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| 25 BEST THINGS IN CYCLING |
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| Cycle Sport's list of the things and moments which make cycling great |
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25 CYCLE SPORT
We don't usually blow our own trumpets, but surely the arrival at the newsagent of a new issue of Cycle Sport is reason to celebrate. One hundred and sixty-four pages of top-class coverage every month for the price of an inner tube. OK, commercial break over. |
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24 TAKING THE DAY OFF TO WATCH RACING ON TV
Not that we're advocating calling in sick, but there simply aren't enough annual leave days to watch everything that's on Eurosport. Print out the start list, turn down the commentary, grab some snacks and a couple of beers (or a bidon of cola) and make yourself comfortable for an entire afternoon of racing. You know you need help when you ask the boss for a half day to nip home to watch the afternoon time trial of the Tour of the Basque Country. |
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23 A BRITISH WIN
Overseas readers please forgive us, for you are probably used to a bit more success than us. A British win is something to be savoured, whether it be David Millar, Roger Hammond, Jeremy Hunt, or before them, Chris Boardman or Max Sciandri. Even victory in an 81-kilometre road stage in the Tour of the Industrial Mining Regions is something to be enjoyed. |
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22 MILLAR WINNING THE POLKA-DOT JERSEY IN 1984
How many British kids were inspired by Robert Millar's exploits in the 1984 Tour? After seeing Millar on TV, a 10-year-old acquaintance of mine arrived at the park after school one July afternoon that summer on a Mongoose BMX bike. He was wearing a home-made King of the Mountains jersey - a white T-shirt with numerous red felt circles stitched onto it - made by his mum. What made it even funnier was he was always last in the race up the steep High Valley Road which led to his house. |
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21 Z-PEUGEOT'S CRAZY JERSEY
It was a design classic. A huge cartoon 'Z' complete with a puff of smoke adorned the jersey of Greg LeMond and Robert Millar in the late Eighties and early Nineties. |
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20 SEEING A CRASH HAPPEN (NOT A SERIOUS ONE, THOUGH)
We're not really a sadistic bunch, and we certainly don't take any enjoyment from people being hurt, but nothing beats seeing a pile-up happen live. It's like rubber-necking when there's a crash on the other side of the motorway; it's distasteful to gawp but you just can't help it. "Look at that, the handlebars went up his ass." |
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19 RIDING A FAMOUS STRETCH OF ROAD
Taking your own bike to Alpe d'Huez, the Koppenberg, the Forest of Arenberg or just a stretch of road in Spain they used for the Tour of Valencia, you can't beat pedalling over the same bit of road as the legends of pro cycling. |
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18 BEING THERE
You can watch on TV and read about it in magazines, but there's nothing like being at a race. The anticipation builds as you stand on the roadside for a few minutes' excitement as the race passes. "I saw Armstrong, I saw Ullrich," you yell when, in all likelihood, you saw Pavel Padrnos and Andreas Klier. |
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17 MOUNTAIN-TOP FINISHES
When you look at the profile and see the stage finishes at some ski station a mile up in the sky you know you're in for a good day. The general classification should get shaken to its core and the attacking promises to be unpredictable. And it makes up for watching the bunch roll in one line down dual carriageways. |
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16 PARIS-ROUBAIX
The 'Queen of the Classics', the 'Hell of the North', whatever you call it, Paris- Roubaix is simply the best one-day bike race on the planet. The cobbles, the mud, the crashes, more cobbles, and the fact that anyone with any interest in self-preservation steers well clear is enough. So what if the world's best riders choose to do the gardening that Sunday? |
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15 LONG LONE BREAKS
Will they stay away or won't they? When the caption on the screen reads 'Poursuivants 13-25' with 60 kilometres to go it's obvious the bunch has its work cut out. Long breaks by a single rider are what cycle racing is all about. It takes an admirable level of insanity to attack 200 kilometres from home and maintain the belief it's possible to stay away. Jacky Durand used to sing songs to himself or talk to the motorcycle cameramen just to ease the boredom. |
