Amazing Ekimov!!

[oneradtec]

I find it absolutely amazing that Ekimov raced in the 1990 Tour de France...and is still racing at such a very high level today.....his recent injury not withstanding. I mean this guy...had he not crashed...would be in the 2005 Tour de France...having also done it in 1990.

I saw a recent pic of Ekimov just before his crash and I can tell you he was as hard as a rock. He looked like a warrior

I hope he bounces back from his injuries and comes back to do 2 more tours. That would give him the all time record over Joop Zoetemelk...whom I believe Eki would have tied this year. They say Zoetemelk could have came back to do it once more at a very high level but decided to retire. I think he was nearly 40 years old when he won the rainbow jersey as World Road Champion.

[lannytrek]

A silver (maybe gold?) medal at the age of 38 to boot.

[ed073]

1985 Amateur World IP Champion....
1987 winner of the Tour of Belgium....
Part of the gold medal winning USSR TP squad in Seoul in 88...

Incredible career.

[ed073]

Speaking of old-timers still bagging the wins.....Malcolm Elliott in the FBD Milk Ras. I think he's 42??

And Gaggioli is STILL going in the US....must be nearly his 20th Corestates start coming up.

[oneradtec]

Kent Bostick was 43 years young when he made the Olympic team in '96....then continued to race into his 50's at a very high level. I'm not sure what he's up to now. Haven't seen his name in any results online. Hope we see him on the Master's scene again soon. He showed up a few years ago at our local 'Tour de Moore' road race(Southern Pines, NC) and won the pro 1-2 race(not Master's but PRO 1-2!!)....he must have been 48 or 49 years young on that day.

[ed073]

Bosti-saurus was (is?) one in a million. What an engine.

Danny Clarke was nearly Australian road champion in his late-40s. Bit embarrassing for the young blokes!!

[oneradtec]

How about Ken 'vampire' Walker winning U.S. elite nationals RR at age 42 or 43 last year. That is 'ELITE' nationals...not 'MASTERS' nationals. Nearly won the Olympic trials RR too!

Then there is Graeme Miller winning the Athen's Twilight Crit at age 42 a few years back(now retired). See the movie 'The Hard Road' by Jamie Paolinetti

[ed073]

I met Miller a few times at the Sun Tour. Great bloke.

[531Aussie]

did Engleman actually retire?:)

http://www.navpro.com/news-1998/pr_034.asp

[ed073]

did Engleman actually retire?:)

http://www.navpro.com/news-1998/pr_034.asp


Eventually......he's a directeur on the wimminz T-Mobile squad now.

[samp02]

Eki is the man. :)

[khackney]

Kent Bostick ... Haven't seen his name in any results online. Hope we see him on the Master's scene again soon. He showed up a few years ago at our local 'Tour de Moore' road race(Southern Pines, NC) and won the pro 1-2 race(not Master's but PRO 1-2!!)....he must have been 48 or 49 years young on that day.

Kent's still at it, living in Oak Ridge. Last year he was the first finisher on the Cherohala Challenge. They covered the 115-mile course in a new fastest finish time of 5 hours 40 minutes (average ~21 mph). The rain on the Dragon slowed them down a bit.... Thats with 9000+ feet of climb. Don't know what his racing plans are this year, but he's still plenty strong on the bike.

[DieselDan]

Didn't John Tomac win the Colorado road cycling championship last year?

[khuon]

Didn't John Tomac win the Colorado road cycling championship last year?

You're thinking of Ned Overend who is coming up on 50 this year. And he also took 1st. in last year's Road Apple Rally which is actually a MTB race. Oh... and he won the Road Apple Rally racing in the pro class.

http://www.boure.com/nedjournal.html#CoRR04

[Flaneur]

Not really fair to compare most of these guys, and the standard of races they are riding, with Zoetemelk. The guy actually WON a Tour, won the World RR right at the end of his career and was generally competitive throughout, at the highest level. Elliott, for instance, retired for years and is a hobbyist now: stilll good enough to kick the arses of the Irish amateurs, though;-)