No doubt Merckx's record is is by far the most impressive. Those who would favor another as greater must point to the sadistic distances and brutal road conditions of early races (such as the early P-B-P when it was a real race) or to the fact that Bartali had many of his best years stolen by WWII. One rather suspects that Merckx would have dominated any era, however. Merckx mentions the Blois crash in his book "The Fabulous World of Cycling" and says that he suffered a lot of pain from it for the remainder of his career. Anyone know where to find a detailed account of the Blois crash?
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Hilary Stone wrote:
> There can't be any debate in this Merckx had 528 wins from just over 1800
> starts in his pro career. Can any other rider come close? And most of
> Merckx's wins came after his very serious near fatal accident on the Blois
> track!
> Hilary Stone
>
> ----------
> Jerry Moos wrote:
>
> > I guess there could be lots of great moments in the sport of cycling,
> > involving not just Major Taylor, but
> > Bartali, Coppi, Merckx, Anquetil, Bobet, Beryl Burton and many more.
> > Taylor certainly overcame some great
> > obstacles, but so did Greg LeMond returning from a near-fatal accident, and
> > Armstrong from an even more
> > nearly fatal illness. I think it is a sense of history that makes a sport
> > great, and holds fans with
> > debates about who was the best. We can endlessly advocate the virtues of
> > Taylor vs Coppi vs Merckx just as
> > baseball fans can debate whether Cobb or Honus Wagner, or Ruth or Dimaggio
> > or Ted Williams or Willie Mays
> > was the greatest.