Best sprinters of the past 25 years

[Nick C.]

I'm a little dicey on this past ,aybe #1 and 2 but I wanted to read what others thought.

1-Cipo
2-Zabel

3-McEwen
4-Petacchi
5-Freire these three could go any which way, if I was more inclined to go with one day events than Freie with 3 WCs, 2 MSRs, 1 GW and an Amstel clearly out-classe sthem, but I went with GT stages and really this would be the pecking order of the three other than in 2003.

6-Cav, yikes

7-Abdu ?
8-Tom Steels
9, 10-Boonen, Vanderaerden, Thor, Moncassan (sp.) Museeuw or Jaja (???)

 

[satelite]

I invite you to visit my web survey about this topic. I think the best sprinter was Mario Cipollini. Nowadays, people thinks that Mark Cavendish will be the fastest sprinter and more faster than Cipo.

Long ago, I liked Jan Svorada, Jan Kirsipuu, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov or even Jean Paul Van Poppel.

Please visit the link below

¿Who will be the best sprinter of history?

Greetings

 

[pmcg76]

I agree with most of your choices although I think Jalabert and Museeuw were more all-rounders than pure sprinters. Freire is more a sprinter rouleur, the type who wins on more difficult finishes or when all the pure sprinters have been eliminated. Jean-Paul Van Poppel is the one very obvious omission.
Cavendish is already up there after only a few seasons. The golden era for sprints over the last 25 years was 92-94 with Cipo, Abdou, Nelissen & Van Poppel going head to head at the Tour.

My Top 10

Cipollini
Zabel
Petacchi
McEwen
Cavendish
Abdujaparov
Van Poppel
Steels
Freire
Nelissen

 

[SirLes]

I've been thinking about this quite a bit and imo Cavendish is the most complete sprinter in that time. (NB not rider that can sprint!)

During the last 25 yrs there have been the super fast men who have excelled when their have been long, flat sprints and their trains have lead them out. eg Cipo and Pettacchi.

Then there have been the guys with the really fast "jump" that can read the situation and win with little support and excel when the run in is tricky. The best example here is McEwen.

Then you have the power men who still perform in uphill sprints or if the course has been tough eg Boonen, Hushovd.

In the last couple of years Cav has demonstrated the ability to win in all these ways. (OK not the really really tough finishes but certainly far from easy.)

10 tdf stages plus a few Giro stages but I can't remember exactly off the top of my head!(and neither this year's nor last could be described as sprinter friendly in the way some have been in the past) and a classic at the age of 24 is incredible.
You have to go back to '76 for someone to get more than 6 in one year and then there were 26 stages. (Cav should have got 7 if they'd hadn't misstimed catching the breakaway)

It will be interesting to see where his career takes him. He has got tougher and tougher but doesn't appear to have lost any speed.

The best rider who could sprint imo was Sean Kelly.

So my top ten:
1 Cipo
2 Zabel
3 Cavendish (he will be no 1 soon!)
4 Kelly
5 McEwen
6 Petacchi
7 Freire
8 Abdu
9 Boonen
10 Steels

 

[Jayarbie]

I'm a little dicey on this past ,aybe #1 and 2 but I wanted to read what others thought.

1-Cipo
2-Zabel

3-McEwen
4-Petacchi
5-Freire these three could go any which way, if I was more inclined to go with one day events than Freie with 3 WCs, 2 MSRs, 1 GW and an Amstel clearly out-classe sthem, but I went with GT stages and really this would be the pecking order of the three other than in 2003.

6-Cav, yikes

7-Abdu ?
8-Tom Steels
9, 10-Boonen, Vanderaerden, Thor, Moncassan (sp.) Museeuw or Jaja (???)

I would probably rank Boonen higher. But I guess it depends on whether you mean pure sprinter (as in the fastest kick the in last 300m) or the guy most likely to consistently win or place high in bunch finishes, even in tougher parcours. If it's pure sprinter, then I think Cipo & Petacchi are the top 2, with McEwen right behind them. If it's the latter, then guys like Zabel, Friere, Thor, & Boonen deserve to be ranked higher.

