Great finishes

[Susan Westemeyer]

The finish in today's Milano-Sanremo was absolutely incredible. Seeing Haussler go unexpectedly for what looked like a certain win, and then the Manxman cannonballing his way up to catch him right on the line -- that one will go down in history!

What other thrilling finishes do you remember? Which one impressed you the most?

One of my favourite was another one where Cavendish took it at the last second. The Scheldeprijs last year. Boone was sure he had won and even started to celebrate -- only to have Cav take it at the last second.

 

[Belokki]

Kind of reminds me of Lance's 2004 Tour de France win at stage 17 where he beat Kloden on the line

 

[Stani Kléber]

He's such a dominant sprinter. I've seen riders like Cipollini, Van Poppel or Maertens better than their peers but Cavendish is on a level above his rivals.

 

[lookkg386]

He is pure acceleration!, those last 50 metres were awesome!

 

[Anonymous]

Kind of reminds me of Lance's 2004 Tour de France win at stage 17 where he beat Kloden on the line

Kind of reminds me of nothing One Ball ever did.

 

[Anonymous]

He's such a dominant sprinter. I've seen riders like Cipollini, Van Poppel or Maertens better than their peers but Cavendish is on a level above his rivals.

He is great, but lets not go calling him the greatest ever. He has a way to go before he can be compared to Cipo. He may very well get there, but you either forget what Cipo used to do to his rivals, or you just didn't see it. Cav will never be as fabulous (in that Italian flashy way) as was Cipo. My favorite Cipo quote (probably 96 or so), "not only am I the fastest man in the peloton, but I am also the best looking." close second "I have a room where I keep all of my beautiful things." You just can't teach that kind of flair.

 

[Mellow Velo]

How about this race?
Oscar Friere "doing" Cav's new "mentor", EZ, just as he's celebrating yet another Primavera.....

 

[BroDeal]

What other thrilling finishes do you remember? Which one impressed you the most?

Virenque winning Paris-Tours would be up there.

 

[ak-zaaf]

ballan > hoste in vlaanderen

bettini winning wc after kolobnev seemed sure

 

[180mmCrank]

Nicole Cooke in Beijing was best in recent times for me! (Had me shouting at the TV anyway)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Zabel versus Freire, when Zabel already thought he won.
And another time Freire when he won MSR very easily, those were some impressive finishes.

Boogerd versus Armstrong in the Amstel Gold Race 99 was pretty close. Dekker versus Bortolami in the Tour of Flanders 01 was very close as well.
Weening versus Kl?den in de Tour de France 2004 ...

Yeah I'm biased, so these stuck in my memory

 

[Belokki]

Kind of reminds me of nothing One Ball ever did.

you're just jelouse cuz you're a virgin...loser

 

[karlboss]

Vino taking the final stage of the tour. I'm partial to anyone who can go short and spoil a sprint and the more the sprinters want it the more i love it

 

[bianchigirl]

Hinault winning on the Champs Elysees in the Maillot Jaune just because he could.

Aren't we forgetting Kelly dropping off the Poggio like a stone to win M-SR? Still the greatest finish to that race.

 

[Daniel Benson]

Bartoli versus Jalabert and Zulle at the end of LBL in '97. Classy finish and too much filling for the ONCE sandwich.

 

[elapid]

Fabian Cancellara - Stage 3 of the 2007 TdF; strong man holding off the sprinters in spectacular fashion.

Robbie McEwen - Stage 5 of the 2005 TdF; his reaction directed at the race officials after being relegated in Stage 3 made this win memorable.

Robbie McEwen - Stage 6 of the 2006 TdF; again, Robbie's "running man" makes this win memorable.

 

[Bartoli]

Bugno beating Museeuw in De Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1994.

Miki Bartoli winning the Amstel in 2002, first important win in years after all those injuries and that close finish with Ivanov, it had me screaming lol.

Erik Dekker winning Paris-Tours 2004, finishing after a whole day in front

 

[Notso Swift]

He is great, but lets not go calling him the greatest ever. He has a way to go before he can be compared to Cipo. He may very well get there, but you either forget what Cipo used to do to his rivals, or you just didn't see it. Cav will never be as fabulous (in that Italian flashy way) as was Cipo. My favorite Cipo quote (probably 96 or so), "not only am I the fastest man in the peloton, but I am also the best looking." close second "I have a room where I keep all of my beautiful things." You just can't teach that kind of flair.

Or at every Tour where there is the first bump in the road (ie non sprinters stage) he would pull over and get of his bike like he had been shot and was in so much pain that no mere mortal could comprehend, all the while in his Green jersey with green shorts, and shoes and bike, (that he had just paid a 1000 SFr fine for because it was illegal not to wear team kits back then.)
That is indeed a style that a bloke from a little island of the side of another little island could never hope to have!

 

[180mmCrank]

Simpson outwitting Defilippis

My favourite finishing story is of another great british cyclist - Tom Simpson - who also won Milan San Remo (1964).

Simpson had his first Classic win at the Tour of Flanders (1961) when he beat Italian Nino Defilippis - a much stronger sprinter than Simpson. Simpson new the Italian was stronger so approaching the finish he pretended to sprint all out for the line but then let his speed drop off as if he was spent and as Defilippis made his effort, passed Simpson and eased off to salute the crowd - Simpson crossed behind on to his blind side and with an all out effort nipped him on the line by inches! Not sure you would see that kind of thing today.

(Pre-youtube but you can read a better account of this in his biography - put me back on my bike by william Fotheringham)

 

[tifosa]

5th of June, 1988
Stage 17
Giro d'Italia
Passo Gavia
unpaved road
16%
snowstorm
Andy Hampsten
truly an epic victory
beat that Lance Armstrong.

 

[Halvor]

2008 Tour de France, Stage 11, Kurt-Asle Arvesens victory. This stage win was important for the Norwegians, just look here! Remember to turn the volum up

 

[Tapeworm]

Cancellera, Milano-SanRemo 08. TTs his way to the line... ON THE HOODS.

Take that sprinter types

In all seriousness a great move by a great cyclist.

 

[Anonymous]

Vino taking the final stage of the tour. I'm partial to anyone who can go short and spoil a sprint and the more the sprinters want it the more i love it

that was amazing...

i had been at work at we had taped it but he missus (who was a massive vino fan) had already seen it...

under 1k she was telling me how much i was going to love the finish, and as vino went for it shes screaming "your going to love this"... my brain was trying to work out why i would love it cos i could not imagine vino was going to take the win.. i was baffled as to why she was screaming, and then it all made sense.. stunning victory..

say what you like about drugs etc, that one was down to guts, tactics, and sheer class.. drugs or whathaveyou had nothing to do with it..

but roche v delgado on la plagne still does it for me...

then again.. the time trial in paris.. 7 seconds and all that...

this is too hard..

oooh .. robert millar, 1983 tour winning in his first tour in Bagneres de Luchon

 

[ingsve]

One of my personal favourites is Hushovd victory in the 2002 Tour.

He was in the break away and came to the finish with Christophe Mengin and Jakob Piil. Piil is about to start the sprint with 250 meters to go but pulls his foot out of the pedal which leaves Hushovd and Mengin to fight it out and Hushovd takes it by an inch or two for his first Tour stage win.

 

[benpounder]

What other thrilling finishes do you remember? Which one impressed you the most?

How about Tylers win in this year's T-A in front of Cav, Boonen, Hushovd, McEwen, O'Grady, & Pettachi?