Favorite quotes from the peloton

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"To prepare for a race there is nothing better than a good pheasant, some champagne and a woman."

-Jacques Anquetil

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Sh!t, wrong section.

 

[Greg Johnson]

Sh!t, wrong section.

Shall I consider that a request to move it?

No worries mate, it's a good topic, so I'll bump it over to road...

Cheers
Greg Johnson

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Yes, this is good here. And if you could remove these unnecessary posts to clean it up, that would be super.

Thanks,

Roger

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

A quote from another Theo.....

Dutchman Theo de Rooy is sitting in the Panasonic team car after abandoning the 1985 Paris-Roubaix. He's covered in mud after spending a major portion of the race on the front, escaping in the Arenberg
Forest. He's interviewed by American reporter John Tesh of CBS
Sports...

de Rooy: “It’s a pile of sh!t, this race, it’s a whole pile of sh!t … you’re working like an animal, you don’t have the time to p!ss and you wet your pants … you’re riding in mud like this and you’re slipping and … it’s a pile of sh!t, you must clean yourself otherwise you will go mad …”

Tesh: "Willl you ever ride it again?"

de Rooy, not hesitating for a second: "Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!"

Theo realizes the absurdity of his remark and breaks out in a maniacal cackle which turns into a hacking cough and he's driven off to the showers.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"Don't buy upgrades; ride up grades."

- Eddy Merckx

 

[pmcg76]

Taken from Winning magazine 1996, season preview issue, interview by the late Rich Carlson. Guess who.

RC: Do you think you could win the Tour some day?

No, probably not. Im happy with my progress; it was a good feeling just to finish the race(1995)This year I was looking at a 3 week schedule and taking it one week at a time. Thats the way I think a "survivor" but I dont think thats how a champion looks at the race.

Later on, same interview...

RC: 10 years ago, several American riders, Greg, Andy, Davis, Ron were winning races in Europe. Now it seem you are the only one. Are you surprised there arent more world class US riders?

Maybe a little, I would like to see more US riders doing well but this is a different sport than 10 years ago. Its just so hard to win races now. Not that it was easy them, but its a different game now

Finally, from an interview with L'Equipe in 1999
L'Equipe: Does cycling still have a drugs problem?

I have no idea, there is none in my team. And none in any of the teams I have raced with. The Festina affair was a huge surprise.

 

[mr. tibbs]

It's from an interview with Merckx. the interviewer had just asked if winning and riding ahd gotten any easier for Merckx throughout the years, and he said somethign along the lines of:

"It never gets any easier, you just go faster."

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"Jacques simply tries harder than anyone I have met. In a time trial you can hear him catching you, you don't have to look round, there is this hoarse sound of breath being drawn in gulps, and then he's past you. Then it's like being in a thunderstorm, with the sweat simply pouring off him as he goes by."

-Tom Simpson on Jacques Anquetil

 

[franciep10]

"First week you feel good, the second week you lose strength. Third week, ****ed." — Per Pedersen, on the Tour de France

 

[franciep10]

"If you brake, you don't win." Mario Cipollini

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"I race to win, not to please people."
~Bernard Hinault

 

[bikingbadger]

Who needs them

"If you brake, you don't win." Mario Cipollini

Damn right!!!!

 

[laurentiu46]

"Big mistake.You never give away the Ventoux!" Eddy Merckx to Lance Armstrong in 2000,after LA gives the stage win atop Mont Ventoux to Marco Pantani

PS:Lance never won there,but maybe this is the lucky year. He will have two occasions,as Mont Ventoux also features in the Dauphine.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"I won! I won! I don't have to go to school anymore."

~Eddy Merckx, after winning his first bike race

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

“Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.”

~Fausto Coppi

 

[quadsRme]

"Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike"

-Fausto Coppi (when a reporter asked him what it
takes to become such a great champion

 

[quadsRme]

"It was eleven more than necessary."

-Jacques Anquetil (after winning a race by twelve
seconds."

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

This is taken from 'Bobke II' by Bob Roll

From One Heli TOur, a tale from stage 17 of the 1986 Tour de France. Greg Lemond kicked Hinault's @ss on the Col de Granon and the only way to get the riders down was by helicopter:

...I got to the steps to board and nearly froze. From outside in the bright sun, I couldn't see into the helicopter...

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the 'copter, I saw that none other than Andrew Hampsten was seated directly across from me. "Whoa, Drew baby!" I practically jumped up at seeing a fellow American. "Andy, you slayed today," I exclaimed in glee. "Did you see LeMond crush these frog dweebs?" I asked.

Andy just kind of nodded, all subdued. As my eyes adjusted further, right next to Andy sat Greg LeMond, gloriously clad in yellow. "Whoa!!" I jumped up for real and grabbed Le Mond by the shoulders, shaking him and screaming, "Greg, you beast! You got the yellow jersey man! You're going to massacre these Philistines." I sat down and said, "I was climbin' with Hinault, and all the Frenchies were p!ssed that you dropped his sorry @ss."

Just then, my eyes fully adjusted to the darkness and there sat Bernard Hinault himself. Oops. I could've crawled under my seat. "Hey Bernie, what's up?" was about all I could mumble. To make matters worse, the owner of the La Vie Claire team and one of France's biggest industrialists, Bernard Tapie, was sitting right next to Hinault. Tapie's script for Hinault to win his sixth Tour de France was about to be rewritten by LeMond.

