moments that turned you into a cycling fan

[Parrulo]

what are the moments that made you a fan? both as a child(watching and liking but having no idea whats going on) and as a grown up person

well here are some of my moments(no perference order nor time order just random moments i remember)

1- some random guy in the volta falling getting back up and winning the stage. he was in a pretty bad shape but still did it. libertine mentioned this story a few months back.

2- nuno ribeiro destroying the field with the help of sergio paulinho to win the volta.

3-one of the jalabert solo efforts in le tour(prolly my first international cycling memory was rly just a kid and remember that it took me a while+my mothers help to be able to read his name.

4-virenque wining on the 14th of july and getting the kom and the yellow jersey at the same time.

5- jose azevedo pacing/destroying the peoloton up the montains.

6- joseba beloki crash

7- salvoldeli losing contact to basso and piepoli on a montain but with his epic downhill skills getting back a couple of minutes therefore keeping the maglia rosa.

8- mai milaneza epic performances on the vuelta

9-paulinho in the olympics

10- rui costa great performance on the u23 worlds more precisly when he went missing for most of the race only to be fond a couple of minutes behind the favourites group with a couple laps to go and all of sudden being back with the favourites.

 

[Siriuscat]

Barry Hoban winning into Montpellier in 74 first time I was really aware that folk raced bikes.
Lucien Van Impe winning on Puy de Dome in 75...mountains......
Hennie Kuiper on Alpe d'huez in 78

Ultimately though, the exploits of Robert Millar through the early 80's were what did it for me, a guy from the west of Scotland, like me, could win tour stages.

 

[search]

can't remember anything special as a child at the moment, but Servais Knaven winning Paris Roubaix 2001 was epic

 

[Willy_Voet]

Eros Poli, 1994 TdF, Ventoux stage.

I was into triathlons then, but something about that stage made cycling 'click' for me. I guess I realized the strategy involved, the variation in terrain, peloton vs lone rider. I had watched most of Indurain's TdF wins, but that was the first time I started paying attention to the other guys.

 

[lucybears]

Fignon - Lemond time trial

 

[Old School]

When Greg LeMond HAD the TDF in his grasp and Hinault made him stop riding...THEN the next year when Greg had to beat his own teammate "The Badger" to win it all in the TDF.

Epic stuff, with John Tesh and his broadcast...AND to top it off, that was the first year 7-Eleven rode the tour.

I'm talking drama, mystery and comedy all rolled up into ONE! Hooked ever since.

 

[Bike Boy]

1995: le tour, Riis and Jalabert fighting for the last spot on the podium.

1996: le tour, Riis winning, big chain ring on hautacam, Ullrich almost destroying the party in the last TT.

1996: olympics: Rolf Sørensen silver medal (He screwed up that sprint big time, but I'm sure Pascal Richard don't mind)

1998: le tour, Ellie, Bellie and Lellie in a break away.

2000: le tour, Mont Ventoux. Pantani getting dropped, comes back, attacks and wins the stage.

2003: LBL. Armstrong and Mayo on the attack along with a few other guys. Nicki Sørensen working like a beast, finally brings them back in order to launch the decisive attack from Tyler Hamilton.
This is probably the day I fell in love with the classics.

2003: le tour, Luz ardiden. Just epic.

the one that really stands out is probably Riis in yellow. I know it was more of a pharmaceutical achievement, but I had no clue at the time.
But I was more passionate about pro cycling in 2003 so Luz Ardiden takes the prize as the most adrenalin fueled hour in front of a tv screen.

 

[stefank]

A long time ago (it would be over 45 years) I read a book (fiction) about a boy growing up in post WWII France, just raised by his mother who did not have enough money to buy him shoes. He dreamed of becoming a cyclist, and eventually worked enough to buy himself a bike, but it had a bad repair job and broke - BUT eventually he became a rider and rode in the TdF..........

Anyone recognise it?

Anyway, that gave a young Tasmanin boy with no cycling connections a very romantic idea of what European cycling was about, and as Australian involvement (Phil Anderson on) has grown and slowly increased media coverage here, my interest has grown.

 

[luckylegs]

'89 Tour for me. Was riding my bike during spring/early summer that year as rehab for a running injury that kept me from competing for much of the track season. Tour came around and I followed daily (newspaper during week, ABC TV coverage on weekends). I was hooked by the second week and LeMond winning was icing on the cake.

 

[brianf7]

I rode a 10 mile time trial on my 14th Birthday in 1957 and have been hooked since.
Still remember the time 30.10 but sadly my current times are not much better
now .

Remember every pot hole in the course . No restricted gears in them days 56x14 was the go.
I then followed every race possible and still do.

 

[rhubroma]

Lemond crying after the stage because his team made him stop working with Roche when Hinault was in dificulty. 85

Then the 86-87-88-89 Tours, 88 Paris-Roubaix

 

[TheRossSeaParty]

I remember a guy from the Linda McCartney team (it was Linda right?) winning a stage of the Giro on a long solo break right after she had died. I think it was the first pro race I ever watched and just the emotion from the team and the rider, and just watching that guy look like death for what seemed like forever had me hooked for life.

 

[Oldman]

Said it before but it bears repeating: seeing Rebecca Twigg walking casually toward me in a skinsuit....only. It was a sunny but slightly brisk day in Redmond....

