Notable pro cyclists

Houllier

Hello everyone - I need your help completing a project, in which i am categorising notable cyclists. I'm getting a bit stuck, and need your inspiration. Help me out and I'll share the results of the whole shebang when I'm finished.

So - I need to you tell me some names of cyclists, male or female, of any discipline (road,track, cyclocross, MTB), who stand out in the following categories (bonus points if accompanied by an illustrative story for entertainment purposes):

Playboys
Descenders (inc downhill MTB)
Cheats
Domestiques
Nearly Men
Great comebacks

Thank you all in advance!

N

andyrr

Ok, real quickies :
Playboys : Jacque Anquetil, Mario Cipollini
Descenders (inc downhill MTB) : Sean Yates, Vicenzo Nibali, Danny Hart (YouTube 2011 sensational ride)
Cheats : ha, lots here, few random names - Di Luca, Basso, Millar, Landis,
Domestiques : Yates, Hincapie
Nearly Men : David Millar, Poulidor
Great comebacks : Armstrong, David Millar, LeMond

Houllier

Thank you...

Should have said, by cheats I don't just mean the dopers (how long have you got?) but also the comedy early TdF 'cath the train / drop tacks / use a looky-likey Wacky Races type cheats

Great start

N

campbellrae1

If you're talking about MTB Downhill riders it's hard to go past Steve Peat, been at the top of the game for years and still going strong! He has won pretty much everything in his career.

rick_chasey

Playboy - not sure if it counts but Cavendish got a glamour model (granted his gf) pregnant during the Tour.
Cheats - Sad case though it is, Hamilton was constantly getting caught - blaming stuff on fake identical twins etc.
Domestique? - Andrea Carrea (for Coppi). off wikipedia:

Andrea Carrea was a domestique for Fausto Coppi. "He was a gregario par excellence", said the journalist Jean-Luc Gatellier, "the incarnation of personal disinterest... showing to perfection the notion of personal sacrifice. He refused the slightest bit of personal glory."[8] Carrea was riding the Tour de France of 1952 and joined an attack to Lausanne to protect his leader's interests.
Carrea said: "Without knowing it, I had slid into the important break of the day and at Lausanne, to my great surprise, I heard I had inherited a jersey destined for champions. For me, it was a terrible situation."[8]
Carrea had no idea he had become race leader. When officials told him, he burst into tears. He had ousted Coppi and he dreaded the consequences.[9] He wept as he received his jersey, looking constantly down the road for the main field that included his leader.
Jean-Paul Ollivier said: Carrea thought the sky had fallen in. How would Fausto take it? When the champion arrived a few minutes later, Carrea went towards him in tears to offer his excuses. "You must understand that I did not want this jersey, Fausto. I have no right to it. A poor man like me, the yellow jersey? [10]"
Coppi said: "I wondered how Carrea, so shy and so emotional, was going to take it. When I went to congratulate him on the track at Lausanne, he didn't know what face he ought to adopt".[8]

ddraver

Playboys - Cipollini
Descenders (inc downhill MTB) - as above, Peaty! Athertons, Sam Hill, Fabian Barel, Nico Vouillliiiooozzz (?)
Cheats - Armstrong
Domestiques - Jens Voight, what was the name of that guy with Tommy V this July...?
Nearly Men - Poulidor, either Schleck, Tyler Farrar (Discuss)
Great comebacks - erm....give me a minite on this one...

DavidBelcher

andyrr wrote:

Nearly Men : David Millar, Poulidor

Would also add Joop Zoetemelk to the list - although he did eventually bag one TdF and one world title, in terms of Tour podium places he was even more of an "eternal second" than Poulidor.

David

secretsqizz

Don't u get a few nearly men posting in ProRace?

DavidBelcher

ddraver wrote:

Domestiques - Jens Voight, what was the name of that guy with Tommy V this July...?

Pierre Rolland. Potentially a serious GC contender in his own right come next year's Tour.

David

Pokerface

If you want to see good defending, you can't overlook Fabian Cancellara.


Epic one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXqQqAc2pA

Cleat Eastwood

Playboys - Koblet, coppi, boonen on a saturday night.
Descenders (inc downhill MTB) - Salvoldelli- the falcon
Cheats - Armstrong & millar (hey what a great idea for a show), BR fave Ricco.
Domestiques - hincapie and hero rolland
Nearly Men - the thin schlock
Great comebacks - it's stephen roche..

jgsi

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

Playboys - Koblet, coppi, e..

hmm, I couldnt pin that title on Coppi altho he looked the part... .. Tom Simpson a better fit

DavidBelcher

Oh, and a British nomination for "great comebacks" - Tony Doyle after his crash on the track at Munich in '88. Wasn't expected to pull through full stop, let alone ride a bike again.

David

Houllier

Thanks all... great suggestions.... need another playboy, I have Kubler, Cipollini, Pozzato so far

Also... who are your most notable world champions?

And who is the greatest track cylist ever (apart from Chris Hoy)?

DavidBelcher

Houllier wrote:

And who is the greatest track cylist ever (apart from Chris Hoy)?

Depends on the discipline; in six-day racing there were few riders on a par with Patrick Sercu or Peter Post.

David

DavidBelcher

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

Armstrong & millar (hey what a great idea for a show)

"S***! I forgot to put the bins out!"

David

nick hanson

DavidBelcher wrote:

andyrr wrote:

Nearly Men : David Millar, Poulidor

Would also add Joop Zoetemelk to the list - although he did eventually bag one TdF and one world title, in terms of Tour podium places he was even more of an "eternal second" than Poulidor.

David

Go on then,how can an 'eternal second' win the TDF :roll:

Frank the tank

Shame on all who have posted prior to this, the post is "Notable pro cyclists" So far not a single mention of......

EDDY MERCKX. :oops: :roll:

Understandable 'cos he's not noteworthy at all.

desweller

I don't know what category he'd fall into but Eugene Christophe deserves some sort of mention for welding his bike back together during the 1913 TdF.

Cleat Eastwood

Frank the tank wrote:

Shame on all who have posted prior to this, the post is "Notable pro cyclists" So far not a single mention of......

EDDY MERCKX. :oops: :roll:

Understandable 'cos he's not noteworthy at all.

Worse still, no one has mentioned Bhima!!!!

Frank the tank

DesWeller wrote:

I don't know what category he'd fall into but Eugene Christophe deserves some sort of mention for welding his bike back together during the 1913 TdF.

I think he mended his forks in a blacksmiths forge, not quite welding but a bloody valiant effort only to be slapped down an disqualified." F*ck 'em" was the headline in Le Equipe the next day.

dbmnk

Houllier wrote:

Also... who are your most notable world champions?

Abraham Olano - epic flat tire win
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOtqNQJQcuU