Top 10 Cyclists from your country of all time

[Garry Allen]

and yet another revision for Australia:

1. Sam Hill
2. Cadel Evans
3. Stuart O'Grady
4. Robbie Mcewen
5. Phil Anderson
6. Brad McGee
7. Wade Bootes
8. Hubert Opperman
9. Neil Stephens
10. (tie)Nathan Rennie or Chris Kovarik

It was tough to put Hill above Evans because Cadel has more diversity in his results, but Hill has simply been much more dominant in a much shorter period of time(3 worlds golds, a silver and 2 bronzes + 2 World Cup championships).

If Hill was XC world champ maybe so, but he won the WC in down hill.Evans is number #1 for his world championship, #3 in 2009 Vuelta, 2 #2s in the TdF, a couple of Tour of Tasmania's while he was still racing MTB and multiple XC world cups amongst others.
2. Stuart O'Grady Paris Roubaix, multiple TdF yellow jerseys. track endurance golds.....
3. McEwan.
4. Anderson.
5 Rogers for 3 TT world championships
6. McGee - road and track leader's jerseys in all 3 grand tours
7. Danny Clarke - the greatest of the Australian 6 day racers, medals at various world championships despite not being a team player as far as Cycling Australia was concerned
8. Opperman
9. Gerrans
10 Anna Millward several world cups

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

interesting... O'grady's PR win or Evans WC win.. which is bigger/more impressive... PR is the king of all classics imo, but there is just something about the rainbow jersey which i value higher.

 

[heinkel12]

Phil Anderson wore the yellow jersey in 2 Tours de France, won 2 stages, finished top 10 five times, won the Amstel Gold, Dauphine Libere, Tour of Switzerland, the Henninger Tower race when it was a big deal and finished 2nd in the Tour of Flanders a couple of times. That trumps OGrady as a road rider and runs Evans pretty close. Throw in Stuey's track wins and it's a bit closer but if we are going outside road cycling you also have to consider Mockridge, Patterson's 4 World Titles (in the Sprint and Pursuit!). Danny Clark's 3 or 4 World Titles and several second places and of course his Six Day success.

 

[HostingDirect24]

Phil Anderson wore the yellow jersey in 2 Tours de France, won 2 stages, finished top 10 five times, won the Amstel Gold, Dauphine Libere, Tour of Switzerland, the Henninger Tower race when it was a big deal and finished 2nd in the Tour of Flanders a couple of times. That trumps OGrady as a road rider and runs Evans pretty close. Throw in Stuey's track wins and it's a bit closer but if we are going outside road cycling you also have to consider Mockridge, Patterson's 4 World Titles (in the Sprint and Pursuit!). Danny Clark's 3 or 4 World Titles and several second places and of course his Six Day success.

Phil Anderson basically put Australia on the map of international cycling and there is still a special ring to his name even when you forgot about his actual results.

 

[HostingDirect24]

I respectfully disagree with your "ranking" of races. Boyer won the Coors classic...and RAAM...and was a solid TdF racer. World championships are nice...but not the end all be all of cycling. Also, you seriously under respect the fact of being the first to be a big time road racer in Europe. He is the one that paved the way. No American team for him to ride for...had to learn French, Dutch...just to survive.

You have quite a bias in your rankings...I mean John Tomac as number one? Over LA and Lemond? It is hard to take that ranking seriously.

I agree with you in giving value to historic achievement. On the other hand, the RAAM is not widely regarded as cycling at the highest level as is the case with the Crocodile Trophy and they certainly aren't by me. As an aside, the Crocodile Trophy was initiated by a rider who solidly raced to several red lanterns in the TdF but not much else in his career.

 

[il_fiammingo]

For Belgium the list should be (IMO):
1 MERCKX, Eddy

2 VAN LOOY, Rik (2x Worlds, 3x Roubaix, 2x Vlaanderen, 2x Paris-Tours, Lombardia, Sanremo, LBL, 2x Gent-Wevelgem, Fleche Wallone, 4x E3-prijs, 2x Paris-Bruxelles 2x Scheldeprijs, Points classif. Tour de France, 7 Tour stages)

3 THYS, Philippe (3x Tour de France, Lombardia, Paris-Tours, 12 Tour stages)

4 DE VLAEMINCK, Roger (4x Roubaix, 3x Sanremo, 2x Lombardia, LBL, Vlaanderen, Zurich, 6x Tirreno, Tour de Suisse, 2x Milano-Torino, 2x Het Volk, Fleche Wallone, E3-prijs, Lazio, Paris-Bruxelles, Emilia, Piemonte, Scheldeprijs, Veneto, 4-jours Dunkerque, 1 Tour stage)

