- Are you ready?
It is time for GCN's top cycling rivalries part two.
(upbeat rock music)
- Anquetil.
- Poulidor.
It was a rivalry which divided French cycling fans
in a similar way to Coppi and Bartali over in Italy.
On the one hand, you had Jacque Anquetil,
suave, sophisticated, cool,
and very calculating in his racing.
It was his superior time-trialing ability
which allowed him to win five
Tour de France titles in his career.
And on the other hand, you had Raymond Poulidor,
the son of a farmer from the heart of agricultural France.
He wore his heart on his sleeve,
and raced with instinct and passion
every time he put some numbers on.
These two very contrasting styles
led to a natural rivalry,
which lasted all the way through the 1960's.
Poulidor was dubbed The Eternal Second
because despite finishing on the podium
in the Tour de France on no fewer than five occasions,
he never managed to win.
Indeed, he never even wore the maillot jaune
for a single day throughout his career.
However, despite the fact that Anquetil's
by far the more successful at the Tour de France,
it was Poulidor who ultimately claimed
the hearts of the French public.
- Merckx.
- Ocana.
If you look back through cycling's history books,
there is one name, Eddy Merckx,
which comes up again and again,
and again and again.
Now, they paint him as somewhat of an unbeatable figure
and that is true to an extent,
but that's not to say that riders of that
same generation didn't push him very hard indeed.
One of those was the Spaniard Luis Ocana,
and in fact, he came very close to
getting the better of Merckx at the 1971 Tour de France.
Going into stage 14, he was enjoying
a nice seven minute advantage.
However, then, they were both involved in a
high-speed crash descending off the Col de Mente.
Merckx managed to remount and
ultimately win the Tour de France,
whilst Ocana was taken to hospital.
They faced each other again 12 months later in 1972,
and this time Ocana was forced to withdraw with bronchitis.
In fact, he never managed to get the better of Merckx
in a face-to-face battle at the Tour de France,
but he did get his own glory in 1973.
He won that year's edition of the Tour de France
in the absence of Merckx.
- Armstrong.
- Pantani.
Had circumstances been somewhat different,
this is a rivalry which could've gone on much, much longer.
Whatever your opinion on the background
of these two figures, the 2002 Tour de France
staged in Mont Ventoux will always
be remembered as a clash of the titans.
The duo fought it all the way
to the top of the Bald Mountain,
and somewhat fittingly, it was
Marco Pantani who took the victory.
However, Armstrong later claimed in the press
that he had deliberately sat up at the line,
allowing the Italian the stage victory.
Il Pirata construed this act of generosity
as somewhat patronising, and vowed
to go on the attack in the remainder of the tour
to take a solo stage victory in the mountains,
which he duly did on stage 15 to Courchevel.
However, unfortunately, that was
his last ever victory as a rider,
before ultimately, he passed away in 2004.
- Van der Poel.
- Van Aert.
Away from the road, two prodigious talents
have emerged in the world of Cyclo-cross
over the last few years.
They being, of course, Wout van Aert
and Mattieu van der Poel.
They've been battling it out at the head of affairs
in Super Prestige series races,
world cups, and world championships
for the past few years,
and despite their tender age, they've already shared
multiple wins and podium places
at the top elite races in the world.
Of course, they did that at the Under 23's
and the Juniors before that too.
Despite their fierce rivalry, it does seem
like it hasn't as yet got personal.
They've managed to keep the competition
purely in the competition.
That, despite the fact that at 2016 world championships,
van der Poel put his foot through van Aert's spokes.
And the fact that they've had a lot of success
recently in road racing as well
suggests that this is a rivalry
which will rumble on for years to come
in multiple disciplines.
- Pendleton.
- Meares.
There's been plenty of bad blood over on the boards too,
not least between two sprint stars of their generation,
Anna Meares and Victoria Pendleton.
Their rivalry spanned three Olympic cycles
and the tension was palpable every time
the two battled it out over the best part of a decade.
Power shifted back and forth between the two over that time,
and there were plenty of controversial moments
along the way.
Victoria Pendleton once said that Meares
likes to "push the rules", a quote in which was
a thorny subject with Meares at that time.
However, since then, the Australian has admitted that
Pendleton did get the best out of her in competition,
and since retirement, the two
have very much buried the hatchet.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed our
top cycling rivalries part two.
If you missed the first one,
you can find that in the bottom corner
just down here, or for the latest GCN show,
just click on the corner here.
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