The Virtual Musette: A Road Cycling Blog

I’m going to go ahead and publish the rankings for Top Cyclists of the Modern Era through the end the 2010 season now that the final point scoring race, the Giro di Lombardia, is in the books. I’d have preferred to wait until both Contador’s and Petacchi’s ongoing doping investigations run their course, but that could take months (years?).  Anyway, I have a feeling I’ll be revising the rankings, and removing some points from both “El Pistolero” and “Ale-Jet” when the dust finally settles, but enough of that unpleasantness, on with the show. 

How the points are determined and cyclists are ranked 

Maybe you’re a new visitor, or perhaps a refresher is needed, so here is a quick summary of this project/ranking system (click here if you want to view the complete archives): 

1. Only riders from the Modern Era were included, 1938-present (click here if you'd like see to the four part article that explores the differences between the Heroic Era and the Modern Era). 
2. Cyclists were assigned initial points based on victories in the important races on the calendar. Points were awarded to podium places, but only for the World Championship Road Race and Grand Tours.  A cyclist’s initial points serve as their “raw score.” (Click here for a complete list of races/points, Scoring, Part 1)
3. Adjustments to a cyclist’s initial points (raw score) were given based on Significant Lifetime Achievements, certain race records, and years lost to injury, war, and illness (click here for a complete list of adjustments/points, Scoring, Part 2).
4. Raw scores and adjustments were added together for the final total assigned points, and cyclists were then issued a numerical rank. In the event of a tie in total points, the rider with the higher raw score was ranked higher. In the event of both a tie in points and raw score, the cyclist with the higher number of total career road victories was ranked highest. 

Introducing the Top 100 

As this project nears its three year anniversary, the rankings have finally been expanded to include the Top 100 Cyclists of the Modern Era.  This is long overdue, and the additional research required to pull this off uncovered some glaring omissions from prior lists, most notably that of two-time Tour winner Bernard Thevenet (#48), and Delio Rodriguez (#54), the all-time record holder for stage wins at the Vuelta.

In addition to the two mentioned above, there are obviously a bunch of new cyclists added to the list – 34 to be exact.  Since some of these competed long ago, and weren’t necessarily the superstar riders of their time, even hardcore fans may discover a new name or two.  I’ve added home countries, the years in which they competed, and their total number of career road victories, which should help you get familiar with some of these great, often overlooked, champions of the past. 

There are now a much larger group of cyclists who share the same point totals.  It’s also worth mentioning that the final 25 spots are only separated by a spread of 5.5 points; a single victory in a semi-classic, or a stage win in a Grand Tour, could have moved someone up by 5-7 spots.  Many of the final positions were often determined by the ultimate tie breaker – the rider with the higher number of total career road victories.

Although I had already calculated many active riders’ point totals, the following now have an official rank, and join the Top 100: Ivan Basso, Cadel Evans, and Denis Menchov.  Other current cyclists who don't yet have a rank, but have been assigned points, can be found at the bottom of the list.

 The Top 100 Cyclists of the Modern Era  

        The Top 25                                        Points     Raw Score      Country     Road Wins  Yrs. Active

        Cyclists 26-50                                   Points     Raw Score      Country      Road Wins  Yrs. Active

        Cyclists 51-75                                   Points     Raw Score      Country      Road Wins  Yrs. Active

      Cyclists 76-100                                  Points     Raw Score      Country       Road Wins  Yrs. Active

       Just missed the cutoff                        Points     Raw Score      Country       Road Wins  Yrs. Active

Active, but without an official rank

[update: 11/22/10 -  Claude Criquielion, Johan Van der Velde, and Pavel Tonkov added to the Top 100 list.  Thanks to Vlaanderen90 at Podium Cafe for catching their omission and calculating their point totals.]