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Most impressive rides of all time?

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Jun 30, 2014
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Tonton said:
Actually, in an interview (the same where he said "cycling is a combat sport"), BH said that he never quite recovered feeling in two of his fingers. I watched the race live: it was insane. Epic.

I don't remember who it was, but at the Giro one rider talked with Alessandra an Beppe about the 2013 Milano-Sanremo. He said that he didn't feel a few of his toes for weeks and that he still hasn't recovered the feeling in one of his pinky toes. I've suffered second degree frostbite on my toes when i was 16, the itching and the pain return everytime i get cold feed, it sucks.
 
Honestly, all preferences aside I don't think anything comes close to Anquetil's Dauphine/Bordeaux-Paris double in 1965. He won the 8 day Dauphine, winning 3 stages along the way, including one in brutal weather through the alps. After finishing the final stage he hopped on a plane to tackle the 560k Bordeaux-Paris, later that night. He finished more than 15hrs later nearly a minute ahead of his closest rival. There's an amazing segment on it on youtube, check it out. Incredible stuff.

Also another incredible ride involving Anquetil was his bizarre "win" at Torfeo Barrachi in 1962. This time the nomination goes to his team mate Rudi Altig.

From Wikipedia

Trofeo Baracchi
Anquetil's most humiliating race was the Trofeo Baracchi in Italy in 1962, when he had to be pushed by his partner, Rudi Altig, and was so exhausted that he hit a pillar before reaching the track on which the race finished.

The Trofeo Baracchi was a 111 km race for two-man teams. Anquetil, the world's best time-triallist, and Altig, a powerful rider with a strong sprint, were favourites. But things soon went wrong. The writer René de Latour wrote:

I got my stopwatch going again to check the length of each man's turn at the front. Generally in a race of the Baracchi type, the changes are very rapid, with stints of no more than 300 yards. Altig was at the front when I started the check — and he was still there a minute later. Something must be wrong. Altig wasn't even swinging aside to invite Anquetil through... Suddenly, on a flat road, Anquetil lost contact and a gap of three lengths appeared between the two partners. There followed one of the most sensational things I have ever seen in any form of cycle racing during my 35 years' association with the sport — something which I consider as great a physical performance as a world hour record or a classic road race win. Altig was riding at 30mph at the front — and had been doing so for 15 minutes. When Anquetil lost contact, he had to ease the pace, wait for his partner to go by, push him powerfully in the back, sprint to the front again after losing 10 yards in the process, and again settle down to a 30mph stint at the front. Altig did this not just once but dozens of times.[21]

The pair reached the track on which the race finished. The timekeeper was at the entrance to the stadium, so Anquetil finished. But instead of turning on to the velodrome, he rode straight on and hit a pole. He was helped away with staring eyes and with blood streaming from a cut to his head. The couple nevertheless won by nine seconds.
 
gustienordic said:
That's called my commute to work everyday once it starts snowing...

After reading and watching 'Slaying The Badger' i ask myself why was Bernard Hinault the bad guy.

His fighting spirit was incredible, I so admire him, I so wish other riders took his lead (Contador excluded).

Vive Le Hinault!
 

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