I didn't know much about Laurent Fignon during the 80s but I knew he was cool in a way that Greg Lemond never would be.

Similarly Cantona was cool and Ryan Giggs isn't.

Piquet yes. Mansell no.

Why?

Who would you class as cool?

Eddie Merckx.

What was cool about Cantona ? Embarassing at best off the field, still is.

Now, Paul McGrath, he was cool.

Captain Flashheart yes. Effinsafety no.

Vanilla ice.

Fignon was the First rider that got me interested in bikes I used to want a ponytail like his but grew out of that idea and now alas its too late lol

Jimmy Page

Jimi Hendrix

Oooo the name Jimmy it seems 😉

Grizzlygus yes, ernie_lynch no.

Oh hang on….

🙂

As for cycling…

Sean Kelly yes. Stephen Roche no.

He hee Fausto Coppi

Can't help think his tool kit contains a Barretta and a Stileto.

Steve Peat yes – Gee Atherton no 🙂

coolness can't be defined
it just is

Fignon was cool because he had attitude, a certain French insouciance, a pony tail and glasses. He looked like the villain from the Bond movie 'For Your Eyes Only' OK well not really.

Lemond was not cool because he referred to Claudio Ciappucci as 'Cappuccino' and managed to get himself shot in a hunting accident.

However, Fignon was not cool when he lost the TDF by 8 seconds in 1989 and blamed it on a boil he had on his backside.

But overall he was still way cooler than Lemond.

Lemond was great, but I can't forgive him for introducing whinging to cycling.

JMC. end of.

Nick Craig.
Tim Gould.
Ned Overend.
John Tomac.
Edwig Van Hooydonck.
Freddy Maertens.
Michele Bartoli.
Andrea Tafi.
Frank Hoj.
Phil Anderson.
Robert Millar.
Matt Stephens.
Neil Stephens.
Andrei Tchmil.
Servais Knaven.
Frank Vandenbrouke.
Tinker Juarez.

not cool…. a number of Americans spring to mind..

Cool personified.

if we are just talking about tour riders: Gino Bartali rules.

Cool:

Not cool:

Cool:

Not cool:

Joolsburger isn't that even more fundamentally 'the birth of cool'? 8)

Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of composure and self-control (cf. the OED definition) and often is used as an expression of admiration or approval.

if you have to define it, you haven't got it.

young rockabilly elvis

if you have to define it, you haven't got it.

Thanks John_Drummer. I'm sure Joe is thanking you for keeping the dream alive.

whatever. sense of humour bypass?

Jacky Ickx
If we're talking about motorsports.

This is in his "other races" section, he's so cool:

Ickx also co-drove to victory with Allan Moffat at the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 in Australia, became champion of Can-Am in 1979, and won the Rally Paris-Dakar in 1983 for Mercedes-Benz. The victory at the Bathurst 1000 was in a Ford XC Falcon Group C Touring Car manufactured in Australia with limited modifications for racing. After only days practice in a car he had never driven before he was doing lap times the same or quicker than drivers who drove nothing else and who were familiar with the circuit.

There's always someone cooler than you.