 

[ak-zaaf]

good one, but difficult.

it's hard to compare since full-team lead-out trains only become a common thing during the '90s

and what is a sprinter? did tom boonen become world champ as a sprinter or as a classic specialist?


imo:

1. cipollini (the man, the legend)
2. van poppel
3. cavendish
4. abdoe
5. petacchi
6. zabel (i'd like to put him higher because of his amazing tour and san remo track-record, but i never thought he was the best sprinter at a certain time. he was more the ultimate pro with a good sprint)
7. steels
8. svorada
9. moncassin
10. blijlevens ;p

honorable mentions: ludwig, minali, mcewen, baldato, vanderaerden, hermans

probabl forgetting a couple of names here

 

[Carl0880]

I agree with most of your choices although I think Jalabert and Museeuw were more all-rounders than pure sprinters. Freire is more a sprinter rouleur, the type who wins on more difficult finishes or when all the pure sprinters have been eliminated. Jean-Paul Van Poppel is the one very obvious omission.
Cavendish is already up there after only a few seasons. The golden era for sprints over the last 25 years was 92-94 with Cipo, Abdou, Nelissen & Van Poppel going head to head at the Tour.

My Top 10

Cipollini
Zabel
Petacchi
McEwen
Cavendish
Abdujaparov
Van Poppel
Steels
Freire
Nelissen

As a pure sprinter, I think I would put Petacchi and McEwen ahead of Zabel. I know this sounds completely out there since Zabel won 9 green jerseys between the TDF and the Vuelta, but his greatness comes from the fact he was a Top 5 sprinter and one heck of a Classics rider also.

 

[Irish2009]

Kelly.....on other sprinter has won a Grand Tour have they?

 

[pmcg76]

Kelly.....on other sprinter has won a Grand Tour have they?

I think Freddy Maertens won the Vuelta in 1977, he was a sprinter. I feel Kelly was a top sprinter up until 84/85, then he became more of an all-rounder, how many mass sprints at major GTs did he win 85-94. His latter career is more similar to Jalabert/Museeuw/Boonen.

I also agree that I should have ranked McEwen, Petacchi above Zabel.

 

[uphillstruggle]

I would probably rank Boonen higher. But I guess it depends on whether you mean pure sprinter (as in the fastest kick the in last 300m)

Yeah I agree, what makes Boonen so good is his all round ability. Not many guys have the talent to win Flanders, Roubaix and the worlds in their career , let alone in one season. He may not be up there with the pure sprinters but should qualify for being a beast of a rider.

I think Cav will be considered the best sprinter of all time by the end of his career.

 

[Anonymous]

So my top ten:
1 Cipo <191 wins
2 Zabel <200+ wins
3 Cavendish (he will be no 1 soon!)
4 Kelly
5 McEwen
6 Petacchi
7 Freire
8 Abdu
9 Boonen
10 Steels

Id pretty much agree with that, but id have abdu a little higher.. probably above freire and petacchi...

But Cipo, Zabel Cav Id agree with.. there are some who will say its early days in his career, but the guy has dominated for two years.. how much more proof do you need..

anyone know how many wins cav now has.. i have it somewhere around 50

 

[Nick C.]

Cav's won 9 TDF sprints Cipo, Zabel and McEwen are all @ a dozen so by that measure he's already there. And has anyone ever gone undefeated in sprints before, though Cipo in '99 had Steels and Zabel. If I had to word it maybe I could have spearated out the two since we have bunch sprinters and classics riders, then there are climbers who can sprint, etc.

 

[fatandfast]

Jonas Carney and Roberto Gagiolli, right on the back of the 10 year window.lOts of wins between the 2.

 

[Anonymous]

Cav's won 9 TDF sprints Cipo, Zabel and McEwen are all @ a dozen so by that measure he's already there. And has anyone ever gone undefeated in sprints before, though Cipo in '99 had Steels and Zabel. If I had to word it maybe I could have spearated out the two since we have bunch sprinters and classics riders, then there are climbers who can sprint, etc.

really does put in perspective.. a year away from beating some of the greats...

there are those that will say cav has had it easy though and zabel, cippo etc had more competition..

 

[ergmonkey]

Cav's speed relative to his competition is unmatched. But, for me, it comes down to this: if there were a Broadway show involving nothing but Mario Cipollini sitting on a stool making imaginary victory salutes and spraying podium girls with champagne, I would buy my tickets on the internet tonight. I'm pretty sure my best friends would have their tickets, too, before I even had time to call and ask if they wanted to join me. When a Mark Cavendish interview comes on the television, I change the channel.

