The Virtual Musette: A Road Cycling Blog

As reviewed in the first two installments of this series, WWII robbed four of the greatest cyclists of the post war era (Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Ferdi Kubler, and Fiorenzo Magni) of a good portion of their careers. Since I’m going to factor in these missing years when ranking these cyclists against others from the Modern Era, then some consideration should also be given to the other marquee riders who had to contend with injuries, which may have affected their most productive years. 

In a horrendous motor paced track accident in 1969 Eddy Merckx (photo right) suffered a concussion and a cracked vertebra, worse, his pacer driving the derny was killed instantly. Although it’s hard to believe given “The Cannibal’s” absolute domination of the sport for the six years following the accident, Eddy claimed he was never the same and suffered for years with back pain, especially while climbing. It’s intriguing to think that the most prolific winner of all time could have possibly won even more, or perhaps could have extended his career. 

Louison Bobet (Photo left) was tormented by severe saddle sores throughout his career, a condition which ultimately required surgery after he suffered through his win in the 1955 Tour de France. These were no mere boils, as 150 stitches were required to close gaping wound. Ouch. Yet, despite this ongoing affliction, Bobet still managed to win three consecutive Tours (’53-’55), a World Championship (‘54), and every Monument save Liege. Did his recurring problem cause him to lose out on more victories? 

 Both Bernard Hinault and Laurent Fignon (photo right)  were sidelined by knee injuries. Hinault’s injury caused him to abandon the 1980 Tour, although he did go on to win the World Championship later that year. “The Badger” went on to win the Tour in both ’81 and ’82, but the injury flared up again, and he was forced to miss the event in ‘83. Hinault returned for the ’84 Tour, but was soundly defeated by the young Fignon, who had also won the previous year in his first attempt at La Grand Boucle in Bernard’s absence. The tables turned in 1985 and it was Fignon who would sit on the sidelines with his own knee problems. Unable to defend his crown, “The Professor” would helplessly watch Hinault go on to capture his fifth, and final, Tour de France. 

It’s fair to say that Fignon never really regained the form from his early career, even though he did go on to claim the ’89 Giro. Unfortunately, poor Laurent will probably always best be remembered not for his victories, but for his crushing final time trial defeat at the hands of Greg Lemond in the last stage of the 1989 Tour. Fignon had narrowly missed his third win in the most famous of races by a mere eight seconds; his highest placing afterwards would be a sixth in 1991, ironically just one spot ahead of Lemond.

None of the great champions mentioned above suffered what could be considered a career ending injury. The case can certainly be made that Merckx, Bobet, Hinault, and Fignon all could have won more had it not been for their setbacks, but none of them had large chunks of their cycling careers “lost,” as did Bartali, Coppi, Kubler, and Magni during WWII. It should also be noted that Coppi struggled throughout his career with both illness and injury, and it’s absolutely amazing that he was able to accomplish so much given all his bad luck. 

Of course, this discussion would not be complete without mentioning the down time of America’s two great Tour champions, Greg Lemond (photo left) and Lance Armstrong. Their stories have been well documented elsewhere, and are quite familiar to even casual fans. Suffice to say, Lemond was shot in a hunting accident in 1987, and Lance Armtrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996. Both returned to the top level of the sport, but both also effectively lost two full years of their cycling careers due to their setbacks. 

In the end, I have chosen to use a Missing Years Adjustment Formula to compensate all of the following for their time off the saddle: Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Ferdinand Kubler, Fiorenzo Magni, Greg Lemond, and Lance Armstrong. Certainly, this approach is not without its faults, but I think it paints a more accurate picture of the true potential of cycling’s greatest riders. 

Remember, this series of articles is part of a greater work, The Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era.  As the next step in this process, I’ll explain the entire point scoring system, including the Adjustment Formula mentioned above, and all the races I’ve chosen to include. The various pieces of this puzzle will eventually fall into place, and all of this background material will make a lot more sense once the whole project is completed. All of these related articles can be accessed in a special area of this website. First locate the “Navigation” section in the shaded area to the left, and from there, click on the “Top 25 Cyclists…” 

As always, thanks for reading.

Photo credits:  Eddy Merckx, Stephen Vanfleteren/Panos Pictures; Louison Bobet, L'Equipe; Laurent Fignon, original source unknown; Greg Lemond, Greg Lemond Official Web Site