The Virtual Musette: A Road Cycling Blog

The time has finally arrived to reveal the scoring system I’ve developed to rank The Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era (1938 - present).   This is a long post, so you'd better go grab an espresso, glass of wine, or a frothy mug o' brew, because this one is going to take a while. First off, this project would have never been possible without the amazing work and efforts of other cycling historians, and their websites (these can also be found in my Links section, under the sub-heading of History). Thank you to all the following:

Tom James, both VeloArchive and Professional Cycling Palmares

Bill and Carol McGann, Bike Race Info

Sam Barrows, Cycling Hall of Fame

Barry Boyce and Graham Jones, Cycling Revealed

Andy Roose, Jasper Van Hoof, and the rest of the gang at Cycling Quotient

The team at Velopalmares (French)

The team at Memoire du cyclisme (French)

The Virtual Musette’s ranking system involves two major components, the first of which I’ll cover in this post - the actual races used in the scoring, and the points applied to these events. In the second installment I’ll cover the special adjustments to the basic scores, which will include Significant Lifetime Achievements and the Missing Years Adjustment Formula (to which I’ve alluded in a previous series of background articles).

I think you’ll find that the point values are somewhat in line with those assigned under the old FICP-ranking (now Cycling Quotient). The major difference is that I have only awarded points for outright victories (with two major exceptions - all the Grand Tours and the World Championship Road Race). Overall, I think this approach not only emphasizes all the important career highlights of the legends of the sport, but also serves as a fairly simple and straightforward method by which to rank riders. Complicated algorithms and intricate detailed point systems only serve to confuse the issue, which is to answer the question: who were the best-of-the best, and who came out victorious more frequently in the races that mattered most?

My goal was to create a somewhat balanced approach that recognized major accomplishments across a broad range of categories: single-day races, time trial events, stage races, the Grand Tours, season-long competitions, and the UCI Hour Record. Most other ranking systems I’ve encountered placed too much of an emphasis on either the Grand Tours, or conversely on results in the single-day races. The general idea here was to create a greater awareness of, and appreciation for, those cyclists who have left their mark in a variety of different road events. Specialists, such as the pure sprinters or mountain goats, did not typically fair well in the final results.

Of course, one of the major difficulties encountered when trying to compare and contrast careers from different eras is that races have had varying degrees of importance on the cycling calendar through the years. Some races are now defunct, while others have only recently gained importance or prestige. I’ve tried to mitigate this situation by including not only a broad range of both single-day races and stage races from all the historically significant cycling regions, but by also choosing events that have/had been around for approximately 40 years (next to each race is its inception date). In the final analysis, I was satisfied that the scoring was fairly balanced across all Modern Era time periods (i.e. the addition of the more recent Clasica de San Sebastian offsets the inclusion Bordeaux-Paris, which is now defunct).

Perhaps the most contentious part of this system is that I have chosen to award bonus points for various Significant Lifetime Achievements, race records, and a Missing Years Adjustment Formula (applied to compensate those cyclists who lost at least two years of their careers due to war, injury or illness). For the purists, I’ll release the results of the points scored both with, and without, these special adjustments. That said, The Virtual Musette’s “official” list of the Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era, and all future references to a rider’s ranking are going to reflect all components of the scoring system.

Finally, if you want to see the list of victors for any particular event, go to either VeloArchive or BikeRaceInfo. Eventually, all this data will be available here, but it’s a project for another day.

Caricature credits: Eddy Merckx, Johan Museuuw, Jacques Anquetil, and Lance Armstrong, all compliments of Magixl.com

Okay, so here we go. The following are all the included events and their assigned points:

1.  The Monuments 

These are the monsters of the single-day races. They have held tremendous importance, and prestige for their victors, throughout the Modern Era and before. With only a handful of exceptions, the great champions usually found a way to win at least one of these storied events.  I've opted to give a higher value to Paris-Roubaix, after all it is the Queen of the Classics.  There was a time when the best in the peloton viewed their careers incomplete without a victory in this race.  Hinault despised the cobbles and mud, yet knew his place in the hierarchy of legends would have been diminished had he not been the first across the Roubaix velodrome finish line at least once in his career (which he did in 1981, his first and last appearance).  The case can certainly be made that PR may not be the most difficult of the Monuments (I believe that honor would go to Flanders, the only one of this group without a four-time winner), but it is without a doubt the most prestigious of the Classics.

