Best TTers past or present?

[Mr. Gipsy]

Anquetil was the ultimate time trialer! Period.
By the way, the list of riders in the poll should include Hinault, Maertens, Moser and Kneteman.

 

[webbie146]

What a great post - thanks!
Tough (impossible?) to tell when Lance was at his strongest in the TT.
He was strong from early on until the end of his career.
Heck, he is still world class as a 40 year old retiree lol.

If I may, can I add Lance as a 15 year old kicking ****?
http://youtu.be/sFkAhs4vAsk

And also as a beast riding the TTT:
http://youtu.be/sZQ2K-0FugQ

It is absolutely hard to argue against Lance being the strongest TTer of all time.
Wasn't there an ITT that Big Mig rode in his prime that Lance later rode faster in his own prime? Same course, Lance faster?

Yea now I think about it he actually did got 4 place in the tdf 10 prologue. Only Fabian and martin and Millar where faster..

1. CANCELLARA Fabian 13 TEAM SAXO BANK 10′ 00″
2. MARTIN Tony 115 TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA 10′ 10″ + 00′ 10″
3. MILLAR David 57 GARMIN – TRANSITIONS 10′ 20″ + 00′ 20″
4. ARMSTRONG Lance 21 TEAM RADIOSHACK 10′ 22″ + 00′ 22″

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk173uafnVE

His form looked pretty amazing. Sucks that he crashed just before the big climb and lost so much time..

Anyway Lance was always good in the prologue. The 2002 prologue was impressive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DHn0Iyzpz0

same for final time trials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTwywRtRCq4

Nice videos you posted btw, and yea Lance was always the big engine in the TTT. The whole USPS/discovery squad was always amazing too in the TTT.

I think it was more of an actual time trial due to the length, but he didnt win that one I think jan was well below form that day(he did crash through teh back window of a car the :S), but if i remember right zabriske set the record for fastest average speed and armstrong unclipped his foot from the pedal by accident straight after leaving the start ramp, not sure if he would have one if it wasnt for that.... errr so I dont think that was his best one because he didnt win it, very impressive and depressing to see the battle for the yellow jersey end on day one though..

Yea lance unclipped his foot from the pedal at the start and lost like 2/3 seconds because of this. In the end zabriskie was 2 seconds faster.

 

[The Hitch]

Yea now I think about it he actually did got 4 place in the tdf 10 prologue

It was very impressive no doubt, but it was pouring rain for the majority of the day. All the best times came either at the very beginning before the rain, which is when Tony Martin went, or after the sun had come back and dried up the road, the last 10 riders or so, which is when Lance Cancellara and Contador went.

 

[c&cfan]

It was very impressive no doubt, but it was pouring rain for the majority of the day. All the best times came either at the very beginning before the rain, which is when Tony Martin went, or after the sun had come back and dried up the road, the last 10 riders or so, which is when Lance Cancellara and Contador went.

silly justification. it was amazing. in fact, i was scared about the idea of kloden, horner, levi and lance destroying the field in the first road bump. having said that, it would've been awesome.

 

[webbie146]

It was very impressive no doubt, but it was pouring rain for the majority of the day. All the best times came either at the very beginning before the rain, which is when Tony Martin went, or after the sun had come back and dried up the road, the last 10 riders or so, which is when Lance Cancellara and Contador went.

Yea i remember that, still it was awesome to see.. After that ITT i thought Lance would ride top 3 for sure. Also considering his third place in the tour of Luxembourg and second place in the tour of Suisse.

 

[UncleChainwhip]

Gottta go with Maitre Jacques!.......I recall a coffeeshop conversation in Utah from nearly 30 years ago with a french professional contemporary of his. Though he held him in the highest regard, Jacques true talent was this--- Anquetil had the reputation of being able to tolerate more "enhancement' than ANYONE. Response to any drug is variable among the population, a reason some drugs are even banned in the first place. Please review any of the limited TT footage of Anquetil in motion and anyone would be convinced of his unique physiology. He was truly THE BOMB not to mention a bon vivante during the season.

