Mental or random cycling statistics

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Roger Walkowiak had three wins. The Tour in '56, & stage wins in the Vuelta in (may) '56 & 57.

Every win also from a breakaway...

PCS don't have the stage results from the 1952 Tour de l'Ouest, and he seems to have won one of them as well.


Rik Van Looy

First Cycling and Wikipedia both list the 1970 Kessel-Lier as having been Van Looy's last victory, rather than the Heistse Pijl the previous year;

 
Simon Yates wins the Giro without winning a stage. The last time this happened was when Egan Bernal won the Tour of 2019 without winning a stage.

The curious case is Alberto Contador.
2 (official) Giro GC wins, 0 stage wins.

And if you decide to count 2011, you can count 2010 as well and then you would have 3 GT's won without a stage win.

Pretty sure that's something not done by anyone else.
 
The curious case is Alberto Contador.
2 (official) Giro GC wins, 0 stage wins.

And if you decide to count 2011, you can count 2010 as well and then you would have 3 GT's won without a stage win.

Pretty sure that's something not done by anyone else.
Froome and Contador are perfect mirrors.

Contador could win a Grand Tour without winning it.

Froome also could win a Grand Tour without winning it

The question is which of the two you call winning and which one you call "winning"
 
Despite having 8 pro wins, Neilson Powless has never won a stage in a pro stage race.

This didn't get the standing ovation I had expected.

I don't think people realise how unusual this is.

There are no other pro riders who have more than two wins where none of them is a stage (or national championships which I included to account for small nation outliers). And Powless is at eight. I don't know historical data well enough to say whether someone at some point has reached a higher number but I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't happened a lot.

In other stats: Jack Haig has never been in the top 3 of a Grand Tour stage, yet he has been on the final podium of the Vuelta.
 
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Mountain stages were a non-factor in the '10s



PP6k4m3.jpeg
 
I made a table including every ITT ridden in a GT since 2000. There I calculated the gap (in %) between the winner and 2nd place, the winner and 2nd place and between the winner and the rest of the top-10.

Original results were used regardless of if someone got disqualified later.

Vingegaard's legendary time trial in 2023 sticks out like the sorest of thumbs in every category.

Biggest relative gaps to 2nd place
  1. 2023 Tour Stage 16, Jonas Vingegaard: 5,01%
  2. 2020 Giro Stage 21, Filippo Ganna: 3,09%
  3. 2002 Vuelta Stage 21, Aitor Gonzalez: 2,89%
  4. 2009 Vuelta Stage 1, Fabian Cancellara: 2,81%
  5. 2003 Tour Stage 12, Jan Ullrich: 2,73%
  6. 2004 Tour Stage 16, Lance Armstrong: 2,56%
  7. 2014 Tour Stage 20, Tony Martin: 2,49%
  8. 2003 Vuelta Stage 6, Isidro Nozal: 2,49%
  9. 2019 Giro Stage 1, Primoz Roglic: 2,45%
  10. 2007 Tour Prologue, Fabian Cancellara: 2,45%
Biggest relative gaps to 10th place
  1. 2023 Tour Stage 16, Jonas Vingegaard: 10,79%
  2. 2003 Tour Stage 12, Jan Ullrich: 8,54%
  3. 2004 Vuelta Stage 15, Santiago Perez: 7,15%
  4. 2004 Giro Prologue, Bradley McGee: 6,67%
  5. 2000 Tour Stage 19, Lance Armstrong: 6,56%
  6. 2024 Tour Stage 21, Tadej Pogacar: 6,46%
  7. 2014 Giro Stage 19, Nairo Quintana: 6,35%
  8. 2022 Giro Stage 21, Matteo Sobrero: 6,25%
  9. 2004 Tour Stage 16, Lance Armstrong: 6,17%
  10. 2007 Tour Prologue, Fabian Cancellara: 6,04%
And most strikingly...

Biggest relative gaps to the entire top-10
  1. 2023 Tour Stage 16, Jonas Vingegaard: 82,98%
  2. 2003 Tour Stage 12, Jan Ullrich: 51,37%
  3. 2004 Giro Prologue, Bradley McGee: 47,45%
  4. 2004 Vuelta Stage 15, Santiago Perez: 47,40%
  5. 2004 Tour Stage 16, Lance Armstrong: 46,07%
  6. 2024 Tour Stage 21, Tadej Pogacar: 45,30%
  7. 2022 Giro Stage 21, Matteo Sobrero: 45,01%
  8. 2007 Tour Prologue, Fabian Cancellara: 44,34%
  9. 2000 Tour Stage 19, Lance Armstrong: 44,32%
  10. 2009 Vuelta Stage 1, Fabian Cancellara: 44,06%
Closest races
  1. 2023 Giro Stage 9, Remco Evenepoel: 6,56%
  2. 2013 Giro Stage 8, Alex Dowsett: 6,58%
  3. 2010 Giro Stage 1, Bradley Wiggins: 8,09%
  4. 2025 Giro Stage 2, Joshua Tarling: 8,27%
  5. 2005 Vuelta Stage 20, Ruben Plaza: 8,83%
 
