Top single seasons of all time

[DanielSong39]

Obviously the world of cycling has changed over the decades, and what was possible 50 years ago simply isn't now due to increased competition and specialization. Still, the following seasons come to mind:

2011, Philippe Gilbert - the most dominating season in the UCI Pro Tour/UCI World Tour/UCI World Ranking era. Won 18 races, including Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Strade Bianche, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, Clásica de San Sebastián, National TT, and National RR.

1987, Stephen Roche - Won the Tour, Giro, World Road Race, Tour de Romandie, Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.

1972, Eddy Merckx - Take your pick, but the Giro/Tour double, 3 monuments, and the hour record is a season that may never be topped

Feel free to chime in with your picks!

 

[Red Rick]

Probably a Merckx season. Can't for the life of me understand why Gilbert would be in the conversation.

 

[Jspear]

Cavendish 2009

 

[Cance > TheRest]

A season with only 1 monument win is not worthy in this discussion, so you can remove Gilbert from the list.

 

[Juan Pelota]

By PCS points, Merckx 72 season is untouchable as far as I've seen.

He had 6259 points, and five other seasons above 5,000 points. I haven't found anyone else who had a season > 5,000 points.

Other great years from other riders..

Sean Kelly 86' - 4687 pts
Sean Kelly 85' -- 4900 points
Sean Kelly 84' - 4899 points

Jalabert 95' - 4768

Hinault 79 - 4193
Moser 78 - 4460
Roger De Vlaemink 75' - 4417

 

[rghysens]

Coppi 49: giro, tour, San Remo, Lombardia.

 

[AnatoleNovak]

Maertens 1976: worlds, amstel, GW, Zurich, GP Nations, Brabantse Pijl, 8 stages in TdF, 6(!) stages in PN, Het Volk

 

[Red Rick]

I think cycling records shoudl go something like the North Korean Guiness book of World Records where they basically say they aren't really records but instead they're just the attempts that came closest to Kim-Il Sung.

Same should happen with Merckx really

 

[Pantani_lives]

1949 Fausto Coppi: Giro, Tour, Milano-Sanremo, Giro di Lombardia and a bunch of other wins.

1972 Eddy Merckx: Giro, Tour, Milano-Sanremo, LBL, Giro di Lombardia and so on.

1977 Freddy Maertens: Vuelta + 12 stages, 7 Giro stages, 6 Paris-Nice stages, Tour of Catalunya + 5 stages, Settimana Catalunya + 4 stages, Dunkirk, more stages in Switzerland and Netherlands, Omloop Het Volk, Trofeo Laiguelia...

1981 Bernard Hinault: Tour + 5 stages, Dauphiné + 4 stages, Critérium International + 3 stages, Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold Race...

1984 Sean Kelly: Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Paris-Tours, Paris-Bourges, GP Plouay, Paris-Nice + 2 stages, Critérium International + 3 stages, Bask Country + 3 stages, Catalunya + 4 stages...

1987 Stephen Roche: Giro, Tour, World's, Tour of Romandia, Tour of Valencia.

 

[Parker]

Neither are the greatest ever, but two from 2012 deserve a mention

Wiggins: Paris-Nice, Romandie, Dauphine, Le Tour, Olympic Gold

And Boonen sweeping the cobbles: Gent-Wevelgem, E3, De Ronde and Roubaix (also Qatar, Paris- Brussels, WC TTT)

Although Boonen 2005 tops that: World Champion, Roubaix, De Ronde, E3, Tour of Belgium

Van Vleuten's on one at the moment

 

[DanielSong39]

Sagan 2016:
Gent–Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, European Championship, World Road Race
Points Classification in Tour de France, 3 stage wins

Anquetil 1963:
Tour, Vuelta, Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Critérium National de la Route

Cipollini 2002:
World Road Race, Milan San-Remo, 6 stages in Giro d'Italia, 3 stages in Vuelta a Espana
Points classification in Giro d'Italia