Other than Merckx, who is the greatest of them all?

[The Hitch]

Seeing as too many people voted for Mercxk (as if it was going to be close) in the other thread, we cant tell who is second best.

So here is a list.

Jacques Anquetil
Lance Armstrong
Gino Bartali
Alberto Contador
Fausto Coppi
Roger De Vlaeminck.
Felice Gimondi
Bernard Hinault
Miguel Indurain
Sean Kelly


Oh and could a mod move the Lines thread here or to the general section so that more people can participate

 

[Big Doopie]

de vlaeminck and kelly (despite being able to climb) were too one dimensional.

indurain, armstrong and contador should be excluded (rightly or wrongly) for racing in an era when the advantage of blood vector drugs completely warped performance.

anquetil was also somewhat one-dimensional, simply resisting in the mountains.

hinault is a very strong second to merckx. (the only thing against him is that he raced when there was a real lull in true competitors -- he largely beat old riders from the previous era and was beaten as soon as fignon and lemond came along)

why did you drop lemond from the list? he would place in here.

then coppi.

then bartali.

then perhaps gimondi (who managed an awesome career despite racing almost exactly during merckx's reign of terror).

then ocana. (simply because he was the only rider to ever really make the great merckx tremble)

 

[theyoungest]

Joop Zoetemelk

 

[Big Doopie]

Joop Zoetemelk

yes!

when you look back at merckx's era it is amazing how many great champions there were that managed to carve out great career results despite the cannibal's 500+ wins.

Ocana, Zoetemelk, Thevenet, Van Impe, Poulidor, Gimondi, Pingeon, Janssens (all Tour winners!), Fuente, Agostinho (who's best tour finishes were when he finished third in his late 30s to Hinault).

Verbeeck, Dierickx, Godefroot, DeVlaeminck, Maertens, Van Linden, Van Springel, etc... in the classics.

Unbelievable.

 

[LugHugger]

I think that this poll will end up being as one sided as the 'greatest' poll

Already, a clear favourite emerging. I remember the end of Le Blaireau's career in the mid 80's. As a teenager watching C4's daily highlights package of the Tour, he seemed to be an irresistible force on a bike.

I enjoy his retirement proclamations on cycling too, even though he's what might be quaintly termed 'old school'.

Edit: Oops. Seems as though I spoke too soon

 

[rhubroma]

I can only cite a famous quote made by an ex Tour director: "Of all the famous champions of the sport Merckx was the strongest, but Coppi was the greatest."

 

[Hugh Januss]

Is a multi GT winner who has never won a true classic considered any less "one dimensional" than a multi classics winner who has never won one of the big three GTs?
I voted DeVlaeminck because the only rider ever to win a World Cup race in road, cyclocross, and MTB, Adri van der Poel was inexplicably () left off the list.
The Gypsy could win on pavement, pave, dirt and grass, and managed to rack up an impressive list of wins in spite of sharing virtually his entire career with the one cyclist who was so dominant that he was excluded from this list.

Coppi was pretty good too though.......

 

[shouldawouldacoulda]

Why aren't Jalabert and Moser on the list?

Although I agree some riders from the 90's - 2000's should maybe be excluded... I always like Jalabert. He was the closest the french have had to Hinault, since well Hinault.

I thought Jalabert had ruthless and deadly tactics. He could read a race better than anyone, and he often needed only to attack once or twice because he picked the 'right' moments to execute incredibly precise and effective attacks.

He developed into a complete rider (granted it was assisted in the same way as Indurain and Armstrong). He was much like Kelly that way. A sprinter who developed into a GC and TT rider. Guys like that were almost my favourite types of riders over guys who were natural GC riders from an early age.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Nobody specified what they had to be greatest other than Merckx at, so I voted for Bartali for being the greatest at life, cycling and everything else.

 

[rhubroma]

A few years back Italy's national television agency RAI did a made for TV production on Gino. The saga was typically coloured with sentimentality, as most sports legend fables usually are. However, it must be said, that the man had an undeniable generosity and humane spirit that isn't always found among athletes and especially those of today, where a certain ruthlessness and cunning would seem to prevail.

