Pre-Lance

[kennykool]

Wow....Stephen Roche....I always wondered what he'd done!!!!!

Alberto Contador will be added to that list this year.....IMO

 

[Noodley]

Wow....Stephen Roche....I always wondered what he'd done!!!!!

 

[andy_wrx]

C'mon, give Kenny a break.

After all, these guys like Roche and Merckx and LeMond were before he was born...

 

[wafflycat]

And speaking of before Kenny was born... one must not forget Fausto Coppi..

Giro d'Italia 5 overall, 22 stage wins
Tour de France 2 overall, 9 stage wins
World Road Race Champion 1 win
Milan San Remo 3 wins
Paris Roubaix 1 win
Giro de Lombardia 5 wins
Fleche Wallonne 1 win

and various others including the hour record..

Old Fausto was an elegant figure too. Prisoner of War in WWII...

 

[Noodley]

After all, these guys like Roche and Merckx and LeMond were before he was born...

They were not before he was born, just before Lance.

I wasn't laughing at him BTW, I just thought it was quite funny.

 

[Keith Oates]

Wow....Stephen Roche....I always wondered what he'd done!!!!!

Alberto Contador will be added to that list this year.....IMO

Unless Astana change their plans that will not happen as he's not scheduled to ride the Giro this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[oxbob]

The Badger rules!!!

 

[andy_wrx]

The Badger certainly rules when he's chucking protesters off the TdF presentation podium - I bet they were relieved when the police came to arrest them !

Anquetil was a bit before my time, but I found reading Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape fascinating.

 

[Toshiba Boy]

Good thread, being an old git, I forget that many fans to the sport don't know much pre-Lance.

For me:

The 1980's were a particular highlight (Hinault v Lemond, Fignon v Lemond, Millar, Roche and the Colombians).

1990's - Pantani acceleration on the climbs, Boardman's prologues, 94 Tour stages in Brighton and Portsmouth (meeting the likes of Indurain, Lemond, Chiappucci, Yates) - acknowledge this race included a young Armstrong riding in World Champions jersey IIRC.

Old films of the great classy riders of the 40's, 50' and 60's, especially Coppi and Anquetil.

But, of course, one giant, towering above all others, the man that my dad used to constantly talk about when I was a little kid, the one, the only....Eddy Merckx, greatest rider of all time, bar none.

 

[kennykool]

C'mon, give Kenny a break.

After all, these guys like Roche and Merckx and LeMond were before he was born...

Thanks Andy.....I take it all im my stride tho.....Steep Learning curve for me and I am greatful.

I was playing with my He-men when these guys were winning Grand Tours

 

[kennykool]

Toshiba boy - I have been tiold that I would enjoy watching some of the old stuff when they didn't have to wear helmets and carried there own spare tyres over there shoulders.....Roads wouldn't have been so smooth either I assume.

The first I actually knew about the TdeF was in 1998 when all the riders sat down in protest...Festina Affair?

It was BIG news and made lots of healines so was hard to miss.

The only real duals I've wittnessed have been between Lance and Ullrich.

 

[wafflycat]

Kenny - if you're going to watch one pre-LA tour, watch the 1989 one, where it was all down to the last day time trial and the battle between Fignon & LeMond.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tour-France-89-Never-Close/dp/B00004CK73 VHS
http://cyclingweekly.ipcshop.co.uk/...e/1989-tour-de-france-dvd---never-so-close626 DVD

LeMond fighting back from nearly a minute down on Fignon...

The TdF would do well to bring back that final day time trial.

 

[yello]

I was playing with my He-men when these guys were winning Grand Tours

Ah Kenny... ya awl reet y'a.

In fairness, I'm a late comer to the sport so we actually probably started paying attention at around about the same time. Difference is, my dad was a keen cyclist and so the name of Eddy Merckx was etched into my forming brain from an early age.

I also knew that the best bikes were equipped with Campagnolo - before I even knew what it meant, or what alternatives there were! - but we shouldn't go there either!

 

[kennykool]

Wafflycat.......VHS?????? what is this? Is that like a "record player?"

Only kidding i'm 31 not 13

Thanks for the links - will make a purchase soon.

 

[papercorn2000]

Look up Rene Vietto, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Vietto, one of the men who "should" have won at least one tour. Sacrificed himself in 1934 in one of the great tales of Tour heroism.

Here he is; after having heard that his team-leader had broken his wheel, he rode back up the mountain, gave Magnin (?) his wheel and then had to wait for some 20 minutes before he could get a new one. Vietto was, at the time MJ on the road, was off in the lead and looking a shoe-in for the GC.

http://www.pyrenees-passion.info/images/cyclisme/vietto1.jpg