Keith99

What Contador has is a touch of the Merckx attitude of attack even when having a 'good enough' lead. Armstrong seemed in many ways the second coming of Anquetil.

Leinster

Armstrong wasn't afraid to attack in yellow, he won more than his share of mountain stages in his 7 years (by my count, 14 non-ITT or TTT stage wins from 99 through 2005). If anyone was the new Anquetil, it was Indurain, right down to Bugno actually physically looking like he might be related to Poulidor.

Keith99

As far as the cycling skills involved I'd have to agree. As far as attitude I'd say Mig was the man of the people, the role Poulidor filled in the Anquetil/Poulidor rivalry.

Armstrong and Anquetil also match in the way they picked their races, to maximize return. Polar opposites when it came to dietary discipline. I simply can't see Lance having an off day coming out of a rest day because he overindulged in consumption of Lamb. (And even less see him recovering with the help of some Champaign to settle his stomach).

Leinster

Impossible to compare diets across the generations; those were very different days in terms of food science. You'd never get Tom Simpson washing down his tonedron with a half pint of Hennessy before setting off up the Ventoux today, for instance, but back then they thought nothing of boozing on the route.

Agree that Mig was definitely a People's Champion as much as a Tour Champion. Which is probably a big reason why his era has largely escaped the scrutiny that Armstrong's got. You get the feeling if Bassons or Simeoni had spoken up during the Indurain era, the reaction would have been very different.