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Triple Crown of Cycling

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Eddy Merckx wearing a jersey with rainbow stripes, holding a bouquet of flowers.
Belgium Eddy Merckx
Stephen Roche wearing a jersey with rainbow stripes.
Republic of Ireland Stephen Roche
Tadej Pogačar wearing a jersey with rainbow stripes, raising his fist in the air and holding flowers in his other hand.
Slovenia Tadej Pogačar

The Triple Crown of Cycling in road bicycle racing denotes the achievement of winning three major titles in the same season: the UCI Road World Championships Road Race, the Tour de France general classification, and the Giro d'Italia general classification.[1][2] It is considered one of the most difficult and prestigious achievements in the sport, with journalists calling it "cycling’s most elite club" and "all but impossible in the modern age."[3][4]

The men's triple crown has been achieved by three riders: Eddy Merckx in 1974, Stephen Roche in 1987 and Tadej Pogačar in 2024. In women's cycling, where there are no three-week grand tours, the definition can vary between sources. Annemiek van Vleuten is widely credited as achieving a comparable triple crown in 2022, when she won the Tour de France Femmes, Giro d'Italia Women and the World Championship Road Race.[2][5] The term "triple crown" is occasionally used more broadly; van Vleuten also won the 2022 Challenge by La Vuelta (the predecessor to the La Vuelta Femenina), sweeping the three major women's tours in a single year, an achievement sometimes referred to as a triple crown.[6] The phrase "triple crown" is occasionally used for other feats as well, such as winning all three Grand Tours over a rider's career, winning consecutive Grand Tours, or winning world championships across different disciplines of cycling.

Despite the prestige and recognition associated with these achievements, the Triple Crown of Cycling is not an official title awarded by cycling's governing bodies, and there is no physical award for its accomplishment.

Other definitions

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Career triple crown

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Only seven riders have won all three races that make up the triple crown (UCI Road World Championships road race, the Tour de France, and the Giro d'Italia): Merckx, Roche, Pogačar and Van Vleuten, who each won the triple crown in a single season, and also Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi and Bernard Hinault; these last three are said to have completed a career triple crown.

Key
Bold Bold indicates the win that achieved a career triple crown.
Men's career triple crown winners
Cyclist Tour de France wins Giro d'Italia wins World Championship wins
 Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1949, 1952 1940, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953 1953
 Felice Gimondi (ITA) 1965 1967, 1969, 1976 1973
 Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974 1967, 1971, 1974
 Bernard Hinault (FRA) 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985 1980, 1982, 1985 1980
 Stephen Roche (IRL) 1987 1987 1987
 Tadej Pogačar (SLO) 2020, 2021, 2024 2024 2024
Women's career triple crown winners
Cyclist Tour de France Femmes wins Giro d'Italia Women wins World Championship wins
 Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) 2022 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 2019, 2022

Grand Tours

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Main article: Grand Tour (cycling) § Winners of all three Grand Tours
Annemiek van Vleuten wearing a jersey with rainbow stripes, biting a gold medal and holding flowers.
Annemiek van Vleuten is credited with winning a "triple crown" or "grand tour triple" in 2022 (pictured in 2018)

The Grand Tours are a set of stage races: the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, and the Vuelta a España. These races have special status in Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) regulations, as they award the most UCI points and are the only races longer than 14 days. Seven riders have won all three races across their careers—an achievement some sources have called a "triple crown".[7][8] Cycling journalist Matthew Hansen has argued that a single-season sweep of the Grand Tours should replace the traditional Tour-Giro-World Championship definition, noting that historical scheduling conflicts that once made combining the Giro and Vuelta difficult no longer apply.[9] No rider has ever achieved this hypothetical single-season sweep, but three men—Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome—have won all three Grand Tours in a row, split over calendar years.[10] Some sources have called this feat, holding the titles of all three races at the same time, a "triple crown of wins" or "cycling's triple crown".[11][12]

In women's cycling, the Grand Tour label is debated, as the major stage races have a less consistent history and are considerably shorter. The Giro d'Italia Women is the most established, first held in 1988 and running consistently since 1993, while the Tour de France Femmes was only launched in 2022 (succeeding the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, a female equivalent of the Tour from 1984–2009), and La Vuelta Femenina started in its current form in 2023.[13][14] The Vuelta replaced the shorter and less demanding Challenge by La Vuelta stage race, whose status as a Grand Tour is particularly contested.[15]

Despite the evolving status of women's races, Annemiek van Vleuten is often credited with winning a "grand tour triple" or "all three Grand Tours" for her achievements in 2022.[16][17] Van Vleuten won the Tour, the Giro, and the Challenge by La Vuelta, in addition to winning the 2022 World Championship. This came as part of a run of six consecutive victories in major stage races: Challenge by La Vuelta (2021 and 2022), Giro Donne (2022 and 2023), Tour de France Femmes (2022), and La Vuelta Femenina (2023).[16]

Career winners of all three Grand Tours

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Seven riders have won all three Grand Tours over their career.