 

[SpaceRonin]

Back in the 70's when I was a nipper I was watching some saturday morning sports compendium show (probably Dickie Davis World of Sport), waiting for the toons to come on. They had a piece on some road race, not at all sure which one but it had to have been a classic at the time I saw it. The race was over cobbles. One lad crashed. No skid lid naturally. Cracked his pate open. Climbed back on his steel horse and tried to join back on. A little fountain of claret pulsing from his bonce. Impressionable lad that I was, I was thunderstruck at the thought of such men. The camera man and two medics ran after him. The medics back then were dressed like a couple of butchers: blood smeared white coats and slaughter house kepis. I suddenly understood his desperation to get away from them. There was even mention of a Cannibal. Do not go gentle into that good night.

I almost left it at that. Ireland was a windblown backwater of Europe. The thought of cycling over the potholed 19th century welfare programs that were our roads in the atlantic gales of a high Irish summer was not an attractive prospect. Then came Kelly.

 

[Frosty]

Stephen Roche, La Plagne, 1987. Looked like Delgado was going to effectively win the tour on that stage until Roche appeared behind him coming round the last corner. Then the whole oxygen mask stuff.

 

[SpaceRonin]

Back in the 70's when I was a nipper I was watching some saturday morning sports compendium show (probably Dickie Davis World of Sport), waiting for the toons to come on. They had a piece on some road race, not at all sure which one but it had to have been a classic at the time I saw it. The race was over cobbles. One lad crashed. No skid lid naturally. Cracked his pate open. Climbed back on his steel horse and tried to join back on. A little fountain of claret pulsing from his bonce. Impressionable lad that I was, I was thunderstruck at the thought of such men. The camera man and two medics ran after him. The medics back then were dressed like a couple of butchers: blood smeared white coats and slaughter house kepis. I suddenly understood his desperation to get away from them. There was even mention of a Cannibal. Do not go gentle into that good night.

I almost left it at that. Ireland was a windblown backwater of Europe. The thought of cycling over the potholed 19th century welfare programs that were our roads in the atlantic gales of a high Irish summer was not an attractive prospect. Then came Kelly.

 

[Jan the Man]

Kelly 1992 Milan - San Remo OR 1994 Paris Roubaix. The first probably got me interested the later race got me hooked, and is probably why I still favour the classics over the GTs.

 

[Janjapan]

1. Jan Ullrich - winning the TdF
2. The epic battles between Lance and Jan
3. Jan Ullrich - winning Gold at the Olympics

First cycling moment ever was Bjarne Riis winning the TdF.

What really made me a cycling fanatic was playing "Pro Cycling Manager"! No joke. I started to recognize many of the riders in the peloton and became able to evaluate their strengths. Besides, I learned what races exist and which of them are the important ones. It made it so much easier to follow cyclism.

As you might have seen I come from Germany. Nobody here is interseted in Roubaix or Flanders. The only race which is of interest is the Tour. So it was difficult to gain information about cycling without the internet (and it's much more difficult now). The only other races I have seen on TV in that time were "Rund um Köln" on a regional programme and "HEW/Vattenfall Cyclassics" (most of the time on another regional programme).

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

1996 worlds. My first cycling memory...

 

[marioni]

I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm a very new to this. I've only started to watch cycling last year, local TV finally hired commentators that knew about cycling, and they've explained what goes on during the race, how everything works and I got hooked on it.

So, the moment - 2009 Tour de France, Contador punishing everyone on the climbs.

 

[Lupetto]

Giro d'Italia 1994, 15th stage, Merano - Passo Aprica.
Stelvio, Mortirolo and Valico di Santa Cristina. Nearly seven hours of racing and the young Pantani climbing the Mortirolo like he was born to do it. It was a magic afternoon.

 

[Climbing]

Bugno, Gianni.

 

[SpaceRonin]

Kelly 1992 Milan - San Remo OR 1994 Paris Roubaix. The first probably got me interested the later race got me hooked, and is probably why I still favour the classics over the GTs.

It is odd but my abiding Kelly memory is not a win, but a loss; 1987 Worlds. Seeing him throwing his arms up in celebration as Roche wins it spoke volumes. Even though I am a Dubliner I was never really a comfortable Roche fan. Although I drank the kool aid well enough in '87.

Had the man, Kelly himself, drop a pearl of wisdom on me as I was blowing it out my **** climbing Slieve Mann last year. Typicall Irish summer's day: Freezing. Trained all year on the flat for a sportive through the Wicklow mountains...go figure. Hit the much anticipated Slieve Mann and started to see pink cherubs halfway up while some demented imp was flaying the flesh off my legs. Himself, larger than life in his An Post team strip, tipples past me with a hearty: "Keep breathing".... Bollix!

 

[Barrus]

To me, probably the moment that really cemented it (although I did watch cycling earlier) is Pantani on the Galibier- Les Deux Alpes in 1998

 

[Animal]

Riding the MarkleeVille Death Ride on an old steel mountain bike and realizing what a beautiful sport cycling is, and how proper equipment makes it easier and even more enjoyable.

I actually hadn't realized that "old fashioned" road bikes were still used. I was a total newcomer to the scene having only been exposed to new new mountain bike fad in the 80s. I was amazed at these skinny tyred, ultra light machines.

I bought myself a Serotta from Cupertino Bike Shop, and never looked back.