     Milan San-Remo (1907), 3 points

     Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderen) (1913), 3 points

     Paris-Roubaix (1896), 4 points

     Liege-Bastogne-Liege (1892), 3 points

     Tour of Lombardy (Giro di Lombardia) (1905), 3 points 

2.  World Championship Road Race (1927)

      1^st, 4 points; 2^nd, 2 points; 3^rd, 1 point 

Not only have I opted to give the WC RR four points, but have also chosen to recognize podium places. I think in recent years this race has lost some of its luster, but the extensive list of legendary gold medallists is certainly evidence of the importance of this event. The fact that the race takes place on a different course each year, and is contested by national, rather than trade teams, certainly lends to its distinct character. These are also differences that make this a difficult race to capture. Like Flanders, no one has won the event more than three times, but more significantly, only a handful of cyclists have ever made the podium four times, and no one has won three times in a row (one of the few things Merckx was not able to accomplish). Further, two of the greatest Monument champions of all time, Sean Kelly and Roger De Vlaeminck, were winless in the event, a testament to the special difficulties encountered when seeking success in this unique once-a-year battle of the national teams.

3.  Classics/Olympics/TT Championships, 2 points 

One can argue that the Olympic RR is just as difficult to win as the WC RR, but the race has only been open to professionals since 1996, so I’m including it with the other two- point races. Paris-Brussels was once a very prestigious Spring Classic, but after 1966 it lost its shine (thanks to Amstel Gold), and was moved from spring to late summer, so only the earlier editions warrant inclusion in this category.

     Olympic Road Race Gold (1996)

     Fleche Wallone (1936)

     Ghent-Wevelgem (1934)

     Amstel Gold (1966)

     Championship of Zurich (Zuri-Metzgete) (now closed for pros, 1917-2006)

     Paris-Brussels (1893)(Only Pre 1967 events included in this category)

     Clasica San Sebastian (1981)

     Bordeaux-Paris (defunct, 1891-1988)

     Paris-Tours (1896)

     Grand Prix de Nations (defunct TT Championship, 1932-2004)

     World TT Championships (1994)

     Olympic TT Gold (1996)

4.  Semi-Classics/Nationals, 1 point

This was a tough category, as I had a difficult time trying to figure out which races to include, or exclude. Again, the general rule of thumb was to include an event that had been in existence for at least 40 years; these are the true semi-classics, and although they do tend to have somewhat regional biases (i.e. Italians tend to win in Italy and the Belgians in Belgium), they are all fairly prestigious races. There really is a dearth of well established Spanish one-day races that have been around for a long time, but this is somewhat offset by the higher point totals assigned to Spain’s week long stage races. Also, the Criterium International was known as the Criterium National prior to 1978, and only open to French riders. Once it became an international event, I moved it into the stage race category, and assigned it two points. Lastly, although relatively unknown now, both the Criterium des As and the Trofeo Angelo Baracchi were prominent year-end events, and since both were by invitation only, just the top cyclists of the season were present; thus the list of victors is quite illustrious.

     National Championships (various inception dates)

     Het Volk (1945)

     Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (1946)

     Dwars door Vlaanderen (1945)

     Brabantse Pijl (1960)

     GP de l’Escaut (Grote Scheldeprijs, Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen) (1907)

     GP E3 (E3 Prijs Vlaanderen) (1958)

     GP Ouest France (Grand Prix de Plouay) (1931)

     Grand Prix Fourmies (1928)

     Paris-Brussels (1893, only post 1966 included in this category)

     Criterium National (1932-1979)

     Criterium des As (defunct invitational derny based event, 1921-1990)

     Trofeo Angelo Baracchi (defunct invitational two man TTT, 1946-1990)

     Milan-Turin (1876)

     Giro del Lazio (1933)

     Giro dell’Emilia (1909)

     Giro del Piemonte (1906)

     Giro della Toscana (1923)

     Giro della Romagna (1910)

     Coppa Placci (1923)

     Tre Valle Varesine (1919)

     Giro del Veneto (1909)

     Frankfurt GP (Rund um Heninger-Turn) (1962)

     GP Gippengen (1964)

5. Minor Tours and stage races, 2 or 3 points 

Three points were given to the more prestigious weeklong stage races. It may seem odd that the Volta (not to be confused with the Vuelta) was included in this grouping, but it’s list of winners, and extensive history, convinced me to include it with the other well-known races. It’s actually the third oldest stage race behind the Tour and the Giro, making its first appearance in 1911.

