Road Bike Racing - Favorite rider(s)

Don's thread on Tchmil got me thinking. Who are your favorite rider(s) of ALL TIME? You can list your top three if you'd like.

All time:

Eddy Merckx
Claudio Chiappucci
Stephen Roche

Currently riding:

Damiano Cunego
Paolo Bettini
Jan Ullrich

All time:
Fausto Coppi
Miguel Indurain
Marco Pantani

Current:
Alessandro Petacchi
Stuart O'Grady
Paolo Bettini

brad mcgee (woulda been a great tour with him)
vinokurov (woulda been an even greater tour with him)
sylvain chavenal (the great french hope)

Lance Armstrong

Eddy Merckxx

Marco Pantini

Yes i said lance

I'm not gay or anything, but favorite is Felice Gimondi...

He always looked so elegant and composed in photos of him in the grand tours:
http://tinyurl.com/6re74

And he still looks great even today:
http://tinyurl.com/6x2hy

1. Stephen Roche. He had absolutey the smoothest pedal stroke I have ever seen.

2. Sean Kelly. King of the hard men. My favorite story about Sean is the one about when he was boxed in between two riders in a sprint and he jumped his handlebars over theirs to get through them, causing a massive crash, and ending in his disqualification. The photo of that was unbelievable.

3. Roger de Vlaeminck. The coolest rider ever to ride a bike.

Current riders would be Freire, Hammond, Zabel, Celestino, Ekimov, and a bunch more.

All time

Merckx
Kelly
Roche

Current

Rebellin
Bettini
Zabel

Cipollini - The persona
Pantani - The rider and the tragedy
Cunego - The future
Basso - The present

Yes, I am biased towards Italian riders.

All time: Anderson
Anderson
Anderson

Current: O'grady
Mcgee
Rogers

hmm, I think theres a common denomintor here somewhere!

hitchy

All time:
Sean Kelly -- Was there ever a tougher guy out there? Not in my estimation. Classy gentleman too.
Greg LeMond -- The first American hero. I'll never forget the '89 Tour, in which I actually broke into tears when he won the final TT, winning the Tour.
Mario Cipollini -- The coolest dude ever to ride a bike. What panache!

Current -- (excluding Cipo)
George Hincapie -- I know some Classics guys have better palmares, but I admire his selflessness in riding for Armstrong.
Erik Zabel -- Throwback and classy guy, and he rides the whole season.
Johan Museuww -- Technically retired, but one of the great hard men of cycling.

Eddy
Il Campionissimo
Andy Hampsten for his ride up the Gavia pass.



hmm, I think theres a common denomintor here somewhere!


Ya think?
Marty

Greg LeMond: He opened my eyes to road cycling and we have to wonder if there would have been a LA without him.

Andy Hampsted: He won the freak'n Giro! How can you look at the photo of him with the snow caked on his body and not just be in awe of him. Also I have a soft spot for the entire 7/Eleven team, even Bobski!

Lance: Really any of us just has to love what this guy has done for American cycling and cancer survivors. Weather you think he's good or bad for the TdF he has done more to revive cycling in the US and turn us into a world power in cycling than any other Amrerican cyclist.

Phil Anderson
Sean Yates
Ekimov
Lemond
Hincapie

In no particular order, save one.

Major Taylor
Stephen Roche
Jeannie Longo
Museuww
Phil Anderson
Steve Bauer
Ekimov
Hampsten
Moser
Bartoli
Bahamontes
Anquetil
Joop Zoetemelk
Merckx (the dad)
Sean Kelly
Bobet
Sean Yates
Coppi
"Georgeous" George H.
Lance
Indurain
Gimondi
Graham Obree
...and all those brave enough to speak up about doping in the sport.

(Hell, let's just make it all of the original 7-11 boys. They broke the ground, in a sense even more so than Lemond or Boyer.)

3. Roger de Vlaeminck. The coolest rider ever to ride a bike.
Yes, a great omission on my part. And while I'm at editing, I'll also ad Eric Vanderaaden.

All time:
Eddy Merckx
Roger de Vlaeminck
Fausto Coppi

Current:
Paolo Bettini
Tom Boonen
Jan Ullrich
Erik Zabel
George Hincapie

I'm all conflicted.

Ok.

Magnus Backstedt.

And... Uh...

Cipollini. (& Vinokourov & PVP & Voigt & Chavanel & VanLooy & Poulidor & Pantani)

:) There.

Lance-yes I wished he raced more but he plays the cycling game the way it is structured now
Tyler-I hope he is innocent
George H-testament to how good he could be but he still rides for Lance
Ekimov-will he ever stop?
Pantani-Angel of the Mountains
Basso-He is ready to win some big races

All Time: Sean Kelly
Eddy Merckx
Robert Miller
Any one of a number of Flemish hard men, DeVlaeminck,VanHooedonk,Museeuw etc etc etc....

Current: Bettini
Zabel
OGrady

Lance
Vino
Ullrich
Ekimov....i mean 13 tour finishes
Hincape
Hamilton
Mc Ewen...he does wheelies when crossing the line, just a cool guy
Cunego
Basso
......and the list could go on

yah isnt that weird, lkance only does like three races not even. or maybe im wrong,

Voigt (frankly most of CSC)
Horner
Mayo
Pettachi
Vinokurov
Cunego
Love watching Eric Saunders and Sierra-Ofoto on the US circuit

All time:
Lucien Van Impe...KOM winner and for a Belgian, that's pretty good. Also TDF winner (finally)
Museeuw..I prefer to remember him as he was, not what it appears he turned into.
All of the Dutch climbers...not only is it funny to mention Dutch and climbing in the same sentence, but their fans REALLY started the party on the mountains in July. If you go to the Tour, look for Dutch fans and you have found the party.

