From time to time featured writer Gregario Forza brings his signature panache to the Wiskota blog.Roger De Vlaeminck made comments this week about how he was disappointed that Fabian Cancellara was unable to race and Boonen’s “epic” ride was over a 3rd rate peloton. So this got me thinking. Is this the classic “in my day, things were better” or were De Vlaeminck’ s wins ultimately more impressive due to a better field? Which then led me to my favorite cycling question- Who are the best road cyclists of all time? And… How do our current heroes compare to the greats of our sport? As I googled and searched my way through the World Wide Web, while simultaneously weighing my own opinions vs. those of other great cycling minds on the interweb. In my quest for answers I came upon this site.
The author, Skullcrusher, used a system in which he used the following points to determine the greats. Important note: the results are from Dec. 2009.
The point system
After lots and lots of work, I came up with this point system:
Grand tour GC
Win: 9 pts.
2nd: 3 pts.
3rd: 1 pt.
Grand tour jersey competition
Mountain/points/sprint etc.: 2 pts.
Grand tour stages
Stage win: 1 pt.
Other stage races GC*
Dauphine Libere: 2 pts.
Paris-Niece: 2 pts.
Tirreno Adriatico: 2 pts.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco 2 pts.
Classics
Milan-San Remo: 3 pts.
Paris-Roubaix: 3 pts.
Tour of Flanders: 3 pts.
Amstel Gold: 3 pts.
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: 3 pts.
Clasica San Sebastian: 1 pt.
Giro di Lombardia: 1 pt.
Fleche Wallonne: 1 pt.
Other shit
Gold medal for TT or road in the Olympics: 3 pts.
TT or Road World Championship: 3 pts.
Hour Record: 1 pt.
Trofeo Baracchi: 1 pt.
The Outcome
1. Eddy Merckx - 218 pts.
2. Bernard Hinault - 149 pts.
3. Fausto Coppi - 127 pts.
4. Miguel Induarin - 120 pts.
5. Jaques Anquetil - 109 pts.
6. Gino Bartali - 105 pts.
7. Tony Rominger - 88 pts.
8. Lance Armstrong - 87 pts.
9. Laurent Fignon - 82 pts.
10. Mario Cipollini - 72 pts.
11. Roger De Vlaeminick - 71 pts.
12. Laurent Jalabert - 69 pts.
13. Felice Gimondi - 67 pts.
14. Sean Kelly - 62 pts.
15. Francesco Moser - 60 pts.
16. Louis Bobet - 59 pts.
17. Erik Zabel - 56 pts.
18. Fiorenzo Magni - 55 pts.
19. Alessandro Petacchi - 51 pts.
20. Greg LeMond - 50 pts.
21. Alberto Contador - 49 pts.
22. Jan Jansen - 48 pts.
23. Charly Gaul - 47 pts.
24. Jan Ullrich - 44 pts.
25. Marco Pantani - 43 pts
Other people of note I did for fun
Federico Bahamontes - 42 pts.
Pedro Delgado - 42 pts.
Robetro Heras - 41 pts.
Denis Menchov - 41 pts.
Jan Raas - 40 pts.
Paolo Bettini - 35 pts.
Stephen Roche - 32 pts.
Luis Herrera - 31 pts.
Tom Boonen - 28 pts.
Alexander Vinokourov - 28 pts.
Fabian Cancellara - 27 pts.
Damiano Cunego - 24 pts.
Mark Cavendish - 19 pts.
Ivan Basso - 19 pts.
Claudio Chiapucci - 19 pts.
Thor Hushovd - 15 pts.
Cadel Evans - 11 pts.
Andy Schleck - 9 pts.
Iban Mayo - 8 pts.
Fabio Parra - 8 pts.
Alessandro Ballan - 7 pts.
Fränk Schleck - 5 pts.
Jens Voigt - 5 pts.
Mauricio Soler - 3 pts.
Sylvain Chavanel - 1 pt.
Wim Vansevenant - 0 pts. (only man to finish as lanterne rouge at The Tour three times)
The right thing to do would be to update all of the italicized riders, current peloton members, however I will concentrate on the classics so an upgrade to Thor, Tommeke, Catchyalater, Ballan, Phil Gil, and Chavanel.
Current Points
Thor Hushovd- 21
Sylvain Chavanel- 3
Allesandro Ballan-7
Phillipe Gilbert-16
Fabian Cancellara- 42
Tom Boonen- -34
So none of these current riders crack the top 25 but Boonen and Fabian are real close. A couple more years, a cobbled classic or two, more stage wins, and Olympics or Worlds and both should be considered two of the best road cyclists of all time.
Now how does the peloton of Paris-Roubaix 1975, De Vlaeminck won this edition over Merckx, compare to today’s “3rd rate group”?
1975 notable riders
Roger De Vlaeminck-11
Eddy Merckx-1
Francesco Moser-15
Freddy Maertens
Walter Godefroot
Marc DeMeyer
2012 notable riders
Tom Boonen
Alessandro Ballan
Thor Hushovd
Johan van Summeren
Sylvain Chavanel
Fillipo Pozzato
Ok, Ok, maybe this was a second rate peloton but with the additions of Fabian and Gilbert, plus future stars like Sep van Marcke, Peter Sagan, Eddie Bo Has, and Taylor Phinney could make this a 1st rate peloton as soon as next year.
I also don’t think this should diminish the “massive” effort that was Boonen’s 60 k ride to victory. Sure Fabian’s presence would have dramatically have changed this race but that is Paris Roubaix. It’s a race of questions, of attrition, an all-out ride through hell where tactics are consistently thrown out the window due to factors that only the cycling gods can make sense of.
So what does this all mean?
This is no 3rd rate peloton. In my opinion, great cycling mind, limited knowledge, I feel like this is a peloton in transition. Not a rebuilding year per say, but a transition. In 3-4 years we could have a handful of future greats battling out for cobbled glory.
2015 top 5 at Paris Roubaix
1. Phillipe Gilbert
2. Sylvain Chavanel
3. Taylor Phinney
4. Eddy Boss
5. Peter Sagan
Does the top 5 mean the best Roubaix riders or the highest rated using the skullcrusher system? Will Boonen and Cancellara still be there?
ReplyDeleteAlso,you really dissed my boy Flecha by leaving him out of your best of the 2012 Roubaix peloton. Unforgiveable.
In which of the different disciplines (cobbles, ardennes, grand tours, stage races, TT, sprints etc.) is the peloton currently the strongest? The weakest? How does it compare to the other eras?