I loved watching pro cycling races in the 1990s through about the mid 2000s. Some of my favorites were the Mapei team with Paola Bettini, Johan Museeuw, Andrea Tafi and the rest of that talent stacked squad. Then there's Mario Cippollini with the Saeco-Cannondale train. There are riders like Michele Bartoli, Axel Merckx and others. I lived in Colorado from 1984 to 2012 so when my road bike rides involved climbs, I made sure almost all did except for some with flats only just to work on speed, I tried to channel my climbing hero Marco Pantani. You cycling legends understand these are just a few of my favorites and all those beautiful legendary races across Europe. There was that one year, I think 1992, when Mapei finished 1-2-3-5 at Paris- Roubaix. My favorite pro cyclist has always been Eddy Merckx.
I agree, even tho this era became infamous for EPO I still enjoy the races & admire many of the riders. The way Pantani attacked early in horrible weather in the 98 Tour, winning the stage & yellow at Les Deux Alpes was legendary. He simply destroyed the entire peloton. I love the mid-late 80's too, many great riders & races. Greg Lemond, fighting with friend & teammate Bernard Hinault in the 86 Tour, but eventually took the yellow from him & held it to Paris. Stephen Roche won in 87, making a legendary chase up La Plagne to bring back Pedro Delgado, Andy Hampsten's attack on the Gavia in a blizzard that set him up for his 88 Giro win, Lemond vs Fignon in the 89 Tour, and the famous 8 second victory. The 80's & 90s were two great decades in cycling.
Also I recommend the book The Hard Men, it talks about the Mapei domination that year at Paris-Roubaix, along with many other examples of tough riders & gritty performances.
I find it amusing to listen to the commentary of these races in the 90's when Sherwin and Liggett describe a break as unbelievable, and marvel at the fact old riders are tearing everyone else to shreds. I have always admired the way Liggett called a race, but I call bullshit when he says he had no idea what was going on. Proof positive that Omerta extended well past the peloton.
Where did Jalbert finish in this edition of LBL, if he did indeed? Having watched a few of these 'classic' editions of LBL from the '90's, it seems Sherwin, in continually referring to Jalabert attacking a long way out, only to 'explode', is confusing what happened to him in the '97 Tour of Flanders, where he launched a long range attack like here, only to crack and finish way down.
Jalabert developed from a sprinter to a classics rider. He had lost his really fast sprint and did this a lot, he won 97 Lombardy from way out. He won "most combative" rider in the TDF too, just his style. He also had no support from teammates, just a bunch of Spanish climbers. Once was just built for Tours. He didn't finish: www.procyclingstats.com/race/liege-bastogne-liege/1999/result VDB was gonna win anyway, untouchable.
Jalabert was by far my favourite rider of the 90s. He won bunch sprints, climbing races, time trials and classics. Always on the attack, the last real allround specialist and he was good year-round. He didn't finish that race, but the next week he started in the Tour de Romandie, where he won four of the six stages and the overall. I believe he took over UCI number one from Bartoli that time.
Franky forever. That man had a unique style
Vandenbroucke what a beast.Those races of the 90's were incredible with the best riders of the history.
and with the best of Doping
@@ck21985 tutti hanno usato il doping
Tutti!!
@@luciomarchini6080 what?
@@ck21985 all riders used epo in 1990
And even now
I think
Vdb was a great riders
Was a champ
There were at least four to five PREVIOUS additional "best" decades. Get a clue.
I loved watching pro cycling races in the 1990s through about the mid 2000s. Some of my favorites were the Mapei team with Paola Bettini, Johan Museeuw, Andrea Tafi and the rest of that talent stacked squad. Then there's Mario Cippollini with the Saeco-Cannondale train. There are riders like Michele Bartoli, Axel Merckx and others. I lived in Colorado from 1984 to 2012 so when my road bike rides involved climbs, I made sure almost all did except for some with flats only just to work on speed, I tried to channel my climbing hero Marco Pantani.
You cycling legends understand these are just a few of my favorites and all those beautiful legendary races across Europe. There was that one year, I think 1992, when Mapei finished 1-2-3-5 at Paris- Roubaix.
My favorite pro cyclist has always been Eddy Merckx.
I agree, even tho this era became infamous for EPO I still enjoy the races & admire many of the riders. The way Pantani attacked early in horrible weather in the 98 Tour, winning the stage & yellow at Les Deux Alpes was legendary. He simply destroyed the entire peloton. I love the mid-late 80's too, many great riders & races. Greg Lemond, fighting with friend & teammate Bernard Hinault in the 86 Tour, but eventually took the yellow from him & held it to Paris. Stephen Roche won in 87, making a legendary chase up La Plagne to bring back Pedro Delgado, Andy Hampsten's attack on the Gavia in a blizzard that set him up for his 88 Giro win, Lemond vs Fignon in the 89 Tour, and the famous 8 second victory. The 80's & 90s were two great decades in cycling.
Also I recommend the book The Hard Men, it talks about the Mapei domination that year at Paris-Roubaix, along with many other examples of tough riders & gritty performances.
I find it amusing to listen to the commentary of these races in the 90's when Sherwin and Liggett describe a break as unbelievable, and marvel at the fact old riders are tearing everyone else to shreds. I have always admired the way Liggett called a race, but I call bullshit when he says he had no idea what was going on. Proof positive that Omerta extended well past the peloton.
They fully knew. They road that fraudulent train and milked it for all it was worth. Utterly shameless. I have 0.0000000000 respect for them.
The gearing they pushed on the climbs those days was insane
25 mph over 6 1/2 hours.
Amazing effort. These guys are superhuman!
They didn't have all the feeling of winning last 10-20 kms. They knew It was VDB time to shine
Imagine how much dope
Vandenbrouke chasing the motorbikes. Few dirty tricks from Bartoli could not get rid of VdB
Where did Jalbert finish in this edition of LBL, if he did indeed? Having watched a few of these 'classic' editions of LBL from the '90's, it seems Sherwin, in continually referring to Jalabert attacking a long way out, only to 'explode', is confusing what happened to him in the '97 Tour of Flanders, where he launched a long range attack like here, only to crack and finish way down.
Jalabert developed from a sprinter to a classics rider. He had lost his really fast sprint and did this a lot, he won 97 Lombardy from way out. He won "most combative" rider in the TDF too, just his style. He also had no support from teammates, just a bunch of Spanish climbers. Once was just built for Tours. He didn't finish: www.procyclingstats.com/race/liege-bastogne-liege/1999/result
VDB was gonna win anyway, untouchable.
Jalabert was by far my favourite rider of the 90s. He won bunch sprints, climbing races, time trials and classics. Always on the attack, the last real allround specialist and he was good year-round. He didn't finish that race, but the next week he started in the Tour de Romandie, where he won four of the six stages and the overall. I believe he took over UCI number one from Bartoli that time.
Jaja's breakaway at LBL1999 was just a very, very fancy training ride.