Eddy Merckx
Jacques Anquetil
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Eddy Merckx leads 2 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Eddy Merckx at #1 and Jacques Anquetil at #5.
The case for Eddy Merckx
The Cannibal is the consensus greatest cyclist ever, and it is not close. Merckx won a scarcely believable 525 races across his career, a figure no rider has approached. He took 11 Grand Tours, five Tours de France, five Giri d'Italia and a Vuelta, three World road titles and a record 19 Monuments spanning every one-day Classic. He won 34 Tour stages while also claiming its points and mountains classifications, dominating flat sprints, mountains and time trials alike. In 1972 he set the Hour Record at 49.431 kilometres in Mexico City. His nickname came from his refusal to ease off even when a race was won, and his combination of range, longevity and win rate remains the benchmark against which every rider is measured.
The case for Jacques Anquetil
Maitre Jacques was the first rider to win five Tours de France, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964, and he did it by mastering the discipline others feared: the time trial. His position on the bike was so refined that he could gain minutes against the clock and then defend a lead in the mountains with cold calculation. Anquetil took eight Grand Tours in total, adding two Giri d'Italia and the 1963 Vuelta a Espana, and in 1964 became the first man to win the Giro and Tour in the same season since Coppi. He also dominated the Grand Prix des Nations time trial, winning it nine times. His rivalry with the popular Raymond Poulidor, the eternal runner-up, transfixed France even as Anquetil coolly beat him time and again.