Best race you ever seen

[hrotha]

What. The 2012 Vuelta was terrible, except for that one stage.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

What. The 2012 Vuelta was terrible, except for that one stage.

Had it not been for the atrocious Giro and Tour in that same year (like, really *** atrocious), the Vuelta 2012 would probably not have gotten so much love, myself included. But it was a joy to watch Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez fight on all the muritos and MTFs considering what we had gotten used to that year

 

[dacooley]

the 2011 and 2014 Vueltas.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

the 2011 and 2014 Vueltas.

I'm just curious what you liked so much about these races. As I have written earlier I'm not the biggest fan of the last few vueltas but I see a lot of love here for them so I really want to know why people liked these races so much.

 

[WildspokeJoe]

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.

Have to disagree with you. '87 vs '89. 1987 was the year of Roche. The dude was phenomenal. He was the prohibitive favorite going in. His ride on La Plange was awesome. But we all knew the final time trial was a foregone conclusion.

'89 had the much better story line. Two former teammates.Two former winners. Fignon coming back after a few years of bad luck and illness. He'd already won the Giro and was going for the double. He had such a strong team. The best DS.

Then you have LeMond coming back from his accident on a small little team getting a tour slot as a wildcard.

Watching the beginning of the Channel Four coverage, LeMond was seen as an afterthought. The TTT saw a dominate performance by Super U. Then LeMond in the TT leading Fignon by 5 seconds. Fignon takes back the jersey but only has a seven-second lead. LeMond retakes the lead on the hilly time trial. Then Fignon bosses it on Alpe d'Huez - then increases his lead to 50 seconds. No one thinks LeMond has a shot. Pulls back 50 on the Champs with the fastest TT ever and wins by only 8 seconds. And you think '87 is better?

It would be a fun exercise to jump on Youtube and watch both again. My opinion might change. But probably not.

Best single stage - 2013 Tour De France stage 13. So many great story lines for a flat stage.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

the 2011 and 2014 Vueltas.

I'm just curious what you liked so much about these races. As I have written earlier I'm not the biggest fan of the last few vueltas but I see a lot of love here for them so I really want to know why people liked these races so much.

I can't speak for dacooley, but I enjoyed Vuelta 2014 quite much. Like in 2012, the Vuelta was the best GT that year and we got to see the much anticipated Froome-Contador matchup. The two last MTFs that Contador were just great! Could have been better if Quintana didnt crash tho.

I more or less boycotted the Vuelta 2011, but from what I have seen and heard, it was quite a bad race. The time differences in top-10 were hilarious, but I think the Cabarga and Angrilu stages were good.

 

[staubsauger]

The 2005 Giro d'Italia was a pure thriller!

 

[May0maniac]

For me it has to be the 2010 Giro, so many great stages and memorable moments, Vino and Cuddles on the muddy sterrato, the epic L'Aquila stage, Nibali on Monte Grappa, my favourite Ivan Basso moment on the Zoncolan , Garzelli destroying everyone in the MTT like a boss and the Aprica stage, Arrroyo went full Falco on the descent, it was crazy and even stage 20 had the great fight between Nibali and Scarponi for the third place.
It was such an awesome GT.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

2015 Gent-Wevelgem and 2016 Paris-Roubaix come to mind.

 

[ray j willings]

Nichole Cookes WC win . That whole race was outstanding from the early Armstrong attack onwards . IMO the greatest race full stop.

 

[Zythum1334]

Classic : fleche wallone 1999, Michele Bartoli
Grand tour : giro 1998 and tour de france 1999 : Il pirata

 

[cnfdugo]

Re: Re:

Amstel Gold Race 2016.

I can't see how you can put that above the editions of 2014 and 2015? They had more suspense. I liked those two races a lot, but PR 2016 edges them out slightly.

I think he's being sarcastic ...

.. or referring to the farewell of Mart Smeets

 

[Billie]

Liege 2005

 

[QuickZulu]

Re: Re:

Criterium du Dauphine 2014, final stage.

Contador and Froome allowed 3rd placed Talansky to get into the break. Then they spent all day chasing in miserable weather. Froome cracked badly and Contador rode the last 2 hours out of his saddle trying to make up the 40s deficit...but never did. It was the most exciting bike race I had ever seen...until this year's Roubaix.

Welcome to the forum!

The final stage in the 2014 Dauphine was brilliant, indeed, though I'm not quite sure where you get that 40s time-gap between Talansky and Contador from Contador attacked and was roughly 2 minutes behind Talansky with 20 km left of the stage, ultimately finishing 1:06 behind Talansky on the stage. (or do you mean 40 seconds in the overall GC?)

Yeah I meant Talansky had started the day 39s behind Contador in the GC, which ultimately meant Contador had to finish the stage within 38s of Talansky in order to keep his leader's jersey.

Thanks for the warm welcome. I've been lurking around for a few years and finally decided to register.

 

[LeakyBoat]

Re:

Nichole Cookes WC win . That whole race was outstanding from the early Armstrong attack onwards . IMO the greatest race full stop.

This gets my vote as well.