At the press conference at which he announced his participation in the Giro d'Italia, Tadej Pogacar said that he is now at an age where he can cope with two major national tours in one season. He is now 25 years old. And "ready for this new challenge".
Pogacar has been riding Grand Tours since 2019. He finished the 2019 Vuelta in 3rd place and won the Tour in the following two years, before winning twice. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) was better. After five three-week races in Spain and France, part one of the double attempt in Italy was a success. Pogacar won the Giro d'Italia in outstanding style. Now the exceptionally talented rider wants to complete his work at the Tour de France.
From Coppi to Pantani: A septet managed the double of Giro d'Italia and Tour de France
Just how difficult this is is demonstrated by the short and select list of names who have already succeeded. Only seven riders have achieved this feat in the more than 100-year history of both races. In total, the Giro winner was also the Tour winner in twelve years between 1949 and 1998.
The fact that the list is headed by Eddy Merckx is hardly surprising. The Belgian, who has won more Grand Tours than anyone else with eleven, achieved the double of Giro and Tour three times. In 1970, 1972 and 1974, he came top in Italy and France respectively. Fausto Coppi also achieved this twice. In 1949, the Italian was the first to win both races in one year. He repeated this feat in 1952.
French legend Bernard Hinault also won the Giro and Tour in 1982 and 1985. So did Miguel Indurain. He did it in 1992 and 1993, the only one to do so in two consecutive years. Another Frenchman, Jacques Anquetil, achieved the double (1964), while Irishman Stephen Roche did it in 1987. Apart from Merckx in 1974, no-one other than Roche has managed to become world champion in the same year and thus take the "Triple Crown of Cycling". An extremely rare success, as a lot has to go together. Pogacar, who also has a start in the World Cycling Championships in Zurich this year.
Unsuccessful attempts by Froome, Contador and Nibali
The last Giro-Tour double was 26 years ago. Marco Pantani won both tours in 1998.
Nobody really came close after that. The potential suspects, such as Vincenzo Nibali or Alberto Contador, who won both tours in their careers, did try, but only with varying degrees of success. After winning the Giro in 2016, Nibali finished 30th in the Tour, while Contador won in Italy a year earlier and then finished fifth in the second Grand Tour, more than eight minutes behind Chris Froome.
The Brit came closest in 2018 when he first won the Giro and finished third in the Tour, two and a half minutes behind his compatriot Geraint Thomas, who won ahead of Tom Dumoulin, who had also previously finished second in the Giro in 2018. Now, six years later, Pogacar appears to be a serious contender again in the race to expand the list of seven.
Riders who won the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in one season
- Fausto Coppi (Italy): 1949 and 1952
- Jacques Anquetil (France): 1964
- Eddy Merckx (Belgium): 1970, 1972 and 1974
- Bernard Hinault (France): 1982 and 1985
- Stephen Roche (Ireland): 1987
- Miguel Indurain (Spain): 1992 and 1993
- Marco Pantani (Italy): 1998
Possible spoiler Jonas Vingegaard
One person in particular could spoil it for him: Jonas Vingegaard - although there is a question mark over his form after his crash at the Tour of the Basque Country. The Dane has robbed Pogacar of his third Tour victory in the last two years and now has two himself. Above all, however, Vingegaard himself was already on the verge of another double in 2023, but this did not materialise due to internal team decisions at Jumbo-Visma. If Vingegaard, who finished second in the Vuelta, had been given a free ride - and had wanted to - he would have been perfectly capable of riding his noble helper Sepp Kuss out of the red jersey and thus winning the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in one year. To date, only three riders have won the Tour and Vuelta in the same season. It was Anquetil in 1963, Hinault in 1978 and Froome in 2017.
Riders who have won the Tour de France and Vuelta in one season
- Jacques Anquetil (France): 1963
- Bernard Hinault (France): 1978
- Chris Froome (Great Britain): 2017
Riders who won the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta in one season
- Eddy Merckx (Belgium): 1973
- Giovanni Battaglin (Italy): 1981
- Alberto Contador (Spain): 2008
