Who had the best season in the last 20 years?

[Valv.Piti]

Only winning mass sprints (I count Worlds as a mass sprint), sitting behind your team until the lats 200 metres, should not be able to qualify for such a discussion IMO. I realize that may be somewhat extreme, at least to some, but thats not what a truly great rider/season is to me-

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Only winning mass sprints (I count Worlds as a mass sprint), sitting behind your team until the lats 200 metres, should not be able to qualify for such a discussion IMO. I realize that may be somewhat extreme, at least to some, but thats not what a truly great rider/season is to me-

Gilbert's 2011 was largely the same except for sprinting uphill. Purito's 2012 Giro as well lol. That's a very slippery and subjective slope.

And about Wiggins I can't think of one good argument for a one GT season to be the best.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Only winning mass sprints (I count Worlds as a mass sprint), sitting behind your team until the lats 200 metres, should not be able to qualify for such a discussion IMO. I realize that may be somewhat extreme, at least to some, but thats not what a truly great rider/season is to me-

Gilbert's 2011 was largely the same except for sprinting uphill.

And I can't think of one good argument for a one GT season to be the best.

True to some extent, but you still have Liege, Flanders, MSR etc. I realize he didnt win the latter ones, but still. Something about including sprinters in such a poll rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Only winning mass sprints (I count Worlds as a mass sprint), sitting behind your team until the lats 200 metres, should not be able to qualify for such a discussion IMO. I realize that may be somewhat extreme, at least to some, but thats not what a truly great rider/season is to me-

Gilbert's 2011 was largely the same except for sprinting uphill.

And I can't think of one good argument for a one GT season to be the best.

True to some extent, but you still have Liege, Flanders, MSR etc. I realize he didnt win the latter ones, but still. Something about including sprinters in such a poll rubs me the wrong way.

Well, pure sprinters don't survive the natural selection based on winning big races very often. Simple truth is that pure sprinters usually have a chance at 1 monument a year, and very rarely at the worlds. Sprinters/classics men are the types that get into this conversation way more often.

 

[AussieBob]

I liked Cadel's 2011 year.

 

[Tonton]

Wiggins? Cav? And I thought I was the second biggest fan-boy-girl here .

Pantani with an asterisk is the clear #1. Gilbert yes. A case can be made. Or Boomen or Cance. Guys who dominate.

Wiggins...Cav...Valverde has two of them in each of his legs. Nonsense.

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

Pantani
No one has ever come close to the double since!

No one has won 3 of MSR/RVV/PR/LBL/GdL/WRR/ORR in the same season since Merckx; except Tommeke!

Froome would have if he'd had targeted them.

Not sure if serious.

 

[Echoes]

Re:

Only winning mass sprints (I count Worlds as a mass sprint), sitting behind your team until the lats 200 metres, should not be able to qualify for such a discussion IMO. I realize that may be somewhat extreme, at least to some, but thats not what a truly great rider/season is to me-

Bravo!

I do rate consistency higher than a couple of major victories but consistency in just sprinting does not make sense.

 

[AnatoleNovak]

Not his best year by far, but Jalabert 1997 is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[AnatoleNovak]

Jalabert 1997 is rather impressive (far from his 1995 though).

 

[Blanco]

Re:

If ERR = CSS, then Sagan did the same last year.

Yeah, if. But it's not

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Easily Murilo Fischer in 2005:

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

And on a more serious note: no mention of Damiano Cunego 2004 yet? That was an astonishing season.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Easily Murilo Fischer in 2005:

Thanks for that. Thought I was the only one who remembered that season
In a similar vein, Andrea Ferrigato's 1996. 2nd half of 96, even.

 

[HSNHSN]

Easily Murilo Fischer in 2005:

Thanks for that. Thought I was the only one who remembered that season
In a similar vein, Andrea Ferrigato's 1996. 2nd half of 96, even.

That's not within the last 20 years anymore, is it?

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Easily Murilo Fischer in 2005:

You can't call this a season. It was august to october.