The door was closed and copter blades started to howl. I looked straight at the drab olive wall and saw stenciled there in big white military letters, "Made in the USA." "All right, Tapie," I screamed, "you see this (pointing to the sign)? Made in the USA. Baby, everything is gonna be fine."

Tapie was not amused, but Greg, Andy, and me all started cracking up. Even Hinault cracked a little smile. We took off in a cloud of dust and the rest, as they say, was cycling history.

 

[quadsRme]

This is taken from 'Bobke II' by Bob Roll

From One Heli TOur, a tale from stage 17 of the 1986 Tour de France. Greg Lemond kicked Hinault's @ss on the Col de Granon and the only way to get the riders down was by helicopter:

...I got to the steps to board and nearly froze. From outside in the bright sun, I couldn't see into the helicopter...

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the 'copter, I saw that none other than Andrew Hampsten was seated directly across from me. "Whoa, Drew baby!" I practically jumped up at seeing a fellow American. "Andy, you slayed today," I exclaimed in glee. "Did you see LeMond crush these frog dweebs?" I asked.

Andy just kind of nodded, all subdued. As my eyes adjusted further, right next to Andy sat Greg LeMond, gloriously clad in yellow. "Whoa!!" I jumped up for real and grabbed Le Mond by the shoulders, shaking him and screaming, "Greg, you beast! You got the yellow jersey man! You're going to massacre these Philistines." I sat down and said, "I was climbin' with Hinault, and all the Frenchies were p!ssed that you dropped his sorry @ss."

Just then, my eyes fully adjusted to the darkness and there sat Bernard Hinault himself. Oops. I could've crawled under my seat. "Hey Bernie, what's up?" was about all I could mumble. To make matters worse, the owner of the La Vie Claire team and one of France's biggest industrialists, Bernard Tapie, was sitting right next to Hinault. Tapie's script for Hinault to win his sixth Tour de France was about to be rewritten by LeMond.

The door was closed and copter blades started to howl. I looked straight at the drab olive wall and saw stenciled there in big white military letters, "Made in the USA." "All right, Tapie," I screamed, "you see this (pointing to the sign)? Made in the USA. Baby, everything is gonna be fine."

Tapie was not amused, but Greg, Andy, and me all started cracking up. Even Hinault cracked a little smile. We took off in a cloud of dust and the rest, as they say, was cycling history.

Bobke--he is hilarious!! I love'm!

 

[davidolle]

"The bicycle riders drank much wine, and were burned and browned by the sun. They did not take the race seriously except among themselves." -- Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

 

[tashimi76]

"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that?" Jen Voigt

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UncELpyKQLU

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

This is taken from 'Bobke II' by Bob Roll

From One Heli TOur, a tale from stage 17 of the 1986 Tour de France. Greg Lemond kicked Hinault's @ss on the Col de Granon and the only way to get the riders down was by helicopter:

...I got to the steps to board and nearly froze. From outside in the bright sun, I couldn't see into the helicopter...

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the 'copter, I saw that none other than Andrew Hampsten was seated directly across from me. "Whoa, Drew baby!" I practically jumped up at seeing a fellow American. "Andy, you slayed today," I exclaimed in glee. "Did you see LeMond crush these frog dweebs?" I asked.

Andy just kind of nodded, all subdued. As my eyes adjusted further, right next to Andy sat Greg LeMond, gloriously clad in yellow. "Whoa!!" I jumped up for real and grabbed Le Mond by the shoulders, shaking him and screaming, "Greg, you beast! You got the yellow jersey man! You're going to massacre these Philistines." I sat down and said, "I was climbin' with Hinault, and all the Frenchies were p!ssed that you dropped his sorry @ss."

Just then, my eyes fully adjusted to the darkness and there sat Bernard Hinault himself. Oops. I could've crawled under my seat. "Hey Bernie, what's up?" was about all I could mumble. To make matters worse, the owner of the La Vie Claire team and one of France's biggest industrialists, Bernard Tapie, was sitting right next to Hinault. Tapie's script for Hinault to win his sixth Tour de France was about to be rewritten by LeMond.

The door was closed and copter blades started to howl. I looked straight at the drab olive wall and saw stenciled there in big white military letters, "Made in the USA." "All right, Tapie," I screamed, "you see this (pointing to the sign)? Made in the USA. Baby, everything is gonna be fine."

Tapie was not amused, but Greg, Andy, and me all started cracking up. Even Hinault cracked a little smile. We took off in a cloud of dust and the rest, as they say, was cycling history.

I remember first reading this passage and deciding then and there that I have no respect for Bob Roll. He's persuaded a whole generation of American cycling fans that the French hated Lemond like they hate Armstrong.

 

[Argon Man]

Put me back on my bike!
Don't know if he actually said it or not but hey, Tom Simpson.

 

[180mmCrank]

Put me back on my bike!
Don't know if he actually said it or not but hey, Tom Simpson.

This is the stand out quote for me.

I think the quote itself is fabricated but it still captures everything that is good and bad about the all consuming passion it takes to ride a bike at that level.

And for those few that may not know:Tom Simpson (30 November 1937–13 July 1967) was an English road racing cyclist who died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967. The post mortem found that he had taken amphetamines and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and a stomach complaint. It was reported at the time that his final words were - "Put me back on my bike!"