dahoss2002

Although highly unlikely, this would make for some excitement. Tinkoff-Saxo throws down Giro-Tour challenge to Grand Tour rivals | Cyclingnews.com

Contador and Froome crashing out of TDF sure changed the landscape on the Vuelta. We can only hope.

Zinger

Anquetil did doubles in '63 and '64. One with the Giro and one with the Vuelta.

Merckx did four doubles in five years. Pantani did a double in '98.

Those are legacies to live up to if you want to be remembered as a great.

That's why I like Contador. Bold challenge....just like he races.

Giacomo 1 

I think Tinko Saxo should be careful what they wish for.
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While Contador might be the best GT rider of his time, a lot of things have to come together to continue winning GTs. Will he remain healthy? Will his team be healthy? Can they get the strategies just right? Will their competitors get stronger? All that and more needs to be answeredbefore they shoot from the lip.

And besides, does a newcomer or unknown step up to spoil it all?

bikemig 

I like it, .

patrickgm60

I'm not that familiar with GT intricacies. Is the issue one of fairness between teams, as some teams place their top GC riders in the Giro and TdF, while others focus only on the latter? Are 5(?) weeks not enough time for the GC contenders to fully recover from one GT and compete in the next?


Even if, say Contador, Froome, Nibali, Quintana, etc. compete in both/all GTs, would/could not the supporting rosters change from one race to the next? If so, this issue simply comes down to bragging rights for the fastest-recovering GC rider (who appears to be AC)?

dahoss2002

Alberto turns 32 this year so maybe he thinks the time is now if ever! Cannot blame him. Even if he was guilty for the two grand tours he was stripped of, he did his time and I think he is as clean as Froome or Nibali at present. He wants to leave his legacy on the sport. I have admired him since he refused to be "dictated to" by Lance and Brunyeel at the 2009 TDF. Ride Pistolero ride!!!!

Leinster

And that would appear to be that.

It'd be great to see all the top riders from the Giro, Tour and Vuelta from this year, go all out in at least one of the GTs next year. From what I can see, only Aru made the top 5 in more than one GT in 2014 (3rd in Giro, 5th in Vuelta). There's some crashes to factor in there (Quintana in particular, though Froome and Contador might not have even rode the Vuelta if not for their crashes on the Tour), but it really was a year where the big names only aligned in Spain, and even at that, Nibali wasn't there so it had a distinct "consolation prize" feel about it (particularly since, again, the top 2 were only riding because they crashed out of the Tour).

MinnMan

I don't get it, really. In 2011, Contador seemed to be less than himself in the TdF, and I always figured it was because he hadn't recovered fully from the Giro. Targeting the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year makes sense, but in this age of periodization and (I hope) less dope, anybody who really wants to compete in the Tour should not try to win the Giro. They are bound to be at a disadvantage to the guys who aim only for the Tour. If a TdF hopeful does ride the Giro, he should just use it as a training exercise.

Keith99

Until Fausto Coppi did the Tour/Giro double in 1949 it was thought to be impossible.

When he did it in 1949 he swept all the major Jerseys in both races!

Note that at the time all Major Jerseys meant the GC and KOM, there was no points jersey.

So some are again saying it is not possible I think I'll wait and see.

Keith99

The Tour/Giro Double was also done by Fausto Coppi in 1949 and 1952, By Hernard Hinault in 1982 and 1985 and by Miguel Indurain in 1992 and 1993.

The Triple Crown, Tour, Giro and Worlds, was accomplished by Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987.

Hinault added a Tour Vuelta Double in 1978.

Giovanni Battaglin and Alberto did Giro Vuuelta Doubles in 81 and 08.

Zinger

I knew I could rely on the fans to update me on some of these. As an American fan in the '80s I paid attention to the Coors Classic and the TDF (like a lot of Americans) and am short on my history of the others.

Thing is that they used to go for the gusto in a lot of sports whereas the top dogs in this one seem to focus on one Grand tour a season anymore. Just like fighters used to fight round robin and nowadays it takes a truce between competing promoters to get around to unification fights or just plain matching the best two fighters in any division any more. Nice to hear a challenge from a throwback like Contador anyway. And I hope he pulls it off.

Rant done

Keith99

Here is a link that will let you get what I said quickly. I remembered most of what I posted except for what year it was. Click on Grand Tours under Race results. Clicking on an individual Tour will give both the results for each year, top 3 plus KOM and Points Jersey and some interesting summary info, like multiple Jersey winners, top number of wins for each Jersey and winning the worlds and that Tour.

One thing you won't find is a listing of riders who won Paris-Roubaix and a Grand Tour in the same year. Perhaps it is because it is so rare that it almost never happens. Except for when Eddy rides. He won Paris-Roubaix 3 times and every time also won the Giro. He added the Tour once and the Vuelta once.

