Fausto Coppi
Sean Kelly
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Fausto Coppi leads 1 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Fausto Coppi at #4 and Sean Kelly at #7.
The case for Fausto Coppi
Il Campionissimo, the champion of champions, was cycling's first modern great, a rider whose elegance and scientific approach set him apart in the post-war years. Coppi completed the first Giro-Tour double in 1949 and repeated it in 1952, won five Giri d'Italia and two Tours de France, and took the 1953 World title. His nine Monument victories included three Milan-San Remo, five Il Lombardia and a Paris-Roubaix, many won by riding away alone to finish minutes clear of the field. In 1942 he set the Hour Record at 45.798 kilometres, a mark that stood for 14 years. His rivalry with Gino Bartali divided a recovering Italy, and the image of the two sharing a bottle on a climb became an enduring symbol of the sport's romance.
The case for Sean Kelly
The greatest Classics rider of his generation and one of the toughest cyclists ever, Kelly won nine Monuments across a career of brutal consistency: two Milan-San Remo, two Paris-Roubaix, two Liege-Bastogne-Liege and three Il Lombardia. He also won the 1988 Vuelta a Espana, took four Tour de France green jerseys, and amassed roughly 193 professional victories. His seven consecutive Paris-Nice titles from 1982 to 1988 remain a record for that prestigious stage race, and when the UCI introduced its world rankings in 1984, Kelly was the inaugural number one, a position he held for years. A sprinter who could also survive the cobbles, climb and endure foul weather, the quiet farmer's son from Carrick-on-Suir won across every kind of one-day terrain the sport could offer.