5 VAN STEENBERGEN, Rik (3x Worlds, 3x Roubaix, 2x Vlaanderen, Sanremo, 4 Tour stages)

6 SCHOTTE, Briek (2x Worlds, 2x Vlaanderen, 2x Paris-Tours, 2x Gent-Wevelgem, 2x Paris-Bruxelles, Scheldeprijs, 1 Tour stage)

7 MAES, Sylvère (2x Tour de France, Roubaix, Mountain classif. TDF, 9 Tour stages)

8 MUSEEUW, Johan (Worlds, 3x Vlaanderen, 3x Roubaix, 2x Zurich, Paris-Tours, Amstel, HEW, 2x Het Volk, 2x E3-prijs, 3-daagse De Panne, 2x 4-jours Dunkerque, 2 Tour stages)

9 MAERTENS, Freddy (2x Worlds, Vuelta, Paris-Tours, Zurich, Amstel, Paris-Nice, Catalunya, 2x Gent-Wevelgem, 2x Het Volk, Paris-Bruxelles, E3-prijs, Scheldeprijs, 4x 4-jours Dunkerque, Henninger Turm, GP des Nations, 3x Points classif. TDF, 16 Tour stages)

10 GODEFROOT, Walter (2x Vlaanderen, 2x Zurich, Roubaix, LBL, 2x Bordeaux-Paris, Gent-Wevelgem, Henninger Turm, Scheldeprijs, 4-jours Dunkerque, Points classif. TDF, 10 Tour stages)

11 DE BRUYNE, Fred (3x LBL, Sanremo, Roubaix, Paris-Tours, Vlaanderen, 2x Paris-Nice, 6 Tour stages)

12 VAN IMPE, Lucien (Tour de France, 6x Mountain classif. TDF, 9 Tour stages)

13 VAN SPRINGEL, Herman (7x Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Tours, Lombardia, Zurich, Gent-Wevelgem, 2x GP des Nations, E3-prijs, Het Volk, Points classif. TDF, 5 Tour stages)

14 BOONEN, Tom (Worlds, 3x Roubaix, 2X Vlaanderen, Gent-Wevelgem,4x E3-prijs, 2x Scheldeprijs, Points classif. TDF, 6 Tour stages)

15 RONSSE, Georges (2x Worlds, LBL, Roubaix, 3x Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Bruxelles, Scheldeprijs, 1 Tour stage)

 

[Esroh the Hoss]

My ten Paddies.

1.Sean Kelly, No explanations needed
2.Stephen Roche, ditto
3.Shay Elliott, stage winner TDF, yellow jersey wearer TDF, team-mate of Anquteil
4.Harry Reynolds. First Irish World Champion.
5.Martin Earley, TDF, Giro stage winner
6.Paul Kimmage, 3 TDF participations, 1 Giro participation
7.Nicolas Roche, current pro, Top 25 TDF, Irish Champion
8.Philip Deignan, current Pro, 3 GT finishes
9. Mark Scanlon, former Junior World Champion, Tour finisher
10.Lawrence Roche.


Dan Martin, current pro, will be very very very big.

1.Sean Kelly, No explanations needed
2.Stephen Roche, ditto
3.Shay Elliott, stage winner TDF, yellow jersey wearer TDF, team-mate of Anquteil
4.Harry Reynolds. First Irish World Champion.
5.Martin Earley, TDF, Giro stage winner
6.Philip Deignan, current Pro, 3 GT finishes Top 10 Vuelta and Stage winner
7.Paul Kimmage, 3 TDF participations, 1 Giro participation
8.Nicolas Roche, current pro, Top 25 TDF, Irish Champion
9. Mark Scanlon, former Junior World Champion, Tour finisher
10.Lawrence Roche./David Mc Cann for his TT results in Worlds
Philip deserves to move up and DmcCann again showed his TT ability at the worlds and this year he has been racing at home in Ire without a pro contract

 

[dawida]

list of the best Polish cyclists



1 Zenon Jaskuła ( tdf top 3 and 1 stage,excellent on time, excellent highlander, a lot times in opening credits Giro )
2 Zbigniew Spruch (2 in Plouay and many other excellent results )
3 Lech Piasecki (Tdf Leader ,6 stage Tour Of Italy)
4 Sylwester Szmyd ( mount Ventoux wins,he passed 15 large tours through and it with fairly good results ,he worked on pantani, basso, cunego, simoni,)
5 Dariusz Baranowski (12 in TDf 1998,4 Criterium 1998, 3 times TdP,11 Giro 2003,3rd, Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt,1st, King of the Mountains - Dauphiné Libéré 2002),
6 Cezary Zamana
7 Piotr Wadecki
8 Czesław Lang
9 Thomas Brożyna
10 Przemysław Niemiec

 

[ProTour]

Has Hill rode in more than 1 discipline. I don't think so.

