Top 30 cyclists of all time

You are going to love these three videos.

From the author of the videos: "Don't take it too seriously, it's just a list based on my personal choices, and obviously as subjective as it can be. Don't whine if your rider isn't on it or if he's not rated very high."

Part I. From #30 to #21


#30 Giuseppe Saronni --- The Who - The seeker
#29 Laurent Jalabert --- Wampas - Jalabert
#28 Tony Rominger --- The clash - I fought the law
#27 Lucien Van Impe --- Deep Purple - Highway Star
#26 Fiorenzo Magni --- Frank Sinatra - I'm Gonna Live Till I Die
#25 Marco Pantani --- Stadio - E Mi Alzo Sui Pedali
#24 Freddy Maertens ---Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker
#23 Federico Bahamontes --- Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle and Roll
#22 Jan Ullrich --- Journey - Dont stop believing
#21 Charly Gaul --- Ray Charles - Hit the road Jack

Part II. From #20 to #11


#20 Luis Ocaña --- Derek and the Dominos - Layla
#19 Raymond Poulidor --- Johnny Cash - Born to lose
#18 Laurent Fignon --- ZZ Top - La Grange
#17 Rik Van Steenbergen --- George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag
#16 Joop Zoetemelk --- Motorhead - Live to win
#15 Francesco Moser --- Lou Reed - Take A Walk On The Wild Side
#14 Greg LeMond --- Grand Funk - We're an american band
#13 Alfredo Binda --- Benny Goodman & His Orchestra - Sing Sing Sing
#12 Louison Bobet --- The Shadows - Apache
#11 Felice Gimondi --- The Animals - The house of the rising sun

Part I. The Top 10


#10 Roger De Vlaeminck --- Quiet Riot - Cum on feel the noize
#9 Rik Van Looy --- Creedence - Good Golly Miss Molly
#8 Sean Kelly --- The Young Dubliners - Rocky Road to Dublin
#7 Lance Armstrong --- The Doors - Queen of the highway
#6 Miguel Indurain --- Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
#5 Gino Bartali --- Paolo Conte - Bartali
#4 Jacques Anquetil --- Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
#3 Fausto Coppi --- Mario Gualteri - Ciao Fausto
#2 Bernard Hinault --- George Thorogood and the Destroyers - Bad To The Bone
#1 Eddy Merckx --- The Kinks - I'm Not like everybody else

i enjoyed it very much, nice job !

they were well worth watching, thanks!

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Steve
CyclingForums.com

I like the song it was put with Ulrich: "Don't stop Believing".
Also the one that goes with Hinault fits perfectly: "Bad to the bone".
Sean Kelly's song was good too.
Coppi has of course his own song.

Brilliant video - sopas.

Love the Bartali song! Super.

BigMig/Pink floyd is very good too.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Coppi video : is that him and Bartali in Milan FC jerseys??

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Yes, that's correct.

I wonder where will Alberto Contador stand once he retires. It's a long time to go still, he will be 27 next year, and already has won 2 Tour de France, 1 Giro, 1 Vuelta. If he rides until he is 32 and manages to win at least a 3-week race per year is going to be one of the greatest too. We will see.

I like him, he is a nice guy, but lacks the charisma of other champions.

THAT was awesome.

The palmares on the badger are unbelievable - they had to go 3 lines deep to get through all of them in a minute!

Interesting how "the old" champions had rows and rows of palmares and the newer champs (big mig onwards) had fewer but "bigger" palmares.

I'm not sure I like how the sport has progressed into specialisation but it's inevitable I guess. I'm just a romantic old fool that loves crazy riders and impossible breaks.

yep - give me a Feb-Oct rider any day.

That's why i liked Jalabert/Zabel/bettini/bartoli, of the modern riders.
Each rode throughout the season.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

That is something that I don't really understand about cycling.
I have Lemond's book and he says that he only rested a week from one season to another, at the end of October. In November he already began his winter training. He says that some riders used to rest for 2 full months in winter and then had to spend 3 months just to get in shape.

So, I wonder what riders like Armstrong do. Has Lance done any riding at all since he finished the 2009 Tour de France? What does Armstrong do during the second half of the season? Just training by his own and not competing? Full rest? What?

Are you sure about Lemond?
I read somewhere that Lemond always had weight problems in the early season - which would suggest that he did not train so much during the winter.

Traditionally I think most pro take mid-October to mid-November off, and then re-start training in late November.

These days it is difficult to know what they do to be honest because you don't get riders who ride throughout the season.
They can't be training all the time!

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Lemond was a year round rider and his version of being overweight was the difference between being 145lbs and 135lbs - which for a guy his size was pretty darned light. I remember his saying that back in his Renault days, Guimard would have him ride another 50 to 100km after a long one day race in order to get down to ideal Tour weight.

Armstrongs every move is posted on Twitter - so it shouldn't be too hard to find whether he logged 160km in training at 10,000 to 12,000ft on dirt roads, like he was doing pre-Tour or whether he spent hours sat on 'the pot' laying a 160gram dirt log.

great videos!

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Anything is Possible.

Hello again,

This is what Lemond used to do and recomends in his book:

Training begins in November after a whole week of total rest (4th week of October).

Without getting into details but in general his training gooes as follows:

November: Train 4 days a week during the first 3 weeks. 4th week total rest.
December: Train 4 days a week during the first 3 weeks. 4th week total rest.
From January onwards: Train 6 days a week the whole month. Mondays is always rest day the whole year.

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In the middle of the season (when not participating in a race) his typical week of training was like this:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 1,5-2 hours (45/60 km). Trains sprints. High intensity day.
Wednesday: 3.5-4.5 hours (105-135 km). Middle intensity with intervals on anaerobic limit.
Thursday: 6-7 hours (180-210 km). Long resistance day. 65-80% max.

Friday: 1,5-2 hours (45/60 km). Trains sprints. High intensity day.
Saturday: 3.5-4.5 hours (105-135 km). Middle intensity with intervals on anaerobic limit.
Sunday: 6-7 hours (180-210 km). Long resistance day. 65-80% max.

Total week Km = between 660-810.

***********************

So basically he only rested for 3 whole weeks during the whole year (and all the Mondays).
Note that he rests all the Mondays because this is usually the day after a race (you don't get on the bike the day after the Tour de France ends!!!)

This is of course his idea of a perfect season without injuries, illness, and other impediments.