Key
Bold Bold indicates the win that completed the career set of all three Grand Tours.
Men's career winners of all three Grand Tours
Cyclist Tour de France wins Giro d'Italia wins Vuelta a España wins
 Jacques Anquetil (FRA) 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 1960, 1964 1963
 Felice Gimondi (ITA) 1965 1967, 1969, 1976 1968
 Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974 1973
 Bernard Hinault (FRA) 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985 1980, 1982, 1985 1978, 1983
 Alberto Contador (ESP) 2007, 2009 2008, 2015 2008, 2012, 2014
 Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) 2014 2013, 2016 2010
 Chris Froome (GBR) 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 2018 2011, 2017

"All the jerseys"

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While no male rider has ever won all three grand tours in a single calendar year/season, three riders have won the three Grand tours consecutively across two seasons, thus holding ''all the jerseys'' at one time:

  • Eddy Merckx won four consecutive grand tours in 1972–1973: Giro 1972, Tour 1972, Vuelta 1973, and Giro 1973;
  • Bernard Hinault won three consecutive grand tours in 1982–1983: Giro 1982, Tour 1982, and Vuelta 1983;
  • Chris Froome won three consecutive grand tours in 2017–2018: Tour 2017, Vuelta 2017 and Giro 2018.

Winning world titles in three disciplines

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While the triple crown is typically mentioned in the context of road racing, some commentators have used the phrase to refer to winning across three different cycling disciplines: a "rainbow triple crown" (named for the rainbow jersey worn by the reigning world champion).[18] In 2014, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the World Championship road race and followed this in 2015 with the world championships in cyclocross and cross-country mountain biking, which meant she held world titles in three cycling disciplines simultaneously.[19] In 2022, she won the UCI Gravel World Championships, adding to a total of eight world championships across four disciplines.

Dutch riders Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel have also won world championships in at least three disciplines across their career: Vos won the road race three times, cyclo-cross eight times, track twice (in two different events), and gravel once; van der Poel won the road race once, cyclo-cross seven times, and gravel once.[20][21]

References

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  1. ^ "Stephen Roche wins Triple crown". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  2. ^ a b Nelson, Craig (29 September 2024). "Pogacar completes 'Triple Crown' with first world title". BBC. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  3. ^ Hood, Andrew (11 January 2023). "Stephen Roche and the chase for cycling's elusive 'triple crown'". Velo. Archived from the original on 23 April 2025. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  4. ^ Marshall-Bell, Chris (29 September 2024). "How Tadej Pogačar created history and claimed cycling's Triple Crown of the Giro-Tour-Worlds". CyclingWeekly. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  5. ^ Zaccardi, Nick (29 September 2024). "Tadej Pogacar wins world championships road race, completes cycling's rare triple crown". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 7 December 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  6. ^ "Dutch cyclist Van Vleuten, 39, claims greatest win at worlds". seattletimes.com. Associated Press. 24 September 2022. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  7. ^ Austen, Ian (22 August 2019). "Felice Gimondi, Cyclist With a Career Triple Crown and a Rival, Dies at 76". New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  8. ^ Wynn, Nigel (2 December 2017). "Grand Tour great Felice Gimondi backs Chris Froome to achieve Giro-Tour double". Cycling Weekly. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  9. ^ Hansen, Matt (20 September 2024). "Is it time to rethink cycling's Triple Crown?". Canadian Cycling Magazine. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  10. ^ "Chris Froome wins Giro d'Italia, is 3rd cyclist to hold all three Grand Tours". NBC Sports. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  11. ^ Fotheringham, William (29 April 2018). "Chris Froome's struggle to clear his name hangs over Giro d'Italia start". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2025. The Team Sky leader is bidding for a unique triple crown of Grand Tour wins: Tour, Vuelta a España, Giro, all in a row.
  12. ^ Skiver, Kevin (27 May 2018). "Chris Froome wins 2018 Giro d'Italia, becomes first British cyclist to win all three Grand Tours". CBS Sports. Retrieved 26 April 2025. Froome took the Tour de France and Vuelta de Espana last season, and he announced his intention to go for cycling's triple crown last November
  13. ^ Frattini, Kirsten; Price, Matilda (2022-08-02). "9 conclusions from historic 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  14. ^ Frattini, Kirsten (16 October 2021). "A closer look reveals the inequity at Tour de France Femmes". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  15. ^ "Is the Vuelta a España Femenina in 2023 the right thing for the women's peloton?". Rouleur. Retrieved 2023-04-10. [I]f you look at the course you can conclude that the Vuelta is not yet ready to call itself a grand tour ... These were the unusually public, scathing words of the world champion, Annemiek van Vleuten, ahead of this year's edition of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.
  16. ^ a b O'Shea, Sadhbh (30 June 2023). "Annemiek van Vleuten: Doing second grand tour triple 'doesn't give me any extra goosebumps'". Velo. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  17. ^ Hansen, Matt (13 September 2022). "An incredible 2022: Annemiek van Vleuten won all three Grand Tours this year". Canadian Cycling Magazine. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  18. ^ Hansen, Matt (12 September 2024). "Puck Pieterse is going for the ultimate rainbow triple crown". Canadian Cycling Magazine. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  19. ^ Reynolds, Tom (24 September 2015). "Pauline Ferrand-Prevot: Why French star may be greatest cyclist". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  20. ^ Beaudin, Matthew (18 December 2012). "All Marianne Vos, all the time". ESPN. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  21. ^ Peter Stuart; Lyne Lamoureux (6 October 2024). "UCI Gravel World Championships: Mathieu van der Poel dominates with solo victory". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
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