Current:
Lance...as he survived cancer to dominate, arguably, the most difficult sport.
Simoni...the way he floats up the climbs
Landis...the "Mofo of the Mountains" not bad for a mountain biker
Chechu...who works harder???
Eki...maybe HE works harder
McEwen because he has the stones of a sprinter and, as Phil Liggett says, "he leaves the debris behind"

and last but not least...Salvatore Commesso...does anyone in the peloton work harder on his tan that Salvatore? Even if he goes in a break, the sleeves are rolled up to avoid those tan lines.... :D

Yeah, the people of my country ride in campers to Alpe d'Huez a couple days before the peleton arrives there. They just start drinking, barbecueing and partying. Just check out all the orange people on alpe d'huez, they are Dutch.

Ludo Dierckxsens

I can relate.

Jeff

Ekimov-will he ever stop?
Does anyone remember the alleged terms of his last contract with Postal? I may very well be wrong, but I remember it being for what I thought then was one hellava long tenure. This was like maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I have this vague recollection of it being either through 2007, or even "lifetime." I am not at all certain about either, but I remember a feeling of "Wow!" when I read about it. Jeesh, how old is he already, even if it's only through 2007?

Does anyone remember the alleged terms of his last contract with Postal? I may very well be wrong, but I remember it being for what I thought then was one hellava long tenure. This was like maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I have this vague recollection of it being either through 2007, or even "lifetime." I am not at all certain about either, but I remember a feeling of "Wow!" when I read about it. Jeesh, how old is he already, even if it's only through 2007?

More importantly, does anyone remember that cartwheel he did in the TdF back in '91-'92? when he hit a horizontal support for one of the crowd barriers. After seeing it once, I couldn't watch it again ... made me sick to my stomach.

-mark

All Time:

Rik Van Looy
Eddy Merckx
Andrei Tchmil

Active:

Erik Zabel
Jens Voigt
Jan Ullrich

MIA:

Frank Vandenbroucke

Does anyone remember the alleged terms of his last contract with Postal? I may very well be wrong, but I remember it being for what I thought then was one hellava long tenure. This was like maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I have this vague recollection of it being either through 2007, or even "lifetime." I am not at all certain about either, but I remember a feeling of "Wow!" when I read about it. Jeesh, how old is he already, even if it's only through 2007?

He can ride until he chooses not to, which he did once, already in 2001.

He's 38, born in 1966.

All Time:

Sean Kelly
Eddy Merckx
Fausto Coppi

Active:

Ullrich
Cipo
Armstrong
Bagstead (sp?)

Museuw
Pantani
Armstrong
Berzin
Marc Madiot

Does anyone remember the alleged terms of his last contract with Postal? I may very well be wrong, but I remember it being for what I thought then was one hellava long tenure. This was like maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I have this vague recollection of it being either through 2007, or even "lifetime." I am not at all certain about either, but I remember a feeling of "Wow!" when I read about it. Jeesh, how old is he already, even if it's only through 2007?

Let's face it, the Russian/Ukrainian/Uzwhateverestan riders are hard dudes who will ride forever. I love watching "Eki" pull the Peloton at 30 plus with that smirk on his face...

Reading thru the posts, I have not seen anyone mention

Luis Ocana

Amazing career as a cyclist and a tragic end to his life.

All time:
Greg LeMond
Eddy Merckx

Current:
Gilberto Simoni
Lance
Thomas Voeckler

Geneman:

You sure you ain't mistaking Ekimov for Abdujaparov?

All Time.......

Fignon, Hinault, Yates, Kelly, Coppi, Millar (v.1), Merckx, Kuiper, E. Planckaert, Raas.

Today..........

Tafi

Erik Dekker, of course. Who else would you expect me to say? I know ALL pro cyclist are tough guys deep down, there is no doubting that. But some are tougher than the rest and Erik Dekker is one of them. Honorable mention goes to Chris Horner. He too, like Dekker, can dig deep and push himself when everyone else has capitulated to the pain.

My 3 favorite former riders:
Greg LeMond - I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about his accomplishments, but let's just simply say, "Greg's the Man!"
Andy Hampsten - Quiet and almost modest to a fault, but he'd rip everyone's legs off once the rode went uphill, whether it was on Alpe d'Huez, the Gavia Pass, or in the Tour of Switzerland (twice!).
Eddy Merckx - No explanation needed.

I much appericeite second men, sometimes harder than first:
Ever tme rank:
1. Joop Zoetemelk, for those so many years and that ever childish smile
2. Tony Rominger, always in the shade of Mig, but not less effortful and versatile
3. Raymond Poulidour, the longest success ever
4. Bjarne Riis, for so long so quiet and the biggest carreer-end

Still riding rank:
1. László Bodrogi, just a compatriot
2. Jan Ullrich, I just like him very much
3. Gilberto Simoni, for that strict face

The ever most handsome (as an also strict hetero):
Pedro Delgado
Still Riding:
Alessandro Petacchi

2. Sean Kelly. King of the hard men. My favorite story about Sean is the one about when he was boxed in between two riders in a sprint and he jumped his handlebars over theirs to get through them, causing a massive crash, and ending in his disqualification. The photo of that was unbelievable.

Don - Do you have that photo available for viewing? If so, I'd love to see it.

Don - Do you have that photo available for viewing? If so, I'd love to see it.

No, that was a long time ago, and I didn't save that mag. Sorry.

Kelly- any harder and he'd have been a Belgian!

The fact that he never won Flanders will haunt him for ever.

Geneman:

You sure you ain't mistaking Ekimov for Abdujaparov?


You're right!! Thanks for the correction.

-mark

All Time:
Merckx
LeMond
Hampsten

Current:
Lance
Cipo
Mckeown