Lance failed to podium in 3 US National Championships TT's despite better preparation and equipment than almost everyone....never believed the Euro results, sorry Tex

 

[Descender]

OK nothing concrete but an article from the most reliable source on earth, namely Wikipedia, the author of the article being really competent since he argued that Merckx transferred to Molteni that year while had raced for Molteni since 1971. Merckx had offers from Vuelta organizers in 1971, for the 1972 edition, already (he refused because angry French journalists wanted a revenge at Bore de France and since he gave Ocaña his chance, he was released from all obligations and free the make his 1973 calendar as he wished). And the Vuelta was moneymaking too.

Source?

___

 

[Echoes]

Eddy Merckx - Mes carnets de route de la saison 1972 ( I could have mentioned the 1973 diary but it has no credibility in this issue).

Theo Mathy - Eddy Merckx, l'épopée

 

[El Pistolero]

Source?

___

I saw it in a Merckx interview once, so it's true. About wanting to ride the Vuelta in '72 at least, but rode the Tour instead because of pesky journalists.

 

[hfer07]

Can anybody explain to me how is possible not to include Bernard Hinault on the poll-whose dominance in the ITT gave him many GT's victories-& for the record-he's currently the holder of most ITT wins in the Tour with 20 in total(including Prologues).......and yet Michael Rogers makes the list? I mean....Michael Rogers?

this poll is absolutely BS

 

[UncleChainwhip]

You know we love the Badg, but the fact that he never raced outside of France for years screams "chicken" and 'i don't wanna get busted". He could grind his teeth and taste blood during effort with the best of them. If only Lemond would come clean and reveal the truth of the Wonder team---whata stud club, no? Lemond greatest accomplishment?......never got busted! (only equaled by Lance)

J.A. had the diamond physique, imagine fully developed w today's equipment, training methods and pharmacy.........woulda been like a motorcycle I'm tellin ya.....

Yeah, expand the poll, I can't get enough of this.
We might even learn something.

 

[andy1234]

Can anybody explain to me how is possible not to include Bernard Hinault on the poll-whose dominance in the ITT gave him many GT's victories-& for the record-he's currently the holder of most ITT wins in the Tour with 20 in total(including Prologues).......and yet Michael Rogers makes the list? I mean....Michael Rogers?

this poll is absolutely BS

+1
Hinault should be in anyone's top 3.

 

[Le breton]

You know we love the Badg, but the fact that he never raced outside of France for years screams "chicken" .........

I challenge you to go tell him that to his face on the podium in the TdF. If not, you'll have to accept to be called chicken (but not the rasmussen kind).

Of course listing just all his VICTORIES outside of France would take me half an hour at least. Why dont you glance at wikipedia it could save you from ridicule.

 

[UncleChainwhip]

Certainly am wrong, as usual. Just continuing the flavor of that period. Hinault was so feared that the prevalent rumor was that he had French testers 'in his pocket'. To bolster this idea was that he raced largely in France. Truth was he was on a French team and the racing was more national then.
The same gist occurs with Jeanne Lon'gonads' in the present day. She had some good runs here in the States on road & track before finally getting busted for ephedrine during an Hour record. Still spanked Colorado pros last year in Durango!
Apology again,
stay friendly Les Bretons

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Tony Martin the coming years

 

[Le breton]

Certainly am wrong, as usual. Just continuing the flavor of that period. Hinault was so feared that the prevalent rumor was that he had French testers 'in his pocket'. To bolster this idea was that he raced largely in France. Truth was he was on a French team and the racing was more national then.
The same gist occurs with Jeanne Lon'gonads' in the present day. She had some good runs here in the States on road & track before finally getting busted for ephedrine during an Hour record. Still spanked Colorado pros last year in Durango!
Apology again,
stay friendly Les Bretons

Hinault's position on doping has never been very clear. Testing in his days was not always done in a very professional manner and positives were often quite suspicious. Examples : Merckx "positive" tests in Italy, Longo positive in Colorado for ephedrine - which you mention. Many nationalistic undertones.

