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

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We saw a controversial echelon formed last night in the Vuelta, so an echelon photo is required. Echelons are formed by crosswinds putting gaps in the peloton. In this photo from Paris-Nice this year, the wind is coming from the right of your screen. The diagonal lines of riders show this.

This stage was won by Tom Boonen, the front group ended up having about 30 cyclists in it. Echelons often add interest to long, flat straight stretches of highway and teams will often try to form an echelon by upping the pace and trying to catch out cyclists who don't react in time. Once a gap is formed t is extremely difficult to get back.
 
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At the US Pro Cycling Challenge this week there have been plenty of crazy, costumed fans. But they all must bow and kiss the feet of Didi Senft, aka el Diablo. There is even a poor man's el Diablo, Antler Man. We see Didi on the roadside at the Giro and Tour every year going berserk. It seems only one thing can stop el Diablo, and that is three hot chicks.
 
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This photo is from the 1937 Tour de France on the Col du Tourmalet. The stage was won by the Spaniard Julian Berrendero. Berrendero went back to back in the Vuelta in 41-42, and also won some mountain jerseys in the Vuelta and the Tour. He loved the steep stuff.

This photo rocks due to the intense backdrop and the struggles of the cyclists, specifically the centre one. Also the dapper spectators are magnificent.
 

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This is 2010 Paris-Roubaix, which was taken out by the mighty Fabian Cancellara by two minutes. From left to right we have Thor Hushovd, Juan Antonio Flecha, Matti Breschel, Roger Hammond, Tom Boonen and Cancellara. The strong men of the peloton riding through the Arenberg. They are all struggling except for Spartacus, who is about to launch a devastating attack.
 
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1980 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. It is beyond freezing, snow is falling. Approximately 30 cyclists finish. Unfortunately for most of them, they weren't only riding against the weather. They also had to take on The Badger, Bernard Hinault. Good luck. Hinault won by about nine minutes, and he didn't regain full movement and feeling in his hands for three weeks. He won two Vuelta's, three Giro's and five Tour's to go with a bunch of Classics and Monuments. He is a fearsome man who used to be boss of the peloton, and now wrestles protesters off Tour daises for fun. In his own words "When I breathe, I attack."

I don't need to explain what makes this photo awesome.
 
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Thought I would jump in early with this one. No significance to the present time, but it is a really, really special picture in my opinion. The 2003 Tour de France green jersey was a head to head battle between two Australians, Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen. They traded the green jerey throughout the tour, holding it between them for 19 of the 21 stages (fellow Aussie Brad McGee held it after the prologue and Petacchi had it for a single stage mid-race). For good measure, the only other Australian in the race, Stuart O'Grady was also a chance to win green throughout the race, peaking at fourth before settling to seventh- where his priority was looking after team captain Cristoph Moreau. Onto the picture. The final stage, Robbie led Baden by two points and it was a certainty that whoever finished ahead of the other would hold the green jersey. The sprint on the Champs Elysees was won by a frenchman (not in picture), but the two Aussies fought a titanic battle to the line in which Cooke pipped his more experienced countryman by the slimmest of margins. To make things even better, O'Grady is also in the shot, just behind the two Aussie sprinters like he was for most of the tour.

Just a really special battle in what was a brilliant race. The foundations of the strong growth Australian cycling in my opinon.
 
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This has pretty much been the story of the first two weeks of the Vuelta, with Purito Rodriguez leading the field, including Contador, on a bunch of steep hill finishes. As we head into the mountains over the next three nights, expect to see these two positions reversed.

Good photo due to it summing up the race so well, plus the sheer power of Purito. Also good fan numbers.
 
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Tonight the Vuelta heads up the famous Lagos de Covadonga, so lets get a photo from the climb. Unfortunately not too many excellent ones of this climb. A bit of mist adds some nice atmosphere to this photo of these three in 2007. You have Goubert leading Sorensen, unsure on the third cyclist. This stage was one by the Russian Vladmir Efimkin.
 
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Who else could it be after last night? It was just an extraordinary spectacle and Dario Cataldo was simply magnificent, pushing his body beyond exhaustion to glory. This is the highlight of a lifetime, and has made his career. He has won one of the most difficult stages in recent memory. Out of focus in the background we see the equally heroic Thomas De Gendt, who could not quite repeat his magnificent ride on the Stelvio in the Giro d'Italia a few months ago.

We salute them both.
 
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It is worthy of two photos of the day in one day. The moment. Unfortunately we missed it on TV, to be honest it is a pretty big balls up by whoever was in charge of the distribution of the pictures that they missed most of one of the best days of racing for the year.

Photo is awesome simply for the WTF body language of the peloton.

Euska is looking around "Um, that is Contador guys. Might want to cover that."

Garmin is on the radio "Yo, Vaughters. Contador has gone ballistic."

Katusha are doing nothing "Sorry Purito, we are not helping you at all today."

Valverde is peeking around, looking for a view "You have got to be kidding me."
 

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This is perhaps my favourite-ever cycling photo - not because it is itself especially epic, but of what it represents:

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The photo is from the 1952 Tour de France. On the ninth stage to Lausanne a breakaway formed and Andrea Carrea, riding as domestique for the great Fausto Coppi, had gone with it to protect his leader's interests. Unbeknownst to anyone in the breakaway, they managed to build a lead of over nine minutes from the peloton. As the best placed rider in the lead group, a mystified Carrea was informed that he was the new race leader - and promptly burst into tears.

