Most impressive rides of all time?

[Granville57]

I always loved this one:

Robbie McEwen
Stage 1, 2007 TdF, Canterbury.

Simply awesome. He crashes with 20k remaining, then his Lotto teammates drilled it to get him back into contention against a very determined peloton that was driving forward with all the expected intensity of a TdF opening stage.

Then from out of nowhere...McEwen smokes them all. Brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlc-s7eI5Cg


Two days later, Cancellara, in Yellow, smoked the field in equally dramatic fashion.
Stage 3, 2007 TdF, Compiègne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJNLMYpr2TM



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Oh, and of course this guy, in that race, on that mountain, in that weather:

 

[yespatterns]

Snow+Hampsten+Giro

 

[LaFlorecita]

There were enough smart phones on the road to document the attack. If you have time, you should make an effort and give it a try. Hint: Youtube.

I don't think that picture was taken during that stage

 

[eric_vv]

Snow+Hampsten+Giro

Van der velde first on top, Breukink wins the stage, but Hampsten is the one mentioned. Epic stage obviously, bu the best ride wasn't by Hampsten.

 

[Hawkwood]

Still no mention of this Merckx guy?

Thank goodness, it took nine pages but someone got there! How about the whole of the 1969 Tour for a start, and any of his 30 plus classics wins, including his last ever in Milan Sanremo in 1976?

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Boonen Roubaix 2012
Cancellara RVV 2010

Soo much. I've never seen rides like that by any GC contender (obviously)

 

[Netserk]

I don't think that picture was taken during that stage

It was from Lagos...

 

[Miburo]

There were enough smart phones on the road to document the attack. If you have time, you should make an effort and give it a try. Hint: Youtube.

LOL this guy...That wasn't from that stage

 

[Dr. Juice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MhVBMgrzO4

1:54 min

There is Contador and seconds later Losada, Purito and Valverde chasing.

 

[May0maniac]

Iban Mayo on stage 8 of the 2003 TdF, he was a beast, i remember that stage like it was yesterday.
Il Falco 1999 durning stage 14 of the 1999 Giro, 2 minutes behind Pantani at the top of Fauniera and he finished 1'47" ahead of him and won that stage, he descended like a mad man.
And Cobo on stage 5 of the 2007 Vuelta a Pais Vasco

 

[Arnout]

Iban Mayo on stage 8 of the 2003 TdF, he was a beast, i remember that stage like it was yesterday.

The stage that made me fall in love with cycling The spirit of Iban lives on.

 

[May0maniac]

The Chicken on stage 9 of the 2005 TdF also deserves a mention.

 

[Netserk]

The Chicken on stage 9 of the 2005 TdF also deserves a mention.

Tbh I find both Toussuire and Tignes more impressive. Well maybe :/ Not easy to rank those three wins.

 

[Netserk]

Impressive, yes.

Inspirational, hell ****ing yes!

 

[IronCQ]

Giro 1949, The famous Cuneo-Pinerolo.By far the most incredible ride EVER for me.
The 1949 race saw Coppi take an epic stage victory between Cuneo and Pinerolo with a 192km solo attack. Despite the start and finish towns being just 60km apart, the day’s route took the race over the Colle della Maddalena, the Col de Vars, Col d’Izoard, Col de Montgenèvre and Sestriere. Coppi finished 11’52” ahead of Bartali, taking the pink jersey from Adolfo Leoni, and keeping it all the way to the finish

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/1...ments-in-the-races-history.aspx#ixzz3Hv5WlIhb

Nothing less, nothing more. And Bartali is not Froome, or Purito or Valverde.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cancellara RvV 2010
Boonen Roubaix 2012
Contador Fuente De 2012
Andy Schleck during that stage in 2011 Tour (can't remember name)
Paolo Bettini Giro di Lombardia 2006

I think these stand out the most by far in this century.

 

[phanatic]

Spartacus at the 2011 E3.

 

[Arnout]

Tbh I find both Toussuire and Tignes more impressive. Well maybe :/ Not easy to rank those three wins.

Tignes 2007. The moment of short-lived hope. And I didn't even get to see it live ffs.

 

[El Pistolero]

Spartacus at the 2011 E3.

Not a big enough race for me to count. Otherwise I'd have nominated Contador in the T-A this year as well.

 

[fauniera]

Giro 1949, The famous Cuneo-Pinerolo. By far the most incredible ride EVER for me.
The 1949 race saw Coppi take an epic stage victory between Cuneo and Pinerolo with a 192km solo attack. Despite the start and finish towns being just 60km apart, the day’s route took the race over the Colle della Maddalena, the Col de Vars, Col d’Izoard, Col de Montgenèvre and Sestriere. Coppi finished 11’52” ahead of Bartali, taking the pink jersey from Adolfo Leoni, and keeping it all the way to the finish

Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/1...ments-in-the-races-history.aspx#ixzz3Hv5WlIhb

Nothing less, nothing more. And Bartali is not Froome, or Purito or Valverde.