You are wrong, very wrong in fact. Hill has actually raced in at least 5 disciplines(DH, Super D, Super DH, Mountaincross, & Dual Slalom), but his best results have certainly been in DH. But he has won races in more than 1 discipline at the highest level.

Evans won the World Cup in MTB twice.

Hill also won the World Cup in MTB twice, in a more dominant fashion, and also has many more World Cup victories than Evans.

He also won a world championship there.

Hill won two World Championships as a junior(along w/ a bronze when he was only 16), and has two worlds as a senior, along with his silver and two bronzes as a senior. The only World Championship Evans has won as a senior is his most recent one on the road. No comparison there.

Hill has not got nothing on Evans

Only 3 World Championship gold medals, a silver, and three bronzes, during his racing career. And he's only been a senior for 6 years, whereas I can remember almost 6 years where Cadel went without hardly any victories. I respect Cadel's diversity, but I respect Hill's outright domination even more. And by the end of Hill's career(he is still fairly young, Evans is nearing retirement), I suspect this comparison probably won't even be close. If Cadel had won a Grand tour or two, things might look different, but that isn't the case. Instead there has been a list of "almosts" and "what ifs"(what if Lance had died of cancer), not the hallmark of a champion. Meanwhile, Hill has maintained a consistent level of dominance throughout his relatively short career.


I'll also admit that part of my reason for putting Hill ahead of Evans is because of "sportsmanship", which I personally consider a part of being a great champion. Sam Hill is loved by both the fans and media, whereas Cadel Evans is clearly not always a good sportsman and advocate for the sport of cycling, as evidenced by this gem from his Wikipedia profile:

"(Cadel Evans)Relationship with the media

"Evans is known for confrontation with media, fans and other cyclists.[8][9] He used a bodyguard at the 2008 Tour de France; it has been suggested that this sparked the tensions, as the more force was used to keep the media away from Evans, the more the attention became.[9][10] Evans lost his temper and batted away the hand of a journalist from his injured shoulder, shouted "Stand on my dog and I'll cut your head off" at a bystander who collided with his dog,[10] and headbutted a television camera.[11] The actions earned him the nickname "Cuddles" from ProCycling's features editor, Daniel Friebe,[1] who coined other nicknames in the peloton.[12]""

 

[ProTour]

Since the precedent has been set, I'll stick up for the French.

1. Bernard Hinault
2. Jacques Anquetil
3. Louison Bobet
4. Laurent Fignon
5. Jean Robic
6. Bernard Thevenet
7. Raymond Poulidor
8. Laurent Jalabert
9. Charley Mottet
10. Jean-Francois Bernard (OK, so I punted.)

And I'll stick up for the French MTB'ers:

1. Nicolas Vouilloz
2. Jacques Anquetil
3. Louison Bobet
4. Laurent Fignon
5. Jean Robic
6. Miguel Martinez
7. Bernard Thevenet
8. Raymond Poulidor
9. Laurent Jalabert
10. Fabien Barrel

No cyclist in French history has ever been as dominant as Nico, hands down, no comparison, case closed.

 

[rafael_ms]

I'm brazilian, so you're not going to recognize much names.

1-Mauro Ribeiro(TdF Stage Winner in 1992)
2-Murilo Fishcer
3-Luciano Pagliarini
4-Cassio Freitas de Paiva(1992 Tour of Portugal overall winner)
5-Rubens Donizete(ex-construction worker and 21st place at 2008 Olympics Cross Country)
6-Vasconcellos(Actual Brazilian Cycling Federation president)
7-Marcio May
8-Renato Seabra
9-Magno Prado Nazaret
10-Rafael Andriato maybe?

 

[Garry Allen]

You are wrong, very wrong in fact. Hill has actually raced in at least 5 disciplines(DH, Super D, Super DH, Mountaincross, & Dual Slalom), but his best results have certainly been in DH. But he has won races in more than 1 discipline at the highest level.