     3 point races:

     Paris-Nice (1933)

     Tour of Switzerland (Tour de Suisse)(1933)

     Tour of Romandy (1947)

     Dauphine Libere (1947)

     Tour of Catalonia (Volta a Catalunya) (1911)

     Tirreno-Adriatico (1966)

     Tour of the Basque Country (Vuelta al Pais Vasco)(1924)*

     *(’31-‘34 & ’36-‘51, no race)

     2 point races:

     Criterium International (1978- present)

     Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (Formerly Giro di Sardegna) (1958)

     Four Days of Dunkirk (1955)

     Tour of Luxembourg (1935)

     Ronde van Nederland/Tour of Holland/Eneco Tour (1948)

     Tour of Belgium (1908)

     Catalan Week (Setmana Catalunya) (defunct,1963-2005)

     GP Midi Libre (defunct, 1949-2002)

6.  Grand Tours, various points

I’m sure some of you may think the Vuelta has been short changed. Contador’s win last year has elevated the prestige of the event, but that doesn’t change the fact that the race has really waxed and waned in popularity through the years. It must also be remembered that it wasn’t even always a three-week race, didn’t become a fixture on the calendar until 1955, and was also moved from April to September in 1995. Surely, any number of great riders from the late 40s and early 50s, most notably Coppi and Bartali, would have added Spain’s Grand Tour to their palmares, had the race been held on a regular basis*. As with the World Champ RR, points have been awarded for the podium spots due to the importance of these events.

     Tour of Italy (Giro d’Italia)(1909) 

     1^st, 6 points; 2^nd, 3 points; 3^rd,1 point

     Tour de France(1903)

     1^st, 8 points; 2^nd, 4 points; 3^rd, 2 points

     Tour of Spain (Vuelta a Espana)(1935)*

     1^st, 4 points; 2^nd, 2 points; 3^rd 1 point

     *(Race not held from ’37-’40, ’43-’44, ’49, and ’51-’54)

7.  GT Classification Jerseys, 2 points (Mountains, Points) 

I’ve opted to award 2 points to both the Mountains and Points classification jerseys for each of the three Grand Tours. There is no doubt that the Points competition in the Tour is more prestigious than those of the other Grand Tours, but it must also be mentioned that the Giro did not institute their version of this competition until 1966. I also opted to exclude the Best Young Rider classification from the mix, as it is a fairly recent competition, only added to the Tour in 1981. It is also worth considering that each Grand Tour uses a different scoring formula used for these classifications; it is quite possible that a uniform method in each competition would have produced different winners in certain years. In the end, awarding the same number of points for the two major Grand Tour Classification Competitions seemed to make the most sense.

     Giro, Mountains Classification (1933)

     Giro, Points Classification (1966)

     Tour, Mountains Classification (1933)

     Tour, Points Classification (1953)

     Vuelta, Mountains Classification (1935)

     Vuelta, Points Classification (1945)

8.  GT Stage wins, ½ point

This is another category that was a bit tricky to settle on a proper point value. I was originally going to go with 1 point for each stage win, but doing so really altered the final standings; it created an imbalance in the overall scoring, placing too much of an emphasis on results in Grand Tours. It is also worth considering that there is a completely different dynamic involved when going for victory in a stage of Grand Tour. Oftentimes the fight for the General Classification will dictate whether or not a member of the team is allowed to fight for victory, which is never an issue when it comes to one-day races outside of Grand Tours. There were certainly situations when the strongest rider on any given day was not allowed to compete for victory. Also, I realize not all Grand Tour stages were created equal, and without doubt, certain stages carry far greater prestige for the victor, usually famed mountaintop finishes. Once again, I opted for simplicity here, and just awarded the same points across the board. I do think it all balances out in the end; the great sprinters rack up their points and get a bonus for Points Competitions, and the famed mountain men usually get a high place on GC and/or the Mountains prize.

9.  Season Long Competitions, 2 points

Ever since the UCI started awarding this honor back in 1989 the value of the competition has declined somewhat. I suppose it goes hand-in-hand with their globalization effort, and along with it, including events that aren’t really marquee races. The past few years have really been a bit of a mess, with the UCI and the Grand Tour organizers in a spat. I don’t see how you can possibly have a season long competition without including the biggest and best races on the calendar, most prominently the Tour. In any event, at least prior to the 90’s, the winners of these various competitions were more often than not the same names that appear on final Top 25 list.

     Unofficial Season Long Competition (’36-’39, ’46-’47)

     Desgrange-Colombo Trophy (’48-’58)

     Super Prestige Pernod Trophy (’59-’88)

     UCI Road World Cup (’89-’04)

     UCI ProTour Competition (’05-present)

10.  Hour Record, 3 points

Yes, technically this is a track event, but a roadie has almost always held the record, so I’ve opted to include it. Only those who have set the UCI record (riders are restricted to using roughly the same equipment that Merckx used in his record breaking 1972 attempt) have been awarded points. It’s really the only valid way to make comparisons between the various attempts. Once aerodynamic bikes, helmets, handlebars, and wheels entered the equation, the record became somewhat irrelevant, as technology (and blood doping, as confirmed by at least Moser) played too large of a role in the final outcomes.

     UCI Record (“Merckx Record”), 3 points

So there you have it. That wraps up the basic framework for scoring The Top 25 Cyclists of the Modern Era. Scoring, Part 2 will review the bonus points earned for Significant Lifetime Achievements and the Missing Years Adjustment Formula.