top for three years... i dont really think boonen can qualify as best of the decade based on three good years..

I completely agree. All he did was win Paris-Roubaix in 2009, and that hardly counts as an important race. What a total write-off of a season. I don't see why he even bothered to get on his bike.

Oh--and Boonen would've won the 2009 Ronde too--he was clearly the strongest rider there--if that classless wheel-sucking leech Pozzato hadn't decided that the only way for him to win a monument was to stick on Tomke's *** like chamois, so Boonen let his weaker team-mate take the day. Which is one of the reasons why Devolder is not in contention for rider of the decade: he's profited too much from having the strongest Belgian rider of the day on his team.

 

[Anonymous]

I completely agree. All he did was win Paris-Roubaix in 2009, and that hardly counts as an important race. What a total write-off of a season. I don't see why he even bothered to get on his bike.

Oh--and Boonen would've won the 2009 Ronde too--he was clearly the strongest rider there--if that classless wheel-sucking leech Pozzato hadn't decided that the only way for him to win a monument was to stick on Tomke's *** like chamois, so Boonen let his weaker team-mate take the day. Which is one of the reasons why Devolder is not in contention for rider of the decade: he's profited too much from having the strongest Belgian rider of the day on his team.

it was more in response to the comment that as zabel only had victories 200-2004 of the decade he didnt really qualify.. my point being in return that boonen only really had victories 2006-2008 so by that argument he shouldnt either..

i was being pedantic..

So was pozzoto in the wrong for winning? Victory is a victory if you ask me.. doesnt show on the palmares that he was wheel sucking (unless of course you are evans in which case different rules apply)

 

[Francois the Postman]

Excellent. Edited "for extra rant"

 

[Andre.J]

I think it would be Muuseuw without much doubt.

Andre

 

[Wallace]

So was pozzoto in the wrong for winning? Victory is a victory if you ask me.. doesnt show on the palmares that he was wheel sucking (unless of course you are evans in which case different rules apply)

I suppose it depends on who you ask. Pozzato wheel-sucked his way to a victory over Boonen at the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, and then his wheel-sucking cost Boonen the Ronde. The Belgian fans certainly remembered that when they were spitting on Pozzato at the end of P-R (although it can certainly be argued that there was some ugly nationalism involved there too, and last year's crowd was one of the ugliest in cycling history). If Flecha hadn't overshot that corner, Pozzato might have sucked his way to a P-R win. I think if you asked a Belgian fan, they'd say that how you win matters a lot. I also think that how you win matters a lot (see Hincapie/Pereiro, 2005, Pla d'Adet). That Pozzato was clueless enough to accuse Boonen of drafting the motorcycles at the end of the race further detracts from his stature.

 

[MrContador]

I disagree about best sprinter. I think Petacchi has been better than Cipollini this decade, as Cipo was at his peak at the end of the 90's.

 

[elapid]

I completely agree. All he did was win Paris-Roubaix in 2009, and that hardly counts as an important race. What a total write-off of a season. I don't see why he even bothered to get on his bike.

Oh--and Boonen would've won the 2009 Ronde too--he was clearly the strongest rider there--if that classless wheel-sucking leech Pozzato hadn't decided that the only way for him to win a monument was to stick on Tomke's *** like chamois, so Boonen let his weaker team-mate take the day. Which is one of the reasons why Devolder is not in contention for rider of the decade: he's profited too much from having the strongest Belgian rider of the day on his team.

It would have been due justice if Boonen had another of his "upset stomach" days like he did when O'Grady won PR a couple of years ago. Imagine Pozzato sniffing that smelly chamois for 200km over the cobbles as he sucked Boonen's wheel.

 

[zapata]

I voted for bettini, like almost everybody else. 1) all his wins are this decade, so no discussion about that. 2) to me, the olympics and the worlds (twice! in a row!) is something special 3) Liege twice, lombardia, milan-sanremo, san sebastian, etc. In my mind, no doubt about it.

 

[Jacques Tati]

I completely agree. All he did was win Paris-Roubaix in 2009, and that hardly counts as an important race.

I didn't realise Paris-Roubaix had become a second rate race!

Stick to commuting or riding cycle paths...wallace you clearly know f%&* all about bike racing.

 

[maltiv]

I completely agree. All he did was win Paris-Roubaix in 2009, and that hardly counts as an important race.

I didn't realise Paris-Roubaix had become a second rate race!

Stick to commuting or riding cycle paths...wallace you clearly know f%&* all about bike racing.

You clearly know **** all about irony.

 

[Jacques Tati]

You clearly know **** all about irony.[/QUOTE

I wasn't aware this forum was about 'irony' so so sorry I thought it was about cycling.
And as a 'member' you should have scolded me for bad language... not joined me in setting a bad example....shame on you! oh how ironic.

 

[Wallace]

Hence the standard definition-- "Irony is what other people don't get."

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

A few years ago i started by own cycling ranking in SQL. Based on that calculation i would rank the one day specialists for the perdiod 2000-2009 as following:

1 BETTINI, Paolo 2770
2 REBELLIN, Davide 2295
3 BOONEN, Tom 2125
4 ZABEL, Erik 1885
5 FREIRE, Oscar 1460
6 DI LUCA, Danilo 1220
7 VALVERDE, Alejan. 1190
8 BOOGERD, Michael 980
9 CUNEGO, Damiano 965
10 BARTOLI, Michele 940
11 MCEWEN, Robbie 890
12 POZZATO, Filippo 880
13 GILBERT, Philippe 855
14 MUSEEUW, Johan 820
15 VAN PETEGEM, Pe. 810
16 SANCHEZ, Samuel 780
17 SCHLECK, Frank 745
18 O'GRADY, Stuart 685
19 FLECHA, Juan Ant. 665
20 BALLAN, Alessand. 655

others
23 ULLRICH, Jan 605
24 WESEMANN, Steff. 605
28 CANCELLARA, Fab. 570
37 TCHMIL, Andrei 390
40 EVANS, Cadel 345
41 KROON, Karsten 340
42 DEVOLDER, Stijn 330
43 HINCAPIE, George 305
44 CAVENDISH, Mark 300
45 HOSTE, Leif 300
46 NUYENS, Nick 300
76 ARMSTRONG, L. 165


Only podium places taken into account (ex. worlds: top 5).
Races:
- worlds (225, 155, 110, 75, 55)
- Classics (AGR, Zurich, LBL, Sanremo, PR, Tours, Lombardia, RVV, Olympics: 150, 100, 65)
- Hors Category (Sebastian,Wevelgem, Hamburg, Lazio, Fleche W: 100, 65, 40)
- 1st Category (E3, Milano-Turino, Het Volk, Paris-Bruxelles, Henninger Turm, Emilia, Piemonte, Scheldeprijs, Veneto: 75, 50, 30)

This is the ultimate list!
Great job!

 

[rhubroma]

Bettini, hand's down...followed by Boonen and Rebellin.