Richard Virenque won the polka-dot Yersey for a record 7 times. He was a great climber.
Charteau is a great and talented climber imo, but he still has much do to do get compared to Virenque, Bahamontes, Van Impe, Pantani, Charly Gaul etc.
@ Moralspain
Merckx and Hinault were in the mountains as good as Armstrong or Indurain. Merckx was able to go with Luis Ocana and Lucien Van Impe in the mountains.
The Spaniard Ocana was also a great climber, and Van Impe won the polka dot Yersey 6 times.
Merckx is generally considered the greatest cyclist ever because
- he won the most races (525)
- he holds the most important records (many of the Tour and Vuelta, also in one-day classics)
- he was the most complete rider in history. He had the tank of a great climber, time trialist, sprinter and rouleur.
Hinault was also damn good, won over 200 races. He was slighty weaker as Merckx, especially as Sprinter and Rouleur, but not much.
Armstrong, Ullrich, INdurain, Anquetil and the others were great time trialists and climbers, but no great sprinters or rouleurs. that differs them from Merckx and Hinault.
Miguel Indurain: "Armstrong is the greatest rider in the history of the Tour de France, not in the history of cycling. That s Eddy Merckx."
