Road cycling’s icons of yesteryear live on in legendary stories and historic records that both recount and demonstrate their highest of highs, lowest of lows and achievements that withstand the test of time. Most fans of the sport love such rich histories of the past and champion the figures whom we only get to hear about in semi-mythical recountments or black and white photos.
However, as we get further away from the eras these heroes of the sport once dominated, the rising obsession with stats, watts per kilo and climbing records could threaten to trivialise the status of the great riders who laid the foundations for the stars of today.
This Saturday, a rider who is fast becoming an all-time great, Tadej Pogačar, has yet another date with history, to try and equal the record of five Il Lombardia wins held by Fausto Coppi.
