Anquetil and the Badger, definite strong contenders, Five TdFs each, two giros for Maitre Jaques and three for Bernard... Must admit they were very close to the top of my list as well...

But I like your choice of King Kelly... you have to wonder if he'd have done more in the TdF or Giro if he had been riding for a non Spanish team... His season was always based around the classics and vuelta, because that's where the team sponsors wanted him to be showing the jersey.

ntnunk wrote: »

I'm like @cloggsy71 in that I'm a new enough convert to the sport that I'm not grounded enough in the history to make any really valid recommendations. That said, I've read about Coppi's life and career quite a bit. Based on my limited knowledge of other riders I'd have to second Coppi's nomination.

There's a brilliant book about Coppi by William Fotheringham - "Fallen Angel - The Passion of Fausto Coppi" (Amazon Linky here )

actually, that's an idea for another thread as well - book reccomendations - looks like I may be laid off the bike for a while, and some quality reading matter recommendations might not go amiss...

I must admit I was concentrating on the Mens side of the sport - the entire nature of the womens road-racing calendar - i.e. the fact that there's no big 3 week tours for the women, the 13 mens 2.uwt 1 week tours as compared to the womens 10 W2.1 races, and 14 vs 18 days of 1 day racing - means theres a far more sparse racing program for the ladies than the guys have access to.

Which kind of allows for the flexibility for some of the ladies to actually fit in riding cross and MTB as well as the road - I know some of the guys ride cross and road, something I love to see, mainly as it means they come into my favourite part of the racing season - the spring classics - fit and in top form... I'm not aware of any/many that actually compete in MTB races as well though.*

So I find it hard to compare like-for-like between the men and women - though I wholeheartedly think that Vos is something else, and certainly a valid contender.




* MTB, well, i'll admit that it's not really something that floats my boat when it comes to following the racing - I know Cadel Evans came from a MTB background, and of course Sagan had a dirt-origins, but that's as far as my knowledge goes - fat tyres just don't do much for me as a spectator sport I'm afraid, and as for participation - the nearest worthwhile mountains from me are either an 8 hour+ drive into Scotland or a trip to the Alps (UK access laws mean most of the interesting bits of welsh/british mountain areas are effectively off limits for bikes) - I prefer to stick to the road

Might have to invoke the "Voldemort Rule" on that one...

and on the Subject of Eddy... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hnLjiTzejo "La Course en Tete" - 1h40ish of pure 1974 cycle racing (and some very irritating music on the title sequence - try and get past that, it's worth the suffering)

he's looking a little better now he's put some weight back on... he lost a hell of a lot a few years ago, and it REALLY showed in his face... did you get to speak to him - I met him quite a few years ago now, think it was the Kellogs Tour back in 1992, a stage of which finished in Leeds... I literally walked around a corner from the finishing line, and he was climbing out of the Comissaires Caravan. Walked up, gushed like a schoolgirl and managed to tell him he was my alltime hero and shook his hand. He was Great, took the time to chat, said he was impressed at the turnout of people for the finish, in a country that wasn't a traditional cycling country... I reminded him that Tom Simpson and Brian Robinson came from within 20 miles of the finish line... He just said "Ah yes, I forgot..." Never meet your hero's my *kitten*!!