The Greatest Of The Great Cyclists

[Rhythm Thief]

Very true, i never considered the road surfaces, tis a good point. The length makes little difference though imo, these athletes are conditioned to ride for hundreds of miles if needed. It's more about the intensity, which i feel is higher nowadays.

Yes, that's probably true. Whatever, it all goes to show how tricky it is to compare stars in any sport with their predecessors!

 

[mangaman]

Surely riders adapt to the conditions and equipment available to them?

True but 1 difference has happened which changes the type of rider likely to win.

Better equipment/nutrition/drugs/etc would
apply across the board, so someone with Coppi's talent born today would still be in the top bracket.

The thing I'm referring to is race radios.

Prior to these riders had to use their brains and use split second decisions on when to attack, how to deploy their domestiques etc.

This necessity for cycling intelligence has now gone as a factor to win a race. Domestiques are just pawns in the hands of the directeur sportifs

You can therefore say Coppi would still be great today, but not necessarily the other way round.

Probably Lance would have been a very astute rider actually although we'll never know how he'd do without Bruyneel in his ear every second of the race

 

[Cab]

Lance was a bit of a one trick pony, he raced more last year than in the last ten. My vote would go to my boyhood hero Jacques Anquetil. Closely followed by the one and only Eddie Merckx.

Other than putting these two the other way round, I agree.

 

[darkstar]

Yes, that's probably true. Whatever, it all goes to show how tricky it is to compare stars in any sport with their predecessors!

Yup, tis quite the debate. I enjoy it

 

[Noodley]

Robert Millar.

 

[badkitty]

Beryl Burton.

+1. A truly remarkable woman.

 

[Baggy]

+1. A truly remarkable woman.

My bro' helped marshall a time trial she rode in the early 1980's. He said she was really quite something, and rode the second quickest time of the day.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Does it have to be a racer?

I quite like Tilman Waldthaler


http://www.tilmann.com/en/index.php

 

[jimboalee]

I'll post it again because it tells a story.

Look at the cluster of points - Eddy, Tyler, Chris and Miguel.

Eddy is the best of the four.

That simply confirms my opinion of Eddy being the greatest cyclist who ever rode a bicycle.

 

[jig-sore]

well I'm going to go with Graham Obree, not because of the things hes done but because of his "lone ranger" attitude to cycling, mainly brought on because of the fact he's as loopy as a plate of spaghetti !!!

i just kinda like him.

 

[jimboalee]

well I'm going to go with Graham Obree, not because of the things hes done but because of his "lone ranger" attitude to cycling, mainly brought on because of the fact he's a loopy as a plate of spaghetti !!!

i just kinda like him.

He wasn't Italian.

 

[Noodley]

Nominations for British Cycling Hall of Fame closed yesterday. 50 cyclists are to be inducted at a Gala Dinner in February.

I (and I few others I know) nominated George Berwick. If he gets inducted he'll probably cycle to the event - actually, knowing George, he'll probably be too busy out on his bike to bother going, and wouldnae meet the dress code anyway.

 

[ACS]

well I'm going to go with Graham Obree, not because of the things hes done but because of his "lone ranger" attitude to cycling, mainly brought on because of the fact he's a loopy as a plate of spaghetti !!!

i just kinda like him.

As someone who lived around the corner from Graham I know him and his parents, Graham is not 'loopy as a plate of spaghetti'. Yes I will agree he has, like many on this forum, had to cope with mental illness, but that fact does not make him 'loopy'.

His ideas may be anti-cycling establishment and his unique training methods may have some of the the more traditional coaches throwing their hands up in horror, but this is a far cry from your opinion.

 

[MacB]

As someone who lived around the corner from Graham I know him and his parents, Graham is not 'loopy as a plate of spaghetti'. Yes I will agree he has, like many on this forum, had to cope with mental illness, but that fact does not make him 'loopy'.

His ideas may be anti-cycling establishment and his unique training methods may have some of the the more traditional coaches throwing their hands up in horror, but this is a far cry from your opinion.

I think TA was saying it in an affectionate manner

 

[ACS]

I think TA was saying it in an affectionate manner

If so then I apologise, no offence meant.