Reader Nominated Riders for Campionissimo

Lance and Marco [photo: Flickr.com - Ian Nutt]

Reader Comments: "An Unlikely Pair" Lance Armstrong and Marco Pantani

Chris F. Podium Café nominates Lance Armstrong: Sorry to say, but Lance probably needs to be on the list. If Sastre’s win on Alpe d’Huez was exciting, then Lance’s stage wins along the way to seven wins deserve acclaim. Modern riders don’t win everywhere, sadly. But Lance won a world title and a fair number of other events. I say he’s in.

Comment by Jens from Podium Cafe: A Giro-win could make Armstrong worthy? 

Comment by Demon Cats from Podium Cafe: Armstrong’s 7 wins make him the “Patron of the TdF”, but I can’t imagine elevating him to Campionissimo status.  A Giro win would be a plus.  

Comment by R Mc from Podium Cafe: y'know what's funny? I think Armstrong has (or had) it in him to win Paris-Roubaix.  Think about it-his Worlds win in 1993 was in AWFUL weather. His fourth in 1998, ditto. The win on Hautacam in 2000 was in nasty, nasty weather too. He can ride cobbles- has done it in Flanders; he can ride off-road. In fact, I don’t think people have given Armstrong enough credit for his bike-handling skills over the years.  And, as any one who knows anyone who knew him back in his early days knows, he has what it takes to push a protester off a stage, But he needs a real monument to go with Fleche and San Sebastian to be in the Hinault/Kelly mold.

Lance Armstrong:

Muk from Podium Cafe nominates Marco Pantani: Pantani - for quality not quantity.  Marco Pantani.  Overlook his pharmaceutical indiscretions (I think that we will all agree he was not alone) and then don’t focus on the fact that his palmares are lacking one day races, It was the way that he rode more than his wins.  As a great fan of Coppi, the true Campionissimo, I think that the term is as much about results as it is about the flair and style, dare I say it, the panache, of the individual. Of their ability to solicit passion, respect and some times controversy from their fellow competitors and their fans.Pantani had a flair and style about him that few possess and even fewer can back up with results. He is still revered in ways that others with more “complete” palmares never will be.  I remember with some clarity watching him storm the big climbs in the TDF and Giro. In that terrain he was, in my mind, a champion of champions.

I know that a similar argument could be made for Cipo and the “terrain of sprinting”, or Indurain and Time Trialing, but let’s be real, it is the big climbs that deliver us the true drama and excitement of cycling.

BTW, that is a great piece on CyclingRevealed!

Marco Pantani:

Return to ToC >>>