Response to the Mapei as the best team ever article.

[gustienordic]

I am still not convinced Mapei is the most successful team ever; if you take a look at HTC all the way back to its Telekom days, I would argue that it was more successful and more dominating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTC-Highroad_wins

This was a team with Zabel, Ulrich, Kloden, Vino, Cav, Greipel, and where EBH got his major start. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would argue that this was the best team ever.

 

[El Pistolero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpW-88VioQ

Back to the bushes with you!

 

[The Hitch]

I am still not convinced Mapei is the most successful team ever; if you take a look at HTC all the way back to its Telekom days, I would argue that it was more successful and more dominating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTC-Highroad_wins

This was a team with Zabel, Ulrich, Kloden, Vino, Cav, Greipel, and where EBH got his major start. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would argue that this was the best team ever.

Well if you take teams back through their history the current Movistar team, or Abarca sports as LS likes to call them, goes all the way back through Valverde, Perreiro, Menchov Jimenez to Indurain.

 

[gustienordic]

I'm impressed. That's all I can say! 1,2,3 at PR is insane!

 

[roundabout]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpW-88VioQ

Back to the bushes with you!

 

[El Pistolero]

All I see is 3 fat guys

What race by the way?

 

[Team Ferrari/Fuentes]

All I see is 3 fat guys

What race by the way?

Liege-Bastogne-Liege

 

[Team Ferrari/Fuentes]

To me, Mapei was the coolest team ever. Such a great jersey...

They won hundreds of classics with style, always with 3, 4 ou 5 riders capable of winning. Michele Bartoli, Frank VDB, Johan Museeuw, Tom Steels, Franco Ballerini, Gianni Bugno, Paolo Bettini, Andrea Tafi, Daniele Nardello, Gianni Faresin, Gianluca Bortolami, Giuliano Figueras and many more... They only missed Laurent Jalabert or Michael Boogerd in their classics arsenal.

 

[Kvinto]

 

[El Pistolero]

Perhaps BMC will be the new Mapei next year. But they can just as easily become the Chelsea of cycling.

 

[L'arriviste]

Liege-Bastogne-Liege

1994 Flèche Wallonne.

 

[Team Ferrari/Fuentes]

1994 Flèche Wallonne.

You are right. My mistake....

 

[Escarabajo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpW-88VioQ

Back to the bushes with you!

Seriously, that's disgusting!

 

[sublimit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpW-88VioQ

Back to the bushes with you!

Johan Museeuw rocks. Lol, Russel Williams on commentary. Good rider in his own right but no idea what he's doing with himself these days.

 

[hrotha]

Seriously, that's disgusting!

Clinic issues aside, they were one of the first super-big massive-budget teams out there. They had a gazillion riders at a time when most others had 17-25 riders. No wonder they won so much.

 

[El Pistolero]

Johan Museeuw rocks. Lol, Russel Williams on commentary. Good rider in his own right but no idea what he's doing with himself these days.

Yeah, commentary is pretty amazing how he doesn't realize they were going to let Johan Museeuw win

 

[spalco]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpW-88VioQ

Back to the bushes with you!

It's hilarious how the British commentator tried to pretend things are exciting there when the three guys obviously had already decided among themselves who's winning.

eta: ah, already been commented on, sorry.

 

[luckyboy]

Could argue that QuickStep succeeded them. 15 riders were carried over from 2006 to 2007 when Stapleton took over, while 11 went from Mapei to QuickStep when it disbanded.

The way I see it were that Mapei were more entertaining - HTC has the amount of wins it does thanks to sprinters and, to a lesser extent, time trials.
Also there's the nostalgia factor, and Mapei had great jerseys.

and where EBH got his major start

Don't see how this has much relevance.

 

[ultimobici]

I am still not convinced Mapei is the most successful team ever; if you take a look at HTC all the way back to its Telekom days, I would argue that it was more successful and more dominating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTC-Highroad_wins

This was a team with Zabel, Ulrich, Kloden, Vino, Cav, Greipel, and where EBH got his major start. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would argue that this was the best team ever.

Both the Vuelta & Giro as well as pretty much every classic, all the monuments bar San Remo. Not to mention several worlds titles.

In contrast Telecom may have a couple of Tours, a Vuelta and Amstel to add to Zabel's points titles. No way on earth can it compare with Mapei.

The team was a who's who of the top echelon of 90's talent. Bartoli, Bettini, Vandenbroucke, Friere, Olano, Rominger, Museeuw, Tafi, Ballerini were just the cream.

 

[El Pistolero]

Could argue that QuickStep succeeded them. 15 riders were carried over from 2006 to 2007 when Stapleton took over, while 11 went from Mapei to QuickStep when it disbanded.

The way I see it were that Mapei were more entertaining - HTC has the amount of wins it does thanks to sprinters and, to a lesser extent, time trials.
Also there's the nostalgia factor, and Mapei had great jerseys.