 

[Anonymous]

I remember when Malcolm Elliot was kicking everyone's tail when he was riding for Chevrolet-LA Sheriff. It was almost boring to watch a crit with him riding. He was killing it. I know that wasn't against European Pros, but it was still impressive to watch someone win when everyone in the race knew he would and could do nothing about it.

 

[Cobber]

Cav's won 9 TDF sprints Cipo, Zabel and McEwen are all @ a dozen so by that measure he's already there. And has anyone ever gone undefeated in sprints before, though Cipo in '99 had Steels and Zabel. If I had to word it maybe I could have spearated out the two since we have bunch sprinters and classics riders, then there are climbers who can sprint, etc.

Cipo did win 42 giro stages though!

He probably would have won a lot more tdF stages if he could ever get over the first week of mountains..

 

[Irish2009]

I think Freddy Maertens won the Vuelta in 1977, he was a sprinter. I feel Kelly was a top sprinter up until 84/85, then he became more of an all-rounder, how many mass sprints at major GTs did he win 85-94. His latter career is more similar to Jalabert/Museeuw/Boonen.

I also agree that I should have ranked McEwen, Petacchi above Zabel.

True Fast Freddie did but thats over 30years ago, True Kelly did lose his sprint around '85 but was much better than Jalabert/Museeuw/Boonen as regards Grand Tours. Surprised nobody mentioned some of my favourites :

Guido Bontempi
Eric Vanderaden
Jean-Paul Van Poppel

 

[md2020]

In terms of American sprinters, it's got to be Davis Phinney.

Worldwide the only name I haven't seen mentioned yet is Giuseppe Saronni.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Mcewen should still be ahead of Cav at the moment but if cav keeps winning then he will be moving. Intersting with Zabel, he wasn't the fastest sprinter out there but for the green jersey he was ever consistent and could win on harder stages in which guys like Petacchi, Mcewen or Boonen couldn't. To be homset this year in the sprints Cav had some major competition missing or having an off year. I would like guys like petacchi, boonen, mcewen and freire to come back to the tour being a lot stronger.

 

[Tugboat]

Cav's won 9 TDF sprints Cipo, Zabel and McEwen are all @ a dozen so by that measure he's already there. And has anyone ever gone undefeated in sprints before, though Cipo in '99 had Steels and Zabel. If I had to word it maybe I could have spearated out the two since we have bunch sprinters and classics riders, then there are climbers who can sprint, etc.

Are you suggesting that Cav is undefeated in sprints at the Tour??

How about stage 6 this year into Barcelona, sprint finish and Cav was 15th.

Last year, stage 2: sprint won by Hushovd and Cav was 27th and stage 14: sprint won by Freire and Cav was 108th after being dropped on the last climb and losing over 3 mins... one of only two categorised climbs in the stage both of which were cat 4 so not exactly hard.

He hasn't gone undefeated in a Tour yet.

 

[Anonymous]

I would like guys like petacchi, boonen, mcewen and freire to come back to the tour being a lot stronger.

they where there... along with several others, hushovd, ferrar, Ciolek etc...

im sure cippo raced against people whp had off days.. id still have cav 3rd

 

[Anonymous]

Are you suggesting that Cav is undefeated in sprints at the Tour??

How about stage 6 this year into Barcelona, sprint finish and Cav was 15th.

He hasn't gone undefeated in a Tour yet.

it wasnt a sprint finish...

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team 4:21:33
2 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
4 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram
5 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
6 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha
7 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre - NGC
8 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto
10 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank

thats an uphill finish ta... cippo wouldnt have won either... kelly probably

i would say in sprint stages this tour cav was as close to undefeated as anyone is ever going to get

 

[Tugboat]

Sorry I don't buy the "it wasn't a sprint finish" claim when the top 4 placings are all filled by recognised sprinters.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I don't buy the "it wasn't a sprint finish" claim when the top 4 placings are all filled by recognised sprinters.

ok, it wasnt a traditional sprint finish ie. flat, it was much more an all rounders finish.. i think it would have suited someone like kelly..