A common hypothetical in cycling circles asks what could have been for Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali? How many races would these two great Italians have won if it weren't for WWII? For considering both cyclists had their careers interrupted by the war, that there would have been many more wins cannot be doubted. So, the hypothetical is, how many?
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| Bartali and Coppi share a drink |
A hypothetical you don't hear so often is, what could have been for Henri Pélissier? This is despite the fact that he too won many races either side of a great war. Maybe you don't hear it so often because his was WWI, which was shorter. Or perhaps it is actually because he just wasn't as good. Sure, he had an impressive palmarès with wins in the Giro di Lombardia, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Brussels, Paris-Tours and the Vuelta al País Vasco. But despite various stage victories and podium finishes, he was only able to win one Grand Tour, the 1923 Tour de France.
Compare this to Bartali and Coppi, who shared eleven Grand Tours, and Pélissier's record looks somewhat lacking. So maybe that's why there's no Pélissier hypothetical getting bandied round at bike-geek parties.
