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THE ALL-TIME LIST OF BRITISH PRO WINNERS

Best of British logo

It's a question that sparks heated debate whenever it is asked. Who is Britain's greatest male professional road racer of all time?

For some it is a no-brainer. Tom Simpson. World champion and winner of three of the five one-day monuments of professional cycling – Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and the Tour of Lombardy.

No other British rider has won as many of the very biggest races.

But in terms of the number of wins, you could also make a strong case for Chris Boardman, even if almost all his victories were in time trials.

And what about Barry Hoban? Eight Tour de France stage wins and the Ghent-Wevelgem classic is an impressive record.

When Mark Cavendish won his fourth stage of the 2008 Tour de France, he stood in fifth place in our list of all-time British winners. Since then, he's won three stages of the Tour of Ireland and three stages of the Tour of Missouri, moving him up to third ahead of Tom Simpson and David Millar.

Cavendish is only 23 and has a long career ahead of him. What are the odds he will close in on Chris Boardman and eventually overtake him?

HAVE YOUR SAY on the Cycling Weekly forum.

CYCLING WEEKLY'S
BEST OF BRITISH
Who are the most prolific British male professional riders of all time? Here's our league table of the most successful riders, based purely on the number of wins in top international professional races.

What we have included
All international one-day and stage races, including overall classifications – including races that no longer exist
The Kellogg's Tour, PruTour and Tour of Britain

What we have not included
Minor European races
Pro-am races, such as the Milk Race and Peace Race
Criteriums, kermesse races or exhibition races
Team time trials or two-up time trials
Domestic events in the USA
Other classifications, such as king of the mountains or points competition titles

Where's Max Sciandri? Surely he won enough races?
The Derby-born rider rode much of his career as an Italian. He declared for Great Britain in 1995, in order to ride the Olympic Games in Atlanta the following year. However, he did not win 10 professional races in his years as a British rider

1 Chris Boardman
41 professional wins, 1993-99

Chris Boardman

1993 – 2
Chrono des Herbiers
GP Eddy Merckx

1994 – 8
Tour of Murcia prologue
Tour or Murcia stage
Dauphine Libere prologue
Two Dauphine Libere stages
Tour of Switzerland stage
Tour de France prologue
World Championship time trial

1995 – 4
Tour de l'Oise stage
Four Days of Dunkirk stage
Dauphine Libere stage
Midi Libre stage

1996 – 8
Paris-Nice stage
Criterium International overall
Four Days of Dunkirk stage
Route du Sud stage
GP des Nations
GP Eddy Merckx
Chrono des Herbiers
Josef Vogeli Memorial

1997 – 7
Tour of Valencia stage
Tour of Romandy prologue
Tour of Romandy stage
Two Tour of Catalonia stages
Dauphine Libere stage
Tour de France prologue

1998 – 8
PruTour prologue
PruTour stage one
Two Tour of Catalonia stages
Dauphine Libere prologue
Dauphine Libere stage
Tour de France prologue
Tour de l'Ain stage

1999 – 4
Paris-Nice stage
Criterium International stage
PruTour stage
Josef Vogeli Memorial

2 Malcolm Elliott
31 professional wins, 1987-95

Malcolm Elliott

1987 – 3
Three Nissan Classic stages

1988 – 5
Vuelta a Espana stage
Tour of Aragon stage
Kellogg's Tour of Britain prologue
Kellogg's Tour of Britain stage
Kellogg's Tour of Britain overall

1989 – 9
Three Semaine Catalan stages
Two Vuelta a Espana stages
Two Castilla y Leon stages
Tour of Galicia stage
Kellogg's Tour of Britain prologue

1990 – 9
Three Tour of the Americas stages
Two Tour of Cantabria stages
Two Tour of Catalonia stages
Kellogg's Tour of Britain stage
Tour of the Basque Country stage

1991 – 1
Trofeo Masferrer

1992 – 1
Tour of the Mining Valleys stage

1993 – 2
National road race
Tour DuPont stage

1995 – 1
Tour DuPont stage

3 Mark Cavendish
28 professional wins, 2007 to date

Mark Cavendish

2007 – 11
Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen
Two Four Days of Dunkirk stages
Two Tour of Catalonia stages
Ster Elektrotoer stage
Tour of Denmark stage
ENECO Tour stage
Tour of Britain prologue
Tour of Britain stage
Circuit Franco Belge stage

2008 – 17
Two Three Days of De Panne stages
Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen
Tour of Romandy prologue
Two Giro d'Italia stages
Ster Elektrotoer stage
Four Tour de France stages
Three Tour of Ireland stages
Three Tour of Missouri stages

4= Tom Simpson
24 professional wins, 1959-1967

Tom Simpson

1959 – 5
Rennes-Fougeres-Rennes time trial
Tour de l'Essor Breton stage
Two Tour de l'Ouest stages
Route de France stage

1960 – 3
Course Mont Faron
Tour du Sud-Est overall
Polymultipliee

1961 – 2
Tour of Flanders
GP d'Eibar stage

1963 – 3
Tour du Var stage
Bordeaux-Paris
Circuit du Provencal stage

1964 – 2
Milan-San Remo
Circuit du Provencal stage

1965 – 4
World Championship road race
Tour of Lombardy
Harelbeke-Antwerp-Harelbeke
Criterium des As

