Greatest rivalries!

[erader]

What's the rivalry there?

you don't remember? there was a reason that riis badmouthed ullrich all these years.

ed rader

 

[RedheadDane]

Jan van Buggenhout versus Father van Landeghem. Without doubt one of the biggest rivalries in Belgian {especially Flandrian- see earlier thread} cycling with far reaching consequences. I wouldn't mind betting most have never heard of the two invovled in the feud.

Was his name seriously Father?

/Spamout

 

[Echoes]

I'm rather interested in the whole story behind that.

Van Bug was van Steenbergen's, van Looy's and Merckx's manager.
But I don't know the other guy.

 

[Zerak-Tul]

Fanboys vs. Reality, a great rivalry in the cycling world

 

[Michielveedeebee]

And a one-day rivalry: Merckx - Pintens in Liège 1971. The day Merckx had cramps and Pintens came back from nowhere. Everyone thought he was the strongest but Eddy beat him in the sprint.

yup first day Eddy became human as a racer instead of a superman. He wheelsucked al the way to Liege just to win, he wasn't even proud of his victory

 

[Derrick]

Yes Dane his name was Father because he was a priest. Van Buggenhout had been a rider but turned his hand to race promotion and in a very short time had Belgium stitched up. As you will all know after the tour for about 6 weeks it was possible to ride every day, except Mondays. There were about 40 races and the majority were run by van Bug who was in effect Mr Ten Per Cent. However so the story goes he got greedy and organizers started to complain. Incidentally the start money for the stars was good, as much as £80 per race I understand {not being a star I can't vouch for that} but if you consider I was living full board for the equivalent of £7 per week you will understand it was nice work if you could get it. Anyway organizers complained that too much money was being siphoned off. Along came Father van Landeghem who offered to promote events in which all profits would go to the Church. This obviously appealed but all the riders were in hock to van Buggenhout which meant that Father van L. didn't have any riders. His early races didn't get any good riders because once you rode rode a van Landeghem event you would never ever be offered another ride in a van Buggenhout event which meant a serious reduction in income. However gradually more and more riders changed camps when they saw how much better they would be treated and the van Bug. monopoly was broken. A number of big riders lost a lot of money by going over to F.v.L but obviously thought it was worth it. I think Vin Denson summed the situation up in his book "The Full Cycle" when he said that he doubted there were many crying at van Buggenhout's funeral.

 

[RedheadDane]

But was he Baptized Father

I should really stop asking spammily questions...

 

[Anonymous]

Abdoujaparov and barriers

 

[El Imbatido]

I can't believe no one has said:

Lemond vs Trek

 

[hfer07]

ASO vs UCI

 

[Inner Peace]

As an aussie, a noticable one is...

Evans

versus

Spain

(Contador, Sastre, Valverde and S.Sanchez all finishing agonisingly close ahead of him getting a maiden GT win - oh and the neutral service guys were spanish right?)

 

[Inner Peace]

Chris Boardman vs The Hour Record

(The Hour Record is so special that I believe it should be capitalised)

A couple of silly ones:

EPO vs Blood doping

Ullrich vs Black Forest Cake

Armstrong vs The French (sorry, a VERY silly one)

Single speed/fixed gear bikes vs contemporary wisdom

Skateboarders (legends) vs Rollerbladers (losers)

Steel vs Carbon

Australia vs England (or UK, whatever)

Barefoot running vs running with shoes

and finally,

Cyclingnews.com VS velonation.com (velonews aint even worth considering)

 

[Magnus]

you don't remember? there was a reason that riis badmouthed ullrich all these years.

ed rader

As I remember Ullrich helped Riis win TdF in 96 and Riis helped Ullrich win in 97. I don't remember the badmouthing allthough he did say at some point that Ullrich wasn't getting the right coaching (Riis even wanted him for CSC in 2004).

 

[RedheadDane]

Sprinters vs Mountains

 

[Echoes]

Thanks Derrick for this interesting story.
Nice to have stories from inside the peloton of the sixties/seventies.

 

[RedheadDane]

Riis vs his 97 TT bike
Chicken vs the 2005 penultimate stage ITT
Riders vs spectactors (sometimes...)

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Flecha vs Antler man.

 

[RedheadDane]

From last year's Tour

Riis vs French motorcycle camera man
Jørgen Leth vs French press (he was not amused about how the French press hardly mentioned Nicki's stagewin...)
Riders vs wind
Riders vs radioban
Mount Ventoux stage vs forest fire
Voigt vs neutral service car
Tour officials vs national antem
Nicki Sørensen vs proper English "Gone up for me"

I should stop... this is getting really silly...

 

[Carl0880]

Actually one that is wasn't mentioned currently would be Cancellara and Boonen. They have taken 5 of the last 6 Paris-Roubaix (The other one won by Canc teammate). won 3 of the past 6 Rvv, etc.

Its hard to find recent rivalries because not many have long term or you have a great in his last years against a soon to be great in his early years.

The other rivarly i can think of in the early 2000s was Mueseew vs Van Petegem. Both cobbled specialist, both on rival Belgian teams.

Zabel and fill in the blank Australian for the Green Jersey were interesting battles from 98-03.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

yeah but this season was the first time, where the cobbles seemed like a two man show.

It certainly had a 'spartacus V boonen' feeling all spring.
That being said though, previous seasons have been very open, and not such a two man show.

Potentially you could see a rivalry forming though... maybe not but, considering Fab's ambitions.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Fränk Schleck vs Descending
Ignatjev vs succesfull attacks

 

[RedheadDane]

Fränk Schleck vs Descending

You doooon't say...

Well...

Schlecks vs Time Trial!

 

[Escarabajo]

Colombians versus flat roads. Even worse when you put the wind in it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Soler versus crashes.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

cadel evans vs. cadel evans.