Hill also won the World Cup in MTB twice, in a more dominant fashion, and also has many more World Cup victories than Evans.

4 cross and down hill don't count. Cross country or single track possibly. I dont think you understand what Cadel Evans has done. In the form of cycling with the largest number of professional participants, he won the World Championship, the first time ever by an Australian. He also has worn the leader's jersey in the Giro d'Italia and in the TdF. placed second in the Tour twice, the highest finish ever by an Australian, and 3rd and 4th in the Vuelta
Evans palmares
http://www.cycling.org.au/default.asp?id=8819

Hill won two World Championships as a junior(along w/ a bronze when he was only 16), and has two worlds as a senior, along with his silver and two bronzes as a senior. The only World Championship Evans has won as a senior is his most recent one on the road. No comparison there.


Only 3 World Championship gold medals, a silver, and three bronzes, during his racing career. And he's only been a senior for 6 years, whereas I can remember almost 6 years where Cadel went without hardly any victories. I respect Cadel's diversity, but I respect Hill's outright domination even more. And by the end of Hill's career(he is still fairly young, Evans is nearing retirement), I suspect this comparison probably won't even be close. If Cadel had won a Grand tour or two, things might look different, but that isn't the case. Instead there has been a list of "almosts" and "what ifs"(what if Lance had died of cancer), not the hallmark of a champion. Meanwhile, Hill has maintained a consistent level of dominance throughout his relatively short career.


I'll also admit that part of my reason for putting Hill ahead of Evans is because of "sportsmanship", which I personally consider a part of being a great champion. Sam Hill is loved by both the fans and media, whereas Cadel Evans is clearly not always a good sportsman and advocate for the sport of cycling, as evidenced by this gem from his Wikipedia profile:

"(Cadel Evans)Relationship with the media

"Evans is known for confrontation with media, fans and other cyclists.[8][9] He used a bodyguard at the 2008 Tour de France; it has been suggested that this sparked the tensions, as the more force was used to keep the media away from Evans, the more the attention became.[9][10] Evans lost his temper and batted away the hand of a journalist from his injured shoulder, shouted "Stand on my dog and I'll cut your head off" at a bystander who collided with his dog,[10] and headbutted a television camera.[11] The actions earned him the nickname "Cuddles" from ProCycling's features editor, Daniel Friebe,[1] who coined other nicknames in the peloton.[12]""

to a certain extent, and not ignoring the exploits of champions such as Russell Mockridge or Keith Oliver or Alan Peiper or any of the others that have been mentioned; that the list contains the names of so many current riders is deserved. This reflects the world ranking that Australia now has. O'Grady deserves his place as the first Australian to win the most prestigious one day classic - Paris Roubaix. Evans deserves his place. McGee deserves to be recognised as does McEwen. And so does Anderson, the first (and as far as i know) the only Australian to win a white jersey in the TdF and highest placed finisher in the Tour prior to Evans. What Anderson and Peiper had to endure during their professional careers was unlike anything the current set of professional riders had to go through. Anderson was treated crappily by Motorola and struggled to earn respect from riders such as Hinault.What they and other riders such as Besanko did made it far easier for Australian riders in the 90s. Then you had people such as Bill Mitchell who established this website and provided a way for Australians to get race results the next day without waiting for 3 month old copies of Cycling Weekly. This helped to raise the profile of the sport. He also had a fair go at what was a very amateur administration of Cycling Australia, where team selections were often based on their relationships with the current Australian coach or something that had happened years before. Heiko Salzwedel as the road coach in the mid 90s was very important. I think he played a part in coaching O'Grady and McGee. Shane Bannon. These coaches also deserve to be recognised

 

[auscyclefan94]

You are wrong, very wrong in fact. Hill has actually raced in at least 5 disciplines(DH, Super D, Super DH, Mountaincross, & Dual Slalom), but his best results have certainly been in DH. But he has won races in more than 1 discipline at the highest level.


Hill also won the World Cup in MTB twice, in a more dominant fashion, and also has many more World Cup victories than Evans.


Hill won two World Championships as a junior(along w/ a bronze when he was only 16), and has two worlds as a senior, along with his silver and two bronzes as a senior. The only World Championship Evans has won as a senior is his most recent one on the road. No comparison there.