Excellent pick. Nine hours in the saddle, most of it on dirt roads, and it was raining, too.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

More old timer lore:

Merckx hour record. According to him, his most difficult race. Eddy climbed off his bike at the end and looked like he was about to have a stroke he was so spent.

Bernard Hinault 1980 LBL in blizzard conditions of snow and high winds. Hinault attacked with 80km to go and no one followed, in fact, it caused entire teams to drop. Second place Hennie Kuiper was 9:24 behind, and the last place finisher a full 24 minutes back. Only 21 riders were able to even finish, a staggering number. Hinault suffered some frostbite and it took a couple weeks to get full feeling back in his hands.

Just as bad was Andy Hampsten taking the Maglia Rosa on the Gavia in 1988. Huge props to Erik Breukink too, who won the stage and had no jacket, but only newspapers stuffed in his jersey on the final descent. Actually, props to all riders on that day.

This winter, honor these riders by picking a snowy, windy day, and go ride your bike over the local hill a few times and report back to us. I'll do it if you will.

 

[skidmark]

My favourite Merckx story was from the Tour (1972? I'm going by memory of something I read years ago) where Ocana had just thrashed the field in his own incredibly impressive ride and taken a 9 minute lead. The next day, on a not-too-challenging stage in terms of profile, Merckx attacked with some teammates and did the majority of the pulling in the break for something like 280km. He got back two minutes - and I seem to remember that if two of his teammates hadn't punctured, the speculation was that he might have pulled it all back that day.

Then the next mountain stage he attacked on a descent and crashed but Ocana was too close and wiped out too, only to be plowed into by Zoetemelk when he got up, and he left the race in yellow in a stretcher (wasn't he in a coma for a couple of days or something?); so the attack was irrelevant historically as Merckx was essentially handed the Tour after that. But man, in the few occasions where he was truly behind, there were some impressive stories (see Tour 1975 - broken jaw, punched in the gut, attacked to the finish and got 2nd).

 

[Walkman]

Cancellara RvV 2010
Boonen Roubaix 2012
Contador Fuente De 2012
Andy Schleck during that stage in 2011 Tour (can't remember name)
Paolo Bettini Giro di Lombardia 2006

I think these stand out the most by far in this century.

Do you seriously think that Contador in 2012 was more impressive than Landis in 2006? I mean, come on, that just ridiculous…even for a die hard fan.

 

[skidmark]

In a thread were we are supposed to discuss the most impressive rides of all time you guys comes dragging with Contador in the 2012 Vuelta?! Heck, piti was more impressive in that stage!

Andy and Floyd are in entire different league compare to Contador. I mean, come on, even die hard fan must see that.

I know a few folks have weighed in on this, but feel like sharing my perspective anyway. In terms of outcome, gotta give it to Contador over Schleck; Andy's move was from far out and was impressive (for sure the highlight of his career), although after the initial attack most of the benefit was from the work of Monfort or whoever the guy up the road was. But it didn't win him the Tour; arguably Evans had the more epic ride that won him the Tour in the last 20km of that stage. And Schleck's hand was only forced when Contador shook things up a couple of days before with his attack on a cat 2 or whatever in the rain. So the context of Andy's ride wasn't really much more epic than, say, Contador's own failed attempt that same year on the Alpe D'huez stage, in that neither won the Tour. Andy won his stage, of course, and put things into more uncertainty, but still, the proof is in the pudding.

And not much in modern cycling can touch Landis' 2006 (unless you want to talk about 'believable' performances rather than face-value spectacle, but that would be a different topic); I liked that because he was clearly the strongest rider in the Tour, but had ridden so conservatively to that point that L'Equipe had the headline 'en jaune, mais sans panache' when he first took it. The thing that made Fuente De great in a totally different way was that Contador wasn't the strongest rider in the Vuelta - he couldn't snap the elastic, and with so many uphill finishes he was just trying and trying and trying and his chamber seemed empty (unintentional pistolero metaphor there). It's pretty easy to understand why riders who continually attack are beloved, as they make racing unpredictable and tense. So to see him attack over and over again without real gain and then to try that kind of hail mary and have it work, was pretty epic in terms of buildup and tension. So I have no qualms about declaring it among the best rides ever.

 

[El Pistolero]

Do you seriously think that Contador in 2012 was more impressive than Landis in 2006? I mean, come on, that just ridiculous…even for a die hard fan.

I don't count donkeys turned into climbers by the help of the clinic.