 

[Ruby United]

Re:

Only winning mass sprints (I count Worlds as a mass sprint), sitting behind your team until the lats 200 metres, should not be able to qualify for such a discussion IMO. I realize that may be somewhat extreme, at least to some, but thats not what a truly great rider/season is to me-

It's funny you mention that, because the Worlds win was perhaps Cav's biggest tactical masterpiece. Alone and boxed in quite far back with 500 metres to go. Alone and boxed in quite far back still with 300m to go. And then....
He spends about a page in his autobiography describing the sprint and the tactical masterpiece that went into winning it and how he knew it pan out.

Of course, his speed doesn't hurt.
But it is his incredible spontaneous racing decisions and amazing tactical ingenuity that has got him so many wins.
He often describes how he recons the finishes of stages/races and memorizes the finishes and then how he exploits that knowledge to beat his rivals - taking advantage of corners, forcing his rivals into tactical mistakes etc.
Ironically, the Worlds sprint is the perfect example of that. The whole time he knew exactly how it would play out.
He describes himself as almost having a photographic memory when it comes to memorizing routes and can vividly recall races.
Watching HTC fools one into thinking that Cav always just sits on his teammates wheels and with 200m to go just sprints full out.

 

[Climbing]

Pantani
.
.
.
.
.
Gilbert
Boonen/Cancellara

 

[Valanga]

I'm going with Gilbert 2011.

However, an "honorable" mention for Frank Vandenbroucke in 1999.

Winning GP La Marseillaise, PN and Ruta del Sol stages, Omloop het Volk, 2nd in Ronde van Vlaanderen - which he probably would have won if they didn't fall in front of him at the foot of the Muur. 7th in Paris-Roubaix, And then winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège after telling up front exactly where he would drop Bartoli. I haven't seen anyone getting this close to winning a cobblestone classic and winning LBL in 20 years. He was clearly the best that spring, by far.

After being suspended by his team for a couple months (because, well, you know...), he got back in action in the Vuelta, winning 2 stages just because he promised the finish-line bouquet to a promo girl he just met - and later married. Humiliated the rest of the peloton on many occasions and won the points classification. Ullrich won the Vuelta, but it was VDB's performance that was most memorable. In the Worlds he was the big favorite. Unfortunately he broke his wrist during the race, yet he still managed to finish 7th.

In the last 20 years I haven't seen anyone riding so dominant on all terrains like VDB in '99, and with a bit more "luck" he would have won a lot more that year. We all know why of course, yet he certainly wasn't the only one in those dark days.
In 2014 CN wrote an article about his '99 Vuelta: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/vuelta-a-espana-iconic-stages-vandenbroucke-and-the-99-race/. A good read.

 

[markene2]

Gilbert 2011

Honrable mention Rebellin 2004: he won Fleche, Amstel, Liege, second in Paris Nice, podium at San Sebastian. pluss a bunchload of top 10 in other classics. Monster season that goes under the radar.

 

[deValtos]

In the last 15 or so years I've watched it has to be Gilbert 2011.

 

[Durden93]

Not sure how Cancellara's 2010 doesn't get a mention here. Flanders-Roubaix double by blowing everyone off your wheel? Insane.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Not sure how Cancellara's 2010 doesn't get a mention here. Flanders-Roubaix double by blowing everyone off your wheel? Insane.

I think the problem for Cancellara is that his 2010 season was almost identical to Boonen's 2005 season in terms of big results. Except that Boonen's is just slightly better. Cancellara's dominance was certainly impressive, but if we're looking at dominant performances as equally important as results, then Gilbert stands head and shoulders above everyone I think.

 

[Echoes]

Re:

Not sure how Cancellara's 2010 doesn't get a mention here.

Am I on your ignore list?

 

[Red Rick]

Because in terms of winning the very biggest races winning just LBL is heads and shoulders above winning the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.

Gilbert was dominant, but in terms of results and being very consistent and winning monuments and classics, it's not unheard of, and I think it's closely rivaled if not bettered by a large number of classics centered season. The only thing that stands out is the number of classics won below the monuments. In the grand scale, those are 2nd tier races at best. If I am to compare that to Sagan's 2016, I'd have to choose between a WC and CSS and 3 races the size of Quebec, and that's not taking into account Sagan winning more Tour stages, Sagan winning the green jersey, and Sagan winning the Euro's

Other seasons that are very close in terms of achievements are Boonen in 2005 and 2012 (2005 is definitely better), Cancellara in 2010, GvA this year, Kwiatkowski this year. The list is big.