Garrett Lai

Cycling fans around the world were able to release that collective breath they held since July 3 of last year, waiting to see whether Lance Armstrong would become the first six-time winner of the world’s most prestigious bicycle race.

It’s easy to focus on the obvious history-making aspect of Armstrong’s tour assault — that magical sixth win — but to do only that overlooks the most dominating, perfect team performance in Tour de France history.

Armstrong's performance was absolutely dominant individually, but his team was also the most powerful support squad that’s ever accompanied anyone to Paris. Lance was so well-protected he never had to flex his muscle in the early stages, and it wasn’t till the l’Alpe d’Huez time trial July 21 that he showed just how well-prepared he was, crushing the field with a 61-second margin over the next man, Jan Ullrich.

The Posties have been stunningly well-prepared as well. The members of the Blue Train came to le Tour ready to sacrifice themselves for Armstrong, literally to surrender all chance for personal glory for the maillot jaune. Yet they were one of just two teams to reach Paris with all nine members still in the race, all but two of them placing in the front half of the field on the overall. The Posties almost won the team competition, losing by just 2:04 to Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile supersquad. This team was, like their leader, the class of the field.

So is Armstrong the greatest-ever Tour racer? That’s tough to say. He’s certainly the most focused Tour racer ever. Armstrong's preparation for le Tour is so specialized, the Tour has become an either/or proposition, no longer another stop on this pro’s schedule. But that’s okay for Armstrong, because no other race on the pro calendar matters to this racer, or even to his team. And he also assembled the most perfect team, and executed the most perfect Tour playbook ever.

Eddy Merckx is the absolute front-runner, when it comes to challenging Armstrong for the title of greatest-ever Tour competitor. He is unquestionably history’s best bike racer, with 525 career victories.

In 1969, he not only won the Tour on his first attempt — he collected the climber’s and sprinter’s jerseys as well, a feat that has never been repeated (he’s also the only rider to accomplish the same trick at the Giro d’Italia, in 1968). On his way to five TdF wins he wore the maillot jaune for 96 days — that’s almost 50 percent more days than Armstrong has spent in yellow.

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And Merckx holds the record for TdF stage wins, with 34 victories compared to Lance’s 21. Lance won five stages this year — a personal best, and a tremendous accomplishment. But Merckx won six stages in 1969 and 1972, and a record-setting eight stages in 1970 and 1974. Armstrong has the lead when it comes to overall wins, but by almost any other statistical measure, Merckx has the Texan dead to rights.

But boiling the race down to simple statistics doesn’t do either rider justice. Merckx won almost every significant race on the pro calendar. He is one of only four riders to win all three grand tours on the pro calendar — the TdF, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia — and he is one of only two racers to win the Tour, the Giro and the world championship in a single year.

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