Fave road rider

[kona kid]

big mig Indurain for me - just the way he was quiet off the bike, poker face on it and just totally blew away all the other riders for years (first rider ever to win five consecutive times)

remember being sad at him being broken in 96 and finishing 8mins behind at his hometown stage.... (his last real race i think)

some stats on his machine like physique:
His blood circulation had the ability to circulate 7 litres of oxygen around his body per minute, compared to the average amount of 3-4 litres of an ordinary person and the 5-6 litres of his fellow riders. Also, Indurain's lung capacity was 8 litres, compared to an average of 5 litres. In addition, Indurain's resting pulse was as low as 29 BPM, compared to a normal human's 60-80 bpm. His VO2 max was 88 ml/kg/min; in comparison, Lance Armstrong's was 82 ml/kg/min

 

[hollister]

watched the 89 tour with my pop when i was a kid, hooked me on cycling on the spot.


Lemond hands down(says the yank )

 

[Radar]

Remember when Millar won the KoM. Highlights were shown on World of Sport, with Dickie Davies. Remember getting a Peugeot Robert Millar autograph bike. Thought I was the dogs danglies.

Eddie Merckx was very obviously 'the man'. Cheered for Yates, but never for Boardman. Quite an Alex Zulle fan .. clearly an affinity with double glazing wearers.

Of course I'll be cheering for the other Millar in July both on the Mall and the Champs Elysee - he used to live just down the road, always very pleasant to talk to, nice with my little ones too. (Not many 4 year olds can say they've talked bikes with a pro-tour rider!).

 

[Stick Legs]

In my own memory. Greg LeMond.
Of all time. Francesco Moser or Eddy Merckx.

This summer I will be cheering for David Millar (despite his crap website ) and will also be hoping that 'Big' Tom Boonen gets the TdF.
I would also like to see Tom Steels win a stage too, A really gritty rider IMHO.

 

[john]

Interesting that many of us have chosen riders from the same era, must be something about retrobikes key demographic.....

Also intersted that people are going to be cheering for Millar after his, ahem, extra curricular activites.

 

[JustKev]

I remember watching Sean Kelly win Paris-Roubaix in '86 - it inspired me to race bikes instead of play football. In later days i always cheered for 'Super' Mario Cipollini - he was like me, too big to climb properly!

 

[Russell]

too big to climb properly!

Nonsense! Train

 

[hibernian]

Big fan of Pantani despite the controversy. Watching him climb the Alpe De Huez 9 years ago was incredibly special.
Armstrong, the best there has ever been, nuff said. (Even though i am not a fan of brash Texans!)
Closer to home though and slightly off the European elite scene my favourite was Obree. OK i'm biased because i'm Scottish but i liked the way he stood up for his beliefs i.e. saying that jam sandwiches were just as good as energy bars, thereby destroying any chance of sponsorship.
Least favourite Virenque :evil:

 

[cchris2lou]

I liked Tony Rominger as well as he was an all rounder .

I think what L amstrong is great , but he only raced the TDF . in 2006 he raced 33 days ( 22 in the TDF ) while some riders were doing a full season .

 

[michael@orange]

Hinault for me, he crosses between what i call the "old" wool to "modern" lycra eras and raced against great riders in both, those first copies of Winning Bicycle Racing Illustrated have a lot to answer for

oh, I'm another one who'll be cheering for David this summer, he's going OK in Paris Nice this week .