Can we agree

dave_1
dave_1 Posts: 9,512
edited October 2008 in Pro race
on the best one day races to win in order of rank, best first- mine are

1) Paris Roubaix

2) Flanders

3) The World RR

4)Tour of Lombardy

5) Liege Bastogne Liege

6) Milan San Remo

7) Amstel

8 ) Fleche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player

Comments

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    No Tour of Lombardy?

    It's a monument and probably the most beautiful race in terms of scenery.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    andyp wrote:
    No Tour of Lombardy?

    It's a monument and probably the most beautiful race in terms of scenery.

    oops...let me amend that
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    Dave_1 wrote:
    on the best one day races to win in order of rank, best first- mine are

    1) Paris Roubaix

    2) Flanders

    3) The World RR

    4)Tour of Lombardy

    5) Liege Bastogne Liege

    6) Milan San Remo

    7) Amstel

    8 ) Fleche


    Pretty much agree with this, but personally I'd move World RR below Liege - only because some of the courses have been a little so-so.

    Plus you missed two:

    9) Paris-Tours
    10) Down Under Classic :wink:
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    No we don't agree, but that's what this is a forum for :wink:
    Also, how do you define 'best'? But let's say putting route, racing, history & legend, heroism, local public, scenery and build-up together, my preference is:
    1. De Ronde
    2. LBL, Paris-Roubaix, Milano-San Remo
    5. Worlds
    6. Lombardia
    7. Amstel
    8. Het Volk, Fleche Walonne, Paris-Tours, Gent-Wevelgem
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    If it's purely best to win, then the Worlds at number 1 comfortably - you get the jersey, you get the title, you get the recognition outside cycling. It also has the strongest field (regardless of course). The problem is you really have to be Italian or Spanish to win it.

    If Cav won the Worlds and P-R - which do you think would get him nationwide attention.

    Then after that:

    2 P-R
    3 Flanders
    4 LBL
    5 MSR
    6 Lombardy (the least of the monuments purely due to it's position in the calender)
    7 Amstel (I'm tempted to put this higher up)
    8 Fleche, G-W and San Sebastien
    The rest

    Of course, this changes according to your nationality (and your team's sponsor)
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Barry Roubaix
    Barry Roubaix Posts: 233
    FJS wrote:
    No we don't agree, but that's what this is a forum for :wink:
    Also, how do you define 'best'? But let's say putting route, racing, history & legend, heroism, local public, scenery and build-up together, my preference is:
    1. De Ronde
    2. LBL, Paris-Roubaix, Milano-San Remo
    5. Worlds
    6. Lombardia
    7. Amstel
    8. Het Volk, Fleche Walonne, Paris-Tours, Gent-Wevelgem

    I agree with FJS, the dee dah :)
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    For me personally....

    1) Paris Roubaix

    2) Worlds

    3) MSR

    4) Flanders

    5) Ghent Wevelgem (if I'm allowed to mention such a race)

    6) Liege Bastogne Liege

    7) Lombardy

    8) Amstel

    9 ) Fleche
    I like bikes...

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  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    There's been too many indifferent Worlds IME to be consistently up there with the other great races. Likewise, it's position at the end of the year has significantly reduced the level of competition and therefore significance - but improved courses in recent years have helped a lot - the Zolder and Hamilton events were probably the low-point.
    MSR is slowly losing it too - unless they do something significant with the course, it has become too easy - the Poggio is too easy (relatively) and too far out to impact on the outcome - the peloton big-ringing it up the climb in hot pursuit of a tentative break-away doesn't really appeal.
    Only P-Rx and L-B-L standout in terms in the toughness of the parcours - they are both brutal, regardless of the weather.
    How anyone can rate G-W above L-B-L is beyond me - if it wasn't for the Kemmelberg, G-W is a side-show in comparison to La Doyenne - the TV coverage doesn't do it justice!
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    Monty Dog wrote:
    How anyone can rate G-W above L-B-L is beyond me

    It's too hilly, I wouldn't do well in the hilly stuff - and I thought we were meant to be ranking them as if we were targetting them as a rider......
    I like bikes...

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  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    have used prestige and the hilly and tough nature of the course as criteria. Winning PRX or Flanders or Worlds will keep you in a good contract for 2 season with no results.

    The Classique Des Alpes was an excellent one day but short lived. The way the UCI trashed the Grand Prix De Nations was also an atrocity.

    We did not need a World TT champs. Paris Tour, GP Zurich, Vattenfall Classic are not up there in top 8...Ghent Wevelgem gets in there near Amstel
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    1. Paris Roubaix
    2. Worlds
    3. Milan San Remo
    4. Flanders
    5. Liege Bastogne Liege
    5a. Beijing Olympic RR (this is a one-time addition as the scenery with the great wall was amazing and Andy+Cancellara made it incredible)
    6. Lombardy
    7. Amstel
    8. Fleche
    9. Ghent Wevelgem
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Liege would be my top pick. I know few would agree but for me Paris-Roubaix is a circus show and often very dependent on luck. No one can win LBL by chance, the winner is the best on the day. Flanders is great, the public support is amazing.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    Kléber wrote:
    Liege would be my top pick. I know few would agree but for me Paris-Roubaix is a circus show and often very dependent on luck. No one can win LBL by chance, the winner is the best on the day. Flanders is great, the public support is amazing.

    It should in top 3 but but falls down on prestige...if they moved it to early March? It's harder than the others-other than the 2 cobbled ones...which really are like climbing...try keeping your pace going on those...the more the you tire the slower you get the less you glideover the stones, the gl;ancing blows on the wheels feel much worse without the bounce of higher speed...a nightmare if you are not super super fit. At least on climbs you can use the little ring, but at 25-30mph hitting cobbles and being dropped...every easier gear means you get bumped around more and more and slow down. Impossible if you aren not very fit. Could not split it from Lombardy as only raced as an amateur in the Ardennes and not been Italy to see Lombardy
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    I want to amend it

    on the best one day races to win in order of rank, best first- mine are

    1) Paris Roubaix

    2) Flanders

    3) The World RR

    4) The Hour Record

    5) Tour of Lombardy

    6) Liege Bastogne Liege

    7) Milan San Remo

    8) Amstel

    9 ) Fleche
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    the real big hitters of 90s in TDF/GT racing treated it very very seriously IMO

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6djob4XF ... re=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    This doesn't really prove anything but, here's the number of the top twenty riders (according to Cycling Quotient * - as good a source as any) who turned up to each of the big seven.

    Worlds - 14
    Liege BL - 11
    Milan SR - 11
    Amstel - 10
    Flanders - 9
    Lombardy - 7
    Roubaix - 5

    They're professionals, they go were the money is for the winner - the Worlds. Paris Roubaix, it would seem, is for specialists only these days (sadly)

    * http://www.cqranking.com - a good site
    Twitter: @RichN95

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