1966 – 1
Criterium des As

1967 – 4
Paris-Nice overall
Two Vuelta a Espana stages
Tour of Sardinia stage

4= David Millar
24 professional wins, 1997 to date

David Millar

1997 – 1
Tour de l'Avenir prologue

1998 – 3
Three Days of De Panne stage
Tour de l'Avenir prologue
Tour de l'Avenir stage

2000 – 2
Route du Sud stage
Tour de France stage

2001 – 8
Two Circuit de la Sarthe stages
Circuit de la Sarthe overall
Euzkal Bizicleta stage
Tour of Denmark stage
Tour of Denmark overall
Vuelta a Espana prologue
Vuelta a Espana stage

2002 – 1
Tour de France stage

2003 – 5
Three Days of West Flanders prologue
Tour of Picardie overall
Tour of Burgos stage
Tour de France stage
Vuelta a Espana stage

2006 – 1
Vuelta a Espana stage

2007 – 3
Paris-Nice prologue
National Championship road race
National Championship time trial

6= Barry Hoban
21 professional wins, 1964-1978

Barry Hoban

1964 – 3
Two Vuelta a Espana stages
Midi Libre stage

1966 – 1
Rund um den Henninger Turm

1967 – 1
Tour de France stage

1968 – 1
Tour de France stage

1969 – 3
Two Tour de France stages
Four Days of Dunkirk stage

1970 – 1
Four Days of Dunkirk stage

1971 – 1
GP Fourmies

1973 – 2
Two Tour de France stages

1974 – 6
Ghent-Wevelgem
Two Midi Libre stages
Tour de France stage
Paris-Bourges
Tour d'Indre-et-Loire stage

1975 – 1
Tour de France stage

1978 – 1
Four Days of Dunkirk stage

6= Michael Wright
21 professional wins, 1962-1973

Michael Wright

1962 – 1
GP Brabant

1964 – 4
Tour du Condroz
GP Denain
Brussels-Nandrin
Tour du Nord stage

1965 – 2
Hoeilaart-Diest-Hoeilaart
Tour de France stage

1966 – 1
Brussels-Verviers

1967 – 1
Tour de France stage

1968 – 4
Fleche Hesbignonne
Tour of Luxembourg stage
Two Vuelta a Espana stages

1969 – 7
Tour du Condroz
Two Vuelta a Espana stages
Tour of the Basque Country stage
Two Tour du Nord stages
Tour of Catalonia stage

1973 – 1
Tour de France stage

8 Jeremy Hunt
20 professional wins, 1997 to date

Jeremy Hunt

1997 – 8
Circuit de Getxo
GP Minho stage
Two Tour de l'Avenir stages
Circuit de la Sarthe stage
Tour of Aragon stage
Tour of Rioja stage
National Championship road race

1998 – 3
Tour of Majorca stage
Two Tour of Portugal stages

2000 – 2
Australian National Championship road race
Tour of the Mediterranean stage

2001 – 2
Tour of the Somme stage
Circuit Franco-Belge stage

2002 – 1
GP Ouest France Plouay

2003 – 1
Tour of Picardie stage

2005 – 1
Tour de la Region Wallonne stage

2007 – 1
GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise

2008 – 1
Tour of Langkawi stage

9 Robert Millar
16 professional wins, 1983-1995

Robert Millar

1983 – 1
Tour de France stage

1984 – 3
Tour of Romandy stage
Midi Libre stage
Tour de France stage

1985 – 1
Tour of Catalonia overall

1986 – 1
Vuelta a Espana stage

1987 – 2
Tour of the Mediterranean stage
Giro d'Italia stage

1989 – 4
Tour of Romandy stage
Dauphine Libere stage
Tour de France stage
Kellogg's Tour of Britain overall

1990 – 2
Tour of Romandy stage
Dauphine Libere overall

1991 – 1
Tour of Switzerland stage

1995 – 1
National Championship road race

10 Sean Yates
14 professional wins, 1984-1994

Sean Yates

1984 – 1
Four Days of Dunkirk prologue

1988 – 4
Paris-Nice stage
Vuelta a Espana stage
Midi Libre stage
Tour de France stage

1989 – 5
GP Eddy Merckx
Tour of Holland prologue
Two Tour of Belgium stages
Tour of Belgium overall

1991 – 2
Dauphine Libere stage
Nissan Classic stage

1992 – 1
National Championships

1994 – 1
USPro Champs

11 Brian Robinson
11 professional wins, 1954-1961

Brian Robinson

1954 – 1
Tour d'Europe stage

1957 – 2
GP Fortreuse
GP Nice

1958 – 2
Tour du Sud-Est stage
Tour de France stage

1959 – 1
Tour de France stage

1960 – 2
Tour de l'Aude stage
Midi Libre stage

1961 – 3
Dauphine Libere stage
Dauphine Libere overall
Monts d'Auvergne stage

See a full index of CW News »

Cycling Weekly Nov 20 2008 cover

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