Only 3 World Championship gold medals, a silver, and three bronzes, during his racing career. And he's only been a senior for 6 years, whereas I can remember almost 6 years where Cadel went without hardly any victories. I respect Cadel's diversity, but I respect Hill's outright domination even more. And by the end of Hill's career(he is still fairly young, Evans is nearing retirement), I suspect this comparison probably won't even be close. If Cadel had won a Grand tour or two, things might look different, but that isn't the case. Instead there has been a list of "almosts" and "what ifs"(what if Lance had died of cancer), not the hallmark of a champion. Meanwhile, Hill has maintained a consistent level of dominance throughout his relatively short career.


I'll also admit that part of my reason for putting Hill ahead of Evans is because of "sportsmanship", which I personally consider a part of being a great champion. Sam Hill is loved by both the fans and media, whereas Cadel Evans is clearly not always a good sportsman and advocate for the sport of cycling, as evidenced by this gem from his Wikipedia profile:

"(Cadel Evans)Relationship with the media

"Evans is known for confrontation with media, fans and other cyclists.[8][9] He used a bodyguard at the 2008 Tour de France; it has been suggested that this sparked the tensions, as the more force was used to keep the media away from Evans, the more the attention became.[9][10] Evans lost his temper and batted away the hand of a journalist from his injured shoulder, shouted "Stand on my dog and I'll cut your head off" at a bystander who collided with his dog,[10] and headbutted a television camera.[11] The actions earned him the nickname "Cuddles" from ProCycling's features editor, Daniel Friebe,[1] who coined other nicknames in the peloton.[12]""

Those 5 different diciplnes are very similar. winning in MTB and winning on road are much different and it is a bigger change. Road is much more competitive dicipline of cycling. The reason why Sam Hill is "suppposedly loved" by the media is because not many people know about him and not many people are really interested in DH riding compared to road cycling. Winnig a WC on road and winning a WC in DH are universes apart in difficulty. With Cadel being a bad sport, that's your opinion, but those incidents which are talked about on wikipedia are taken out of context and the full story has not been told.

 

[Anonymous]

Taken me a while to decide on this one.... especially the order, whats more important, tour results, classics, or generally, is Barry Hobans 10 stage wins more impressive than cavs, should cav be 5th (well he is JUST the fastest man in the world on a damn good team), should Simpson only be 6th.. i think so, hes more famous for dying than being world champion sadly.. edit: swapped simpson and cav around, for now...

Top 10 British ROAD cyclists...

1/Robert Millar - 3 tour stages, 1 giro stage, 1 vuelta stage, king of the mountains in both the tour and the giro, and 4th overall in the tour... won the dauphine, and catalunya....
2/Barry Hoban - 10 tdf stages, Gent-Wevelgem
3/Brian Robinson - 2tdf stages, 1st brit to complete the tour, finished 14th, won the Dauphine Libere
4/Malcolm Elliot - Dominated the british scene, milk race, nissan classic and tour of britain for years, went to spain for just 2 years, 2 stages in the vuelta, and winner of the pts jersey in the veulta, stage wins in catalunya, Castilla y Leon, Cantabria, etc then went to america and picked up another dozen wins for chevrolet.. and in 2006 finally got the world championship he deserved (albeit the masters),
5/Tom Simpson - Paris Nice, Giro Lombardia, World Champion, Died
6/Mark Cavendish - 10 tour stages, 5 giro stages, Milan San Remo, and more to come
7/Chris Boardman - World TT champ, 3 tdf stage wins
8/David Millar - 3 tdf stage wins, 5 veulta stage wins
9/Sean Yates - Stage wins in the tour, the vuelta, and paris nice.. completed 9 tours
10/Vin Denson - The only english rider to ever win a stage of the giro..

Nearlies...
Bradley Wiggins - 4th in the tour, and winning prologue of dauphine not enough to sneak in,
Roger Hammond
and no Paul Sherwen Either...

 

[powderpuff]

You are wrong, very wrong in fact. Hill has actually raced in at least 5 disciplines(DH, Super D, Super DH, Mountaincross, & Dual Slalom), but his best results have certainly been in DH. But he has won races in more than 1 discipline at the highest level.

These are just variations of the one discipline, DH. He is a great DH rider no doubt but lets not get carried away.

Hill also won the World Cup in MTB twice, in a more dominant fashion, and also has many more World Cup victories than Evans.

Cadel was winning on the road while still competing on the MTB.

Instead there has been a list of "almosts" and "what ifs"(what if Lance had died of cancer), not the hallmark of a champion.

These have been said by the press not Cadel, comparing Sam where he competes in an individual event against an individual who competes as part of a team but who's results are always looked on as individual results. Can never compare this directly.