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14 LONG LONE BREAKS GETTING CAUGHT
Call us mean and vindictive but every now and then, when you're having a bad day, it's good to see some poor soul who's been on the attack all day swallowed up within sight of the finish line. Preferably he'll have spent 150 kilometres out on his own, battling the wind and growing progressively tired with each kilometre. He'll have built a lead of 20 minutes at one stage, only to see it ruthlessly cut. The sheer brinkmanship of the peloton and their ability to time their pursuit to perfection is a skill in itself. |
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13 HINAULT AND LEMOND AT ALPE D'HUEZ IN '86
It was a moment that transcended sport. Bernard Hinault, five-time winner of the Tour, and the American Greg LeMond were on the same La Vie Claire team. LeMond had worked for Hinault in the previous year's Tour and the Frenchman had promised to return the favour in 1986. But Hinault still spent most of the early mountain stages attacking. On the stage to Alpe d'Huez the pair broke away together, rode all the way to the top and crossed the line side-by-side holding each other's arms aloft. They wanted the stage result declared a dead heat. Typically, the organisers decided Hinault's wheel had been a fraction in front and gave him the stage. |
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12 THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Ever since the Olympics were opened up to the pros in 1996 they have grown in importance. While the World Championships have suffered because it is held so late in the season, the Games guarantee a top-level field. The road events are the highlight, of course, but there's a whole week of track racing too. Suddenly you find yourself watching the women's points race with more enthusiasm than you thought possible because it's such a welcome antidote to the hours and hours of tedious diving and gymnastics. But seriously, after the Tour de France, the Olympic road race and time trial will be just about the most watched cycling events of the year. |
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11 STEPHEN ROCHE AT LA PLAGNE
It's 1987 and the Irishman Stephen Roche looks as if he's about to lose the Tour to Pedro Delgado. The Spaniard has attacked with about five kilometres to go on the Alpine climb of La Plagne. Roche holds the gap at around the minute mark and then puts in a last-gasp effort for the final two kilometres. Television viewers had no idea how Roche was doing because the cameras were on Delgado and, up ahead, the leaders on the road Laurent Fignon and Anselmo Fuerte. So, as Delgado crossed the line, expecting to have put the Tour beyond Roche, we were stunned to see a ragged figure round the final corner and wobble up to the line, exhausted. Phil Liggett sounded incredulous in his now famous commentary: "It's Roche. It's Stephen Roche." |
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10 CONTROVERSY
Everyone loves a good drama and cycling's history is littered with controversial moments which can run and run. We're not talking about the drug scandals which have erupted over the years, they are tedious and damaging. But moments like Armstrong's fall on Luz-Ardiden in 2003, or Claude Criquelion and Steve Bauer colliding in the 1988 World's or the moment when Pedro Delgado missed the start of the 1989 prologue, are the ones which get everyone talking. |
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9 BEING MISTAKEN FOR A PRO
Ok, so you're in your full get-up, matching jersey, shorts, socks and mitts, top-of-the-range shoes and helmet, oh-so-cool Oakleys and you're bike's gleaming. You pull up at a small shop for refreshments and as you climb back onto your bike someone asks you: "Are you a professional?" The correct answer, of course, is a smile and a modest shake of the head: "No, no, no, strictly amateur." That's what you should say. But you think to yourself: "What the heck, no one will know the difference..." You don't say yes, exactly, but you don't say no either. Then the inevitable happens... "Are you racing the Tour de France this year?" Before you know where you are you're off in a realm of fantasy, explaining how tough Lance is going to be to beat. A few Ks later you're brought back to earth when a tourer with heavily-laden paniers passes you on a false flat. |
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8 WINNING A RACE
It doesn't even have to be an organised race, even winning the sprint to the town-limits sign on the Sunday club run is a massive thrill. As long as there's one other rider taking it as seriously as you are, you can imagine you're going elbow to elbow on the Via Roma or the Champs-Elysees. Get over the line first and there's a chance to practice 'the Petacchi' - arms up and a dismissive look over the shoulder at the beaten opposition. |
