Damon:
I don't know about Merckx, but this Coppi - Contador comparison got a lot of attention:
http://ruedatropical.com/...m-coppi-to-contador/ I did an animated GIF overlay of Anquetil and Tony Martin:
http://djconnel.blogspot.com/...anquetil-versus.html Positions haven't rely changed much. Arm angles perhaps.
I always thought Contador's position looked exemplary. He looks relaxed yet his back is in a good place. He's the antithesis if Andy Schleck.
I ride 8cm drop on my road bike. I used to ride more but then I had to rotate my bars to raise the hoods. Additionally I'd then ride on what would be the ramps on an older bike instead of the hoods. 3dbikefit talked some spence into me.
That said all of this talk about spacers isn't quite fair, since going from a -17 to -6 deg stem may involve losing spacers for the same bar height with shorter stack. If I was getting custom geometry Id want a 9-10 cm stem and probably 0-6 deg, not 12-13 or -17.
I did fitting diagrams here:
http://djconnel.blogspot.com/...cervelo-demo-r5.html You can either start with desired x,y and project back to the frame, or project from the frame and try to get close to x,y.
I'm no fitting expert but it seems to me you want to be able to ride in the drops for a more aggressive position, or hoods for less aggressive, in each case with bent elbows without pivoting shoulders forward. When lowering the bars means you lose the drops or need to strain shoulders or overextend arms you're no longer improving back position, just straining. 3d bike fit also likes to emphasize rotating pelvis forward and maintaining a straight back. I really don't see many pros with straight backs so I wonder about that one, but everything else seems consistent with what the best riders do.
