Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinarocket
Are you saying Bernal is going to be too strong for the others at the tour? I don't think the TdF can be boring if Bernal is even going there (don't remember it seeing confirmed anywhere) with pogacar/roglic
When's the last time somebody won both the giro and the tour, leave alone run over both
I'd guess he meant the Giro, as the Giro+Tour double is unbelievably difficult not to mention Bernal is almost certainly not going to be riding GC in the Tour unless something dramatic happens.
Pantani won both in '98. Indurain did it in both '92 and '93, during the years when he was virtually unstoppable - until he came up against this terrifying adversary, "The Eagle from Herning".
As ferocious as he was beautiful, Bjarne Riis, more EPO than man, destroyed everyone in the '96 Tour, including his teammate, eternal runner up Jan Ullrich.
Other than Pantani and Indurain, only Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil and Coppi have done it. So only a couple of the all time greats have managed to do it. In the modern days, I think it's pretty much impossible. You need to be both a generational talent and have mediocre opponents for it to be doable today. Froome and Contador, easily the two best GC riders of the past 15 years, have both attempted it. Both won the Giro, but failed to win the Tour. Froome finished 3rd, and Contador finished 5th (twice, but the '11 results were voided due to the doping case).
In fact, these two are the only two riders to have won two GTs in the same calendar year since Pantani, with Froome winning the Tour+Vuelta and Contador winning Giro+Vuelta. Froome won the Giro the following year (when he later finished 3rd in the Tour), so he was the reigning champion in all three GTs at the same time for a bit.
I'm kinda surprised nobody else has done the Giro+Vuelta, because it's not super uncommon for someone to target both the Giro and Vuelta GC. But it goes to show that winning these races requires isn't just something you can decide to do, even for the best guys. I also think the Giro and Vuelta have gotten more competitive the last few years, 10-20 years ago they were often won by riders who weren't really some of the best GC riders overall, while today it's often been targeted by some of the top GC guys.