semroc

What's your favorite moment in professional cycling? Although Lemonds 89 time trial tdf win is right up there. My favorite moment is 2016 Paris Roubaix. The announcers call that, Matt Hayman is back! He got pushed wide by Ian Stanard at the start of a tough cobbled sector. Right then Sep Van Marcke attacked. It took Hayman to the end of the Carrefour de l' arbre sector to get back on. Maybe 2 miles. He'd been in the break all day. Never won much in his long career. Rode superbly. Great race. Great call. Oh and a shout out to Voekler, 2011,tdf, stage 18.

GrainBrain

Just a lay person really, but I started to watch pro cycling just recently. I happened to watch the 2017 TdF stage 9 towards the end, right at a big crash with Porte. Uran was caught up in it but continued. Moments later you see a neutral service mechanic leaning out of his car, working on Uran's RD while at speed. Uran went on to win the sprint, just.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/r...-choose-340740

Interesting tour, Geraint crashes and had to abandon on this stage. Uran ends up getting second overall on GC a minute and a half down on Froome. The next year Uran crashes and abandons, but Geraint gets yellow.

vespasianus

We went to the Tour in 1998 and spent a rainy miserable day following the 15th stage around. Pantani won the day and took the tour. The excitement - even with the rain - was electric. In town that night, everybody was talking about the race and the performance. Just a wonderful experience.

Iride01 

On the infamous side, stage 9 of the 2017 TdF when Richey Porte dropped a wheel off the side of the final downhill and cannon balled into Dan Martin and while doing that let his foot knock Rigoberto Uran's rear derailleur. About 17 km to go IIRC. Uran never stopped. The DR wasn't working correctly and a mechanic leaned out of the car to try and fix it while moving. However all he could do was put it in a gear that Uran would have to use for the remaining distance. Uran went on to win the stage. Photo finish I think. Dan Martin hobbled like an old man with back issues for most of the remaining stages. Dan Martin was really looking good that year prior to the crash. He still did better than many despite his injuries.

The most exciting thing was all the screaming my wife did. I think it's the first time she really got into watching the tours with me. She was hollering like she does win her team is trying to cross the goal line at the Super Bowl. <grin>

canklecat

LeMond's win in the 1989 world championship. Easily the most exciting finish I've seen in any road race, for many reasons. A course that favored all-rounders rather than climbers or sprinters. The best riders of that era all in the same race, many of them contenders for the win. Rain slick roads on the fast, treacherous finish. Back and forth swapping for the lead. And throughout LeMond showed he was at the top of his form, creating ad hoc partnerships as his own team failed, encouraging and badgering other riders with the type of authority usually associated with peloton bosses like Hinault and Merckx. And on the final stretch digging deeper than seemed possible.

While LeMond certainly resented Hinault over the well known rivalry despite being teammates, I suspect Hinault really did toughen up LeMond and may have contributed to the indomitable mindset that enabled him to recover from the gunshot injury and reclaim his elite status.

diphthong

going with pantani dropping ulrich and everyone else in the '98 tdf on the galibier in the rain enroute to the eventual overall win.

a close second would be contador all-out attacking purito on the (i think) 17th...maybe 18th stage of the vuelta in 2012 or 2013
and securing the vuelta win.. like the song says...memory fades.

a close third would be any gt where a pink/yellow/red gt leader jersey holder is forced to defend said jersey on a stage that is specifically not to the holder's
strength(s). tommy voeckler particularly comes to mind but there are other riders (and teammates) that turned themselves inside out trying to keep the leader's jersey
as well. absolutely brutal sport.

cb400bill

The Look

one4smoke

Sagan winning Paris Roubaix.

semroc

Ya Sagan is awesome. I hope he tries to win all 5 monuments. That was a great winning attack he made in Roubaix.

Riveting

Froome running up Mt Ventoux without his bike

Iride01 

Still not sure why he couldn't have carried the pieces of his bike with him. At least a wheel or something. I thought UCI rules had something about how far a rider can go from their bike while waiting for a new bike. A special ruling post race allowed his finish anyhow and changed his times. Certainly it was a moment that added to the Stage's fame or infamy!