Greatest cyclist of all time?

[happytramp]

Armstrong shouldn't be on the list because he didn't win enough to warrant a place on the list, end of. If a soccer team quit playing domestic football and just played a few games a year and won the champions league every year it would just make them good at winning the champion's league.... not the best football team of all time.

 

[The Hitch]

Thought like others Armstrong should be on this list too at first. But you make a very good point. Cycling is much more than Armstrong. People need to realize that, and people should not associate the sport of cycling or all cyclists with Armstrong. Agree, he shouldn't be on the list.

well no it's the opposite. You include Armstrong to show that his acheivements were not as has often been claimed, suficient to make him Goat.

 

[TANK91]

I can't include Armstrong: He is a chief example, much more so than Indurain or others who have doped, of what cycling isn't, and shouldn't be. When I talk to people who are novices about cycling they always say 'what about the Armstrong fella?' That is all they know about cycling. Armstrong cheated!

Yeh and pretty much so did that list did they come out during their carear? no they did not, just like Armstrong. Any one that wins 7TDF a record bye the way(yes he did cross the line first) deserves to be on the list. His rival's were on energy bars though for sure bit of water you know.. Merckx for me.



I don't even like Lance but come on 7TDF the next is 5 that is some achievement.

 

[BroDeal]

I can't include Armstrong: He is a chief example, much more so than Indurain or others who have doped, of what cycling isn't, and shouldn't be. When I talk to people who are novices about cycling they always say 'what about the Armstrong fella?' That is all they know about cycling. Armstrong cheated!

It is settled then. LeMond is the greatest. None of the others can be included in the poll.

 

[TANK91]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBdypZ3ImHs

Armstrong imo does deserve to be in the poll.

Not only because its wrong to have Indurain and Kelly in there and not Armstrong.

But also because it reminds people that Armstrong was not the best cyclist ever, as was always claimed, not even close.

His 7 tours a FW and a worlds were enough to get him into the top 10.

But Eddy, Hinault, Coppi, Anquetil, Bartali and Indurain were all better. Contador will soon be making that list too.

Edit, and as GPdesAmeriques points out, Vos of course.

No doubt ill get hell for this but do you actually think Contador could be in the top10, what if he does not win another GT, and he needs some classics for me. I think if he wins another two TDF and a Giro he should be in , even a Tour and 2 Giro's he will go close. I just honestly cant see him winning another TDF, I think Froome is going to go back to back for a few years and then new generation take's over.

 

[TANK91]

Im shocked at the dude saying Kelly should not be on this list you must be kidding, he is not the best but he has far better palmares than Lemond imo 9 Monuments is now't to be sniffed at. The great all rounder of Cycling.

 

[TANK91]

No. I think you're underrating TDF, and overrating these week long races. All kinds of riders have won them. I'm not saying Kelly is one of them.
One more thing, Kelly's on the list, but Roche isn't... C'mon.

Your'e pathetic absoloute pathetic, you seem to love GT's so much that Cav is probably ahead of Kelly because he has won loads of GT stages. How can you hoestly say Kelly should not be on here without trolling?.

Edit: Honestly

 

[red_flanders]

This can't be serious can it?

500 wins in 1500 races. 500 wins. Think about that. Not placings. Wins.

 

[Zweistein]

I can understand your frustration. That sucks.

I am not writing this because I wanna argue that Armstrong Is a lovely guy. Everybody knows he did a lot of bad, but still he won the Tour 7 times... No matter how big a scumbag he is/was, that still means he have to be on the list..

How many times did he finish the Tour de France before hooking up with DR.FERRARI?

0

 

[42x16ss]

Poll options should be:

Merckx '69
Merckx '70
Merckx' 71
Merckx '72
Merckx '73
Merckx '74

Hinault
Coppi
Bartali
Anquetil

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Old school or no school

No school like the old school but Eddie M is still the freaking head master.

 

[ebandit]

%

75 % for fast eddy..........................how more one sided could a poll be?

2nd place is harder....... my heart goes for coppi but my head hinault

a member suggested that roche was comparable with kelly........................

........................as if

Mark L

 

[Contadoraus Schlecks]

I would like to have seen the results of a GT only pole. Indurain and Ullrich smashing TT's vs Pantani, Contador, Armstrong in the mountains

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Gonna go with Gino Bartali.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/page/latest-news/?id=84236#.UaXMtdIj120

Not just palmares is important.

 

[movingtarget]

The Cannibal
Hinault

 

[Cimber]

Wow 102 voted for Axel Merckx

 

[Echoes]

Poll options should be:

Merckx '69
Merckx '70
Merckx' 71
Merckx '72
Merckx '73
Merckx '74

His best season was 1975 ...


And Bartali is not underrated but OVERrated..

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Gonna go with Gino Bartali.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/page/latest-news/?id=84236#.UaXMtdIj120

Not just palmares is important.

Do we even have a complete view on what riders did off the bike?

Incorporating off bike behavior into the ranking strikes me as being a total lottery.

I would leave the character admiration stuff on the sideline and look at results, competition and how things were done in the critical races only.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

His best season was 1975 ...


And Bartali is not underrated but OVERrated..

Gino is more to with his action during the war.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Do we even have a complete view on what riders did off the bike?

Incorporating off bike behavior into the ranking strikes me as being a total lottery.

I would leave the character admiration stuff on the sideline and look at results, competition and how things were done in the critical races only.

Well, in my opinion, you can't totally neglect the achievements off bike. For instance, Bartali's Tour de France '48 victory allegedly saved Italy from a civil war, and surely this myth adds to the greatness of him as a cyclist.

There's a distinction between 'great' and 'good'. If we only look at results, you'd measure a rider on how 'good' he is, but if you take into account his feats off the bike and his social impact, you'd measure him on how 'great' he is. If we overlook factors like social impact and influence on the sport itself, the title of the thread should have been 'Best cyclist of all time?'.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Well, in my opinion, you can't totally neglect the achievements off bike. For instance, Bartali's Tour de France '48 victory allegedly saved Italy from a civil war, and surely this myth adds to the greatness of him as a cyclist.

There's a distinction between 'great' and 'good'. If we only look at results, you'd measure a rider on how 'good' he is, but if you take into account his feats off the bike and his social impact, you'd measure him on how 'great' he is. If we overlook factors like social impact and influence on the sport itself, the title of the thread should have been 'Best cyclist of all time?'.

so why on earth did you choose Coppi?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

so why on earth did you choose Coppi?

Why shouldn't I?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Why shouldn't I?

Just help me understand your rationale.

 

[Echoes]

Gino is more to with his action during the war.

It's a cycling forum. Not a WWII forum. Many cyclists were WWII heroes.

so why on earth did you choose Coppi?

He was a better rider. Ahead of his time with regards to training methods and dietetics. He influenced the further generations.

Already during the war he was much stronger Bartali.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Just help me understand your rationale.

As Echoes mentions, Coppi was the better cyclist of him and Bartali and he had a bigger influence on cycling. He was lightyears ahead of his times in regards to training, diet and mechanics.

His impact on the Italian society in the immidiate postwar era was - as in the case with Bartali - also great. Especially his victory in the 1946 Milano-Sanremo had a huge symbolic significance for the Italian people.

When he was later adopted by the Communists and promoted as a Communist hero, his impact on the society didn't decline. On the contrary, as the historian Simon Martin has argued,

"as important as Bartali’s immortalisation by the press was, it was the demonisation of his supposedly Communist rival Fausto Coppi that had arguably the greatest impact"

Additionally, his affair with la "dame bianca" and the subsequent trial even led to changes to the Italian civil Law.