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The Greatest?

Posted by John on 02/2/10 • Categorized as Blog

I had a fun chat with Scott about who was the greatest cyclist ever.
Armstrong? Best TdF record. Contador? Most complete Tour rider we’ve seen? Hinault? Great Palmares and redoubtable spirit.
I instinctively said “Don’t be daft, it’s Merckx!”. However, that got me thinking, was I just being lazy and just regurgitating the old saw?
So, I looked out my books, dug through the stats and the race reports, watched Stars and Watercarriers, Course en Tete, the Merckx “Legends of Le Tour” segment.
Conclusion? No one to touch the Belgian. Talent, tactical nous, determination, style, he had it all. Combined with a palmares that fully justifies his “Cannibal” nickname he’s definitely the best of all time in my book. THE complete rider.
It’s the great fantasy isn’t it? Pitting the greats from each era against each other on a level playing field. All benefiting from modern equipment and physical preparation.
I’d still bet the house on Merckx. Bravo Eddy!

  • owen_p
    drat those links might take me weeks to catch up on. so much cycling history and reading to do.
  • Posted this on the next ep. wave as well, but reading John's post reminded me of this site;

    The Virtual Musette is an infrequently updated, but utterly wonderful blog devoted in large part to well researched, comprehensive articles on cycling history.

    what prompted me to recommend it was the "Greatest Cyclists of the Modern Era" project, an incredible achievement that attempts a ranking of cyclists of the modern era (1938 - present) including a scoring method, and great accompanying articles. (He also ranks Merckx top,rightly :-) )

    Find the site here;

    http://www.thevirtualmusette.com/

    Recommendations;

    comparing Cycling's Great Eras;

    http://www.thevirtualmusette.com/posts/2008/4/18/comparing-cyclings-great-eras-part-1.html

    The Virtual Musette's Greatest Cyclist of the Modern Era;

    http://www.thevirtualmusette.com/posts/2009/2/7/the-top-25-cyclists-of-the-modern-era-tvm-official-rankings.html (post has links to the scoring system too)

    Apologies if you're aware of the site already, but it often seems to be one of the web's best kept secrets, which is a shame, as it's a fantastic read.
  • Brilliant Site. Never seen it before so thanks are due. Can't find much to argue with in the top 25. ;o)

    J
  • Certainly from a cycling and a cyclist's perspective, Kelly is a significant figure. It's funny though, because here in Ireland he always comes in second place behind Stephen Roche. Kelly won more, but Roche won the big ones. Kelly's story is one that's familiar from almost all the significant cyclists over the decades; kid from an obscure and impoverished background makes it due to sheer hard slog, determination, toughness and ability to endure that bit more than the guy beside him. That, of course, and descending skills that would make Cancellera jealous;
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jC6vGMEVXU
  • Kelly. Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly Kelly. Kelly.
  • In his niche yes. HUGE hero of mine.

    J
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