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Top 10 rides ever

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Kwibus said:
From there on I hoped that Bobbie Traksel would show more, but unfortunately he pretty much dissapeared after that race with poor results.

Maybe he can only perform in near hurricane-like conditions? However, I do agree with you that with the exception of KBK, his season has been a wash and he is moving teams after this year. I'm interested to see where he ends up - if he hasn't signed with someone already.
 
A few rides that I haven't seen mentioned (I dont think anyways). These are in the past 10 years, the ones that I remember watching

2005 Giro Penultimate day, Rujano, Simoni and Di Luca attack on the gravel road of the next to last climb, had a 2 minutes lead at the top. By they time they reached the base of Sestries, Paolo pulled back almost a minute and half, and was able to hold onto the maglia rosa by around 20 seconds.

2003 Paris-Nice Stage 4, Finish on top of Mont Faron, who can forget Vino winning the stage (and the race ) brandishing a picture of Kivilev at the finish line 2 days after his death.

2003 Giro Stage 12-The Finish on the epic Zoncolan, Simoni winning the stage over a 2 man chase group, which included Garzelli and his ex teammate Marco Pantani. Unknown at the time, this would be the last time we would see Pantani be a factor in a stage of a Grand Tour.

2004 Tour De France Stage 13- Sometimes the greatest rides are based on pure survival. Finish in PLateau de Beille, who could forget Voeckler in yellow falling off the back of the peleton every climb just to chase back on. Then in obvious agony, pulling himself inside out and his infamous reaction at the finish when he realize he held on to yellow by a handful of seconds. This to me will always be considered epic.

2006 Stage 17 Vuelta a Espana- A downhill finish in Granada. VIno and Kash 1 and 2 on the top of the final climb, Valverde chasing behind in the golden jersey. Valverde gets to within about 5 seconds on teh descent when Vino takes off for what appears to be a last gasp effort. He hooks up with Tom Danielson and Valverde fades back. Danielson wins the stage, Vino wins the Vuelta.

I dont mean to neglect the classics, these stages are the first ones that came to my mind. Most of the classics I can think of, are ones already mentioned. The one classic I can think of that I dont think has been mentioned be

2008-Het Volk- Gilbert solos off the front of the group with 50km to go and goes through the breakaway, then finish solo to win the Classic.
 
I can't believe it's been six pages and no one yet has mentioned Pantani's 1997 ascent of l'Alpe d'Huez.

Do the numbers 37:35 mean anything to you?


Of course his hematocrit level probably was 60, but nobody's perfect!
 
Jul 16, 2010
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The most recent one that stood out to me was the Alto el Angliru in the Vuelta a Espana of 2008.

Dancing on your pedals on a 21% climb is crazy.
 
jaylew said:
I hate to say it, but...Landis, stage 17, 2006 TdF.

Noooooooo Way! How can any ride where PEDs were used qualify? It might have looked pretty, but it was a mirage.

Ben Johnson winning the 100 metres at the Seoul Olympics looked awesome too, but I look at it now and want to puke - same thing with Landis or any other "great ride"' where cheating was involved.

If others have chosen rides where the cyclist was probably using drugs or it has since been proven he was, these too should be discredited.

Come on people, clean up the sport, don't glamorize a cheater!
 
StyrbjornSterki said:
I can't believe it's been six pages and no one yet has mentioned Pantani's 1997 ascent of l'Alpe d'Huez.

Do the numbers 37:35 mean anything to you?


Of course his hematocrit level probably was 60, but nobody's perfect!



I was at Alpe d'Huez in '92 and Andy Hampsten looked a lot better than Big Mig that day and any race the Pirate raced
 

flicker

BANNED
Aug 17, 2009
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almost any ride merckx rode. ocana beating merckx. lemond beating fignonfinaltdf .mayo smoking le alpe. floyds stage 17. iwas happy for him, sorry he was caught by controlle. lance worlds 1993. any race boonen wins.
victories by vino in the 07 tour
 
May 28, 2010
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Magnus said:
Ok. So instead of a top 10 riders list, let's have a top 10 rides.

My pick at the moment (not in any particular order).

Hinault LBL 80
Merckx Tourmalet 69
Koblet Agen TdF 51
Coppi Sestrieres TdF 52
Poli Ventoux TdF 94
Rudi Altig Trofeo Barrachi 62
Ryder Hesjedal TTT TdF 2009
Anquetil Dauphine/Bordeaux-Paris 65
Gaul Chartreuse TdF 58
Cancellara Paris-Roubaix 2010

Erm what exactly did he do there? I missed that stage and didn't hear anything special about his ride...
 
