I saw a couple of lists of the 5 greatest road cyclists of all time the other week. These were long view lists rather than those that only seem to remember the fairly recent past. These were the five in no particular order:
- Eddy Merckx
- Jacques Anquetil
- Fausto Coppi
- Lance Armstrong
- Bernard Hinault
I think that's a pretty fair list but it could be argued that Merckx and Hinault are the only definites and Miguel Indurain and Gino Bartali would be strong candidates to be in that top 5. But sticking with my top 5 for the moment and returning to my bugbear of the moment (see last post about Henri Pelissier) why are cycling biographies missing some of the obvious targets?
Of the top 5 Lance Armstrong is everywhere, Paul Howard has written an admirable biography of Jacques Anquetil, and William Fotheringham wrote a great Fausto Coppi biography. But of the big 2 there is nothing currently in print in the English language. Granted Richard Moore's fabulous 'Slaying the Badger' was about the Hinault / LeMond relationship, but it was not a biography. There are older books about Merckx and Hinault but nothing current. Come on someone (with talent) please satisfy me!
No comments:
Post a Comment