AC -- Triple Crown

musette

How exciting for AC and Bruyneel!

If AC wins the Vuelta, he will become only the fifth rider ever to have won each of the three Grand Tours.

"... already growing speculation the 2007 Tour de France champ can complete cycling’s “grand tour triple crown” with a run at the Vuelta a España this fall.... Only four riders [Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Merckx, Hinault] have won all three of cycling’s major three-week tours and Contador could become the rider to achieve all three victories within the shortest amount of time, if he can pull off a win during September’s Spanish tour." Velonews.

hawkeye87

Actually to be a true "Triple Crown" (as from the horse racing term that owns that name), he'd have to win all 3 Grand Tours in one year. Perhaps Alberto "Jesus Christ" Contador can but he has only 1 in the bag right now.

__________________

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." -- Wayne Gretzsky

Bikeridindude

Did any of these guys do it all in the same year?

TheDarkLord

I think we should rename velonews to astananews.

musette

I can look into it further, but at least the inference from the Velonews article is that no cyclist has yet done it in the same calendar year:

"Only four riders have won all three of cycling’s major three-week tours and Contador could become the rider to achieve all three victories within the shortest amount of time, if he can pull off a win during September’s Spanish tour.
Jacques Anquetil was the first to complete cycling’s grand tour sweep, with five Tours, two Giros and one Vuelta between 1957-1964.
Felice Gimondi became the second, winning one Tour, three Giros and one Vuelta from 1965-1976.
Eddy Merckx, who holds the record with the most grand tour victories at 11, won five Tours, five Giros and one Vuelta from 1969-1974.
Bernard Hinault currently holds the record for claiming all three within the shortest time frame, winning the first of five Tours in 1978, his first of two Vueltas in 1978 and one of three Giros in 1980, within a period of 26 months."

If AC's fourteen months (in the event he wins the Vuelta) would be the shortest span of time over which anybody would have won the Triple Crown, then nobody could have won the three GTs for the same calendar year (because any such person would have won the races within less than twelve months).

Also, the above suggests that Hinault has the closest timeperiod to achieve the Triple Crown before any AC achievement. Hinault won the Tour and Vuelta 1978 and the Giro 1980.

micron

See, feedbag, if you weren't so Astanacentric and knew anything about the history of the sport you would know, for a start, that the Triple Crown of cycling is to win the Giro, the Tour de France and the Worlds in the same season and that this feat has been achieved twice - first by Eddy Merckx in 1974 then repeated by Stephen Roche in 1987.

Nobody has won all 3 GTs in one season, though again Merckx came closest in 1973 when he easily took the Vuelta/Giro double but decided not to ride the Tour - since he'd already won the Giro/Tour double in 1970 and 1972 it's not unreasonable to speculate that he could have come very close to winning all 3 GTs. This also means that he won all three GTs in the space of 13 months - Giro 1972 (May 21st), Tour de France the same year then the Vuelta (finished May 13th) 1973. Bernard Hinault won the Giro 82 (May 13th), Tour de France, then Vuelta 1983 (finished May 8th). Both did it within 13 months.

What neither you or velonews appreciate is that the calendar was different before Astana were around and the Vuelta was the first GT of the season.

Yet again, the Astana blinkers prevent the truth from being seen and we get the history of cycling as rewritten by Johann Bruynell - shocking, really. I'd write and complain but I guess the velonews disciples would hate to know that a) Dertie isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread and b) they can't fact check

thunder

fuck off musette

that is about as diplomatic and cordial as I can be

Crankyfeet

I think this "Jesus Christ" label is a bit unfair, hawkeye.

Jesus never had the stamina to win a single GT and word has it... he didn't look that good in lycra with his robes off, either.

__________________

earth_dweller

and he probably didn't shave....

classic1

FWIW Giovanni Battaglin won the Vuelta/Giro double in 1981, but didn't ride the Tour.

__________________
“I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”
Genghis Khan

thoughtforfood

I don't think I can be that diplomatic, so I will just stop writing.

__________________
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

Jeff Vader

This is so awesome. Al has a huge future in front of him. Can't wait to see him defend his Tour title. There is simply no competition for him. Hate to say it, he is almost as good as Lance was at that age.

__________________
Cake or Death?

Wayne666

Didn't he barely win the Tour last year against mostly guys, certainly his closest rivals, who have never won a GT? Leipheimer usually doesn't even get near the podium. I assume you're just having a go since he's not put in a dominant performance yet. At the mooment he looks very promising, but not a sure bet to go on to dominance. We'll see.

Eldrack

Surely the fact that the Vuelta was, until 1995, run in the spring, finishing just a few days before the Giro started makes most of this discussion pointless? No comparison can be made between riders before and after that particular date when it comes to triple crown like achievements. All that can be said is that those who managed to win the Vuelta/Giro double back to back, with only a few days in between scores serious man (and doping) points.