"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Any team ever pulled the trifecta?

Has there ever been a team to win all 3 grand tours in one year?

I know I'm putting the cart before the horse, but if Armstrong goes out on top like he wants to. . .

But back to the original question, has it ever been done?

When Bernard Hinault won the 1983 Vuelta-then held in spring, remember?- he also held the Giro and Tour titles from 1982.

Eddy Merckx won four in a row..the '72 Tour and Giro, the '73 Vuelta and Giro.

I assume you really meant this to be about a calendar year, not just a 12 month period, - but what the hell! ;-)

I know Roche won the Giro - TDF and Worlds in 1987.. I'm not sure how his Carrera team did in the other Tours that year..

I don't think so. It is a lot of work to check on teams. I once did check by country. That has only happened once. Easy to look up as 'The Eternal Second' won the vuelta that year giving France a sweep of the Tours.

I can't find it happening ever, and I'm assuming if it had happened that would be a big deal and would probably be an easily google-able bit of info.

These other stats you guys are finding are quite impressive in their own right however.

I know Roche won the Giro - TDF and Worlds in 1987.. I'm not sure how his Carrera team did in the other Tours that year..


Luis Herrera won the Vuelta in 87. Cafe de Colombia.......I think.

No team has ever won all 3 (I bothered to look it up). Excluding recent years (where I know that no team won all 3, I'm not forgetting USP winning the Tour and Vuelta) there have only been 4 times when a team won the Tour and Vuelta (I went with tour and Vuelta to start because for many years the Tour was national teams, the Vuelta is the youngest of the 3, war years took different years and the Tour and Vuelta were least apt to be won by the same team for other reasons). Those are 62, 63, 78 and 83. In none of those cases did the team that won the Tour and Vuelta aven enter a team in the Giro.

It seems that the closest a team has come is Banesto in 92 when Mig won the Tour and Giro and Delgado finished 3rd in the Vuelta.

No team has ever won all 3 (I bothered to look it up). Excluding recent years (where I know that no team won all 3, I'm not forgetting USP winning the Tour and Vuelta) there have only been 4 times when a team won the Tour and Vuelta (I went with tour and Vuelta to start because for many years the Tour was national teams, the Vuelta is the youngest of the 3, war years took different years and the Tour and Vuelta were least apt to be won by the same team for other reasons). Those are 62, 63, 78 and 83. In none of those cases did the team that won the Tour and Vuelta aven enter a team in the Giro.

It seems that the closest a team has come is Banesto in 92 when Mig won the Tour and Giro and Delgado finished 3rd in the Vuelta.

Uh, maybe I'm wrong, but didn't Postal pull off the Tour/Vuelta double in 2003, with Lance and Heras?

You're correct, beppe.

Yes he is, but I pointed that out in my post:

Excluding recent years (where I know that no team won all 3, I'm not forgetting USP winning the Tour and Vuelta).

Keith

No team has ever won all 3 (I bothered to look it up). Excluding recent years (where I know that no team won all 3, I'm not forgetting USP winning the Tour and Vuelta) there have only been 4 times when a team won the Tour and Vuelta (I went with tour and Vuelta to start because for many years the Tour was national teams, the Vuelta is the youngest of the 3, war years took different years and the Tour and Vuelta were least apt to be won by the same team for other reasons). Those are 62, 63, 78 and 83. In none of those cases did the team that won the Tour and Vuelta aven enter a team in the Giro.

It seems that the closest a team has come is Banesto in 92 when Mig won the Tour and Giro and Delgado finished 3rd in the Vuelta.


Good work Keith. (Although, I BOTHERED to look it up too, didn't find it and wanted to confirm it. I find that there are a lot of people on here who have a wealth of historical knowledge)

It's wild that none of those teams had participated in the Giro. I guess that's expecting to spread a team a bit thin in the pre-Pro Tour era?

Thanks CnF,

I actually did more than look it up. I had to compile the information. Skipped some recent years (Ones I was sure of, like everything from 1999 on and took shortcuts for others where I was pretty sure). Then looked up when the TDF was national teams and then started with the Vuelta (Youngest and least years to check). Wrote down the team of the winner of the TDF for years the Vuelta existed and the TDF was by teams. Then had to look up a handful of Giro years. (Which is why I went that way, there were more times when the same team won the Tour and Giro based just on the doubles of Merckx and Hinault).

The site that let me do this was:

memorie-du-cyclisme.net (I look it up in google and then read the translated version). The cycling hall of fame also has some good stuff. Find a few good sites and you can with some work get almost anything (Only almost, I still do not have a complete list of mostagressive rider awards for the TDF).

Also I have found that I find a lot more stuff through the back door. I had no luck looking up the Vuelta and little for the Giro. For the Tour I got hits, but tons of junk also. But search for "Merckx Hinault Coppi Binda" and you get all kinds of good stuff and less junk.

I'll close with a nasty question.

Has any team ever won at least 2 of the Major tours and 2 of the major classics in one year. (Answer yes).