Professional Cycling For the Fans - How many races does a pro on average?

I was listening to Paul and Phil talk about Axel Merckx and they said he has won 25 races in his career. Now, I know Lance has won 6, maybe 7, tour de frances. But all that pales in comparsion when you talk about Eddy, he has won 512 races. The man pretty much won EVERY race he was in, thats disgusting. I don't see how people can say Lance is better than Eddy. Back to the question, how many races do pro's win on average?

Back in the day when I was racing with Eddy ;) , we would race up to 150 days a year. But nowadays, if a rider races 100 days a year he is a hard worker. Lance may race 45 days a year max by comparison.

It's falling all the time. Ekimov had one of the biggest workloads in the 90s....he raced 130-135 days a year. Sean Kelly was similar.

Like Godefroot sez....100 days would now be uncommon.

Back in the day when I was racing with Eddy ;) , we would race up to 150 days a year. But nowadays, if a rider races 100 days a year he is a hard worker. Lance may race 45 days a year max by comparison.

In your opinion, how do you rate Lance as a champion? As far as TdF goes, he is undoubtedly the king, and that goes a long way to my way of thinking as to his greatness. But I'm not a pro race or tour cyclist. I'd appreciate your perspective.

Lance mainly focuses on the TDF, so he doesn’t enter in many races to begin with. That said, you can’t really compare 2 competitors from different times. IMHO, Lance has mastered how to win the Tour de France; and Eddy was just a “Cannibal” ;) who destroyed his competition in every race. Both are great cyclist but can not, and should not be compared to each other.

Armstrong has won more than 6 races in his career...


Lance mainly focuses on the TDF, so he doesn’t enter in many races to begin with. That said, you can’t really compare 2 competitors from different times.

Yeah, that is what Merckx says too. 'I was the best of my time and Armstrong is the best of his'.

What do you call a "win"? Winning today's brutal mountain stage in the Tour de France has far more prestige than winning one of the "County Fair" races held in every village in Belgium on summer Saturdays.

Back in the 50's to 70's, except for two or three "big names", more Pro racers were starving to death. So, they would race three or four days a week from March to October. After a fifteen year career, some guys might have "500 wins". But, many of those were "County Fair" races.

For good or bad, Pro racing is becoming a race for "specialists", where the big stars target one or two races per year to really race to win. Then they enter other races just for training, and to keep in form. So, today, it is becoming rare for anyone to win five or six REAL races in a year.

Of course, one way to get lots of "wins" is to be a sprinter. Sit behind the Peloton all day, joking around with your buddies. Then, with just one mile left in the race, get behind some giant "lead out" man who tows you to the front of the Peloton. Than race madly for two minutes and get a win. That method gave Cippollini lots and lots of wins. And, if a team brings a sprinter to the Tour de France, he can grab those stage wins and then quit when the race reaches the mountains. "My knee hurts". So, a sprinter can retire bragging he won "ten stages in the Tour de France" without ever bothering to suffer through the mountains and race all the way to Paris.

A "win" on Stage 14 or 15 of this year's Tour de France has more merit than a dozen of those goof-ball sprinter stage wins.

So, Lance will NOT finish this season with many "wins". He is likely to win the Tour de France. He is likely to win one of the toughest mountain stages in the Tour, and the long individual TT in the Tour. But, I would guess that some of those guys who are gonna win twenty "County Fair" races this year would trade THOSE twenty wins for Lance's "mere" three wins.

A "win" on Stage 14 or 15 of this year's Tour de France has more merit than a dozen of those goof-ball sprinter stage wins.

So, Lance will NOT finish this season with many "wins". He is likely to win the Tour de France. He is likely to win one of the toughest mountain stages in the Tour, and the long individual TT in the Tour. But, I would guess that some of those guys who are gonna win twenty "County Fair" races this year would trade THOSE twenty wins for Lance's "mere" three wins.
And you've won so many "country fair races" that you can just discredit all the sprinters in the Tour and also because you have raced in the tour and know how easy it is to win a sprint stage? I'm no pro racer and have never pretended to be. So I'll not sit and pass judgement on those that have done, what I have not. Where do you get off?

Shut up, Alan.

I am not trying to be argumentative. I just don’t think you should try to take away from the accomplishments of others. That is all.

A "win" on Stage 14 or 15 of this year's Tour de France has more merit than a dozen of those goof-ball sprinter stage wins.



What you talkin' about Willis?