Most Prestigious Accomplishment

[Matthijs]

I have no numbers but yes, I think Van Summeren is better than Gilbert when it comes to pushing watts on the flats for long periods of time.

Gilbert won the Belgian TT championships actually. At the end of the Vuelta 09? he was somehting like 7th in the TT too.
And he just rode away from Boonen on the flat at the Belgian RR this year.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Again, look at the people who managed to do it. It's great company to be in.

It sure is, but it's also something that anyone who won three Tours or two Tours and a Giro would have been easily capable of. The main reason it hasn't been done more often is simply that for much of its history the best GC riders didn't ride the Vuelta seriously. If you can win the Tour, you can win the Giro and if you can win the Giro, you can with the Vuelta.

The Triple Crown though, that's a different kettle of fish. It takes a different set of abilities above and beyond those needed to win a grand tour: You need to be able to win a top level one day race and, crucially, you need to be able to show the form necessary to win a grand tour twice in close succession. Most Grand Tour winners simply can't do that.

Getting the full set of the monuments is a different thing again. There are so many things you have to be amongst the very best at.

I think you'd have difficulty finding a pro, past or present, who would take a Tour, a Giro and a Vuelta over three Tours. And that should put the importance of that achievement into context.

 

[The Hitch]

It sure is, but it's also something that anyone who won three Tours or two Tours and a Giro would have been easily capable of. The main reason it hasn't been done more often is simply that for much of its history the best GC riders didn't ride the Vuelta seriously. If you can win the Tour, you can win the Giro and if you can win the Giro, you can with the Vuelta.

Not neccesarily. 95% of the time yes but the Giro contains, recently anyway, more climbing, more brutal climbs, more unpaved roads, and more rain.

Riders who win the Tour on tts might struggle at the Giro.

Riders from the southern hemisphere like Froome or Rujano prefer the heat and dont deal with the rain so well. Fall ill.

Both these qualities can be seen in the current TDF champion. Cadel won the Tour but was beaten pretty well in the Giro when he tried it in 2010. He did well in 04 too but again couldnt quite get it done.

He wouldnt have beaten Menchov in 09 either nor Contador this year or 2008. Need to go back to 2007 to find a year he could win it.

So Cadel is an example of a rider that won the Tour but couldnt win the Giro.

 

[ElChingon]

Its all about the Monuments. Sure the Tours would be cool but we all know that possibility has been removed due to the new ... health rules.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

So Cadel is an example of a rider that won the Tour but couldnt win the Giro.

There have been a number of Giros Cadel could conceivably have won. The Giro is very uneven when it comes to the quality of the field, and aside from recent years, in the parcours.

If the Giro was always Zomegnan's wet dream things would be different. But over the long haul, it's a race that any Tour winner is capable of winning.

 

[The Hitch]

There have been a number of Giros Cadel could conceivably have won. The Giro is very uneven when it comes to the quality of the field, and aside from recent years, in the parcours.

If the Giro was always Zomegnan's wet dream things would be different. But over the long haul, it's a race that any Tour winner is capable of winning.

Well what your saying is that if Cadel tried the Giro every year he might win one once.

But thats not what the Giro Tour double is about, or the triple. Its about taking the risk of doing the Giro instead of the Tour and succeeding.

Easier said than done.

Cadel tried the Giro in 2010. He didnt succeed, and finished behind 2 riders who seem to now be regular fixtures at the race.

Of course luck is a part of it, the Giro you try might have a weaker lineup like when Schleck tried in 2007, or you could get Contador and Menchov like Purito did in 2011.

But luck is a part of the sport, and Cadel can tell you that better than anyone.

Besides its not like the Giro he tried was particularly difficult. 33 year old Basso was the star compared to Menchov and Contador in the other 3 years.

 

[asdfgh101]

A lot of people are saying that the two which stand out are all five monuments and the Tour-Giro-WC, but surely there is a third achievment which rivals those.

If a rider won GW, E3, RVV, PR, AG, FW AND LBL all in the same year then amongst cycling fans this would go down in history. A month of sheer domination over a variety of different parcours against specialists peaking for individual weeks/races. In my opinion there isn't a single rider in the peleton capable of this and for those reasons it carries exceptional prestige.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

A lot of people are saying that the two which stand out are all five monuments and the Tour-Giro-WC, but surely there is a third achievment which rivals those.

If a rider won GW, E3, RVV, PR, AG, FW AND LBL all in the same year then amongst cycling fans this would go down in history. A month of sheer domination over a variety of different parcours against specialists peaking for individual weeks/races. In my opinion there isn't a single rider in the peleton capable of this and for those reasons it carries exceptional prestige.

The thing is, that's just impossible.
No one has the body to do this, I doubt that even the greatest of talents + the best program clinic wise could do this.
It's waaaaay to hard.