The Greatest



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It was Coppi who inspired Eddy to take up cycling.
Prior to that Eddy was training to be a boxer (I wonder how far he would have progressed at that sport).

One evening, as a young boy, he went to see a criterium in Bslgium (I think it was in Brussels) and saw Coppi riding.
There and then Eddy said he decided to ride the bike seriously.

So indirectly we have Coppi to thank for Merckx!
 
From 1969 onwards Merckx rode with an extremely painful spinal / pelvis injury that makes his achievements that bit more amazing.

What he did in the 1969 T de F was simply legendary - he won the GC by a whopping 18 minutes & all the jerseys (KOM, JG, Points).

It's not really fair to say Merckx 'laid the foundations for doping' - they were 'at it' decades before Merckx started out. For example Coppi was notorious for his doping.
 
gtm said:
From 1969 onwards Merckx rode with an extremely painful spinal / pelvis injury that makes his achievements that bit more amazing.

What he did in the 1969 T de F was simply legendary - he won the GC by a whopping 18 minutes & all the jerseys (KOM, JG, Points).

It's not really fair to say Merckx 'laid the foundations for doping' - they were 'at it' decades before Merckx started out. For example Coppi was notorious for his doping.

Its a phenomenal 1969 TDF performance - winning the TDF by 18mins and winning 5 classements jerseys (Yellow/Green/Polka Dot/Best team jersey/Combined Jersey - combined jersey is the best riders jersey across all classements but is no longer awarded).

But you need to add his 1969 TDF to what he won during the 1969 season to get a real understanding of just how good Eddy was.
(won paris-nice, tour of flanders and a plethora of other races that season)
 
Hands down Maurice Garin is the greatest. No doping questions and competed the hard way. I think that Red Grange is the greatest college football player ever as well. The old greats are the greatest greats. You put Maurice Garin on todays equipment and he would toast them all. I say no training, no special diets, no teams, no special equipment cars, no food assistance, no water assistance. Each rider is on his own and let the best man win. Keep them sequestered for 1 month prior to the race to monitor them and not let them train. The race would be a contest of the best natural rider. Of course test, test, test at every point in the race.
 
meehs said:
Eddy is, without question (at least in my opinion) the greatest professional cyclist ever. The argument for Coppi is speculative.

If you look at Merckx's wins there is no way you can avoid naming him as cycling's numero uno. It's not even close. And yes, alas, the argument for Coppi is speculative. As Eddy himself indicated ("may have been greater"). It's too bad we'll never know, because those races were never run. When Il Campionissimo should have been winning, people were busy killing each other.

Also, it's totally ridiculous and arbitrary to lay blame for doping in the sport at the feet of Merckx. If you know anything at all about the history of doping in the peloton, you know that the practice was already well established before Merckx ever entered the scene.

In fact it was Coppi himself who is famous for the delightful exchange wherein a reporter asked, "Do you take dope?" and to which Coppi answered, "Only when necessary." When the reporter followed up with, "When is it necessary?" Coppi answered, "Almost always!"
 
My vote goes for Hinault. Tougher than nails and always after the win. One of the few 3+ Tour winners to not have to veil of doping suspision draped overthem. But regardless, the will to win just oozed out of the guys pores. When he wanted to win he either won or inflicted massive amounts of pain on others.
 
limerickman said:
Its a phenomenal 1969 TDF performance - winning the TDF by 18mins and winning 5 classements jerseys (Yellow/Green/Polka Dot/Best team jersey/Combined Jersey - combined jersey is the best riders jersey across all classements but is no longer awarded).

But you need to add his 1969 TDF to what he won during the 1969 season to get a real understanding of just how good Eddy was.
(won paris-nice, tour of flanders and a plethora of other races that season)

I wish I still had my old collection of Cycling Weekly's that I got from an old-timer in my old club. There was an ace story of an British rider that rode of Merckx's team one year and one day he accidentally ate Eddy's oatmeal at breakfast. Eddy and his soingner were less that 'chuffed'. Apparently, the lack of form that had plagued him mysteriously disappeared.... LOL

Watching Merckx in those old videos was ace though.
 
swampy1970 said:
My vote goes for Hinault. Tougher than nails and always after the win. One of the few 3+ Tour winners to not have to veil of doping suspision draped overthem.

Who are the other two? :confused:
 
This is not a matter of opinion. When Merckx retired he had won more races than anyone ever had before him or ever will. That´s it period! You cannot compare anyone with Merckx. He wasn´t merely the greatest of all time, he was by a huge margin, no one is even close.
 
spokes58 said:
This is not a matter of opinion. When Merckx retired he had won more races than anyone ever had before him or ever will. That´s it period! You cannot compare anyone with Merckx. He wasn´t merely the greatest of all time, he was by a huge margin, no one is even close.

I think you DO have to go with the Cannibal.

Still, considering Coppi's circumstance with the loss of 4 of his prime years to the war, his palmares are VERY impressive. But anything Coppi did, Merckx did also. And then some.
 
spokes58 said:
This is not a matter of opinion. . . He wasn´t merely the greatest of all time, he was by a huge margin, no one is even close.

I believe I said exactly that. Though it does bear repeating. Especially in light of the fact that not everyone seems to quite know just how dominant Merckx's record is.

A better question than "Who is greatest" would be "Who other than Merckx is greatest?" Then, you might have a contest.
 
swampy1970 said:
My vote goes for Hinault. Tougher than nails and always after the win. One of the few 3+ Tour winners to not have to veil of doping suspision draped overthem. But regardless, the will to win just oozed out of the guys pores. When he wanted to win he either won or inflicted massive amounts of pain on others.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Hinault an advocate of the practice now called "blood doping", which wasn't made illegal until 1986?
When asked about drugs Hinault would always say "I never failed a test" which most of us now know means nothing!
Top cyclist though.
Don't get me wrong it's difficult to have a singular "historical" stance on the question of doping but I'd say Hinault was ahead of most of his contemporaries when it came to "preparation".
Top rider though......
 
Out of interest Anquetil won the Grand Prix des Nations aged 19 in his first season as a semi pro and broke the course record the following year aged 20. (GP des Nations used to be the unofficial pro world tt championship).
 
limerickman said:

sorry, lim, but you know after eddy it is coppi who stands next. the palmares and the competition he faced in that era place him comfortably in that position.
 
slovakguy said:
sorry, lim, but you know after eddy it is coppi who stands next. the palmares and the competition he faced in that era place him comfortably in that position.

I'd place Coppi at 3.
For the sole reason that his career was interrupted by WWII.
(between the age 20 to 26, WWII was raging).
 
am i understanding this thread correctly in that Merckx was an admitted doper and that he is supposed to be great? no doper ever should be called that and none of his achivements should be wortwhile so IF that is what you all are saying, that he doped and won these tours and races, than to me it's Eddie who?

I might be wrong and someone please correct me if i am because from what i've heard and seen of the man before this thread, i really liked him.
 
btw, Big Lance is by far the greatest cyclist to ride this Earth, imo.

"This is my body that I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it, I can study it, tweak it, listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass for six hours a day. What are you On?" ~Big Lance Armstrong.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPS-ygfFWCM&feature=related[/ame]
 
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