Best sprinter ever?

[Midnightfright]

So what about the poll now ?
Jordan, don't forget to add ALL the names named here, or you will be in trouble again.

For me it's hard to say because different eras are always hard to compare.
What is clear, that I miss the good old days with real sprinting when Abdu was still around.
Can't pick a winner, but for sure I nominate:

- Cavendish
- Cippollini
- Zabel
- Maertens
- Petacchi

Abdu would knock all of them to the floor on the way to winning the Sprint.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Abdu would knock all of them to the floor on the way to winning the Sprint.

He was learned to use his elbows. I think he took this too serious and overinterpreted what he was told.

 

[Midnightfright]

He was learned to use his elbows. I think he took this too serious and overinterpreted what he was told.

It worked for him. He would never get away with that now. The UCI would try to change him it would be travesty.

 

[AngusW]

So what about the poll now ?
Jordan, don't forget to add ALL the names named here, or you will be in trouble again.

For me it's hard to say because different eras are always hard to compare.
What is clear, that I miss the good old days with real sprinting when Abdu was still around.
Can't pick a winner, but for sure I nominate:

- Cavendish
- Cippollini
- Zabel
- Maertens
- Petacchi

I nominate Andre Darrigarde (World champ, classics winner, 22 stage wins in the Tour, while riding as a domestique for Anquetil), Charles Pellisier (8 stage wins in the 1930 Tour, 16 total TdF stage wins) and Jan Janssen (World champ, 7 T de F stage wins, 3 point competitions in the Tour, 2 in the Vuelta)

 

[Echoes]

Noël Vantyghem.

Famous for one quote:

"Merckx and me have all classics between us. Me, Paris-Tours and him, all the other ones."

Rik Van Linden was amazing too. The modernists would forget about him because he didn't win that many GT stages. But what are flat GT stages? As De Vlaeminck argues "hardly anything more than a kermess race".

Van Linden won Paris-Tours twice and one of the biggest winners in the amateur ranks (and already since beginner and junior ranks): http://www.velo-club.net/article_arch.php?sid=51000 .

I think I read somewhere that Miguel Poblet remembered Willy Vannitsen as the fast man he's ever seen.

Guido Reybrouck: Paris-Tours x3 ! Winner of two Canadian races.

Bitossi remembers Willy Planckaert as a super fast guy as well.

Urs Freuler was a great sprinter both on track and road. So were René Pijnen and Danny Clark.

Gerben Karstens, but my dad told me he was dangerous. Hoban, yeah definitely. Marino Basso but what a wheelsucker, horrible rider.

 

[Old School]

Remembering

One transfer stage during the Tour, probably mid-late 1990s...Jan Svorada (Lampre) and Silvio Martinello were sprinting to the line, pulling away from the pack (Sean Yates was trying pretty hard too)....and to hear Phil calling it..."and the Green Jersey comes from NOWHERE!"....Abdu was hidden like mouse in a field...pulls up to Svorada (forgive me for wrong spelling)...and gets him by a bike length!

The power he displayed that day was just undeniable....snaking thru the pack (maybe they made room for him to avoid getting clipped)....but that was just awesome.

 

[Kender]

I think that this thread lacks enough love for Zabel. I dont think he is the very best, but he was great, and consistent.

maybe that's because he's a self confessed doper. can't claim to be the best if you're known to have used the special orange juice

 

[Anonymous]

in the 25 years ive been watching the sport, Super Mario by a country mile. He would eat Cavendish and spit him out.

Honorable mention to Zabel and his 2000 career victories.

But then i voted Herrera in the climbers one and he didnt even get on the voting list.

 

[AngusW]

My vote would go to Freddy "La Dynamite" Maertens. In five Grand Tour starts he won 4 points competitions (failed to finish the 1977 Giro d'Italia) and won 35 individual stages (Cavendish is 30 stages from 10 GT starts with 2 points competitions). Maertens' other wins include two World Championships, Gent Wevelgem, Amstel Gold, Championship of Zurich, GP Frankfurt, Paris Tours and Het Volk. No monument wins, but top 5 finishes in all of them. He was more than just a pure sprinter; he won the prologue and two time trials in the 1976 Tour plus GP des Nations and won the 1977 Vuelta overall as "training" for the Giro d'Italia. He was in 2nd place overall in that Giro when he crashed out and did have aspirations to win the GC there. He also had big hopes for the Tour de France in 1976. He and Michel Pollentier had spent the previous winter training on Alpe d'Huez to prepare for the stage that finished there (who'd have thought; reconnaissance training back in the 1970s?).

I digress a bit with the all-rounder stuff. In the '76 Tour, Maertens was virtually unbeatable in a bunch sprint (I think Gerben Karstens got the better of him twice) which made him the equivalent of Cavendish in terms of sprinting dominance. In time, I think Cavendish will eclipse Maertens' record but for now, IMO Maertens is the best sprinter ever.

 

[Green_&_Gold]

I think if you need a lead out train then you are not the greatest. I would like to see how Cav would go without a train. Robbie McEwen great results and didnt need a train you would not see him untill he crossed the line 1st.

 

[Ragerod]

I think if you need a lead out train then you are not the greatest. I would like to see how Cav would go without a train. Robbie McEwen great results and didnt need a train you would not see him untill he crossed the line 1st.

Watch stages 18 & 20 of the 2010 tour. Cavendish is more than capable of winning without a lead-out but having one means he'll win 5 stages instead of 4 and so on.

