It may be a stretch to call Tour de Pologne Szurkowski's home Tour. Its prestige during the communist era in Poland was not very high. Peace Race was by far number 1 goal race for top Polish riders at the time.
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"Don't feel so sad Alberto. When I'm retired I'll make you a kind offer to ride around to my place and check out my trophy cabinet."
Richie Porte, probably.
In the best part of his career he used the Giro only as Tour preparation...
Cunego, after winning the Giro at 22, would never podium it or win a stage at that race again
Oh Maertens. Possibly the highest level of dominance I have ever seen. Vuelta 1977. He won 13 of the 19 stages. My mind still boggles, and I remember it.
And then 7 stages in the first half of the Giro that started a week later. Then he crashed out and never became the same again.
I don´t think we have seen a GT with an easier route ever since. 11 flat stages ending in a mass sprint (9 stage wins for Petacchi). Prologue and one long (52km) TT. Three relatively easy mountain finishes. One reasonable hard mountain stage. A bunch of classic like hilly/medium mountain stages.
A top 10 that featured top climbers like Bradley McGee.
I’m trying to see what you see, but every time I hit replay, it shows the same thing over and over again
Not having Aru - Giro on there as I don't think he was ever good enough to deserve to win it. The only rider this decade or so with a palmares inferior to Aru to win the Giro is Ryder Hesjedal which was a true stars aligning one off event. Contador, Nibali, Froome, Quintana have all won multiple GTs and Dumoulin also has an overall better GT record than Aru.
Wow that is insane. 20 Grand Tour stage wins in less than 6 calendar weeks when that total is beyond all but an elite tier of riders for their entire careers!
If you add the TdF from a year earlier to that then between 1976 Tour and 1977 Giro, Maertens won 28 out of 60 Grand Tour stages that he entered before abandoning the Giro due to injury on stage 8b. Total domination, yet no monuments.
Anselmo Fuerte has six 2nd place finishes in grand tour stages (3 Vuelta, 3 Tour) but no wins.
Sean Kelly, Erik Zabel and Peter Sagan have 17 green jersey wins between them but have never won the Champs Elysees stage. I counted nine 2nd places between them (Zabel 4, Kelly 3, Sagan 2). Each has won the penultimate flat stage of the Tour at some point but could never do it on the last.
Sean Kelly, Erik Zabel and Peter Sagan have 17 green jersey wins between them but have never won the Champs Elysees stage. I counted nine 2nd places between them (Zabel 4, Kelly 3, Sagan 2). Each has won the penultimate flat stage of the Tour at some point but could never do it on the last.
Hmm, it is probably inferior but the gap isn't that clear to be honest. Yes, Aru has a better GT record, but Hesjedal also finished 6th in the Tour and has a lot more one day results. Even got second in the Gold Race.
Big Doopie
BANNED
in fact he tied merckx's (and Pelissier?) record of 8 stage wins in a single TDF in 1976. And - IIRC - he almost beat it, losing to Karstens on the Champs after winning the morning ITT...
Big Doopie
BANNED
depends what you consider the "best" part of his career. 1983-1986 was better than 1989-1990. and i believe lemond agrees. in fact he was sent to the giro in 1986 without hinault and the aim was to show that he could be the leader at the TDF based off of that. unfortunately he says that allergies always compromised his ability to be in top shape at the giro.
lemond says he was nowhere near 1986 level in 1989-90.
only 1991 -- at the start -- does he say he was probably in the best shape ever. unfortunately other events had started to take over the peloton at that time...
Yeah, I don’t think we can put Aru in any “surprised he didn’t win it” category. I think there was a talent there for racing GTs, but he never got it right again after he left Astana. His one real chance at winning the Giro, he was well beaten by Contador, and was arguably the 2nd best rider in his own team.
I also don’t think you can be surprised that Lemond never won the Giro. He had 2 good attempts at it, but once he was a Tour winner, that was his focus for the rest of his career.
That’s crazy.
Kelly and Zabel were never prolific stage winners at the Tour anyway; Kelly’s first green jersey was the same year as his last TdF stage win in 82, and I think he actually lost the green jersey on the Champs in 84.
I think where it makes sense is that none of those 3 were ever the clear best sprinter in the field, they were just able to pick up points where Vanderaerden/Petacchi/Kittel weren’t able to.
While he's no longer eligible, Giacomo Nizzolo's run of 11 second places, 4 third places and two points jerseys before finally winning a Giro stage this year is worth a mention.
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