10 best Aussie cyclists

g <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist, I'm wondering who makes the list
: of best Aussies of all time.

: My relatively uninformed choices:

: 1. Phil Anderson
: 2. Danny Clark
: 3. Russell Mockridge
: 4. Hubert Opperman
: 5. Robbie McEwen
: 6. Stuart O'Grady
: 7. Brad McGee
: 8. Neil Stephens
: 9. Gary Neiwand
: 10. Sean Eadie

I'm not so informed either, but what about Dean Woods?

Cheerz, Lynzz

Quoted message said:

g <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist,

I'm

Quoted message said:

: wondering who makes the list of best Aussies of all time.

: My relatively uninformed choices:

: 1. Phil Anderson
: 2. Danny Clark
: 3. Russell Mockridge
: 4. Hubert Opperman
: 5. Robbie McEwen
: 6. Stuart O'Grady
: 7. Brad McGee
: 8. Neil Stephens
: 9. Gary Neiwand
: 10. Sean Eadie

Baden Cooke? Cadel Evans? What about all our World class mountain bikers? Didn't we have 9 out of
the top 10 in the Red Bull Rampage? Surely these guys and other downhillers like Kris Kovarik, etc.
deserve a mention. Don't we also have a world champion female cross country rider? Actually, did
Cadel ever win an mtb world title?

Just messing it up a little... hippy

hippy said:

Quoted message said:

g <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist,

I'm

Quoted message said:

: wondering who makes the list of best Aussies of all time.

: My relatively uninformed choices:

: 1. Phil Anderson
: 2. Danny Clark
: 3. Russell Mockridge
: 4. Hubert Opperman
: 5. Robbie McEwen
: 6. Stuart O'Grady
: 7. Brad McGee
: 8. Neil Stephens
: 9. Gary Neiwand
: 10. Sean Eadie

Baden Cooke? Cadel Evans? What about all our World class mountain bikers? Didn't we have 9 out of
the top 10 in the Red Bull Rampage? Surely these guys and other downhillers like Kris Kovarik,
etc. deserve a mention. Don't we also have a world champion female cross country rider? Actually,
did Cadel ever win an mtb world title?

Just messing it up a little... hippy

Propose your top 10 then.

gk

g said:

Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist, I'm wondering who makes the list
of best Aussies of all time.

My relatively uninformed choices:

1. Phil Anderson
2. Danny Clark
3. Russell Mockridge
4. Hubert Opperman
5. Robbie McEwen
6. Stuart O'Grady
7. Brad McGee
8. Neil Stephens
9. Gary Neiwand
10. Sean Eadie

ciao GK

Stephen Pate (personal problems aside)

pb

"g" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Propose your top 10 then.

1. Stuart O'Grady
2. Baden Cooke
3. Robbie McEwan
4. Cadel Evans
5. Brad McGee
6. Sean Eadie
7. Kris Kovarik
8. Nathan Rennie
9. Anna Milward
10. Kathy Watt
11. Sid Taberlay

hippy

I'm no cycling historian, but it couldn't be possible to leave Danny Clark out of any top ten in Australian cycling, could it? The guy was winning on the toughest world circuit for 30 years.

I was lucky enough to witness his win in the Burnie Wheel on New Years Day in 1977. It will go down as won of the greatest rides in history.

Yeah Cadel did win a couple of world championships, and was looking good for the hatrick before, you
guessed it, breaking his collar bone. Mary Grigson probably deserves a mention over Sid Taberlay.
"hippy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"g" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Propose your top 10 then.

1. Stuart O'Grady
2. Baden Cooke
3. Robbie McEwan
4. Cadel Evans
5. Brad McGee
6. Sean Eadie
6. Kris Kovarik
7. Nathan Rennie
8. Anna Milward
9. Kathy Watt
10. Sid Taberlay

hippy

g said:

Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist, I'm wondering who makes the list
of best Aussies of all time.

My relatively uninformed choices:

1. Phil Anderson
2. Danny Clark
3. Russell Mockridge
4. Hubert Opperman
5. Robbie McEwen
6. Stuart O'Grady
7. Brad McGee
8. Neil Stephens
9. Gary Neiwand
10. Sean Eadie

ciao GK

Martin Vinnicombe? Shane Kelly?