Whereas Cadel Evans is clearly not always a good sportsman and advocate for the sport of cycling, as evidenced by this gem from his Wikipedia profile:

"(Cadel Evans)Relationship with the media

"Evans is known for confrontation with media, fans and other cyclists.[8][9] He used a bodyguard at the 2008 Tour de France; it has been suggested that this sparked the tensions, as the more force was used to keep the media away from Evans, the more the attention became.[9][10] Evans lost his temper and batted away the hand of a journalist from his injured shoulder, shouted "Stand on my dog and I'll cut your head off" at a bystander who collided with his dog,[10] and headbutted a television camera.[11] The actions earned him the nickname "Cuddles" from ProCycling's features editor, Daniel Friebe,[1] who coined other nicknames in the peloton.[12]""

Get off the grass, Hill has never had the pressure put on him like Cadel; ask 10001 people out there who Sam Hill is and 99% would not have a clue; but ask them about Cadel and it would be a totally different story. It's not even close the media attention and pressure they receive, you blew your comparison with that load of tripe. The "don't stand on my dog" incident was a joke, and so are you. Daniel Friebe, who the hell is he? Gee what a claim to fame called Cadel "Cuddles". Big friggin deal.

 

[Ferminal]

.
I'll also admit that part of my reason for putting Hill ahead of Evans is because of "sportsmanship", which I personally consider a part of being a great champion. Sam Hill is loved by both the fans and media, whereas Cadel Evans is clearly not always a good sportsman and advocate for the sport of cycling, as evidenced by this gem from his Wikipedia profile:

"(Cadel Evans)Relationship with the media

"Evans is known for confrontation with media, fans and other cyclists.[8][9] He used a bodyguard at the 2008 Tour de France; it has been suggested that this sparked the tensions, as the more force was used to keep the media away from Evans, the more the attention became.[9][10] Evans lost his temper and batted away the hand of a journalist from his injured shoulder, shouted "Stand on my dog and I'll cut your head off" at a bystander who collided with his dog,[10] and headbutted a television camera.[11] The actions earned him the nickname "Cuddles" from ProCycling's features editor, Daniel Friebe,[1] who coined other nicknames in the peloton.[12]""

Why are you quoting wikipedia for events which everyone here knows pretty much every detail of (read any Cadel thread and you will see references to his dog).

Relationship with media has nothing to do with your sportsmanship. Sportsmanship refers to compliance with the unwritten code/ethics between competitors. Cadel may be a whiner and a sour teammate but you will be struggling to find examples where he has broken the gentleman's code.

Indeed Road is the premier cycling discipline. The fact that results come from the more competitive/notable sport do make them more impressive. e.g. If Australia won the 2010 World Cup it would surpass all of our Hockey/Netball achievements combined. A world cup in one sport doesn't always carry the same weight as a world cup in another.

I think O'Grady/Evans is a close one. You could balance their Track and MTB achievements, PR and Rainbow. Even their TdF results are comparable. Perhaps Cadel has a couple extra years left in him though and by the end of their careers it will be an easier comparison.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

From Denmark, I'll put

1. Rolf Sørensen
2. Bjarne Riis
3. Ole Ritter
4. Leif Mortensen
5. Kim Andersen
6. Michael Rasmussen
7. Jesper Skibby
8. Bo Hamburger
9. Lars Michaelsen
10. Matti Breschel

Runners-up: Nicki Sørensen, Jesper Worre, Chris-Anker Sørensen, Jakob Fuglsang, Johnny Weltz

Careers mainly as track riders: Hans-Henrik Ørsted, Jens Veggerby, Jimmi Madsen

 

[Big Ring]

1.Sean Kelly, No explanations needed
2.Stephen Roche, ditto
3.Shay Elliott, stage winner TDF, yellow jersey wearer TDF, team-mate of Anquteil
4.Harry Reynolds. First Irish World Champion.
5.Martin Earley, TDF, Giro stage winner
6.Philip Deignan, current Pro, 3 GT finishes Top 10 Vuelta and Stage winner
7.Paul Kimmage, 3 TDF participations, 1 Giro participation
8.Nicolas Roche, current pro, Top 25 TDF, Irish Champion
9. Mark Scanlon, former Junior World Champion, Tour finisher
10.Lawrence Roche./David Mc Cann for his TT results in Worlds
Philip deserves to move up and DmcCann again showed his TT ability at the worlds and this year he has been racing at home in Ire without a pro contract

Yes Philip should move up. But David is nowhere near good enough for the top 10. He is a good TT rider but hardly a legend. There is a reason he has no Pro contract, same reason you & I don't, w're ****e.