And I don't need to name names.

Bartali, of course, lived during different times, where the pitched hideousness of many could coexist with the heroic and selfless gestures of the few. The Italian cyclist certainly pertained to the latter group and his saving acts became all the more noteworthy in direct proportion to the life-risking courage it took to defy Nazi-Fascism in perpetrating them.

Today, by contrast, self-aggrandizment and vainglory among the athletes would seem to proceed hand in hand. And this would appear to be in direct relationship to their exorbitant salaries and cult status they have garnished at the mass media's behest.

 

[AngusW]

yes!

Ocana, Zoetemelk, Thevenet, Van Impe, Poulidor, Gimondi, Pingeon, Janssens (all Tour winners!), Fuente, Agostinho (who's best tour finishes were when he finished third in his late 30s to Hinault).

Poulidor didn't win the Tour (unless you mean the Tour of Spain).

 

[hfer07]

BERNARD HINAULT
He won just a bit less than Merckx, duo to his injuries, but nonetheless his record is unique & prolific as Eddy's

 

[brianf7]

My vote would go back to the old days the pioneeres of the TDF who rode without support changed their own tubs and still made it .
What about Tom Simpson he made the ultimate sacrifice . anyone who knew him would know how hard he worked never gave up .
There are so many who went without any recognition but they are all great riders.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Nobody specified what they had to be greatest other than Merckx at, so I voted for Bartali for being the greatest at life, cycling and everything else.

Me too. A true hero.
Also, unlike Coppi, never resorted to the "juice du jour".
If everything is to be believed, the best, "clean" cyclist, ever.

 

[bobbins]

Dan Fleeman

 

[The Hitch]

Why aren't Jalabert and Moser on the list?

Because theres maximum 10 options Moser maybe should be in there but i figured both had achieved less than others, and they werent in the original list.

Nobody specified what they had to be greatest other than Merckx at..

THe other poll didnt specify either and i figured its more fun to just leave it to interpretation rather than say "palmares" and have loads of posters making calculations about how 2 Grand tours = 3.14159265 monuments and hence Hinault is mathematically the winner etc etc etc.

Just decide who was the best other than Merckx. Simple

 

[slowoldman]

I answered Hinault but I believe the second spot can be held respectably by any of the trifeta of Bartali, Coppi or Hinault. To answer who is the greatest outside of cycling, I don't think you could argue for anybody but Bartali. It is almost as much of a given as Merckx in the cycling category.

 

[Skip Madness]

I voted Bartali, because in terms of sporting achievements he doesn't have any clouds over his name as far as I am aware of and his palmarès is grandiose, if Italo-centric. In terms of non-sporting achievements I doubt anyone on that list would pretend to hold a candle to him.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

or

Or throw Hinault in there:

But I'll go Coppi then Bartali. I new a British pro continental racer who saw Coppi at the Tour. In his opinion Coppi was the best... a virtual juggernaut, machine, luuuuuuuungs.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Oh, forgot to mention the pic of Roger De Vlaeminck above I think is the avatar of our forums RDV4ROUBAIX

 

[Glockers]

Voted for Bartali. You also have to remember his best years were interrupted by the war.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Voted for Bartali. You also have to remember his best years were interrupted by the war.

as goes for Coppi

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Voted for Bartali. You also have to remember his best years were interrupted by the war.

True. The key word there is best years because Fausto was 22 when the war broke out in 1942. So Coppi was only 26 or so when he resumed racing in 1946... still a large chunk of career still ahead of him. In contrast, Gino was 5 years older than Fausto, so he was not able to race because of the war between the ages of about 27 to 32.

 

[Le breton]

hinault

My vote goes to Bernard Hinault.

I wished I could vote for my chilldhood then youth heroes, Fausto Coppi and Jacques Anquetil, but facts force me to vote for Hinault.

 

[ABRABR]

From wikipedia it looks like Coppi was a fairly heavy amphetamines user. I guess some things never change.