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7 DJAMOLADINE ABDUJAPAROV
What a loony the Terror of Tashkent was. He was one man who persuaded non-cycling fans to take an interest. His sheer aggression and, seemingly, a disregard for his own and others' safety made him compelling viewing. He's probably best known globally for his crash on the Champs-Elysees, when he collided with a bollard jutting out from the barriers and was sent sprawling over the cobbles. The camera shot from the helicopter was incredibly and at least two riders rode over his back and legs as he slid. He was exciting and unpredictable but he was always fast. Any kid riding on the pavement in the early 1990s would be greeted with a shout of: "Who do you think you are, Abdu-thingamajig?" from a disgruntled pedestrian. |
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6 CLIMBING SENSATIONS
These are the guys who light up the race but doesn't it feel like there are less of them than there were in the 1970s and 1980s. Think back to Van Impe, Millar, Herrera, Parra, even Claveyrolat and Virenque and, of course, Pantani. This year, thought, the climbers are coming back. Mayo, Sastre, Zubeldia, they're all going to rip it up when the Tour final reaches the mountains. Armstrong too, is one of the greatest climbers of all time - his pedalling style is evocative of the speciallists from yesteryear. When they are in full flight there's no finer spectacle. |
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5 SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS
The most dramatic stages are always when the weather is bad. It doesn't have to be snow, necessarily, icy rain is just as good. There's very little film footage of the stage to Bormio in the 1988 Giro when it snowed but everyone knows of its legend. The stage to Sestrieres in the 1996 Tour was a classic because snow on the highest passes forced it to be shortened to just 46km and Bjarne Riis took full advantage. And it was very cold and wet when Marco Pantani beat Jan Ullrich in the Alps in 98. |
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4 THE RAINBOW JERSEY
What a thing of beauty it is. A plain white jersey with the five Olympic rings around the chest. Its simplicity is the key and the classic nature of the design befits the winner of any world title. Sadly the wearers of the rainbow jersey often succumb to a curse and endure a miserable year while they have the jersey. Even though it's possible to buy replicas of the rainbow jersey you'll never see a club cyclist wearing one. Just think of the arrogance of some flabby snail-paced clubman wearing the colours of the world champion. It's like when you see some wally wearing a polka-dot jersey and Festina shorts struggling over your local hillock - it's simply an invitation to burn past him. |
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3 JOINING THE PROS OUT TRAINING
If you've ever been on holiday in Majorca, the Costa del Sol or Tuscany in late January or early February it's likely you've bumped into a pro team out training. If so, you'll know it's impossible to resist the urge - if you're on your bike - to swing round in the road and join on the back. "Ah, this isn't too bad," you think as you fix onto a wheel. The pros, oblivious to your presence, carry on. It's not until the road goes upwards that things start to really hurt. They simply don't slow down. It gives a story to tell to your jealous clubmate's, although if I have to hear the tale of "How I rode for 100 kilometres with Bettini and Museeuw - and they even let me do a turn at the front!" from one of my club-mates again I will strangle him. |
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2 THE 1989 FINALE
Will there ever be a final day of the Tour de France like it? Not unless the organisers decide to end the race with a time trial again. It was a gamble on Jean-Marie Leblanc's part because the race could have been done and dusted by then but the fact Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon were separated by less than a minute meant we were in for a grandstand finish. It was a remarkable time trial. LeMond getting the most out of his triathlon bars, Fignon hoping the yellow jersey would spur him to victory. As Fignon battled up the final straight we were on the edge of our seat. |
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1 THE TOUR DE FRANCE
Is there any doubt? For three weeks in July it dominates our thoughts. It's not only the greatest event in cycling but it's the best sporting contest in the world. As soon as the prologue is underway we are hooked. Every day creates a new hero and as the mountains draw closer the excitement reaches a fever pitch. This year's Tour will be one of the greatest ever - there is a chance to see history in the making. |
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