By Tom KandoWhen my knees became too creaky to run marathons, I switched to road biking. As a child growing up in France, I was an avid road biker. The Tour de France was the greatest annual sport event, and I not only followed it fervently every year, but I saw it live many times, as the racers approached Paris on their last stage and rode through the small suburban town where we lived.
In the early 21st century, I picked up biking again both as a participant and as a spectator. I spent some time researching the Tour de France on some websites. http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/history/
“La Grande Boucle” may be the most grueling sport event in the world. Amazingly, some men manage to repeat a dozen or more times. They must be genetically different from the rest of us (or do a lot of doping, haha).
In the table below, I list 24 of the most prominent riders, ranked by how many times they did the race. Actually, there are about hundred men who have done 7 or more Tours, since its inception in 1903. But I selected the 28 whose names meant the most to me.
This ranking does not indicate the racers’ greatness, only their durability. For example, the Belgian Edy Merckx is seen by many as the greatest bicycler of all times. He is 79th because he “only” participated in seven tours, whereas many other racers did more than that (some without ever winning). Unlike Lance Armstrong, who concentrated on winning the Tour, Merckx has raced in (and won) nearly every single race there is.
A sad question is whether the continuing allegations of doping against Armstrong, recently again revived by the US Anti-Doping Agency, will succeed in destroying the most fantastic cycling career in history. It is safe to bet that Armstrong’s 7 victories will never be surpassed. However, the record may be invalidated, if the allegations stand.
My feelings? You are innocent until proven guilty. I have always been a great admirer of Armstrong, and I will only stop being that if he is proven guilty.
All-time Most Frequent Tour the France Participants, with first, second and third finishes
Name of Athlete | Country | No. raced | When | No. won | No. 2nd | No. 3rd |
1. Joop Zoetemelk | Netherlands | 16 | ‘70-86 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
2. Lucien Van Impe | Belgium | 15 | ‘69-85 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
3. Raymond. Poulidor | France | 14 | ‘62-76 | 2 | 5 | |
4. Andre Darrigade | France | 14 | ‘53-66 | |||
5. Erik Zabel | Germany | 14 | ‘94-‘07 | |||
6. Lance Armstrong | US | 13 | ‘93-‘10 | 7 | 1 | |
7. Joaquim Agostinho | Portugal | 13 | ‘69-83 | 2 | ||
8. Hennie.Kuiper | Netherlands | 12 | ‘75-88 | 2 | ||
9. Raphael Geminiani | France | 12 | ‘47-59 | 1 | 1 | |
10. Richard Virenque | France | 12 | ‘92-04 | 1 | 1 | |
11. Bernard Thevenet | France | 11 | ‘70-81 | 1 | 1 | |
12. Pedro. Delgado | Spain | 11 | ‘83-93 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
13. Jean Alavoine | France | 11 | ‘09-25 | 2 | 2 | |
14. Laurent Jalabert | France | 11 | ‘91-02 | |||
15. Louison Bobet | France | 10 | ‘47-59 | 3 | 1 | |
16. Philippe Thys | Belgium | 10 | ‘12-25 | 3 | ||
18. Laurent Fignon | France | 10 | ‘83-93 | 2 | 1 | |
20. Fred Bahamontes | Spain | 10 | ‘54-62 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
21. Charly Gaul | Luxembourg | 10 | ‘53-63 | 1 | 2 | |
22. Stephen.Roche | Ireland | 10 | ‘83-93 | 1 | 1 | |
24. Jean Robic | France | 10 | ‘47-59 | 1 | ||
25. Didier Rous | France | 10 | ‘94-03 | |||
31. Miguel.Indurain | Spain | 9 | ‘88-96 | 5 | ||
37. Bjarne Riis | Denmark | 9 | ‘88-98 | 1 | 1 | |
49. Bernard Hinault | France | 8 | ‘78-86 | 5 | 2 | |
50. Jacques.Anquetil | France | 8 | ‘57-66 | 5 | 1 | |
51. Greg.Lemond | US | 8 | ‘84-94 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
79. Eddy Merckx | Belgium | 7 | ‘69-77 | 5 | 1 |
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4 comments:
Small correction: Shouldn't "Fred Bahamontes" be "Federico Bahamontes?"
You are right. I had to abbreviate his first name to fit the box.
Thanks for looking at our blog.
George Hincapie has started and finished more tdf's than anyone in history. Maybe his name should be on your list, it's most definitely on mine. Otherwise a pretty complete list. Armstrong is and was a cycling hero to me and so many others. His contribution to American cycling is unsurpassed. Do I think he's guilty of doping? Absolutely yes. Will convicting Lance help domestic cycling? I don't know. Probably not. It may help clean up the sport with a decreased participation level. I think that road and Mtn. cycling in the U.S. is on the upswing in spite of doping allegations against Lance. Or doping convictions. However it saddens me to believe that he cheated.
Thank you for your comments.
I agree with the things you say about Armstrong, doping, etc.
Re Hincapie:
You are absolutely right that he belongs on my list.
However, prior to the Tour that is currently under way,
he did not yet hold the record for COMPLETED Tours: He had 15, whereas Zoetemelk had 16. He did equal Zoetemelk’s 16 starts, but not the Dutchman’s 16 finishes in Paris. Whether or not Hincapie finishes this year, he will indeed be the all-time most frequent starter (17), and if he finishes, this will tie him with Zoetemelk for that.
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