Best race you ever seen

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Carols

Carols

Mar 20, 2010
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1989 Tour de France. LeMond and Fignon trading the yellow back and forth to the nail biting finale on the Champs. Head and shoulders above all others for sheer edge of the seat excitement over 2.5 weeks!
 
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Staafke45

Apr 16, 2016
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euroking said:
What's the best race you ever seen in your life as a fan of this great sport of ours?
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I think everyone has is own idea for the bests races, mainly one that has seen the victory of the favorit rider we have.
I follow the bike racing since 1955, (I am 71 young) I find difficult to define the best race I have seen. Each one was very nice. A short list The victory of Charly Gaul in TdF, A world title for Rik Van looy. some Paris Roubaix with Jean Stablinsky, Pino Cerami, Duclos Lasalle, Andrei tchmil, Johan Musseuw and Tom Boonen. Some Giros, some Vueltas and TdF Is it needed to give name: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and I add Felice Gimondi who unfortunately was opposed to the great Eddy. There was a lot more people to talk about for the one day races. Fabian Cancelara, Mario Cipollini, Erik Zabel, Roger Devlaming, Alessandro Valverde, Alberto Contador. Moreno Argentin, Greg Lemond.
I forgot a lot of those men who were offering us to see these events.
 
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cantpedal

Sep 10, 2013
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Re:

Carols said:
1989 Tour de France. LeMond and Fignon trading the yellow back and forth to the nail biting finale on the Champs. Head and shoulders above all others for sheer edge of the seat excitement over 2.5 weeks!
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This is the Tour that got me hooked. a very casual fan up until then.
 
Tonton

Tonton

May 17, 2013
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A lot of good stuff, particularly the '89 TdF, but I was overseas with no TV coverage, so I can't put it on my list.

My heart would say: AdH '15, my chouchou Tibopino silencing his many detractors (posts from subscribers in l'Equipe, Tweets), refusing to quit and do the Vuelta, and triumph.

My b@lls would say '80 LBL, that I saw live, although most of the broadcast was still images and radio-like commentaries. But it was the essence of cycling, "the school of suffering", all in one day. Bravo Hinault, but in my book all the finishers are legends of the sport.

Duitama '95, tough WCRR course, BigMig taking one for the team and controlling Il Pirata, Olano breaking away, looking at his back wheel, finishing the last 3-4K with a flat. Suspense...

Landis' solo ride... :eek:

My number one, if we think of the greatest race as a start to finish affair with thrills and suspense has to be the '81 WCRR. A 30-40 rider breakaway with all the favorites but The Badger. Hinault clawed his way back, solo (with Lejaretta sucking his wheel), and caught up with something like 10K to go. With 350 meters to go, Saronni's train derailed, Maertens passed Il Beppe with 20 meters to go, with a charging Hinault coming back from nowhere. Best sprint finish ever.
 
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greenedge

Mar 27, 2011
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A toss-up between RVV 2011 or P-R 2016 for the one day races, Flanders was like nothing i'd ever seen before (in my first year of watching all the races) so I'll pick that.
GT wise the 2011/2013 Vuelta's were amazing and I also loved the last 3 main days of the 2011 TDF.
Best stage was Boom's cobbled victory in 2014.
 
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chiocciolis_calves

Aug 28, 2013
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1987 Tour and the 2005 Giro.

It's more popular to pick the 1989 Tour, but the 1987 one came down to the final time trial and it wasn't decided by technology. And, truth be told, Roche's recovery on La Plagne was more exciting than LeMond's TT triumph, having watched both of them at the time.

2005 Giro had a similarly amazing finale, with Simoni having the Maglia Rosa as he summited the Finestre, but Savoldelli did a breakneck descent to hold onto the jersey. Drama and leader jersey changes throughout between Basso (only to abandon), Di Luca, Savoldelli, Petacchi in his glory, the arrival of Jose Rujano and so forth. Plus, the first use of the Finestre.
 
cellardoor

cellardoor

Apr 5, 2015
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chiocciolis_calves said:
2005 Giro had a similarly amazing finale, with Simoni having the Maglia Rosa as he summited the Finestre, but Savoldelli did a breakneck descent to hold onto the jersey. Drama and leader jersey changes throughout between Basso (only to abandon), Di Luca, Savoldelli, Petacchi in his glory, the arrival of Jose Rujano and so forth. Plus, the first use of the Finestre.
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Basso didn't abandon. He got sick and lost a lot of time on one stage. He bounced back to win a stage but as he was out of the GC I think he didn't bother on the Sestriere stage. He finished the race though.
 
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chiocciolis_calves

Aug 28, 2013
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cellardoor said:
chiocciolis_calves said:
2005 Giro had a similarly amazing finale, with Simoni having the Maglia Rosa as he summited the Finestre, but Savoldelli did a breakneck descent to hold onto the jersey. Drama and leader jersey changes throughout between Basso (only to abandon), Di Luca, Savoldelli, Petacchi in his glory, the arrival of Jose Rujano and so forth. Plus, the first use of the Finestre.
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Basso didn't abandon. He got sick and lost a lot of time on one stage. He bounced back to win a stage but as he was out of the GC I think he didn't bother on the Sestriere stage. He finished the race though.
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Yep, you're correct in retrospect. I think he finished like 44th or something.
 
DNP-Old

DNP-Old

Aug 6, 2014
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I loved Giro 2005, but 2010 is hands down the best stage race I've ever seen. So much drama, so much hectic, so much excitement. Even the sprint stages were somewhat exciting. I remember one stage (to Cava Tirreni IIRC) where Evans and Vino were duelling each other in a bunch sprint, against the likes of then not so bad Goss, Farrar, Pozzato and Weylandt.
 
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