The Greatest Road Racing Cyclist Of All Time

[Monte Zoncolon]

Here is a list of Ten Cyclists. All of whom have made a huge impact, in this great
and extremely demanding Sport. Who really was the greatest of them all.

 

[Moondance]

Merckx... Nobody won more, noone will ever win more.

End of discussion.

 

[The Hitch]

This is not a sport where the title of GOAT is up for any discussion.

I didnt think we needed to name any names and that it was best left unsaid, but apparently Moondance feels otherwise

 

[Kwibus]

Merckx.

No doubt.

 

[Moondance]

This is not a sport where the title of GOAT is up for any discussion.

I didnt think we needed to name any names and that it was best left unsaid, but apparently Moondance feels otherwise

Well, I think people needed to be sure I was talking about good 'ole Axel.

 

[The Hitch]

I think Binda should be on the list.
So should Contador
and Roger De Vlaeminck.

I know people love Lemond and i like him too but he didnt win the Giro and he didnt win the Vuelta and he didnt win any monuments.

Sure he won the Worlds but there is more to Cycling than the tour and the worlds (see Sean Kelly). Even if you give him the 2 tours he missed, 5 TDFs and 2 worlds is not in my eyes worth Contadors GC grand slam nor Vaemnicks Monument grand slam.

Anyway im voting for Coppi because he looks cool in that picture and because he admited to drug use in the peloton.
Surely some of you will vote for Bartali in light of recent revelations.

For the record Sean Kelly is 2nd to the great one for me. And he is according to this as well

http://www.cyclingranking.com/Rankings/OverallAvg.aspx

 

[Ferminal]

Should be minus Merckx, or at least debate who is 2nd.

(otherwise there is no debate).

 

[slowoldman]

Merckx is the best, Bartali is my favorite.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

You can close this now.

 

[ultimobici]

Bartali, Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx & Hinault are the only ones who should be on the short list.

Numerically, Merckx has to take it, but Coppi had a world war interrupt his career so we'll never know. Hinault isn't far behind Merckx in what he won but loses out on sheer volume.

The rest - They all have some sort of shortcoming. Either a lack of GT's ot Monuments, or they are too one-dimensional.

Lemond only won the Tour and as Hitch said no classics. Kelly was predominanly a classics man, points winner & shorter stage race winner. His Vuelta is from when a sprinter could win it. Indurain & Armstrong were only really interested in the Tour, with anything else being a bonus. Gimondi was unfortunate to turn pro in the same year as Merckx, hence his less full palmares.

If you stick with 10 to choose from there are a few that should be in over some of the five here. Maertens & De Vlaeminck come to mind immediately.

 

[Darryl Webster]

Merckx has had this tittle since the 60`s and litteraly no one gets close.

Rarely mentioned is that he also had a full 6 day callender in the winter with many wins.
In a catogory of his own.

 

[Big Doopie]

merckx, no doubt.

a poll taken in france in 1999 had lemond second actually (and amazingly). i think lemond benefits from what many people think was his perhaps unparalleled athletic potential. a potential not fully realized in results due to hinault in 1985, the hunting accident which probably robbed him of his two best years and...(clinic talk). he also won the dauphine and it is wrong to say he just was a tour rider as he also won the super prestige (which rewarded the best rider for the entire season's results (1983).

however, hinault is second -- winning multiple tours, giros, a vuelta, the worlds and lots of classics.

i would like ocana to be on the list however -- on pure talent. no one else put 8 minutes into merckx when he was at his best...

 

[Le breton]

boring poll

Here is a list of Ten Cyclists. All of whom have made a huge impact, in this great
and extremely demanding Sport. Who really was the greatest of them all.

Remember this is a doping free discussion forum

I won't even vote. Of course it's Merkx. Wouldn't it be more more interesting to have a poll on who is second best?

 

[Jukebox]

Eddy, obviously. After him, Hinault.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

I'd like to change my vote to lance armstrong.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

where is pantani in that poll?? this list is pure horsecrap

 

[profff]

Bartali, Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx & Hinault are the only ones who should be on the short list.

Numerically, Merckx has to take it, but Coppi had a world war interrupt his career so we'll never know. Hinault isn't far behind Merckx in what he won but loses out on sheer volume.

The rest - They all have some sort of shortcoming. Either a lack of GT's ot Monuments, or they are too one-dimensional.

Lemond only won the Tour and as Hitch said no classics. Kelly was predominanly a classics man, points winner & shorter stage race winner. His Vuelta is from when a sprinter could win it. Indurain & Armstrong were only really interested in the Tour, with anything else being a bonus. Gimondi was unfortunate to turn pro in the same year as Merckx, hence his less full palmares.

If you stick with 10 to choose from there are a few that should be in over some of the five here. Maertens & De Vlaeminck come to mind immediately.

you know the history of cycling.
IMHO, mercks, with coppi very close, may be draw.
coppi had his career stopped by the war.
i vote mercks, probably the few people alive who saw coppi woul have voted for fausto l' airone.

very difficult to compare riders from different ages.

 

[Barrus]

I actually expected that the one vote for LA was from wonderlance, I am bit dissapointed in wonderlance, really

 

[baker0127]

In my opinion if GOD were a cyclist he would have been Eddy Merckx. JB

 

[red_flanders]

That there is even one vote for someone else is amazing to me. Get real people, it's not even close, not by orders of magnitude.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

some people actually didn't vote for the Cannibal ?

 

[Kvinto]

Merckx is no.1, Hinault - no.2. Not much to say... Who's third? I don't know... even rather don't care

 

[Mellow Velo]

Merckx by a mile.
Only Coppi or Bartali might have got close, except for a little thing called WW 2.
A vote for Armstrong?
Shows how blind love really is. Even "The Ego" wouldn't vote for himself.

 

[blutto]

merckx, no doubt.

a poll taken in france in 1999 had lemond second actually (and amazingly). i think lemond benefits from what many people think was his perhaps unparalleled athletic potential. a potential not fully realized in results due to hinault in 1985, the hunting accident which probably robbed him of his two best years and...(clinic talk). he also won the dauphine and it is wrong to say he just was a tour rider as he also won the super prestige (which rewarded the best rider for the entire season's results (1983).

however, hinault is second -- winning multiple tours, giros, a vuelta, the worlds and lots of classics.

i would like ocana to be on the list however -- on pure talent. no one else put 8 minutes into merckx when he was at his best...

...is there really any choice ?...Eddy by a long shot...and I believe I should be a very close second because of my much more mostest absolutely unparalleled athletic potential...I know in my heart that the French would understand once they saw the factoids....

Cheers

blutto

 

[bobbins]

This list is a joke. I won't be voting until Tom Danielson is added.