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Loads of good ones on here. Greatest is probably something pre TV though i'd guess where the rider had to change a broken crank in a forge or something.
This is my favourite, 3 big climbs, get dropped, come back, and then outsprint Delgado to win the stage!
When Lemond bear Fignon in the final stage time trial he had the advantage that he was using aero bars and Fignon wasn't .
No he had the advantage of intelligence planning and forward thinking.
I'm with Flashy and Lunge, that was a great day. Voeckler really did the business over those few days.
Schleck on the Galiber would have been my choice too.
HTC smashing the peloton in the wind going full gas off the front.
Sagan and Froome bossing the peloton and using the cross wind to get that stage last year or the year before .
Luis Ocana taking 9 minutes out of Eddy Merckx on a 125 km stage, Stage 11 1971
Some cracking ones there, I completely agree that the proven dopers need to be excluded.
Gurny face Voeckler has to be right up there, there was no way he could win but he murdered himself to hang on as long as he could.
Probably Charly Gaul in 1958, but I missed that one 🙂
Pantani on Alpe h'Huez in 1997 sticks in my mind, but I was younger and less cynical in those days.
Thor Hushovd winning over this
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2011 stage 13
then repeating the feat over this in stage 16
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descending like a mad man 🙂
descending like a mad man
A good descent is SO cool to watch - one of those big long Alpine ones that isn't especially steep but where a good descender can put some real distance into a group.
Annoyingly, it's often been considered as "not the done thing" to attack on a descent and everyone always trains for climbs and attacks but watching a dropped rider make his way back through superior descending skills is a joy to behold.
You watch the Welsh Crash Magnet going downhill, slamming the anchors on in corners, falling off:
and then watch Nibali or Cancellara
(I know this is Il Lombardia and not the Tour but bear with me...)
From a watching-on-the-telly point of view my favourites are often the bold, brave and utterly futile lone breakaways. Basically, any of dozens of Jens Voigt rides for me.
Sorry to be another Cav video not his best win but winning the yellow after all his tries and pretty much out the blue with his form that year, the commentator etc... not seen as bios commentator since Danny Hart's world champs win... anyway enjoy:
martin early into Pau. 1989.
and numerous by Indurain. a true TDF champion.
Hoogerland finishing a stage with most of a fence embedded in his leg ?
Tony Martin nearly taking it on a massive solo TT break. I wonder at what point they all thought "jesus, he's trying to win this!"From a watching-on-the-telly point of view my favourites are often the bold, brave and utterly futile lone breakaways
Greatest ride (as opposed to greatest stage)... nobody going for Pantani putting 9 minutes into Ulrich on the stage to Les Deux Alpe in some foul weather to win the 98 tour? Or maybe Chiappucci's epic solo to Sestriere in 1992.
All heavily tainted but epic rides none the less.
The epic 3 man battle in the mountains between Robert Millar, Delgado and Mottet at Superbagneres in 89, and Millar's last minute comeback for the win, sticks in my mind. Of course they all turned out to be on the juice at some point, which tempers my appreciation somewhat.
Not the greatest by a long way but really enjoyed Cavendish stage 13 in 2013 when everyone thought it was going to be a nothing day and when the elastic got broke by saxo he dived across to hang on in and win the sprint.
Actually - I'm changing my mind on this. Thor Hushovd on stage 17 of the 2009 TDF, after he had the argy bargy with Cavendish and Cav did his normal thing of slagging everyone off after being relegated to the back of the field.
Massive solo break, points at himself and giving it the #1 sign whilst smashing out the 53/11 on the flat. Legend
In the 1913 TdF Eugene Christophe was well in the lead when his forks broke on decending the Pyranees. In those days it was forbidden for riders to accept assistance so Christophe found a local blacksmith and fixed the forks himself. Unfortunately the time this cost him plus the three minute penalty he received due to the help of a young boy manning the bellows mean't he lost the race.
leffeboy » roche, la plagne, '87
this was what I thought of first before reading this thread
Same here.
More recent ones are Cummings blowing past the other 2 guys for the win in 2015(?), and Thomas working across to the gap join Sagan, Froome and one other guy in a break in the crosswinds last year.
I think I'm with @Ransos re Lemond's win for the TdF, but if I could be indulged to included the Giro then what about [url= http://tourdivide.org/strong_men_cried ]The Day the Big Men Cried[/url] , with Andy Hampsten (in his own words in that link) and the 7-Eleven team showing those softie euro folks just how hardcore Americans could be on a bike. [url=
here[/url], and if you can find it online the best article on biking ever written was Bob Roll's take on it (Bobke I or II, can't remember).
stage 13 of the 1992 tour. chiapucci's climb to sestriere was one of my first memories of the tour. He led over 5 summits and held off big mig for the win.
Probably Charly Gaul in 1958, but I missed that one
This is a good call, I think this is the one where he told Bobet where he was going to attack him. However I can't look beyond Ocana, he was the only one who believed Merckx could be beaten and not only was he determined to do it, but he wanted to do it panache and boy did he achieve that. Merckx was so dispirited he contemplated giving up - this is Merckx we are talking about, the single greatest and most determined cyclist of all time.