What’s in and what’s not?

Before we dig in, let’s lay down some basic rules:

• Only victories as a professional count (so amateur Milk Race victories are out, for instance)
• National championships and UCI races ranked 1.2, 2.2 and above are all included (so no Olympic test event, for example – sorry Cav!)
• General classification wins are in, but all other secondary classifications are not
• Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games victories are also included, provided the rider was a professional at the time (good news for David Millar, not so for Malcolm Elliott)
• World Championship road race and individual time trials are in but team time trials are not counted
• Results expunged from the records are not included

So, without further ado, here we go…

Chris Boardman (1993-1999) – 41

After an Olympic gold medal and the first of his hour record successes on the track, and plenty of time trial success off it, Chris Boardman turned professional with GAN in 1993.

His first professional race was the GP Eddy Merckx time trial, and he promptly recorded his first professional win there in the process.

And that was just the start of a period of near-domination against the clock, with the following year seeing him record the then-fastest ever Tour de France time trial in the prologue, claiming the yellow jersey for a few days in the process.

That Tour stage win came between two wins against the clock and a solo stage victory at the Dauphine Libere, which earned him his Tour debut, and then a World Championship time trial gold medal at the end of the year.

Boardman went on to win the Tour de France prologue twice more, in 1997 and 1998, and also clocked stage wins at races such as Paris-Nice, the Dauphine Libere (again) and Tour de Romandie, before retiring in 2000 after being diagnosed with Osteopenia two years earlier.

His career was to end with another triumph on the track, however, as he set another new hour record in 2000.

Best moment – 1994: Three stage wins at the Criterium du Dauphine Libere earned Boardman a Tour de France debut, and he seized the opportunity in style with a record-breaking prologue to pull on the first yellow jersey. He ended the year as world time trial champion.

Chris Froome (2007-present) – 38

Kenyan-born Chris Froome took up a British racing licence in 2007 and enjoyed sporadic success in lower-classified races in his early professional years.

But his first major pro victory, at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, laid the foundations for a stunning upward trajectory and Froome hasn’t stopped since.

Winner of stage 17 in that race, Froome went on to finish second overall – hindered by the fact he had spent the earlier part of the race riding for team-mate Bradley Wiggins, who finished third.

He rode for Wiggins again in 2012, but was still able to win a stage of the Tour de France despite a public falling-out with his team leader, who, of course, won the race overall.

When the team leadership was handed to him in 2013, however, he took full advantage of his opportunity and the wins have barely stopped since.

Stage and overall successes followed at the Tour of Oman, Criterium International, Tour de Romadie and Criterium du Dauphine as he entered the Tour de France as favourite.

Once there, he didn’t disappoint, winning three stages – including a stunning triumph on Mont Ventoux – and the overall title.

Injuries hampered his 2014 season, but he still picked up six victories and finished second overall at the Vuelta a Espana.

Froome returned to the top in 2015, and his second Tour de France win – alongside the King of the mountains title – followed in July.

And that rich vein of form continued into 2016 – stage wins and overall success at the Herald Sun Tour and Criterium du Dauphine shooting him up the standings.

Two stage wins at the 2016 Tour de France followed, proving his all-round ability with a stunning descent on stage eight to pull on the yellow jersey before he won the stage 18 uphill time trial and went on to seal overall victory.

He bagged another two stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana, on his way to second place overall – the third time he has finished on the second step of the Vuelta podium.

Best moment – 2013: After a stunning season, Froome had already won one stage of the Tour de France, on Ax-3-Domaines, to pull on the yellow jersey – and he did the jersey proud on Bastille Day as he blasted to victory on Mont Ventoux with a stunning acceleration, before going on to defend his overall lead all the way to Paris.

David Millar (1997-2014) – 32

Malta-born Scot David Millar’s professional road racing career was one of two halves, dissected by a doping ban in 2004.

Despite having some results – including world time trial gold in 2003 – expunged from his record as a result of that ban, Millar still bagged 32 wins, including stage success at all three Grand Tours, before retiring in 2014.

His time trialling prowess saw him pull on the leader’s jersey at the 2000 Tour de France and 2001 Vuelta a Espana, before completing his set of Grand Tour leaders’ jerseys when he was in the stage three-winning break at the 2011 Giro d’Italia – a day overshadowed by Wouter Weylandt’s death.

On his return from his doping ban in 2006, Millar won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana and then earned a British national double with victory in the road race and time trial in 2007.

Millar’s final professional victory arrived in 2012 at the Tour de France, when he won from the break on stage 12 in Annonay Davezieux.

