the 'cyclinghalloffame' website is okay, but I don't like the weighing of things. First, TdF winners get like 1.5 times the points as other GTs, which I think is a bit disproportionate, despite the fact that of course it's important. Also, they give more weight to Paris-Roubaix than any other 1 day race, which is kinda weird. They also ignore many more prominent minor races that still get top riders out and are, in my opinion, worthy of recognition. Aside from that, they only give points for top 3 or something, and nothing for stage wins, so guys like cipo are almost totally left out.
A much more comprehensive ranking has been carried out by Daniel Marszalyk, which used to be posted every year on the now-defunct cycling4all.com. It weighs much more evenly for races year-round (though you might argue that 100 points for winning the Tour and 90 for winning the Vuelta is not enough of a difference), gives points for stage wins, ranks top 10s in GTs, top 8 in the Worlds/Olympics and top 6 in classics/minor tours, and importantly, changes weighting of various races with what is known about the emphasis on each race over time.
I haven't seen a ranking for this year anywhere, but the 2007 ranking can be found here:
http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=12132
The top 25 or so hasn't changed in the past year anyway. For those who aren't into checking out the link (which has tons of interesting sub-analyses like top 1-day riders and top stage racers, top national 'teams', etc), here are the top 10:
1. Merckx (of course)
2. Hinault
3. Kelly
4. Anquetil
5. Moser (who no one has yet mentioned in this thread)
6. Bartali
7. Gimondi
8. Zoetemelk
9. Coppi
10. de Vlaeminck
It's a very interesting list, interesting to note: a) how far Merckx is ahead of everyone; b) how guys like Kelly and Zoetemelk look like they benefitted from a long career of consistent results, whereas someone like Coppi is lower than his legend suggests due to his shortened career; c) how, if you look at the whole list, Italy has by far the hugest pool of talent over history; d) how, if you look at current cyclists, it seems like French cycling is on life support, as they haven't had a rider in the top 200 since Virenque retired... many more observations can be made, but maybe it's just me that loves this stuff because I love numbers and rankings.
Anyway, combined with what I've read about riders' style/prominence/dominance, I'd list a top 5 of:
1. Merckx
2. Coppi
3. Hinault
4. Bartali
5. Anquetil
But it's all just an exercise in speculation. Good thing I happen to love that.
A much more comprehensive ranking has been carried out by Daniel Marszalyk, which used to be posted every year on the now-defunct cycling4all.com. It weighs much more evenly for races year-round (though you might argue that 100 points for winning the Tour and 90 for winning the Vuelta is not enough of a difference), gives points for stage wins, ranks top 10s in GTs, top 8 in the Worlds/Olympics and top 6 in classics/minor tours, and importantly, changes weighting of various races with what is known about the emphasis on each race over time.
I haven't seen a ranking for this year anywhere, but the 2007 ranking can be found here:
http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=12132
The top 25 or so hasn't changed in the past year anyway. For those who aren't into checking out the link (which has tons of interesting sub-analyses like top 1-day riders and top stage racers, top national 'teams', etc), here are the top 10:
1. Merckx (of course)
2. Hinault
3. Kelly
4. Anquetil
5. Moser (who no one has yet mentioned in this thread)
6. Bartali
7. Gimondi
8. Zoetemelk
9. Coppi
10. de Vlaeminck
It's a very interesting list, interesting to note: a) how far Merckx is ahead of everyone; b) how guys like Kelly and Zoetemelk look like they benefitted from a long career of consistent results, whereas someone like Coppi is lower than his legend suggests due to his shortened career; c) how, if you look at the whole list, Italy has by far the hugest pool of talent over history; d) how, if you look at current cyclists, it seems like French cycling is on life support, as they haven't had a rider in the top 200 since Virenque retired... many more observations can be made, but maybe it's just me that loves this stuff because I love numbers and rankings.
Anyway, combined with what I've read about riders' style/prominence/dominance, I'd list a top 5 of:
1. Merckx
2. Coppi
3. Hinault
4. Bartali
5. Anquetil
But it's all just an exercise in speculation. Good thing I happen to love that.