&roo

"Spider1977" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm no cycling historian, but it couldn't be possible to leave Danny Clark out of any top ten in
Australian cycling, could it? The guy was winning on the toughest world circuit for 30 years.

I was lucky enough to witness his win in the Burnie Wheel on New Years Day in 1977. It will go
down as won of the greatest rides in history.

Problem is.. I wasn't born when some of these riders were around. Hinault and Merckx I've heard of,
sure. Opperman as well. But as for what they achieved and when they did it I'm pretty vague. Even
some modern riders escape me as I can only put down those I see on TV or read about online or in
magazines. That's one of the reasons there is never universal agreement on most top 10 lists.

hip

"hippy" wrote

Quoted message said:

Problem is.. I wasn't born when some of these riders were around. Hinault and Merckx I've heard
of, sure. Opperman as well. But as for what they achieved and when they did it I'm pretty vague.
Even some modern riders escape me as I can only put down those I see on TV or read about online or
in magazines. That's one of the reasons there is never universal agreement on most top 10 lists.

You can have a top ten current cyclists then. A list of greatest Oz cyclists of all time should
include Opperman, Anderson and Clark.

Theo

Spider1977 said:

I'm no cycling historian, but it couldn't be possible to leave Danny Clark out of any top ten in
Australian cycling, could it? The guy was winning on the toughest world circuit for 30 years.

I was lucky enough to witness his win in the Burnie Wheel on New Years Day in 1977. It will go
down as won of the greatest rides in history.

I have been to only one 6 day race, it was in Munich in 1991. Danny won that one too. In front of
16,000 people and a crowd favourite. It was kind of like a beer hall/velodrome combined. Great
atmosphere.

Saw the number recently, something like 73 wins out of 230+ Six Day races. They lived like dogs,
sleeping under boards then racing till midnight the next day..

GK

hippy said:

"g" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Propose your top 10 then.

1. Stuart O'Grady
2. Baden Cooke
3. Robbie McEwan
4. Cadel Evans
5. Brad McGee
6. Sean Eadie
6. Kris Kovarik
7. Nathan Rennie
8. Anna Milward
9. Kathy Watt
10. Sid Taberlay

This is a list of current riders. OK, but McEwen has more stage wins in the Tour than O'Grady and a
bundle of stages in the Giro. Also the first Aussie to win any category in the Tour, the Green
jersey. He won a phenomenal 20+ races last year. Baden Cooke's palmares are much smaller than
O'Grady's, apart from the Green jersey, he is still beginning. Robbie is easily No. out of that lot.

Cadel Evans won 2 mtb worlds titles, but its a case of comparing mtb worlds to a road worlds. Road
gets 10 times the money, media coverage and more hotly contested than mtb. So I'd count anything won
on the road to be harder than off road, sorry. Cadel has only done only a handfull of good things on
the road so far. By my reckoning Brad McGee is above Cadel and Baden.

GK

"g" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]... <my top ten>

Quoted message said:

This is a list of current riders.

Yes, that's why I didn't do a top10 in the first place! :P This list is more of a personal
favourites than a top 10. Stuart O'Grady is higher because I like him more - simple.

Quoted message said:

OK, but McEwen has more stage wins in the Tour than O'Grady and a

bundle

Quoted message said:

of stages in the Giro. Also the first Aussie to win any category in

the

Quoted message said:

Tour, the Green jersey. He won a phenomenal 20+ races last year. Baden Cooke's palmares are much
smaller than O'Grady's, apart from the Green jersey, he is still beginning. Robbie is easily No.
out of that lot.

He was going to be number 1, but O'Grady was, lets say, in my good books after trying so hard in the
tour and being so "aussie" about it in the interviews.

Quoted message said:

Cadel Evans won 2 mtb worlds titles, but its a case of comparing mtb worlds to a road worlds. Road
gets 10 times the money, media coverage and more hotly contested than mtb. So I'd count anything
won on the

road

Quoted message said:

to be harder than off road, sorry. Cadel has only done only a handfull of good things on the
road so far.

Obtaining the Maglia Rosa? Have we had anyone else do that? I'm sure you're right, but that's why I
didn't make a top 10 to start with, my knowledge of other people's race results very limited 🙂

hip

"g" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Saw the number recently, something like 73 wins out of 230+ Six Day races. They lived like dogs,
sleeping under boards then racing till midnight the next day..