Best moment – 2011: Millar called his 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal redemption, but it was 2011, at the Giro d’Italia, when he ensured his name would forever be associated with Britain’s road cycling greats. While his time in the pink jersey, completing his Grand Tour set, was overshadowed by Wouter Weylandt’s death, Millar later went on to win the final stage time trial – completing another Grand Tour hat-trick as he entered the record books as only the third Brit to win stages at all three of cycling’s three-week races.

Malcom Elliott (1984-1997) – 31

Malcom Elliott’s glistening career, which has earned him a spot in the British Cycling Hall of Fame, can be split into three clear parts – amateur, professional and comeback.

All three were littered with success, first in winning Commonwealth Games gold in 1982 and six stages of the then-amateur Milk Race the following year, before collecting 31 victories as a professional.

Among those were three stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana (enough to earn him the 1989 points jersey) and overall Kellogg’s Tour of Britain success in 1988.

National champion in 1993, Elliott retired four years later aged 36 with those 31 victories behind him, but was not done there – his comeback also saw more success, this time on the British domestic circuit, as he proved age is no barrier.

Best moment – 1989: In a year in which he secured nine major road race victories, Elliott’s two at the Vuelta a Espana were the most significant as he became the first Brit to win a Grand Tour points classification.

Tom Simpson (1959-1967) – 24

Tom Simpson will always be remembered as one of British cycling’s pioneers, after collecting 24 victories in his eight-year professional career back in the 1960s.

Simpson turned professional in 1959, securing five race wins, but bigger success was to follow – including the Tour of Flanders in 1961 and Milan-San Remo in 1964.

The Durham-born rider then entered the record books as Britain’s first male world road race champion, winning in San Sebastian in 1965.

He went on to win Paris-Nice and two stages of the 1967 Vuelta a Espana, the first – and only – Grand Tour stage wins of his career and was seventh overall at the Tour de France that year before he collapsed and died on Mont Ventoux.

A deadly combination of the heat, alcohol and performance-enhancing amphetamines was found to be the cause of his death, aged just 29.

Best moment – 1965: A sterling team effort by his British team-mates allowed Simpson to lead the 1965 world road race from almost the very start. Breaking away with German Rudi Altig late in the race, Simpson bolted clear on the final straight to become Britain’s first male road race world champion.

Barry Hoban (1964-1978) – 21

Barry Hoban established himself as one of the top sprinters of his era, and until the emergence of Mark Cavendish was Britain’s most successful Tour de France rider.

After two years racing in France, Hoban was granted a professional contract in 1964 and went on to earn ten Grand Tour stage wins (eight at the Tour and two at the Vuelta) and the Gent-Wevelgem classic among other wins.

A team-mate of Tom Simpson’s, Hoban was credited for his work in the break for Simpson at the 1965 World Championships and his first Tour stage win was gifted to him the day after Simpson’s death.

Hoban, with those Vuelta stage wins already behind him, was to prove hugely successful in his own right – his next Tour stage win actually arrived in the mountains before he went on to become the first Brit to win back-to-back stages with two sprint victories in 1969.

Classics success included his Gent-Wevelgem victory and podium finishes at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Paris-Roubaix during one of the first great British road cycling careers.

Best moment – 1974: Hoban, at this time 34 years old, finds a gap and slips through to beat Eddy Merckx to victory at Gent-Wevelgem, his first one-day victory and the first for a Brit in ten years.

Michael Wright (1962-1976) – 21

Though British-born, Michael Wright emigrated to Liege when he was just three after his war-widowed mother re-married a Belgian soldier – something which was to prove very handy for his cycling career.

Growing up in Belgium, Wright stayed true to his roots and – despite speaking poor English – was able to ride for Great Britain at several World Championships and at the Tour de France when the race was contested by national teams, something he admits he could not have done as a Belgian.

He actually won a stage of the 1967 race before team-mate Tom Simpson’s death – his second of three wins at the Tour de France, and he also bagged four stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana – finishing fifth overall in 1969 after wearing the leader’s jersey for two days.

A fast finisher, Wright’s stage wins also included victories at the Tour of the Basque Country, Tour of Catalonia and Tour of Luxembourg, while he also earned multiple second and third-place finishes on Tour de France stages.

Best moment – 1969: Wright, riding for the Bic team, won the opening stage of the Vuelta a Espana to earn two days in the leader’s jersey and then followed that with another stage win on stage 13. His fifth place overall was the best British finish at the Vuelta a Espana until Robert Millar made the podium in 1985.