 

[sublimit]

...don't mean to be picky here but Petacchi actually took 9 stages that year...and several were won by a number of bike-lengths...he was absolutely dominating...and a class act to boot...my fave along with Oscar ( and an honourable mention to Marcel Wust who had great results despite riding for teams made up of tiny climbers....as in he never ever had a lead-out...)

Cheers

blutto

Yeah Petacchi pretty much unstoppable, yes my mistaske it was 9 wins that year and his total wins in the Giro and Vuelta are spectacular on top of that.

Olaf Ludwig was quick also I've heard. He pretty much owned the races in Eastern Europe.

 

[Old School]

Yeah Petacchi pretty much unstoppable, yes my mistaske it was 9 wins that year and his total wins in the Giro and Vuelta are spectacular on top of that and backed it later on against the best.

Olaf Ludwig was quick also I've heard. He pretty much owned the races in Eastern Europe.

Ludwig WAS a beast...just came onto the scene later than he should have...not his fault, with the Iron Curtain still hanging at the time he was in his prime...we'll never know, but yeah, he could have added a few more victories to his resume.

 

[ultimobici]

If we're not restricted to road, there is only one candidate for the title of Best Sprinter Ever.

Kochi Nakano - World Sprint Champion from 1977-1986. 10 WC Titles on the trot!

 

[ultimobici]

Watch stages 18 & 20 of the 2010 tour. Cavendish is more than capable of winning without a lead-out but having one means he'll win 5 stages instead of 4 and so on.

Exactly, Cav has shown that he can win without a lead out.

McEwen may have won without one in his day, but I suspect that the tactics he employed would see him running foul of the commissaries these days.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

What about Andre Darrigade? Anyone ever heard of him? 22 tour stages to his name...

He might not be the best ever, but certainly deserves an honourable mention in the list of top sprinters of all time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Darrigade

 

[El Pistolero]

What about Andre Darrigade? Anyone ever heard of him? 22 tour stages to his name...

He might not be the best ever, but certainly deserves an honourable mention in the list of top sprinters of all time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Darrigade

I remember reading about how he won 5 Tour stages in a single day. Forgot about him since then though.

 

[issoisso]

Ale Jet is still super quick even if he is 37 years old. Younger sprinters still find it hard to challenge Ale-Jet and he's one of the few sprinters that can really challenge Cavendish.

Because he became quite good at a late age, so he lasted longer as well.

Riders who start their peak early decline early.
Riders who start their peak late decline late.
There are no exceptions to this.

Yet this doesn't stop 95% of fans from going "OMG HE'S JUST GETTING STARTED" when a 26 year old guy who has been winning since age 21 or so is winning. But the reality is that he's only going to have another two or so years before he starts declining.

For example, three years ago a few of us were facepalming at how so many people were saying Boonen had another 6 years in him.

I remember reading about how he won 5 Tour stages in a single day. Forgot about him since then though.

What?

 

[Kellys Big Sprocket]

Sean Kelly = poor man's Laurent Jalabert

I'll mention that over coffee and cake this Sunday before we hit the Mourne Mountains

 

[ultimobici]

Sean Kelly = poor man's Laurent Jalabert

What??? Kelly was leadout man for Maertens & Pollentier when he turned pro.

He was winning sprint stages at 22 despite being a domestique. But to deride him as a "poor man's Jalabert" is either a poor attempt at humour or indicative of monumental ignorance.

4 wins in both the Tour and Vuelta Points Classification.

Whilst most of his wins were not big bunch sprints, he was the most feared in a sprint from a break.

If anything Jalabert is a poor man's Kelly!

 

[jamiephillips]

^ Yes, just a cursory comparison of their palmares will confirm this!

 

[Richeypen]

What??? Kelly was leadout man for Maertens & Pollentier when he turned pro.

He was winning sprint stages at 22 despite being a domestique. But to deride him as a "poor man's Jalabert" is either a poor attempt at humour or indicative of monumental ignorance.

4 wins in both the Tour and Vuelta Points Classification.

Whilst most of his wins were not big bunch sprints, he was the most feared in a sprint from a break.

If anything Jalabert is a poor man's Kelly!

Thought the smillie made it pretty clear it was said in jest

 

[Midnightfright]

What??? Kelly was leadout man for Maertens & Pollentier when he turned pro.

He was winning sprint stages at 22 despite being a domestique. But to deride him as a "poor man's Jalabert" is either a poor attempt at humour or indicative of monumental ignorance.

4 wins in both the Tour and Vuelta Points Classification.

Whilst most of his wins were not big bunch sprints, he was the most feared in a sprint from a break.

If anything Jalabert is a poor man's Kelly!

It was a joke between myself and the poster whom a commented on, it was clearly meant in jest hence the smiley face. And altough u didn't find it humours I thought maybe my fellow Irish man would as that is excatly how Jalabert was refered to by Irish Cycling fans in the 90s as u said earlier a poor man's Kelly. So there really was no need to get on the old high horse. I am as aware as everyone else of there respective palmares.

 

[jamiephillips]

^ Sorry for the overreaction. It's because I'm a Kelly fanboy!

 

[Le breton]

What about Andre Darrigade? Anyone ever heard of him? 22 tour stages to his name...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Darrigade

Last I saw him was in 2001 at a cyclosportive in Biarritz that used his name. He had invited his old buddies : Stablinski, Anglade, Jean Bobet (the brother) among others. I had a pleasant chat with Anglade.

Darrigade specialized in winning the 1st stage of the TdF.

Anyway, I would nominate Cavendish, Freire and ... Botherel.