Don't see how this has much relevance.

Yeah, because I can easily put forward a better name for Mapei: Cancellara.

 

[El Pistolero]

It's hilarious how the British commentator tried to pretend things are exciting there when the three guys obviously had already decided among themselves who's winning.

eta: ah, already been commented on, sorry.

Sadly, I don't think he was pretending

 

[spalco]

Btw. totally offtopic, but, one of the linked videos from the one posted by El Pistolero was a clip of the 1994 Paris-Roubaix - gods, how was anybody able to finish that race in those conditions? Crazy.

 

[jens_attacks]

mapei was indeed the best.
too bad that squinzi and the late aldo sassi choosed this PR thing,"we are the good side"."we didn't win tour de france because everyone had rocket fuel but us,nothing".that's something i will never appreciate and it's pretty shameful.

ridiculous.they expected olano to beat everyone in 1996 giro lol wut?and their only explanation is that zaina and great pavel tonkov were on an another lever.yes they were,BETTER CLIMBERS THAN OLANO!!even so olano still beat ugrumov and gotti.
it's just like you expect now tony martin to beat contador,menchov,sammy sanchez on the mountains and if he won't do it,then you know, he's a good boy and the others rocket fueled....pathetic.

they weren't weak in the grand tours gc,i don't agree:

1994
vuelta a espana 1st-tony rominger(wins 6 stages)
9th-fernando escartin
1995
vuelta a espana 2nd-olano
10th-della santa
giro d'italia 1st-tony rominger
tour de france 7th-escartin
8th-rominger
1996
vuelta a espana 3rd-tony rominger
giro d'italia 3rd-olano
tour de france 9th-olano
10th-rominger
1997
vuelta a espana 9th-faresin
giro d'italia 2nd-tonkov
7th-di grande
1998
giro d'italia 2nd-tonkov
4th-camenzind
6th-faresin
tour de france 8th-nardello
9th-di grande
1999
vuelta a espana 4th-tonkov
tour de france 7th-nardello
2000
vuelta a espana 3rd-tonkov
giro d'italia 4th-noe
5th-tonkov
tour de france 10th-nardello
2001
giro d'italia 6th-noe

not too shabby,isn' it?

they've won pretty much everything,team telekom-tmobile-columbia-htc comes second close.

 

[Team Ferrari/Fuentes]

mapei was indeed the best.
too bad that squinzi and the late aldo sassi choosed this PR thing,"we are the good side"."we didn't win tour de france because everyone had rocket fuel but us,nothing".that's something i will never appreciate and it's pretty shameful.

ridiculous.they expected olano to beat everyone in 1996 giro lol wut?and their only explanation is that zaina and great pavel tonkov were on an another lever.yes they were,BETTER CLIMBERS THAN OLANO!!even so olano still beat ugrumov and gotti.
it's just like you expect now tony martin to beat contador,menchov,sammy sanchez on the mountains and if he won't do it,then you know, he's a good boy and the others rocket fueled....pathetic.

they weren't weak in the grand tours gc,i don't agree:

1994
vuelta a espana 1st-tony rominger(wins 6 stages)
9th-fernando escartin
1995
vuelta a espana 2nd-olano
10th-della santa
giro d'italia 1st-tony rominger
tour de france 7th-escartin
8th-rominger
1996
vuelta a espana 3rd-tony rominger
giro d'italia 3rd-olano
tour de france 9th-olano
10th-rominger
1997
vuelta a espana 9th-faresin
giro d'italia 2nd-tonkov
7th-di grande
1998
giro d'italia 2nd-tonkov
4th-camenzind
6th-faresin
tour de france 8th-nardello
9th-di grande
1999
vuelta a espana 4th-tonkov
tour de france 7th-nardello
2000
vuelta a espana 3rd-tonkov
giro d'italia 4th-noe
5th-tonkov
tour de france 10th-nardello
2001
giro d'italia 6th-noe

not too shabby,isn' it?

they've won pretty much everything,team telekom-tmobile-columbia-htc comes second close.

Mapei was always competitive at the Giro. Pavel Tonkov was the leader in 1997, 1998 and 2000 but wasn't strong enough to win it (the team even won the teams classification in 1998). In 2002, they had Garzelli, Bettini, Nardello, Noe, Evans and Cioni, not a bad Grand Tour team at all...

At the Tour the team never really challenged the GC, as far as i can remember, they only had ambition in 1996 (with Rominger and Olano) and in 1999, when Tonkov started as a contender but performed quite poorly.

But they were fun to watch at the Tour, with Tom Steels beating the Saeco train countless times between 1998 and 2000 and Nardello finished in the top 10 three consecutive times (98, 99 and 2000).

 

[jens_attacks]

yes but look at them,they're still whining even now after ten years that they didn't win le tour.