Who are your heroes?

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RTW
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by RTW

As per the title really. Who are your heroes and why? Who was a hero and no longer is?

This comes about from a conversation with an ex Pro Cyclist who tells me he is no hero and cannot stand people telling him he is.

My heros:

Lance Armstrong. I remember watching the tour in 2001 and just being so excited by all of it. I’d been aware before then, but that was the first summer I was able to completely indulge in ever stage.

Cav and Wiggins - what their achievements and BC/Sky did for cycling in the UK is wonderful.

LeMond - Genuinely nice guy and quite an inspiration.

Erik Zabel - perhaps the first pro I really met and had conversations with. I liked that he coached Cav too.

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AJS914
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by AJS914

I've never looked at cyclists or any sports stars as heros though I find bike racing fun and fascinating to watch. Eddy was probably the first pro cyclist I really took note of because I saw A Sunday in Hell.

Lemond probably comes close to a "hero" because I was 21 and dabbling in racing when he won his first Tour. This photo is one of my favorites.

Image

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themidge
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by themidge

^ You can tell from that photo why LeMond won that race: Kelly and the red guy are dragging both brakes, but LeMond is only dragging one :smartass:

1415chris
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by 1415chris

My grandpa who went through the whole eastern WW II front from USSR to Berlin with bunch of medals, then Batman and Superman ;)

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Mr.Gib
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by Mr.Gib

Pro cyclists or other athletes heroes? They're just entertainers. Love to watch them do great things but heroes? No way. Very few do things that truely elevate humanity. I can think of one cyclist that does indeed deserve that title - Gino Bartali.
Last edited by Mr.Gib on Thu Apr 18, 2019 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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TheKaptone
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by TheKaptone

A school friend of mine gave me piles of old cycling magazines from the 80''s. His dad wanted to get rid of them. I read many stories about Laurent Fignon. Although not a total hero I loved how good the guy with glasses rode. He just seemed so normal to me compared to full blown athletes. Like it was your dad out there

As far as heros go sporting wise it is Arsenal ledgend Patrick Vieira who I just loved for his skill and power and the way he played the gameImage

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EDIT: Just noticed in that photo that he has the front chainring on the other side of the BB. don't see that often

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kgt
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by kgt

Actually, the 'hero' who made me love road cycling was a very good friend of mine when I was 13.
In terms of cycling stars, my first hero was Miguel Indurain. At a distance came John Tomac for MTB.

Then it was Marco Pantani, an unbelievably talented rider (I know about doping etc. but pretty much everyone was/is into doping). I also liked Mario Cipollini and Tony Rominger.

From the younger generations, I liked Tom Boonen, Mario Bettini, Damiano Cunego, Alberto Contador, Fabian Cancellara, Michele Scarponi, Vincenzo Nibali, Philippe Gilbert, and Peter Sagan.

mattr
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by mattr

TheKaptone wrote:
Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:29 am
EDIT: Just noticed in that photo that he has the front chainring on the other side of the BB. don't see that often
Except when the photos been flipped.........

PrinceEdward
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by PrinceEdward

Of course alberto, the one who dared fight against the whole doper controlled Astana team with a heroic signature move

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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

my cycling hero, who basically made me ride a road bike, was and kinda sorta still is, Lance Armstrong

as for later, when his riding became "evident", I had a moment o lapse, couldn't really find it in me to cheer for any particular rider, but after a while it kinda sunk in and I just don't think about it in terms of wrong or right - it's just how it is.

I had/have few riders I enjoy watching race, such as Boonen, Sagan (doh!) or Kwiato (who can be kinda douchy in person...) but for me no one ever got close to Lance, and I suspect no one ever will - his incredibility is simply off the charts. all proportions aside, it's kinda like with MJ - whatever happens with the latest accusations etc, I can't imagine not getting back to his songs that were simply my childhoods' soundtrack. people are flawed, some more seriously than others, but if we start to mistake their achievements for their personal wrondoings and cross off the impact they had on our lifes, there won't be much left really.
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dgasmd
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by dgasmd

Don’t see any cyclist as a hero by my definition. They are simply athletes that caught my attention for one reason or another. Some are just entertaining sportsmen!!!.

In no particular order:
Indirain, contador, fignon, cipollini, pantani, Lemond, Merckx, cancelara, Boonen, Valverde, ulrich, jalabert, Abdujaparov, Zulle, bartali, Olano, and the list goes on!

bilwit
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by bilwit

Wiggins.

Sometimes shy, sometimes unapologetically arrogant, sometimes super charismatic and life-of-the-party, doesn't matter to me, that's just punk rock ethos which I'm sure rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Has there ever been a punk World Tour rider before him? Waving the mod flag no less while blaring Sex Pistols and The Jam on the team bus.. He's just iconically cool and a proper cycling fan to boot. You can say his style was boring, but that's okay. If you look at some of his victories/career highlights outside of GC I think you'd find that he was a pretty handy all rounder, winning the national road race attacking solo away from Thomas/Kennaugh, bunch sprint at Romandie, top 10 in Roubaix, etc and that's not even considering all the track stuff (when he won the Madison Worlds with Cav by taking a lap at the very end was as exciting and epic as it gets.. and then they did it again at Ghent in the rainbow stripes). No doubt my lasting impression of him would be crushing the 2012 Olympic ITT and throwing up the victory "peace" signal in both hands.

Karvalo
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by Karvalo

TheKaptone wrote:
Thu Apr 18, 2019 4:29 am
EDIT: Just noticed in that photo that he has the front chainring on the other side of the BB. don't see that often
You can see whatever you want with photoshop. Picture's been flipped innit.

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TheKaptone
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by TheKaptone

I am no Photoshop expert. How do you even flip photos?

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mattr
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by mattr

You can do it in just about any program with the ability to show an image.

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