[CR]Top 5 Cyclists sought!

(Example: Framebuilders:Tony Beek)

Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:55:40 +0200 (CEST)
From: "Nick March" <nicbordeaux@yahoo.fr>
Subject: [CR]Top 5 Cyclists sought!
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org


Well, the cyclist who dominated everything over the longest period and in the most outrageously superior way was Jeannie Longo. She tried her hand at track too and I don't need to tell you the results. So nobody can argue with me that Mrs Longo isn't the greatest cyclist of all time, by a very long way.

Anquetil, Coppi and all... good guys. But the two real champs are Hinault, and to a lesser extent Merckx. Merckx had a longer carreer which explains his number of victories, Hinault had a brain and retired when he was rich enough and tired of it.

There is the doping issue which you can't really take into account as (if you are honest) there is no such thing as a "clean" pro, never has been and never will be. Actually, "dopage" is prevalent in all sports at almost all levels, probably as much but less controlled at amateur: local smalltime rugby players round here will sniff anti-asthma stuff before hitting the pitch or the adversary (whichever they meet first), and as non-smokers take a pull at a fag plus apply a strong nicotine patch to get the heartbeat up to high as possible so that they are as enraged as mad bulls. As to cyclists, I am lucky enough to know two boys who made not quite to the top, but almost: they are adamant that all their contemporary greatests were doped up to their eyeballs. Socker ? Just look at the changes in muscle amount and quality in guys like Zidane, Desailly (list goes on for ever) once they spend a year playing in Italy. Take any sport, look at the eyes of the guys : they make Ben Johnson look distinctly clean.

But I disgress, my point was that were one to take dopage into account, Le Cannibale tested positive quite a few times (three at least ?) and was declared undesirable at the Stuttgart world champs. Don't think they ever pinned anything on Hinault.

Nick March, Agen, 47000 Lot et Garonne, France.

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