 

[Tugboat]

And I'll stick up for the French MTB'ers:

1. Nicolas Vouilloz
2. Jacques Anquetil
3. Louison Bobet
4. Laurent Fignon
5. Jean Robic
6. Miguel Martinez
7. Bernard Thevenet
8. Raymond Poulidor
9. Laurent Jalabert
10. Fabien Barrel

No cyclist in French history has ever been as dominant as Nico, hands down, no comparison, case closed.

You really have got a bad case of DH fan-boi fanaticism going on. I'm sorry but there's absolutely no way that you could even reasonably start to argue that Nico's achievements in Downhill come even close to surpassing guys with five Tour victories, plus endless other race wins at the top level. Road racing is a sport that has far more depth of competition than DH!!

And no place at all in your top 10 for Bernard Hinault? WTF???

 

[pmcg76]

Taken me a while to decide on this one.... especially the order, whats more important, tour results, classics, or generally, is Barry Hobans 10 stage wins more impressive than cavs, should cav be 5th (well he is JUST the fastest man in the world on a damn good team), should Simpson only be 6th.. i think so, hes more famous for dying than being world champion sadly.. edit: swapped simpson and cav around, for now...

Top 10 British ROAD cyclists...

1/Robert Millar - 3 tour stages, 1 giro stage, 1 vuelta stage, king of the mountains in both the tour and the giro, and 4th overall in the tour... won the dauphine, and catalunya....
2/Barry Hoban - 10 tdf stages, Gent-Wevelgem
3/Brian Robinson - 2tdf stages, 1st brit to complete the tour, finished 14th, won the Dauphine Libere
4/Malcolm Elliot - Dominated the british scene, milk race, nissan classic and tour of britain for years, went to spain for just 2 years, 2 stages in the vuelta, and winner of the pts jersey in the veulta, stage wins in catalunya, Castilla y Leon, Cantabria, etc then went to america and picked up another dozen wins for chevrolet.. and in 2006 finally got the world championship he deserved (albeit the masters),
5/Tom Simpson - Paris Nice, Giro Lombardia, World Champion, Died
6/Mark Cavendish - 10 tour stages, 5 giro stages, Milan San Remo, and more to come
7/Chris Boardman - World TT champ, 3 tdf stage wins
8/David Millar - 3 tdf stage wins, 5 veulta stage wins
9/Sean Yates - Stage wins in the tour, the vuelta, and paris nice.. completed 9 tours
10/Vin Denson - The only english rider to ever win a stage of the giro..

Nearlies...
Bradley Wiggins - 4th in the tour, and winning prologue of dauphine not enough to sneak in,
Roger Hammond
and no Paul Sherwen Either...

Still think Tom Simpson should be at least 1st or 2nd, World Championships, M-SR, Flanders and Lombardy come above any number of Tour stages.

Agree with most of the rest but not sure Malc should be so high up, being anal here but he had 5 seasons in Spain (Fagor 88, Teka 89-90, Seur 91-92) 88 was probably his best season but he didnt do much in his last few seasons in Europe, still to be admired for competing with pros at nearly 50.

I would have put both Cav and Boardman above Elliott.

 

[Tugboat]

I'm pretty sure that Hoban only has 8 Tour stage wins (7 really, since he was gifted one in 1967 the day after Simpson's death).

He does have 2 x Vuelta stages, so 10 GT stages in total, compared to Cav's 15 with likely many more to come. I'd already have Cav streets ahead of him despite his young age.

 

[avanti]

Taken me a while to decide on this one.... especially the order, whats more important, tour results, classics, or generally, is Barry Hobans 10 stage wins more impressive than cavs, should cav be 5th (well he is JUST the fastest man in the world on a damn good team), should Simpson only be 6th.. i think so, hes more famous for dying than being world champion sadly.. edit: swapped simpson and cav around, for now...

Top 10 British ROAD cyclists...

