Tour of Italy
Pogacar joins an illustrious group after his Tour final victory. Merckx is of course on the list, but do you know the other six?
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1) Fausto Coppi (1949 and 1952)
Fausto Coppi is perhaps the most mythical name in cycling. In 1940, the winged climber won his first Giro, but then his career was nipped in the bud by the Second World War. Or so it seemed, because after years spent in a POW camp, Coppi returned. And how! He won the Giro four more times in 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953. In 1949 and 1952 he also won the Tour. It all adds to the heroism surrounding the crowd favorite Coppi and his rival Gino Bartali.
2) Jacques Anguetil (1964)
In the 1964 Tour, Anquetil repeated Coppi’s feat. In the Giro, Monsieur Chrono quickly conquered the pink jersey by winning the first time trial. The Frenchman did not relinquish that lead in the remainder of the Giro.
A heroic duel with his eternal rival Raymond Poulidor developed. The battle on the Puy de Dome in particular was memorable. In the end, Anquetil came out on top and achieved the double.
3) Eddy Merckx (1970, 1972, 1974)
Of course Eddy Merckx achieved the double, three times! In 1970, 1972 and 1974 Merckx managed to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same year. In 1974 he also became world champion, perhaps his best season ever.
Merckx won the Giro five times and the Tour five times. In the Tour he has to share that record with Jacques Anquetil, Miguel Indurain and Bernard Hinault. In the Giro only with Fausto Coppi and the pre-war Alfredo Binda.
4) Bernard Hinault (1982, 1985)
Frenchman Bernard Hinault was also not afraid of anything. ‘The Badger’ belittled the opposition in 1982, but in 1985 the Frenchman had a harder time. In the Giro Francesco Moser put him under pressure, in the Tour teammate Greg Lemond had to wait for his French leader, otherwise the podium in Paris would have looked very different.
5) Stephen Roche (1987)
If we were ever to speak of a bumper year, it was Stephen Roche’s year 1987. Not only did the Irishman with his strong character achieve the Giro-Tour double, he also became world champion in the autumn.
In the Giro, Roche refused to ride in the service of the Italian crowd favorite Roberto Visentini, which earned him a lot of scorn from the fanatic tifosi. Roche still won. In the Tour, he held off Pedro Delgado.
6) Miguel Indurain (1992, 1993)
Miguel Indurain was accused of being boring, but his record is anything but. He has won the Giro twice and the Tour five times. In ’92 and ’93, the silent Spaniard won both tours in the same year.
In 1992 Indurain had no trouble with Claudio Chiapucci, a year later he had a much harder time with Pyotr Ugrumov, but Indurain still won.
7) Marco Pantani (1998)
Marco Pantani comes closest to his illustrious compatriot Fausto Coppi in terms of myth-making. The bald Italian thrilled the tifosi when he made a splash in the mountains. In 1998 he won the Giro in grand style and a few months later he completely destroyed yellow jersey wearer Jan Ullrich on the Galibier.
