All time best one dayer you actually watched.

rick_chasey

So for me, the 2016 Paris Roubaix had everything a one day bike race could ever want.

Racing from bonkers far out.

A favourite with a monster palmares, hungry to make history with the record number of wins.

Total war of attrition – all the riders in the final group were dead on their feet. Properly punch drunk. Knackered. Kaput. Destroyed. Grovelling. The lot. And yet almost all of them threw in a serious attack in the final 20km.

Winner was a rank outsider even before the start, let alone 200m from the finish, yet one whose career has been defined by the same race. He outsprinted the greatest classics rider sprinter of his generation in his first race back since breaking his arm/elbow in the opening classics race of the year.

poweredbyidris

Was there too on Camphin-en-Pevele

Had done the sportive the day before, the sun was shining, and my mate was there with his campervan too so watched the race from just before Arenberg and watched it all unfold before running out to the course to see the riders, saw the whole peloton and were back in front of the TV for the final moves.

A great race.

graeme_s-2

For the modern day fan I feel you've killed this stone dead with the first post.

P-R 2016 had absolutely everything.

ShutupJens

PR 2016. One of the rare days that a bike race was genuinely enthralling for hours.

Gent Wev 2015 in second place thanks to the fascinating tactical battle (and blunders by QS)

salsiccia1

No more to be said.

milton50

I'd add Flanders 2014 to the list. Fantastic race.

2015 Ghent Wevelgem was a great spectacle in a circus kind of way.

keef_zip

Cosmo's take on that great race in 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7grrMvscRk

jimmythecuckoo

1994 Paris-Roubaix in the blizzard.

Compelling and memorable.

salsiccia1

keef_zip wrote:

Cosmo's take on that great race in 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7grrMvscRk

Just rewatching that gave me goosebumps 8)

The Orica Backstage Pass on that race was incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zxnA4asj44

ShutupJens

Goosebumps watching Cosmo's video again. Will watch the backstage pass later, that really is something

greasedscotsman

Tour of Flanders 2011. Kept thinking you'd just seen the race winning move from Cancellara/Gilbert/Thomas (OK, maybe not then) for it all come back together again.

phreak

2016 Roubaix has to be up there for the best bike race full stop, let alone the best one dayer. It had everything.

sagefly

Paris Roubaix 2016 great racing and more memorable for a superb edition of the Back Stage pass.

Haymans disbelief at winning, the reaction of the fellow pros and the graciousness of Tom Boonen afterwards, shows TB was a proper champion.

rick_chasey

sagefly wrote:

and the graciousness of Tom Boonen afterwards, in spite of being a proper champion.

FTFY

bobmcstuff

Yeah that PR.

I have watched that backstage pass loads of times. Great comfort viewing!

jam1e

2015 OHN - Stannard V Quickstep. I was watching it with a fairly large bunch of people some who had never watched a bike race so was trying to explain what was going on and how he’d get worked over...

m.r.m.

2016 P-R. Had everything. The unlikely but deserving winner. The great attacks with ramping pressure at the end. The ludicrous bike save of Sagan. The expectation of Cancellara to crush the gap, which was then foiled by his crash. Boonen going for the record.

Also saw it in Nice with my girlfriend who doesn't care about cycling, but went regarding the finale "Oh, that was fun!"

ocdupalais

M.R.M. wrote:

2016 P-R. Had everything. The unlikely but deserving winner. The great attacks with ramping pressure at the end. The ludicrous bike save of Sagan. The expectation of Cancellara to crush the gap, which was then foiled by his crash. Boonen going for the record.

Also saw it in Nice with my girlfriend who doesn't care about cycling, but went regarding the finale "Oh, that was fun!"

You, er, still together?

andyp

The 1996 Worlds will live long in the memory.

Michele Bartoli was the leader of a strong Italian team on a course that looked tailor made for him with two decent climbs per lap. Italy looked like they'd played a blinder as they had two riders, Fabrizio Guidi and, I think, Andrea Ferrigato, in strong break that Museuuw and Gianetti also infiltrated. But then it began to go horribly wrong, as the Italian team chased hard behind but both Italians were still driving hard at the front. On the final lap it looked like the Italians would close the gap, only for Andrea Tafi to jump away alone on the climb, but fail to close the gap. Ahead Museuuw hung onto Gianetti, who was being spurred on by a home crowd, and Bartoli was left to police a chase led by Virenque, that swept up Tafi but couldn't close the gap to the two in front.

Museuuw then spoilt the home party by dispatching Gianetti in the sprint, whilst Bartoli outsprinted Axel Merckx for a disappointing bronze. The recriminations in the Italian camp last for years afterwards.

The top ten is amazing for the depth of quality in it, all either GT or Monument winners with the exception of the aforementioned Merckx.

