The Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era (TVM Official Rankings)
FitTechEric at BīkFit
in The Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era
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Drum role, please... Here it is, the list of the Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era. If you are new to this site, or for those who haven't read the last couple of posts, you might be wondering how I arrived at the "total points" used in this ranking. Click here for Scoring, Part 1 (The Races), and click here for Scoring, Part 2 (Milestones and adjustments). I'll be providing some commentary and analysis in the next article, but I'd love to hear your intitial take on this list in the meantime.
1. Eddy Merckx, Begium (1966-1978)
"The Cannibal"
Total points: 410.50
2. Bernard Hinault, France (1975-1986)
"The Badger"
Total points: 232.50
3. Fausto Coppi, Italy (1939-1959)
"Il Campionissimo"
Total points: 219.5
4. Gino Bartali, Italy (1935-1954)
"Il Pio";"Il Vecchio" - The Pious; The man of Iron
Total points: 213
5. Jacques Anquetil, France (1954-1969)
"Maître Jacques"; "Monsieur Chrono" - Gentleman Jacques; Mr. Chrono
Total points: 184
6. Rik Van Looy, Belgium (1953-1969)
"The Emperor of Herentals";"Rik II"
Total points: 152
7. Sean Kelly, Ireland (1977-1994)
"King Kelly"
Total points: 146.5
8. Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgium (1969-1984)
"The Gypsy";"Mr. Paris-Roubaix"
Total points: 139.5
9. Francesco Moser, Italy (1973-1988)
"Cecco"
Total points: 131.5
10. Lance Armstrong, United States (1992-2005;2009-?)
"The Boss"
Total points: 116.5
11. Felice Gimondi, Italy (1965-1979)
"The Phoenix"
Total points:114
12. Louison Bobet, France (1947-1961)
"The Baker of St Méen"
Total points: 109.5
13. Miguel Indurain, Spain (1984-1996)
"Big Mig"
Total points: 98
14. Freddy Maertens, Belgium (1972-1985)
"The Ogre"
Total points: 97.5
15. Ferdi Kubler, Switzerland (1940-1957)
"The Cowboy"
Total points: 96
16. Joop Zoetemelk, The Netherlands (1970-1987)
"The Wheelsucker"
Total points: 91.5
17. Tony Rominger, Switzerland (1986-1997)
"El Martillo" - The Hammer
Total points: 89.5
18. Laurent Jalabert, France (1989-2002)
"Jaja"
Total points: 88.5
19. Fiorenzo Magni, Italy (1941-1956)
"The Colossus of Monza"
Total points: 87
20.Giuseppe Saronni, Italy (1977-1989)
"Beppe"
Total points: 83
21. Erik Zabel, Germany (1992-2008)
"Ete"
Total points: 81
22. Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgium (1943-1966)
"Rik I"
Total points: 73.5
23. Raymond Poulidor, France (1960-1977)
"Pou-pou";"The Eternal Second"
Total points: 69
24. Jan Janssen, Netherlands (1962-1972)
"The Professor"
Total points: 65 (tied with Lemond, but greater raw score)
25. Greg LeMond, United States (1981-1994)
"Le Monster"
Total points: 65
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Reader Comments (10)
A really interesting project that is sure to provoke discussion - great stuff!
Hi John,
Thanks for reading, your kind words, and promoting TVM in your forum (http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/). I'm looking forward to the variety of opinions/reactions/discussions which should ensue.
I'm a little late to this, but just wanted to drop a note of appreciation for the walk through history here.
You are welcome Sui. Unfortunately, my work on this site doesn't allow me to contribute nearly as much as I'd like over at Podium Cafe. I'm a contant lurker, and your comments there serve to brighten my day. Since you will be going to the ToC, please say "hi" to the gang for me.
Interesting question for you. Some of these riders have been very open about their doping. (Coppi, Anquetil among others) Yet you condone them, and essentially label them as "greatest cyclists" when their very performances are fabricated, and could be credited more to the pharmaceutical industry. This is a little sketchy of you.
R,
If I am to exclude from this list every cyclist who has admitted to doping, been found positive in a doping test, or was rumored to have doped, then this is going be a very short list indeed.
Your conclusion that I condone any cyclist's pharmaceutically assisted performances by their inclusion on this list is simply asinine. I think you should probably take a closer look and review the articles in which I outlined the scoring system. If you can think of better way to rank the cyclists from the Modern Era,then have at it. Maybe you can come up with a "Doping Adjustment Formula" to satisfy your desire to exclude Coppi,Anquetil, or any other cyclist that doesn't meet your standards for inclusion.
Although not expressed in this article, I did have a difficult time putting some guys on The Top 25...list due to their dodgy history (no, not Coppi or Anquetil), but that is a topic for another day.
Dude! You have 17-19 in the wrong order, according to your total points. Just moving 17 to 19th will fix it.
FIX IT!
Agent 86,
Good catch, but Rominger stays at 17; his original point total of 85.5 was a typo, and has now been corrected to 89.5. I was almost hoping you were right, as moving Magni up two spots ahead of both Rominger and Jalabert would have given me great pleasure.
Wow. For a while that's all I could think of in response to this impressive effort. Wow.
For what's worth my "gut" tells me that Coppi should be above Hinault, but I can't fault your method, and therefore can't argue with the outcome.
Interesting to see how far down that list you have to go to find an active rider (well okay, once you go past He Who Has Recently Returned :-).
Again, Wow. I am in awe.
Muk,
Thank you. The amount of passion, and time, I poured into this project was a bit obscene, but it sure is nice to know that others appreciate the effort. I love this sport, and I can only hope that a bit of this enthusiasm rubs off on all that read these pages.
I have to agree with you about Coppi. I really had hoped that he was going to pull it out as I was working through this process. Had the war not intervened I'm pretty sure both he and Bartali would have amassed enough points to occupy both the second and third spots ahead of Hinault. This is one of the primary reasons I had instituted the Missing Years Adjustment Formula. In the end, I think it would have been Gino in the second spot (more on that in later post).
All that aside, Hinault was an absolute beast, and I can't begrudge his final placement. I would place Merckx, Hinault, Coppi, and Bartali, in a completely different category from all the others. There is one other I would place with them, but that is also discussion for another day (no, it's not Anquetil, Van Looy, or Kelly). Stay tuned...