Which of these do you think is the most prestigious to win?
(excluding winning all 3 GTs in 1 year since everyone will pick that.)
(excluding winning all 3 GTs in 1 year since everyone will pick that.)
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The Hitch said:5 monuments is the hardest though, and one that would impress me most.
I must say I see Cancellara winning LBL and GdL before I see Gilbert winning Paris-Roubaix but both are young enough and too talented to rule it out. Peter Sagan or EBH may end up having a good crack at all 5 as well.Parera said:Agree. The skillset required to win all the monuments is extremely rare in a cyclist today. Even someone as consistently brilliant as Spartacus or Gilbert have been in the classics recently, winning all 5 to join a very exclusive club of cyclists (Merckx, Rik van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck) seems quite a ways off. Will be interesting to see if either man seriously considers pursuing all five monuments.
Sophistic said:The 2nd option is the most prestigous but certainly not the toughest, that would be 6th(unless P-R and MSR change their course dramatically).
ingsve said:The realistic Grand Slam in cycling that has been achieved a couple times is the Giro+Tour+WC in one year. Other combinations in a single year are either virtually impossible or would rank below that tripple. The big question is whether it is still a realistic tripple.
spalco said:I don't think there's that much difference in "toughness" if you compare the list of people who accomplished it - Gimondi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Contador for GTs and Van Looy, Merckx, De Vlaeminck for the monuments. Of course you could say "3 vs 5" but I really think it's close.
#5 All 3, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne and LBL have only been won by Rebellin and Gilbert in the same year
auscyclefan94 said:Giro Tour WC - shows you what a great all round rider someone truly is.
patterson_hood said:Anyone think Goss has a chance at the 5 monuments? I know he's a sprinter but he's young and could mature into a very good classics rider. Liege might be too much for him but I could see him winning the others if he can hang on to the right break.
spalco said:I don't think there's that much difference in "toughness" if you compare the list of people who accomplished it - Gimondi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Contador for GTs and Van Looy, Merckx, De Vlaeminck for the monuments. Of course you could say "3 vs 5" but I really think it's close.
[btw. for the record.
#2 has been done only by Merckx and Roche,
#3 has never been done as far as I can tell, but it's only even possible since 1996,
#4 I don't know if it means any cobbles&any Adrennes classic or all of them; if the former then, I don't know, I'm too lazy to compare the lists, but I think it's probably been done by a whole bunch of cyclists. If the latter it's also never been done I think.
#5 All 3, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne and LBL have only been won by Rebellin and Gilbert in the same year
and #6 the hour record used to have a very impressive palmares, but it's clearly lost a lot prestige lately imo. And the record has changed many times.]
spalco said:I think it's very unlikely. Contador might be able to do it if the WC is right for him, but he's lost some steam to do the Giro-Tour double and there's the CAS thing too. Other than that I don't see anybody in this generation of cyclists right now who would even have the balls to try it.
Parera said:Agree. The skillset required to win all the monuments is extremely rare in a cyclist today. Even someone as consistently brilliant as Spartacus or Gilbert have been in the classics recently, winning all 5 to join a very exclusive club of cyclists (Merckx, Rik van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck) seems quite a ways off.