1. Johan Museeuw (Belgium) 6hr 23min 50sec
2. Mauro Gianetti (Switzerland) @ 1sec
3. Michele Bartoli (Italy) @ 29sec
4. Axel Merckx (Belgium) s.t.
5. Richard Virenque (France) @ 30sec
6. Andrea Tafi (Italy) s.t.
7. Laurent Jalabert (France) @ 1min 26sec
8. Davide Rebellin (Italy) s.t.
9. Tony Rominger (Switzerland) s.t.
10. Bjarne Riis (Denmark) s.t.

andyp

The best one day race I actually saw was the 2006 Giro di Lombardia, where Bettini won alone in the rainbow jersey a few days after his elder brother was killed in a car crash. Watching the finish of that on the lake front in Como was spine tingling.

andyp

Must be something in years ending in 6.

iainf72

andyp wrote:

The best one day race I actually saw was the 2006 Giro di Lombardia, where Bettini won alone in the rainbow jersey a few days after his elder brother was killed in a car crash. Watching the finish of that on the lake front in Como was spine tingling.

Yes, and some of the most nerve-wracking descending I've ever seen

A few of the Worlds over the years have been corkers.

bobmcstuff

Just further to PR 2016.

I had been to the Brewdog AGM the night before and I was really aggressively hungover- I spent the first hour or so of the race literally weeping in the foetal position.

I was with my girlfriend and another friend, all of us in a similar state.

By the finale all 3 of us were jumping up and down yelling at the screen.

Probably the only hangover cure that's ever worked!

That bit where Boonen and Hayman get away and you can see EBH's head just drop is brilliant. And Haymans disbelief when he wins. So good.

DeVlaeminck

They all tend to merge into one in my memory but I seem to remember one of Nicole Cooke's wins in her Olympic/Worlds double being particularly good - in part because I'd watched her lose to weaker riders with stronger teams for a few years.

m.r.m.

OCDuPalais wrote:

M.R.M. wrote:

2016 P-R. Had everything. The unlikely but deserving winner. The great attacks with ramping pressure at the end. The ludicrous bike save of Sagan. The expectation of Cancellara to crush the gap, which was then foiled by his crash. Boonen going for the record.

Also saw it in Nice with my girlfriend who doesn't care about cycling, but went regarding the finale "Oh, that was fun!"

You, er, still together?

Yeah getting married this September.

She rides a bike to work in spring and summer. Just doesn't watch sports.

dolan_driver

The 1995 Worlds in Colombia. The cream of that generation of climbers fighting it out at high altitude for the rainbow jersey.

The 1992 Milan-San Remo. King Kelly's last big win and done so in a manner that might never be repeated.

DD.

ddraver

Rick Chasey wrote:

sagefly wrote:

and the graciousness of Tom Boonen afterwards, in spite of being a proper champion.

FTFY

It still burns slightly knowing Boonen lost that but it was an amazing race.

Stannard vs EQS is another for sheer comedy value

Knowing that AvV is ok makes the Rio Women's Olympic Road Race a good'un too.

ocdupalais

M.R.M. wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

M.R.M. wrote:

2016 P-R. Had everything. The unlikely but deserving winner. The great attacks with ramping pressure at the end. The ludicrous bike save of Sagan. The expectation of Cancellara to crush the gap, which was then foiled by his crash. Boonen going for the record.

Also saw it in Nice with my girlfriend who doesn't care about cycling, but went regarding the finale "Oh, that was fun!"

You, er, still together?

Yeah getting married this September.

She rides a bike to work in spring and summer. Just doesn't watch sports.

Phew!... congrats in advance.
Don’t lose hope: my former fiancée (now wife) was a casual cyclist and not bovved by the sport. Then I took her to Flanders and signed her up for the RVV randonee with her new road bike... stroll on 2 years and she was racing in the National Series and shouting at Cav on the telly to get his “fukcing fat @rse” up there...
On the other hand, I now completely understand those who might wish their other half would naff off when the cycling’s on...

ocdupalais

ddraver wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

sagefly wrote:

and the graciousness of Tom Boonen afterwards, in spite of being a proper champion.

FTFY

It still burns slightly knowing Boonen lost that but it was an amazing race.

Stannard vs EQS is another for sheer comedy value

Knowing that AvV is ok makes the Rio Women's Olympic Road Race a good'un too.

As often gets said about a good script, it’s what we didn’t see that adds to the entertainment: the thought of Lefervre hitting the roof still makes me laugh...
I hope at the Team Sky fancy dress party they dress Stannard up as Obelix and Kenny Elissonde as Asterix...

specialgueststar

Dolan Driver wrote:

The 1995 Worlds in Colombia. The cream of that generation of climbers fighting it out at high altitude for the rainbow jersey.

The 1992 Milan-San Remo. King Kelly's last big win and done so in a manner that might never be repeated.

DD.

Danny Nellisen :shock:

specialgueststar

On home soil. Bugno won in Brighton and Tafi in Rochester.