Cycling Hall of Fame.com

EDIT:

Combining PR with Grand tour has only been done 4 times aside from Merckx.

Hinault with the TDF in 1981
Jan Jannsen with the Vuelta in 1967
Octave Lapize with the Tour in 1910
Louis Trousselier with the Tour in 1905

Leinster

Hinault won the Roubaix/Tour double in '81, just to prove a point about not liking Roubaix.

Can't be too many others who've won both, even in separate years. Hinault beat De Vlaeminck (4 time Roubaix winner) and Moser (3x) in the sprint at the Velodrome in '81, and those guys were definitely not Tour winners.

jyl

Awful big challenge for Contador to target Giro and Tour in the same year. Against Froome, Quintana, and others who will avoid Giro and contest Tour with strong teams and peaking form. And sharing a Tour team w/ Sagan who will want/need suport to win stages. I'm dubious.

MinnMan

This is right.

And to all you guys who are posting about the heroes of yore who did amazing things, all props to them, but I hope you are not trying to compare what they did to the performance or the guts of contemporary racers. Bully for the old time guys who went for the gusto, etc., but the competition is different now-first because of more regimented periodized training programs. Second because the fields are deeper and (post-Armstrong), it's harder for a small number of guys to dominate the GTs. The presence/absence/prevalence of PEDs is also a factor. We know that in the old days many popped amphetamines like candy. Those will do wonders to overcome the fatigue of the Giro. Maybe the modern guys have their secret equivalents. yeah. maybe.

dahoss2002

Nowadays it is called, "training at altitude"

Keith99

Different years there are quite a few. Sylvere Maes, Fausto Coppi, Lousion Bobet and Felice Gimondi come to mind. At least 3 more from the very early days.

cthenn

Tenerife FTW!

Keith99

And just how would this help the rider who wants to Double? amphetamines never were magic. If anythgin they let you gain performance today by mortgaging tomorrow. That puts the guy who wants to double at a disadvantage.

chasm54

In his peak years, Merckx was winning 50 races a year. He raced, on average, four times a week during the season (I'm including individual stages in the Grand Tours) and won two out of five. His career was undoubtedly shortened by the sheer workload - especially since he almost always raced to win. If he had looked after himself like they do these days, with periodisation etc., who knows how many GTs he might have managed?

Keith99

I get so tired of people looking at Merckx and saying well things were different then, no one could do that now.

No one could do it then either.

Inspired by sites that list winning the Triple Crown (Tour, Giro and Worlds in the same year) I started wondering if I might get an interesting list of winners of multiple true top level races in one year. What might I find if I added a few more races.

I settled on what I call the Big Nine. The three grand tours, the Worlds and The Five Monuments.

Interestingly winning 3 or more of these has only been done 13 times with only 2 riders winning more than 3 and only one rider winning 3 or more more than once.

Of course Merckx in in 1974 and Stephen Roache make the list for their Triple Crowns in 1974 and 1987.

Alfredo Binda started it in 1927.

In 1949 Fausto Coppi won 4 including both the GC and KOM in both the Tour and Giro. I'm sure people said that would never be duplicated. And if one gets specific it has not.

Next up was Rik Van Looy. The first to do it without winning a grand tour and teh only rider ever to winn all 8 of teh orthodox classics in a career.

Hinault makes the list on 1980 and Tom Boonen in 2005.

7 so far. Merckx was the only rider to win 3 or more multiple time. Multiple times means every year from 1969 through 1975. That included 4 wins twice and 5 wins twice.

1968 wasn't too bad for Merckx either. He won the GC, KOM and Points Jerseys in the Giro that year, no other rider has yet done that in a career.

So next time you hear that no one could match what Merckx did rememer that before Merckx no one thougth anyone would ever even come close to putting up the numbers Merckx did.

sprince

I think his career was only abbreviated due to injuries. I believe it was his back problems that caused him to one day decide to step off his bike and go home. But in the realm of mere mortals, Contador may be the only rider today capable of being competitive for 2 or 3 tours in a calendar year. Tinkov is just bragging, but it's all good for cycling.

bici_mania

I am probably in the minority here but I am not at a Contador fan. I think Contador is more like Armstrong than Merckx or any other Saints of yore.

I think Tinkov is writing checks that Contador can't cash but it will probably go a long way to drawing peoples attention to cycling in the upcoming year.

Personally, I am hoping and expecting Nairo Quintana to displace Contador.

Caretaker

Contador is 'tainted' in my mind. Also sad to see Basso being given prominence at the recent launch of Giro 2015.

Keith99

There have been a couple of times I've thought about writing 'news article' about a young Belgian rider who was coming on like gangbusters in 68 and 69 only to suffer a horrendous accident that would limit huis wins and eventually contribute to his early retirement.

Eddy seems to more credit the toll that riding the 1975 TDF when unable to eat solid food took on him than the earlier crash in 69.