Jul 2, 2009
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royalpig180 said:
Erm what exactly did he do there? I missed that stage and didn't hear anything special about his ride...

He hung on the back with everything he could as Millar, Zabriskie, Wiggins and Vande Velde blitzed the course like an Olympic pursuit team.

It wasn't an 'impressive' performance like some, but he suffered like hell to hang in there.
 
Jul 2, 2009
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As a fan of sprinters, I'll add one here - and it's not one of Cav's Paris wins.

2007 Tour de France. Stage 1 to Canterbury. 20k to go and Robbie McEwen crashes, hurting himself quite a bit. With the help of his team he gets back to the bunch with 6-8k to go (depends on sources), makes his way through the peloton and takes the win ahead of Hushovd and Boonen.
 
Dec 14, 2009
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Mambo95 said:
As a fan of sprinters, I'll add one here - and it's not one of Cav's Paris wins.

2007 Tour de France. Stage 1 to Canterbury. 20k to go and Robbie McEwen crashes, hurting himself quite a bit. With the help of his team he gets back to the bunch with 6-8k to go (depends on sources), makes his way through the peloton and takes the win ahead of Hushovd and Boonen.

Yeah that was sick. I remember jumping around my living room at 2am. Broke his wrist in the crash and pulled out about a week later.
 
Jul 25, 2010
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Until recently I've never been a big fan of road racing, but one ride I have remembered is Paolo Savoldelli in the 2005 Giro. Lost time on the last big climb of the tour, got most of it back on the descent. That descent won him the Giro iirc.
 
Mar 17, 2009
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Highlander said:
Although he is nowhere near as high profile as most of the names on this list, I'm partial to this year's KBK where Bobbie Traksel won and only 26 riders finished in truly appalling conditions. Of course, this wasn't that much different than what took place in 2003 where awful weather again limited the finishers to only 26 as Roy Sentjens took it that day. So I guess you can put them both on the list for me.
Those days are always memorable. Just like the 85 Ronde and 85 PR that I mentioned. Epic conditions that only the strongest in mind and body can endure. This year's Giro stage to Montalcino continued that tradition, albeit without such a high attrition rate!
 
Aug 2, 2010
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almost every post in this thread is BS. people talking about races that they never saw.. comparing merckx's era with today's era.. like i said, if merckx started racing in this era, he would had 0 top wins. he would had to chose between being better than cav, or being better than contador, or bonen and fabien or bettini. for a cyclist to win, he needs to focus only on 1or2(max) kinds of cycling (hilly classics, sprints, TT etc.).

i have some huge moments craved in my memory..

ulrich wining the olimpic TT (i was young but it was him who was having diarrea during that TT right?)
vino at paris (21stage)
contador's giro..
armstrong (in 99\2000) biggest layer ever..
etc etc
 
Mar 17, 2009
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c&cfan said:
almost every post in this thread is BS. people talking about races that they never saw.. comparing merckx's era with today's era.. like i said, if merckx started racing in this era, he would had 0 top wins. he would had to chose between being better than cav, or being better than contador, or bonen and fabien or bettini. for a cyclist to win, he needs to focus only on 1or2(max) kinds of cycling (hilly classics, sprints, TT etc.).
Suggest you watch A Sunday in Hell, La Course en Tete & The Greatest Show in Earth, then you will see that Merckx was in another league. Sure racing has changed, but only really in the last 20 years. Up until then there was not a massive difference in the pattern of the season.

i have some huge moments craved in my memory..

ulrich wining the olimpic TT (i was young but it was him who was having diarrea during that TT right?)
vino at paris (21stage)
contador's giro..
armstrong (in 99\2000) biggest layer ever..
etc etc
Do you mean liar or player?
 
Mar 17, 2009
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c&cfan said:
you cant compare that to modern cycling..
Post 1991/2 I'd agree. Merckx's era can be compared to the late 70's & 80's because the sport was not really that different. Same races, very similar equipment & almost identical training methods.
 
Personal favourites-

1992 Milan - San Remo - Sean Kelly
1994 Paris - Roubaix - Andrei Tschmil
1998 Tour de France Stage 15 to Les Deux Alpes- Marco Pantani
1999 Liege Bastogne Liege - Frank Vandenbrouke
2003 Tour de France Stage 12 ITT - Jan Ullrich
2010 Grio d'Italia Stage 7 to Motacalcino- Cadel Evans