How does a 6-day race work? Ride as many k's as possible in 6 days or is there more structure to it
than that?

hippy (I know I could google for this, but it might make for a more interesting thread if I
don't ;-) )

6 day racing is basically a madison. Danny Clark teamed with Englishman Anthony Doyle to win the
race I saw in Munich. I couldn't find on google as to exactly the amount of time they race, suffice
to say they start around 1pm and race for 7 or 8 hours with breaks in between finishing up around
midnight. There are about a dozen teams, the scoreboard shows who is leading and how many laps
behind them each team is. It gets exciting when the intermediate sprints are on, the Oompah band
(german guys in leiderhosen and huge moustaches..) stir up the crowd and increase the tempo till the
bunch hits the line.

During the breaks the crowd are entertained with feature races such as junior races, exhibition
match sprints (by the best in the world), points races and Danny singing..

Of course the madison style arm throws makes 6 day racing spectacular. The crowd goes wild when the
oldest man in the field (Danny) attacks and laps the field, he is soooo tough! He would win with
panache too. Rather than win and go home in a huff (like LA for the first few years of the Tour), I
heard Danny would take the microphone with the Oompah band and give the crowd a few renditions, real
crooner! Too bad I never saw him do that when I was there 🙁 Imagine if LA after receiving his
trophy on the Champs Elysees took a mike and broke into the Pirates of Penzance on the podium!! :P
They luvved Danny over there.

hippy said:

"g" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Saw the number recently, something like 73 wins out of 230+ Six Day races. They lived like dogs,
sleeping under boards then racing till midnight the next day..

How does a 6-day race work? Ride as many k's as possible in 6 days or is there more structure to
it than that?

hippy (I know I could google for this, but it might make for a more interesting thread if I
don't ;-) )

What about Patto (Sid Patterson) 4 times world champion? "Andrew Swan" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

g said:

Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist, I'm wondering who makes the
list of best Aussies of all time.

My relatively uninformed choices:

1. Phil Anderson
2. Danny Clark
3. Russell Mockridge
4. Hubert Opperman
5. Robbie McEwen
6. Stuart O'Grady
7. Brad McGee
8. Neil Stephens
9. Gary Neiwand
10. Sean Eadie

ciao GK

Martin Vinnicombe? Shane Kelly?

&roo

It all depends on your age. I'm old enough & privileged enough to have seen both Sid Patterson at
the old Velodrome (I used to show the advertising slides between races), & Russell Mockridge race on
the road..

They were my boyhood heroes.

Because of this I would place both on the list, butI would include at least another twenty Aussie
cyclists, some of whom I've had the privilege of racing with.

I wouldn't attempt to place them in any particular order as they raced at different times with
different equipment, under different circumstances. They would include all the cyclists
mentioned below.

John L. (Fencesitter Deluxe)

TJF said:

What about Patto (Sid Patterson) 4 times world champion? "Andrew Swan" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

g said:

Because there was a thread on rbr about the 10 best yank cyclist, I'm wondering who makes the
list of best Aussies of all time.

My relatively uninformed choices:

1. Phil Anderson
2. Danny Clark
3. Russell Mockridge
4. Hubert Opperman
5. Robbie McEwen
6. Stuart O'Grady
7. Brad McGee
8. Neil Stephens
9. Gary Neiwand
10. Sean Eadie

ciao GK

Martin Vinnicombe? Shane Kelly?

&roo

The best thing about this discussion is that people are starting to come up with names that seem to get lost in history. It's about time someone wrote a book on the great cyclists from all era's in Australia. (sounds like a good job for Phil Liggett).

There used to be six day races held in Launceston on an outdoor velodrome with slatted boards as tracks (late 1970's- clatter, clatter go the wheels). Used to make for great television. With a good commentator you knew where everyone was, the changeovers at top speed always were fun to watch. There was always great excitement because there were sprint points every ten laps or so and every so often there would be a breakaway and the rest of the field would go crazy to make sure they didn't go a lap down. Of course guys like Danny Clark and Steve Pate were great entertainers as well, usually lie doggo and then pull out some amazing finish at the end.

Why have these gone out of fashion? - perhaps I should start a new thread.

Ollie Wigg said:

Yeah Cadel did win a couple of world championships

Cadel won the World Cup series a couple of times, but never won the world championships. Lists at
www.uci.ch.