Ireland, Greatest Pro Cycling Country Per Capita

JohnnyBananas

Hi All,

I have just spotted the below graph from Cycling Hall of Fame.com which places Ireland in first place in the most successful countries of all time in pro cycling on a per capita basis. (granted another website may have a different conclusion).

No harm in spreading the word.

http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/percapitagraph.asp

Daroxtar

Howmuch would that graph change if you took out Sean Kelly?

pelevin

A bit.

JohnnyBananas

Daroxtar wrote: »

Howmuch would that graph change if you took out Sean Kelly?

I'd estimate we would stand around the 1100 mark (ie slightly more than 2/3rds of the blue part representing Stephen Roche's Tour of Italy and Tour de France victories). This would probably put us in the 7th to 11th region.

If Dan Martin continues winning the odd classic here and there, we could potentially maintain our top spot for a long time to come.

letape

With the USA in 4th place this must be pre USADA reasoned decision and resulting suspensions.

Andy Hampsten and Greg didnt win that much!

Wishbone Ash

Hard to believe the USA is in 4th considering they have 300 odd million people. Are they including LA's points?

smacl

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Hard to believe the USA is in 4th considering they have 300 odd million people. Are they including LA's points?

When working on a per capita basis, the big population could as easily count against you. I guess they are counting LA, as they wouldn't manage 4th otherwise.

12 sprocket

Daroxtar wrote: »

Howmuch would that graph change if you took out Sean Kelly?

WHY?

Zorba

12 sprocket wrote: »

WHY?

Maybe cos he won the odd race here and there

paulo6891

Daroxtar wrote: »

Howmuch would that graph change if you took out Sean Kelly?

Irrelevant!

jinkypolly

Something not quite right about that graph. They have in the combined country points list the following;

8 19315 Luxembourg
10 12610 Ireland
19 2085 Uzbekistan

(this also tallies with the overall riders totals)

Population of Ireland 4.59m, population of Luxembourg 0.53m, population of Uzbekistan 29.8m.
What am I missing?

Daroxtar

I was just curious, no intention of being negative. We have a small population and he is one of the greatest ever cyclists so I just wondered how we'd look without him. Where would Belgium rank without Eddie Merckx?

JohnnyBananas

jinkypolly wrote: »

Something not quite right about that graph. They have in the combined country points list the following;

8 19315 Luxembourg
10 12610 Ireland
19 2085 Uzbekistan

(this also tallies with the overall riders totals)

Population of Ireland 4.59m, population of Luxembourg 0.53m, population of Uzbekistan 29.8m.
What am I missing?

Good question. I would have guessed Luxembourg to be the most successful per capita, which is why I made a point of starting this thread.

If you look at the by country graph you will see Luxembourg in 8th and Ireland in 10th. How can Ireland then overtake Luxembourg per capita when Ireland has a higher population?

Possibly a case of lies, damn lies and statistics.

Rambling Man

On a per-capita basis, Irish people look at more self-aggrandizing graphs than any other nation.

I saw that on a graph once.

Inquitus

Also wonder how the USA manages to leapfrog italy in the per capita stakes having been trounced in the by country.

L'Enfer du Nord

Belgium has about twice the population of Ireland, surely eddy merckx alone has won more than twice as many grand tours and classics as the irish riders.

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Hard to believe the USA is in 4th considering they have 300 odd million people. Are they including LA's points?

smacl wrote: »

When working on a per capita basis, the big population could as easily count against you...

That's my point. I would have expected the USA to struggle to get into the top 50.

L'Enfer du Nord

Does per capita refer to the number of professional cyclists per country rather than the country's population?

I mean look at this -By country:
http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/bycountry25graph.asp
Top four are Italy, Belgium, France, Spain

Per capita those countries appear in the following order:

France, Italy, Belgium, Spain