Arguably the most devoted domestique to ever ride the Tour, Carrea was a shy and hardworking rider who lived in awe of Coppi and was terrified that his leader would be furious with him. In his own words, he had ridden into 'a jersey destined for champions' - it was 'a terrible situation'. When jounalists asked him why he was so distressed, he told them that a soldier had no right to leave his captain.

In the above photo, at the finish, Coppi attempts to convince his teammate that he bears no ill-will amid Carrea's tears and apologies. Carrea did not wish to take the podium, and the next morning he made a demonstration of polishing Coppi's shoes in front of the media whilst clad in the malliot jaune to indicate his loyalty. That day, Coppi won the stage in a solo breakaway and Carrea gratefully passed the yellow jersey to his leader. Coppi would go on to win the tour.

Coppi always regarded him as his greatest domestique - arguably all domestiques. Speaking of him many years later, he said:

"Ours is certainly a very hard profession with terrible demands and painful sacrifices. Carrea gave everything to me. In return I offered him only money."
 
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We head to the top of the world tonight, up Bola del Mundo to decide the Vuelta a Espana. The climb is similar to Cuiti Negru in that it has steep ramps at the top, and I am pretty sure they are concrete and not bitumen. The only time the Vuelta has used the full climb was two years ago, when Vincenzo Nibali managed to keep Ezequiel Mosquera under control and defend the red jersey. It was an epic stage with Mosquera gaining the early advantage. Nibali rode a controlled race, he didn't panic but went at his own tempo until he reeled in Mosquera metres from the line. Nibali also allowed the Spaniard to cross the line first. Of course, Mosquera was later banned.

This is a very cool picture from a nice website, http://paintingletour.blogspot.com.au/ by a Welsh artist called Rob Ijbema. He paints cycling scenes from races, he was especially prolific during this year's Tour de France. I like this painting as it really captures the atmosphere of the climb, I can remember being impressed by the crowd numbers. We are behind Nibali, but Mosquera is up in the distance.
 
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The great man returns to racing tonight in the Tour of Great Britain. Look for some sneaky attacks on descents.

Awesome photo due to the epic celebration, gold trim and Basque flag in the background. I'll be honest and say that I have been looking for an excuse to include a Samu photo in this thread, and this will be the first of many!
 
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This photo is inspired by Dave on Eurosport mentioning the Belgian Freddy Maertens, who won a ridiculous 13 stages in the 1977 Vuelta a Espana. He was a strong sprinter who also took the GC that year. He also took 7 Giro stages that same year, and only lasted half the race. He is now the ticket collector at the Ronde van Vlaanderen museum, which is either terrific or terribly sad.

Freddy is in the green, beating Sean Kelly in the blue jersey. This one is all about the facial expressions.
 
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It is World Championships week and the cyclists will be battling for the right to wear the rainbow jersey for the next twelve months. Here it is looking resplendent on the shoulders of the Cannibal, Eddy Merckx, arguably the greatest cyclist of all time. I am unsure what race this is, but it is either from 1971-72, or 1974-75 as he is World Champion and riding for Molteni. The great man is clearly focussed, and is allowing himself to suffer. This is a study of a great champion in his element.
 
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More champs in the rainbow jersey. Following on from Merckx, lets go to one of his great challengers, the Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk. He has a remarkable record from the 70s and 80s: 12 top 10's in the Tour, including one victory and six second places. He never rode the Giro, but rode two Vuelta's for one victory. He also won some stage races and one day races, including the Worlds in 1985. Hence this photo is from 1986.
 
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Philippe Gilbert took out the World Championship last night. Here we get some perspective of the dominance of his victory with the chasing peloton in the distance. The Lion of Flanders is flying in focus, despite Gilbert being from Wallonia we will forgive them that.

Gilbert has had a difficult season after last years complete dominance, but he has finished strongly with this win and a successful Vuelta. BMC will be looking for that form to continue in 2013.
 
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The Giro di Lombardia is on Saturday night, meaning the cycling season is drawing to a close. Traditionally the race of the falling leaves is the final big event of the season, but now that we have some shitty Chinese stage races this is no longer the case. A nice consolation is the return of the Muro di Sormano, which is an absolute beast.

For an idea of how difficult the Sormano is, we need look no further than this picture. It has only featured three times, from 1960-62. Sanity then prevailed and it was removed due to the difficulty, cyclists were falling off their bikes and having to walk up. With the modern gears we won't be seeing these problems, but if this ins't a mythical climb I don't know what is. Bring it.
 
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Fiorenzo Magni was an Italian cycling legend who died a few days ago. He won three Giro d'Italia's, three Ronde van Vlaanderen's, and three Italian road championships. He took stages in all of the grand tours. He was the third great behind Coppi and Bartoli. The photo is from the legendary 1956 Giro, in which he came second after breaking his collar bone. The rubber in his mouth is for him to bite down and steer with due to the immense pain in his left shoulder. The great man was at his best in difficult weather. He will be honoured in next years Giro with the pink jersey dedicated to him.
 
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