1/Robert Millar - 3 tour stages, 1 giro stage, 1 vuelta stage, king of the mountains in both the tour and the giro, and 4th overall in the tour... won the dauphine, and catalunya....
2/Barry Hoban - 10 tdf stages, Gent-Wevelgem
3/Brian Robinson - 2tdf stages, 1st brit to complete the tour, finished 14th, won the Dauphine Libere
4/Malcolm Elliot - Dominated the british scene, milk race, nissan classic and tour of britain for years, went to spain for just 2 years, 2 stages in the vuelta, and winner of the pts jersey in the veulta, stage wins in catalunya, Castilla y Leon, Cantabria, etc then went to america and picked up another dozen wins for chevrolet.. and in 2006 finally got the world championship he deserved (albeit the masters),
5/Tom Simpson - Paris Nice, Giro Lombardia, World Champion, Died
6/Mark Cavendish - 10 tour stages, 5 giro stages, Milan San Remo, and more to come
7/Chris Boardman - World TT champ, 3 tdf stage wins
8/David Millar - 3 tdf stage wins, 5 veulta stage wins
9/Sean Yates - Stage wins in the tour, the vuelta, and paris nice.. completed 9 tours
10/Vin Denson - The only english rider to ever win a stage of the giro..

Nearlies...
Bradley Wiggins - 4th in the tour, and winning prologue of dauphine not enough to sneak in,
Roger Hammond
and no Paul Sherwen Either...

I would give an honorable mention to Brian Robinson
+ TDF stage winner
+ Critérium de Dauphiné Libéré winner
I saw Brian at the York Cycle Rally in July cheering on his grandson in a grass track race.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Robinson_(cyclist)

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

From what I know according to my young age :

Bernard Hinault
Jacques Anquetil
Louison Bobet
Raymond Poulidor
Laurent Fignon
Bernard Thévenet
André Darrigade
Laurent Jalabert
Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
Richard Virenque

And of course a thread called "top cyclists of all time" wouldn't be complete without mentioning Jeannie Longo.

The top three here are indisputable. Duclos and Virenque are debatable -- Virenque, sans dope, was a great stage-winner but not an overall challenger; Duclos had his fabulous late-career moment of glory, but there are a number of guys from the 50s and 60s with equally impressive palmares.

And kudos for mentioning Longo, who deserves to be on any top-10 cycling list, all-female or not, all-French or not.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure that Hoban only has 8 Tour stage wins (7 really, since he was gifted one in 1967 the day after Simpson's death).

He does have 2 x Vuelta stages, so 10 GT stages in total, compared to Cav's 15 with likely many more to come. I'd already have Cav streets ahead of him despite his young age.

it was 8, type on my part...

I did spend a while pondering over the list, and wasnt sure with Simpson.. he moved up and down my list like nobodys record... Yes, grand tours shouldnt be all the emphasis, but especially in the early days, tour performances are how we can compare british riders...

Simpsons tour record isnt actually that great in reality, so could he move above malcolm ellliot, yes, but above hoban, miller and robinson, i dont think so...

Miller top, arguable, but his all round performance, in the veulta and tour, winning a classification, and other races, i had to put him top...

Hoban i puzzled over and over with, and could have easily put him 5th, 3rd, top... but decided on 3rd....

Dear old malcolm.. well the question is, best riders from your country.. Malcolm Elliot dominated on the domestic stage like no other rider has really, maybe now the downings are coming close (milk race and pro tour), but nobody has dominated like that, and i think with the exception of arguabbly hoban he was the first british cyclist to reach almost star status, non cylcing fans recognised him... everyone knows or knew who he was.. He managed to take that success abroad, and he is only the second Brit to win a jersey in a major grand tour... so a grand tour jersey, coupled with then also doing well in america, commonwealth medals, i actually think he is possibly britains most rounded, and succesful rider... actually, the more i think about it, he should be 2nd... with hoban 3rd... boardman above malcolm elliot.. NAh... a world TT and the hour record dont make him a cyclist, they make him a speed merchant... TT wins only count 1/2pt in my book..

if anything i could move robinson down to 5th, and move elliot up to 3rd, and simpson up to 4th

then what to do with cav... he is probably 2nd on the list... behind miller, but its going to take probably 3 green jerseys and another classic for him to leapfrog to 1... ive no doubt one day cav will be our greatest ever rider (although for me it takes much more than just stage wins in the tour and giro to do that...get a few stages in the vuelta, win a word championship, a northern classic... then maybe...).. i also have issues with putting a young guy still racing above some great heros...

ok.. miller, hoban, simpson, elliot, robinson, cav, boardman, millar, yates, denson
and i will change mymind again tommoro...

 

[Steel4Ever]

Canada...please don't forget your powerhouse heritage!

"Torchy" Peden

Jocelyn Lovell

Sure they might be trackies but...give the ol' Maple Leaf a break will ya!