Re: OT was Re: [CR] Fred Rodriquez

(Example: Racing:Jean Robic)

Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 22:29:26 -0500
Subject: Re: OT was Re: [CR] Fred Rodriquez
From: "Todd Kuzma" <tullio@theramp.net>
To: jerrymoos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>, <tsaleh@rocketmail.com>, <Cushdelmar@aol.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <00d101c3563f$c26149b0$efddfea9@mooshome>


on 7/29/03 9:10 PM, jerrymoos at jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net wrote:
> I beg to differ. Merckx has a record of wins that that makes Lance seem
> like a joke by comparison. Lance has won 5 Tours de France by concentrating
> exclusively on the Tour, only really riding seriously hard in a handful of
> other events to tune up for the Tour. Merckx rode everything, from early
> spring to late fall, and a fair amount of indoor track events in the winter.
> And he won everything worth mentioning, many events multiple times,
> including Milan-San Remo 5 times. Very few pros today even attempt to ride
> all season. Lance is wise to concentrate on the Tour, but he does so
> because he knows full well he does not have Merckx's strength.

Well, it's hard to compare Merckx to ANYONE, not just Lance. There weren't guys in his era or ANY era who could compare. That's because he was the best. Anquetil is a joke in comparison. Coppi is a joke in comparison. Bartali is a joke in comparison. So, Lance isn't as good as Eddy was. I'm sure that he can live with that.

Additionally, if Eddy raced today, I don't think that you would see him win all year long (at least not as handily as he did in his day). With today's training methods, you can peak for a specific event and be much better prepared than if you tried to maintain your fitness throughout the year. If Lance tried to race (and be competitive) in the early spring classics, all three major tours, and the Worlds, he would likely lose them all to specialists who peak just for certain events. Eddy would lose, too. The guys he raced against raced all year long just like he did.

It's pretty hard to compare racers from different eras because they all have different obstacles to overcome.
> Read about the brutal stage lengths and attrocious roads of the early days
> of the Tour, then try to imagine one of today's pampered athletes even
> having the courage to start, let alone the strength to finish.

Yes, but they also stopped to eat at cafes and roadside stands. The earliest years of the Tours had all flat stages, and it took quite some time before there were climbs in the size and number that we see today. It was certainly tough, but it was a different event than today.

Todd Kuzma
Heron Bicycles
Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery
LaSalle, IL
http://www.heronbicycles.com/
http://www.tullios.com/