Hinault's position (and many other pros) seems to have been that testing on the occasion of TdF criteriums should have been off limit : "we do one, sometimes two, races a day, no time to sleep and rest, don't come and bother us for just a bit of amphetamines".

In those days truckdrivers - for example - didn't have today's stringent restrictions on dayly rest and driving times, so that they were driving incredible number of hours when "necessary" and took maxiton (amphetamine) to stay awake. So, why should it be a big deal for cyclists at the time in the cycling season when they were reaping the profits of their TdF exploits?

As you imply, most of the interesting races in Hinault's time were in France and Belgium. Little incentive to go to other countries, but from the little I know of him, seeing how he relished racing in Colorado, he would have loved to race in Australia, Qatar, Japan, you name it...

 

[hfer07]

Certainly am wrong, as usual. Just continuing the flavor of that period. Hinault was so feared that the prevalent rumor was that he had French testers 'in his pocket'. To bolster this idea was that he raced largely in France. Truth was he was on a French team and the racing was more national then.
The same gist occurs with Jeanne Lon'gonads' in the present day. She had some good runs here in the States on road & track before finally getting busted for ephedrine during an Hour record. Still spanked Colorado pros last year in Durango!
Apology again,
stay friendly Les Bretons

 

[Le breton]

Certainly am wrong, as usual. ...............

Apology again,
stay friendly Les Bretons

Forgot to add : no need to apologize.

 

[AngusW]

Can anybody explain to me how is possible not to include Bernard Hinault on the poll-whose dominance in the ITT gave him many GT's victories-& for the record-he's currently the holder of most ITT wins in the Tour with 20 in total(including Prologues).......and yet Michael Rogers makes the list? I mean....Michael Rogers?

this poll is absolutely BS

I believe that the explanation for this is that the OP knows about some famous cyclists in the past (eg, Merckx, Anquetil, Coppi and Indurain) but has not made any attempt to find out exactly what races Bernard Hinault won and has therefore dismissed Hinault as a serious candidate for the title of best TTer past or present. However, the OP has heard of Michael Rogers who is chiefly famous for winning 3 world time trial championships in a row, plus winning the Tour of California, the Tour of Belgium and the Tour of Germany (and the Tour down Under and the Route du Sud).

I agree that leaving Hinault out of the list of candidates in the poll is a serious omission and he should make the top 3 at least. Each of the other riders in the poll has won at least 3 Tour time trials except for Michael Rogers.

 

[hiero2]

As a matter of fact, basing my decision on the number of years holding the hour record, and discounting the break that resulted from WW1 (but not 2, as Coppi set his record in 44).

I like the following:
Coppi - 14 years
Merckx - 7 years
Frank Dodds - 17 years, but discounted because he set the record in 1876, and cycling was only in its infancy.
Roger Riviere - 10 years, but what else did he ever win? Career ended early due to injury. So, good, but not enough time to be the all-time greatest.

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

 

[auscyclefan94]

It is hard to say when I have only seen Armstrong, Rogers, Cancellara and Ullrich race.

 

[Sanitiser]

Anquetil. Considering he just wanted to 'win' i.e. '"It was eleven more than neccessary." -- Jacques Anquetil, after winning a race by twelve seconds' and never really pushed himself to the limit but still dominated he was probably a lot faster than he let on.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

As a matter of fact, basing my decision on the number of years holding the hour record, and discounting the break that resulted from WW1 (but not 2, as Coppi set his record in 44).

I like the following:
Coppi - 14 years
Merckx - 7 years
Frank Dodds - 17 years, but discounted because he set the record in 1876, and cycling was only in its infancy.
Roger Riviere - 10 years, but what else did he ever win? Career ended early due to injury. So, good, but not enough time to be the all-time greatest.

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

Rivière was an incredible talented time trialist, but as you mention, his carreer was ruined because of the Tour crash in 1960.

In the 1959 Tour he beat Anquetil on the two flat time trials and he was very good on the track also, winning multiple world championships as well as setting various records including the hour record which was very prestigious back then.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Everybody on his bet day.
Ullrich, not even close.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Everybody on his bet day.
Ullrich, not even close.

I like Jan Ullrich but this in nonsense.