Best Sprinter of All Time

[Alpe d'Huez]

Article on the front page of CN ponders the question of who the best sprinter of all time may be. Definitely worth a read. (Link here.)

Since everyone loves polls, I thought we'd have our own to help matters.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Cipo...mario.

 

[mr. tibbs]

I gotta vote Cipo. Dude was beast.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

I accidentally voted for McEwen.

Should have been Cav.

 

[miguelvazpinto]

Erik Zabel

 

[meat puppet]

Abdou. Next question.

 

[dlwssonic]

The best overall sprinter was sean kelly IMO.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

The best overall sprinter was sean kelly IMO.

Nah - Sean is the best cyclist on this list by about 500 miles, but he's not even nearly the best sprinter.

 

[Anonymous]

Super Mario easily. But Cavendish will be the greatest in time, but not yet.. I still have Zabel and a few others ahead of Cav.

This poll could just be termed, when where you born, before or after about 1985, us old-uns go for nostalgia and cippo, the young un's go cavendish.

 

[Tank Engine]

Nah - Sean is the best cyclist on this list by about 500 miles, but he's not even nearly the best sprinter.

I agree, but he's only 200 miles in front of Maertens.

On the basis of what they have won or will win, I think Cav will come out on top.

Edit: Just so I can say I'm a youngster

 

[Anonymous]

I do wish when people did polls they would check the make results public box..

annoying not being able to see who people voted for .

 

[El Pistolero]

The guy that won these races in a single year:

Omloop het Volk
Trofeo Laiguelia
nationaal kampioen op de baan, Derny, Elite.
Ronde van Midden-Zeeland
proloog Parijs-Nice
1a etappe Parijs-Nice
1b etappe Parijs-Nice
2e etappe Parijs-Nice
7b etappe Parijs-Nice
Eindklassement Parijs-Nice
1e etappe Catalaanse Week
4e etappe Catalaanse Week
5a etappe Catalaanse Week
5b etape Catalaanse Week
Eindklassement Catalaanse Week
1e etappe Ronde van Zwitserland
1e etappe Ronde van Spanje
2e etappe Ronde van Spanje
5e etappe Ronde van Spanje
6e etappe Ronde van Spanje
7e etappe Ronde van Spanje
8e etappe Ronde van Spanje
9e etappe Ronde van Spanje
11a etappe Ronde van Spanje
11b etappe Ronde van Spanje
13e etappe Ronde van Spanje
16e etappe Ronde van Spanje
19e etappe Ronde van Spanje
Eindklassement Ronde van Spanje
Puntenklassement Ronde van Spanje
proloog Ronde van Italië
1e etappe Ronde van Italië
4e etappe Ronde van Italië
6a etappe Ronde van Italië
6b etappe Ronde van Italië
7e etappe Ronde van Italië
8e etappe Ronde van Italië
proloog Ronde van Catalonië
1e etappe Ronde van Catalonië
3b etappe Ronde van Catalonië
4 etappe Ronde van Catalonië
7a etappe Ronde van Catalonië
Eindklassement Ronde van Catalonië
1e etappe Ronde van Sardinie
Eindklassement Ronde van Sardinië
3e etappe Ronde van Nederland
Super Prestige-Pernod
Zesdaagse van Antwerpen


===

So sad his career practically ended because of that nasty crash in the Giro that year. He'd have probably won 20 more races that season without that crash lol.

 

[fiftyfour eleven]

Sorry but am I the only one who thinks this list was a little shallow? Seriously Thor! Great bike rider but all time great of sprinting, hardly.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Ale-Jet for me.

 

[sublimit]

Yes Petacchi for me also.

 

[jens_attacks]

cipollini now but cav will break all the records by far

 

[Kwibus]

I voted Cav, because in a few years he will be the best sprinter on paper also.

He allready is the best sprinter, but still needs to beat Cipo's palmares.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

It's Cavendish.

Classics don't measure sprinter prowess, sprint stages in the grand Tours do. In the history of the Tour de France, by far the most important GT and hence presumably with the greatest level of competition, no-one has come remotely close to dominating like Cavendish has. Check the record books, hardly any sprinters have won more than a couple of sprint stages in a TdF more than once.

Then take a look at the distance he puts into his rivals, when Cipollini won four in a row, two were by less than a wheel and one was on a DQ. When Cavendish won six last year, the other sprinters were struggling to stay in camera shot.

 

[Dancing On The Pedals]

I voted Cav - he is already the best, and by the time he finishes his career he could be out of sigth.

Honourable mention to Freire - 3x MSR and 3x Rainbow jersey is an incredible record.

 

[bobbins]

Watch the last 20km of the Canterbury TdF stage. How many on that list could have won from Mcewans position?

 

[palmerq]

I think zabel, he didnt win as many stages but his points jersey haul is brilliant, and his milan san remo and paris tour wins, great work from him... Although I think it all depends on how you grade sprinters, I don't think it's all about who is the fastest and wins the most dead flat stages so I vote for zabel.

 

[The Hitch]

Cav is the most dominant and his results are astonishing.

But having said that the Pettachi Cipo Mcewen Zabel Freire generation was probably much better judging by the fact that Ale Jet is still one of the best in the world today at his age whereas 2010 Ale Jet would have been nowhere in say 2003.

SO for now, one of those, maybe Zable since he won MSR 4 times.

I also prefer sprinters like Boonen Hushovd who focus on classics and even hilly stages on occasion, rather than just go for tdf green all the time.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Watch the last 20km of the Canterbury TdF stage. How many on that list could have won from Mcewans position?

Cavendish certainly. He's routinely taken 20m out of the world's fastest guys - see his Bordeaux, Champs-Elysees and Cap Frehel stage wins for evidence. Cipo and Maertens in their prime probably had the speed to do that also. The point is though, that the very best sprinters, with or without a train, don't get themselves in that position very often. That's as much a skill as being able top finish things off.

I'd still go for Cipo right now. His palmares still stands up against Cav's for the moment, but that will likely change in a year or 2.

 

[will10]

It's Cipo. Cav will soon overtake him.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cavendish certainly. He's routinely taken 20m out of the world's fastest guys - see his Bordeaux, Champs-Elysees and Cap Frehel stage wins for evidence. Cipo and Maertens in their prime probably had the speed to do that also. The point is though, that the very best sprinters, with or without a train, don't get themselves in that position very often. That's as much a skill as being able top finish things off.

I'd still go for Cipo right now. His palmares still stands up against Cav's for the moment, but that will likely change in a year or 2.

He kinda did already came from far when he won that stage where he beat Gilbert.