Mega Thread BigFooty's Official Epic Cycling Photo of the Day Epic Thread of Epic Images

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Cycling is epic. We all now this. Let's see it. The aim here is to put up one epic photo each day. Feel free to post your own choice, but if someone gets in first wait for the next day. This way we have a full day to talk about the day's new photo.

Dim the lights, draw back the curtain, turn on the projector. I present BigFooty's first Epic Cycling Photo of the Day...

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

The most famous of cycling photos from the 1952 Tour de France on the Col de l'Iseran. The great Italian rivals, Coppi and Bartali sharing a bottle. They hated each other, pulling out of the World Championships rather than help each other win for Italy. They both represented a divided Italy, the conservative and religious Bartali was hailed in the south, the Coppi machine hailed in the north. This photo also presents the great mystery of cycling: which of these champions is handing the bottle over, and which is taking it? Whose bottle is it? Bartali has bottles in his holders, but is he passing it from his jersey to the bottle-less Coppi? Both claimed it was their bottle, wonderfully we will never know the answer.

 

[monty1104]

I know it's meant to be one per day, but given today is my last day before being OS for 2 months, I'll post mine now.

This was from the 2008 tour. Although not "epic" as the photo of Bartali and Coppi was, this photo marks the exact moment I fell in love with cycling. John Lee Augustyn was the youngest rider in the tour that year, and he was the first over the Col de la Bonnette-Restefond. However as he went over the top, his wheel locked up and he went straight over the edge, sliding down the slopes. He got up, scrambled back up the slope and continued riding.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

That is a good excuse dman, enjoy yourself.

Barloword provided some memorable moments in their short life in the peloton, including this and the massive 2007 TdF from Mauricio Soler, who won on the Galibier and also took the polka dots. Sadly he retired about a month ago due to his horrific injuries from last year's brutal crash, I think at Tour de Suisse.

I get the feeling this will be the defining moment of JLA's career, he has disappeared as though fallen off a... ahem... cliff.

 

[dart]

ok here goes. .

i took this photo during my recent holiday to france, whilst enjoy a quick breather on the way to the top of the galibier.

we climbed it on bastille day, had the whole place to ourselves pretty much. From the galibier we continued on and climbed Alpe d'Huez.

it was a good day.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Massive! Can you explain to us all how difficult those climbs were?

 

[dart]

Massive! Can you explain to us all how difficult those climbs were?

Galibier - tough, but not uncomfortable

Alpe D'huez - first 5kms are REALLY F-ING HARD, then is not so bad, finishing is a bit of an anti-climax though, it's not really that nice up the top compared to the Galibier and a lot of the other cols in the Alps and the Pyrenees, definitely one to do though if you're in the area.

The above is said with the following disclaimer though:

I think with the right preparation, none of the big climbs of the Pyrenees or Apls on their own are all that difficult, if, importantly, you've spent time training beforehand (doing lots and lots of hills) and also, again importantly, if you’re able to take them at your own pace.

Where I found they become difficult is when you start to put a few of them together in the one day (and then again when you start stringing together consecutive days of climbing).

Or if you have to ride faster than you're comfortable with, then you'll be cactus in no time.

(I wrote a big post explaining in more detail, but I think it's taking this thread way off track, so i might tidy it up a bit and bung it in a general "france cycling" thread or something).

Leave this one for pics

This pic, was taken on the Col Du Glandon, about 200m from the top, during stage 12 of this year's TDF. It was at this point we started to get the feeling that Cadel was really up against it trying to beat the the Sky train, we'd heard he'd attacked and had broken away earlier in this climb, but when when they got to where we were we saw they'd reeled him in and he was at the back of the group and they still had a bunch of domestiques up their sleeve.

I rode this stage in it's entirety as part of L'etape du Tour (Act1), 152kms and it was ridiculously tough, most brutal thing I have ever done.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Fantastic insight and picture, cheers. That picture sums up this year's Tour pretty well, Sky dominating and the rest trying to keep up. You have most of the top ten there as well.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

In honour of the Eneco Tour taking on the Muur last night, a photo from 2010 of the mighty Tom Boonen battling the mythical climb. You can see the strain in Tommeke's face as he unsuccessfully chases Fabian Cancellara during the Tour of Flanders. Boonen would finish second to Spartacus, but he won again this year in a Muur-less Tour of Flanders to take his third crown. But it is the crowd that makes this photo, proudly waving their Lion of Flanders flags as they roar for their hero. It captures the fanatical support for cycling in Belgium.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

This photo is of two of my favourite cyclists, riding in my favourite ever stage in my favourite ever Grand Tour. It is the 2010 Giro d'Italia seventh stage that tackled the strade bianche we see in the one day race bearing the same name. On this day it belted down with rain, turning the dirt roads into a muddy sludge. It became a thrilling stage for the strongest of the strong, and these two along with Cunego stood up.

It was a thrilling race, and Cadel did honour to the world champion jersey by timing the sprint to perfection and taking what was possibly his greatest ever victory. The looks on the faces of these two champions sums up what a difficult, hellish day this became. Vino is peering ahead blankly, his hands bouncing off the handlebars while Cadel is out of the saddle turning over the pedals. The peloton has been distanced, they would not catch these two.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

This photo is in honour of the Clasica San Sebastian, held last night. It is of the first ever winner of the race, Marino Lejarreta. He won the race three times, a record. Lejarreta also won the 1982 Vuelta a Espana.