I made a table including every ITT ridden in a GT since 2000. There I calculated the gap (in %) between the winner and 2nd place, the winner and 2nd place and between the winner and the rest of the top-10.

Original results were used regardless of if someone got disqualified later.

Vingegaard's legendary time trial in 2023 sticks out like the sorest of thumbs in every category.

Biggest relative gaps to 2nd place
  1. 2023 Tour Stage 16, Jonas Vingegaard: 5,01%
  2. 2020 Giro Stage 21, Filippo Ganna: 3,09%
  3. 2002 Vuelta Stage 21, Aitor Gonzalez: 2,89%
  4. 2009 Vuelta Stage 1, Fabian Cancellara: 2,81%
  5. 2003 Tour Stage 12, Jan Ullrich: 2,73%
  6. 2004 Tour Stage 16, Lance Armstrong: 2,56%
  7. 2014 Tour Stage 20, Tony Martin: 2,49%
  8. 2003 Vuelta Stage 6, Isidro Nozal: 2,49%
  9. 2019 Giro Stage 1, Primoz Roglic: 2,45%
  10. 2007 Tour Prologue, Fabian Cancellara: 2,45%
Biggest relative gaps to 10th place
  1. 2023 Tour Stage 16, Jonas Vingegaard: 10,79%
  2. 2003 Tour Stage 12, Jan Ullrich: 8,54%
  3. 2004 Vuelta Stage 15, Santiago Perez: 7,15%
  4. 2004 Giro Prologue, Bradley McGee: 6,67%
  5. 2000 Tour Stage 19, Lance Armstrong: 6,56%
  6. 2024 Tour Stage 21, Tadej Pogacar: 6,46%
  7. 2014 Giro Stage 19, Nairo Quintana: 6,35%
  8. 2022 Giro Stage 21, Matteo Sobrero: 6,25%
  9. 2004 Tour Stage 16, Lance Armstrong: 6,17%
  10. 2007 Tour Prologue, Fabian Cancellara: 6,04%
And most strikingly...

Biggest relative gaps to the entire top-10
  1. 2023 Tour Stage 16, Jonas Vingegaard: 82,98%
  2. 2003 Tour Stage 12, Jan Ullrich: 51,37%
  3. 2004 Giro Prologue, Bradley McGee: 47,45%
  4. 2004 Vuelta Stage 15, Santiago Perez: 47,40%
  5. 2004 Tour Stage 16, Lance Armstrong: 46,07%
  6. 2024 Tour Stage 21, Tadej Pogacar: 45,30%
  7. 2022 Giro Stage 21, Matteo Sobrero: 45,01%
  8. 2007 Tour Prologue, Fabian Cancellara: 44,34%
  9. 2000 Tour Stage 19, Lance Armstrong: 44,32%
  10. 2009 Vuelta Stage 1, Fabian Cancellara: 44,06%
Closest races
  1. 2023 Giro Stage 9, Remco Evenepoel: 6,56%
  2. 2013 Giro Stage 8, Alex Dowsett: 6,58%
  3. 2010 Giro Stage 1, Bradley Wiggins: 8,09%
  4. 2025 Giro Stage 2, Joshua Tarling: 8,27%
  5. 2005 Vuelta Stage 20, Ruben Plaza: 8,83%
I remember doing something similar a few years back specifically to compare that 2023 TT to other dominant performances. And while the gap to Pogacar was impressive and the gap to 10th was impressive what really separated that TT from any other was looking at what happens if you remove Pogacar from the result sheet. Now obviously the gap to third will always be bigger than the gap to second, but the thing about 2023 was that the TT was actually remarkably close with the exception of the two aliens. Iirc the relative gap to third completely blows every other TT out of the water. Well, maybe 2025 will be close now.
 
As far as I've been able to count*, Vingegaard has finished 2nd to Pogacar on 12 TdF stages.


*Complicated slightly by PCS not allowing you to select only GT stages in the filter.
And given that the previous record for sharing the top 10 on most stages was 9, Jonas has the record by a huge margin.