Greatest Grand Tour Comeback?

[jordan5000]

I'm just curious does anyone have any good stories of riders coming back from minutes behind to win a GT? I know Pantani gained minutes on Ullrich in 1998 and Landis gained about 8 minutes in 2006 (yes I know he doped) to comeback, do these types of things happen often when riders comeback from 10 minutes+ behind in the GTs to win (or nearly win) or is that unheard of, I only ask this because I am young and have been following the tour for about 6 years now and would love to learn more about the GTs and history of cycling, thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm just curious does anyone have any good stories of riders coming back from minutes behind to win a GT? I know Pantani gained minutes on Ullrich in 1998 and Landis gained about 8 minutes in 2006 (yes I know he doped) to comeback, do these types of things happen often when riders comeback from 10 minutes+ behind in the GTs to win (or nearly win) or is that unheard of, I only ask this because I am young and have been following the tour for about 6 years now and would love to learn more about the GTs and history of cycling, thanks.

Óscar Pereiro 2006 tour de france.

 

[Mambo95]

I'm a little hazy about the facts and I can't be bothered looking for what you ask. But have a look at Charly Gaul's GT wins. There were some huge gains there.

The 1986 Tour, in my memory, had some big swings as far as I can remember. But don't look up the results, just read 'Slaying the Badger' by Richard Moore. That will make it more exciting for you.

 

[hrotha]

I think it was pretty impressive of Delgado to manage to finish 3rd in the 1989 TdF after the way the race started for him.

 

[Climbing]

If we consider old times... must be Coppi 30 minutes come back TdF win.

 

[skidmark]

Gino Bartali, 1948, hands down the most amazing comeback. I can't find a great summary of the narrative with a quick search (if someone else finds one I'd be happy to read it), but this is a bit of one. Check this page to fully understand the magnitude of his comeback - after Stage 12 he's 21 and a half minutes down (to freakin' Louison Bobet, not just some schmoe). Then, just destroys the whole field for 3 days straight, wins one more stage, and comes to the end up by almost half an hour.

The whole 'Italian unity' thing just adds to the epic narrative, but whichever way you slice it, it's probably one of the most jaw-dropping set of performances you can see in cycling's history.

 

[greenedge]

LA's comeback from testicular cancer ( jks )

 

[Descender]

Hinault Vuelta 1983?

 

[Merckx index]

People have short memories! LA was down more than 35' after stage 8 in the 2001 Tour, thanks to a break that put nearly 36' into the peloton (and even before that stage, LA was down more than 5' to the leader, because of another breakaway on an earlier stage). In fact, the peloton finished outside the time limit, but were saved from mass disqualification because of their sheer numbers. LA finally took the lead after stage 13. Granted, the breakaway riders were not considered GC contenders, but it took a lot of mountains to weed them all out. Particularly Andrei Kivilev, a decent climber who had 13' on LA after that stage.

LA was also down about 6' early in 2000. Again, to riders who were not considered a threat.

Lemond was down something like 15' in 1990.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Joaquin Rodriguez - 2011 Vuelta a Espana

 

[skidmark]

People have short memories! LA was down more than 35' after stage 8 in the 2001 Tour, thanks to a break that put nearly 36' into the peloton (and even before that stage, LA was down more than 5' to the leader, because of another breakaway on an earlier stage). In fact, the peloton finished outside the time limit, but were saved from mass disqualification because of their sheer numbers. LA finally took the lead after stage 13. Granted, the breakaway riders were not considered GC contenders, but it took a lot of mountains to weed them all out. Particularly Andrei Kivilev, a decent climber who had 13' on LA after that stage.

LA was also down about 6' early in 2000. Again, to riders who were not considered a threat.

Lemond was down something like 15' in 1990.

I don't think I'd immediately think of that as a 'great comeback', as it's more of an inevitable process of attrition. Of course I would've loved to see Kivilev (or Simon) show 'em all, but there was never such a danger, really. The 56 rider breakaway at the Giro last year was much more dangerous, I think, and would be a better 'comeback'. But I would say a grand tour comeback would be when you legitimately lose time on contenders who could beat you, and then come back.

