Giro / Vuelta combo

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited May 2008 in Pro race
Bit early to assume this but who was the last person to do the Giro / Vuelta double?

It's a bit exotic.
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.

Comments

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    It's only been done twice;

    1973 Merckx
    1981 Battaglin
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    A good one to get then.

    Its been 10 years since we've had any kind of double.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • secretsqirrel
    secretsqirrel Posts: 2,123
    Would be right up Bertie's street this year. Nothing better to do, a rest during July..........
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    It would also mean that Bertie (assuming its him you are inferring) would have won all three GTs in successive attempts without suffering a defeat.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • OllyBianchi
    OllyBianchi Posts: 89
    And don't forget the twice the double has been done were when the Vuelta was a spring race, coming before the Giro - it's not been done since the Vuelta switched to September.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    OllyBianchi wrote:
    And don't forget the twice the double has been done were when the Vuelta was a spring race, coming before the Giro - it's not been done since the Vuelta switched to September.
    Indeed. With around a week between them too I think.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    He'd also be the first rider since Hinault to win all three GTs. Not bad. Can't see him ever turning up and winning Paris-Roubaix though!
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    You'd be suprised. Medical science moves quickly these days.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • Salsiccia
    Salsiccia Posts: 405
    andyp wrote:
    It's only been done twice;

    1973 Merckx
    1981 Battaglin

    Another one to answer, then; what is the closest any rider has come to winning all three GTs in the same year? I know Marino Lejarreta used to ride all three and contend in each one, but has someone who won two of them placed well in the other in the same year? Or won 1 and placed well in the other 2?

    I hope this question makes sense...
    I was only joking when I said
    by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Best I could find is some info in this post:

    http://tinyurl.com/5so3ee

    ...that says Raphael Gemiani finished 4th, 6th and 3rd in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in 1955.
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    afx, you don't get this internet thing, do you?

    You're supposed to pass that answer as your own so we can bask in your apparent brilliance.
  • Salsiccia
    Salsiccia Posts: 405
    afx237vi wrote:
    Best I could find is some info in this post:

    http://tinyurl.com/5so3ee

    ...that says Raphael Gemiani finished 4th, 6th and 3rd in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in 1955.

    Cheers for that. I'd love to see someone challenge in all three again, but I doubt it'll ever happen again. The GT riders are now more focused on their main season aims; I don't know if we'll ever see a big name ride all three in the same year, let alone contend in them.
    I was only joking when I said
    by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    drenkrom wrote:
    afx, you don't get this internet thing, do you?

    You're supposed to pass that answer as your own so we can bask in your apparent brilliance.

    But I am brilliant. At googling 8)
    Salsiccia wrote:
    Cheers for that. I'd love to see someone challenge in all three again, but I doubt it'll ever happen again. The GT riders are now more focused on their main season aims; I don't know if we'll ever see a big name ride all three in the same year, let alone contend in them.

    Well Sastre rode (and completed) all three in 2006 - 3rd in the Tour, 4th in the Vuelta and 43rd in the Giro as Basso's domestique. So that's not bad. And Evans podiumed twice last year. So it's getting rarer, but it's not unknown.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    According to wikipedia:
    Winners of Two Grand Tours in a Year

Eight riders have achieved a double by winning two grand tours in the same year.

Seven cyclists have won the Tour and the Giro in the same year:

    * Fausto Coppi (Italy): 1949, 1952
    * Jacques Anquetil (France): 1964
    * Eddy Merckx (Belgium): 1970, 1972, 1974
    * Bernard Hinault (France): 1982, 1985
    * Stephen Roche (Ireland): 1987
    * Miguel Indurain (Spain): 1992, 1993
    * Marco Pantani (Italy): 1998

Two of the above seven have also done a Tour/Vuelta double in a different year:

    * Jacques Anquetil (France): 1963
    * Bernard Hinault (France): 1978

The Giro/Vuelta double has been achieved by two cyclists:

    * Eddy Merckx (Belgium): 1973
    * Giovanni Battaglin (Italy): 1981
    [/code]
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    So, something good may come out of the ASO Astana ban, after all.
    This GT combo would never be on the cards, otherwise.
    Not to be sniffed at, I'd say.
    Although, come July, I don't think it will be foremost in many people's minds.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.

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