Here he is winning a stage in the 1983 Vuelta a Espana. This is possibly the greatest edition of the race, which was won by Bernard Hinault from Lejarreta and Fernandez. I like the photo because of the passion shown by Lejarreta, he knows that he has won this stage ahead of Gorospe, who managed Euska for 9 seasons. Lejarreta would also take the leader’s jersey after this stage, which is fortunate considering that horrendous Alfa Lum jersey.

 

[mcgarnacle]

this is a awesome idea for a thread. great work bondy.

another fact regarding Lejarreta, and this is ripped off wikipedia..........he completed all 3 GTs in a season 4 times in his career. the reference link to it is bad, but i didn't know that. an iron man by today's standards.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Haha he must have inspire Carlos Sastre, I can remember him doing the treble a few times.

 

[dart]

A couple of the final switchbacks of Superbagneres:

This climb featured in the tour 6 times including as an ITT (CRAZY!!) in 79 & 62 (according to wiki).

Tough climb, steep straight out of Luchon, then a bit of relief from about half way up the climb, then the last km is pretty tough. Well worth it though as there are amazing views all the way up. I'm really hoping to see this in the tour in the next year or two.

 

[mcgarnacle]

a few questions, dart.

what level of rider would you classify yourself as?

what gearing did you use on the climbs? I assume you used a compact on the front but what was the range of your cassette and in what gear ratios did you spend most of your time turning over on climbs?

Are you a high cadence rider or more of a big gear masher?

 

[dart]

what level of rider would you classify yourself as?

intermediate? (i don't race, so don't know what grade i would be in if i did), before I went away I was doing about 300-400kms a week including hills work a couple of times a week.

what gearing did you use on the climbs? I assume you used a compact on the front but what was the range of your cassette and in what gear ratios did you spend most of your time turning over on climbs?

my bike got stuffed up in transit, so i was on a hire bike in the pyrenees (and then a different one in the alps.

i'm pretty sure the pyrenees one had a 12-28 on the back and probably compact on the front.
in the Alps i rode a bike which had a 12-25 on the back but a triple on the front (which I was eternally grateful for).

For most of my cycling I spent most of my time in the smaller chainring and would try and save 1 ring of the back cassette for emergencies (though when I did the etape I was in the easiest gear for most of the Glandon/Croix de Fer, Col du Mollard and La Toussuire).

Are you a high cadence rider or more of a big gear masher?

Higher cadence for any lengthy climb.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

​

This is in honour of Luis Leon Sanchez’s win in San Sebastian this week. This photo is from earlier this year at stage 6 of Paris-Nice, LLS wins this sprint over Jens Voigt. These two are both favourites of fans the world over and it was great to see the two of them dukeing it out.

The best part of this photo? These two breakaway kings both have the same expression on their faces as they think “Shut up, legs!” and drive for the finish line.

 

[mcgarnacle]

gotta love the heart of Jens Voigt. It's blokes like him in a race that make the decision to forgoe some sleep and watch a bike race on the other side of the world so appealing. Hope he never retires. But he came up against a bloke 12 years his junior on this day, and a star of our sport.

Absolute shame his chain broke in the ITT in London.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Today's photo is in honour of tonights TTT that will kick off the Vuelta a Espana. So we head back two years to the Seville TTT that began that years Vuelta. As you can see, the twist with this stage was that it was held at night, from memory it began at around 10pm local time. I think this was done to both avoid the daytime heat, and as a bit of an innovation. The entire course was floodlit. I am unsue if this was considered a success, can anyone remember?

On to the photo and we can see the mighty HTC Highroad squad heading into a sharp left. HTC made it a habit of winning TTT's during their time in the peloton, there used to be a healthy rivalry between HTC and Garmin. I like the photo because it is of such a strong team, and the car headlights make it an unusual cycling image.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

The Vuelta is operating around Miguel Indurain's home stomping ground, so he gets a picture in the thread today. The Big Mig of course took the maillot jaune five times in a row, and did the Giro-Tour double twice. He never managed to win his home tour. An absolute powerhouse, he won his races by demolishing his rivals in the time trials and hanging on grimly in the mountains. Sounds a bit like the bloke who won the Tour this year, and Mig probably had a similar popularity polarisation from his home fans to cycling fans from other countries.

This photo is awesome due to the mad helmet/visor combination he has going here. I am unsure of the year, he won all of his Tour's with Banesto. You can see the strength of the man as he absolutely mashes the pedals.

 

[mcgarnacle]

TT. doing what he did best.

that's a classic image of the big mig, bondy.

love the old bug style, aero helmet and visor.

 

[mcgarnacle]

now, i'm not in the habit of checking out blokes with shorts around their ankles, but this image has it's origins at the recent London Olympics. Greipel the road sprinter on the left; Robert Fostermann the track sprinter on the right. The gorilla's thighs are tree trunks in comparison to mere mortals, but Fostermann's are just monstrous in comparison. I'm surprised the top tube doesn't get in the way of his pedal stroke. he must have knees out pedalling action to accommodate, probably not the most efficient way to get around on a bicycle.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

Haha WTF? Imagine the trousers that bloke needs to wear.

 

[Bond.ShaneBond]

I am feeling massive Bertie love so today's picture summarises what we may be seeing for the next three weeks. Cycling is just so much better with him racing, I can honestly think of no other cyclist who would have done what he did last night, except maybe Nibali. He is insane and aggressive and entertaining. He is Alberto Contador.

This photo basically sums up last nights stage, Contador accelerating with Rodriguez and Valverde matching the acceleration. Froome also matches, but takes a little longer to do so. The Basque fans are out in force as well. All it is lacking is a truly epic Contador aggressive face with the gritted teeth.

 

[dart]

alberto is so awesome