 

[jordan5000]

If we consider old times... must be Coppi 30 minutes come back TdF win.

what year was that?

 

[jordan5000]

People have short memories! LA was down more than 35' after stage 8 in the 2001 Tour, thanks to a break that put nearly 36' into the peloton (and even before that stage, LA was down more than 5' to the leader, because of another breakaway on an earlier stage). In fact, the peloton finished outside the time limit, but were saved from mass disqualification because of their sheer numbers. LA finally took the lead after stage 13. Granted, the breakaway riders were not considered GC contenders, but it took a lot of mountains to weed them all out. Particularly Andrei Kivilev, a decent climber who had 13' on LA after that stage.

LA was also down about 6' early in 2000. Again, to riders who were not considered a threat.

Lemond was down something like 15' in 1990.

That was before my time (watching I mean), but I remember reading about it, it's not quite as impressive when you can take huge chunks of time off the non-climbers. Also someone mentioned the 1983 vuelta, what happened there, I've only been watching the past 6 tours.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I wrote this in another thread - probably the most amazing comeback ever:

The story of the 1948 Tour is an amazing one. I remember reading a book about the history of the Tour de France, and this story is definitely the one I remember the best.

A fierce fight between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party affected the political situation in Italy. The Christian Democrats with Alcide de Gasperi as their leader had just won the election and the country was marked by street fights and simmering unrest. An attempt was made on the life of Palmiro Togliatti, the leader of the Italian Communist Party, and a riot was on the verge of breaking out.
Meanwhile in France, Bartali had returned to the Tour de France to do his best to win it. Things didn't look good for Bartali as he was more than 21 minutes down in the general classification. That night he recieved a phone call from no other than Alcide de Gasperi who desperately needed Gino to help soothing the revolt. de Gasperi asked Gino if he could win the Tour for the italian people and Bartali responded "I don't know. I can't do magic and there's only a week left". The next day, de Gasperi got his answer. Bartali attacked with a long distance to go and won the stage with 18 minutes to the leader of the race, Louison Bobet. Gino was back in the race. But he wasn't at all done. He went on to win the next two stages aswell and took over the leaders jersey with a 14 minutes lead, which he kept all the way to Paris. That same day Palmire Togliatti woke up from his coma and asked how the Tour de France was going. As he found out that Bartali had made one of the most amazing comebacks in the history and had won the Tour, all disputes and conflicts were put aside and in the end a revolt was avoided as the whole country was celebrating the magnificient feat of Bartali.

The story might be exaggerated, and Gino probably wasn't the sole reason why a civil war was avoided, but he no doubt helped ease the situation.

 

[Frosty]

Basso last year in the Giro? Was considered by some to be out of it after the L'aquila stage, saw him at 18-1 on one betting exchange.

In terms of variation towards the end of a stage you could go for Roche at La Plagne in 1987 where at 5km to go he looked like he had lost it, or Lemond in 1990 where the stage didnt look long enough for him to pull back enough time.

 

[pmcg76]

I think it was pretty impressive of Delgado to manage to finish 3rd in the 1989 TdF after the way the race started for him.

+1 If I remember correctly Delgado the top favourite was in last place after the first 3 stages at almost 10 minutes down but ended up in 3rd a lot closer on time.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Pereiro ofcourse

 

[Frosty]

+1 If I remember correctly Delgado the top favourite was in last place after the first 3 stages at almost 10 minutes down but ended up in 3rd a lot closer on time.

Yeah, he showed up 2.40 late for the prologue and then lost 4.32 in the team time trial. Team had to wait for him. Started his comeback in the 73 (!) km time trial, finishing second to Lemond.

Can see more details here, click on tour de france and then scroll down.

http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/

 

[killswitch]

Hope Nibali will do it tomorrow. Virtually impossible tho.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

1'25" is not virtually impossible unless everybody races like cowards again and Froome continues to channel Santiago Pérez.

Now, Juanjó Cobo - from not finishing a race or scoring a single CQ point last year, left off the Giro team for poor form, to likely the Vuelta podium - THAT's a GT comeback.