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The Grand Tour won the hearts of a million sports fans

Road cycling holds a separate and important place in the sports world. The Grand Competition is the most prestigious and professional competition. Becoming champions here is even better than any other Olympics sport.

What is the Grand Tour and why was it invented?

The Grand Tour is a three-week multi-day event. The composition includes as many as 21 stages of a different profile, as well as 2 days of rest. The ranking list of cycling winners is called the general classification. In addition to this cycling rating, the results at the end also determine the nominations of the best mountain biker, best sprinter, and team standings.

The decisive factor is mountain classification. All cycling athletes need to have a good level of recovery. The Competition may end with a group stage. This situation is called the friendship stage.

  • Elements of the Championship
  • Cycling races are usually held in the middle of the season. The Grand Competition consists of three elements in France, Spain, and Italy.
  • Giro d’Italia – held in May (for the first time since 1909);
  • Tour de France – July (since 1903);
  • Vuelta an Espana – September (since 1935)!

The main characteristics of championship elements

Each competition has its own characteristics and distinctive features.

Cycling competition Location Date Origin Distance Stages Prominent winners
Giro d’Italia Italy May-June 1909 3450 km 8 Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx
Tour de France France July 1903 3000-4000 km 21 Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain
Vuelta an Espana Italy August-September 1935 3417 km 20 Roberto Eras, F. de Mulder, V. Nibali, C. Frum

Grand Competition last season champions

Winning such prestigious competitions is the dream of every athlete. Some cyclists have succeeded. Now we want to introduce you to the recent winners.

Giro d’Italia Tour de France Vuelta an Espana
Year Winner Country Year Winner Country Year Winner Country
2022 Remco Evenepoel  Belgium 2022 Jonas Vingegaard Denmark 2022 Jay Hindley Australia
2021 Primoz Roglic Slovenia 2021 Tadej Pogacar Slovenia 2021 Egan Bernal Colombia
2020 Primoz Roglic Slovenia 2020 Tadej Pogacar Slovenia 2020 Theo Gagan Hart UK
2019 Primoz Roglic Slovenia 2019 Egan Bernal Colombia 2019 Richard Carapaz Ecuador
2018 Simon Yates UK 2018 Geraint Thomas UK 2018 Chris Froome UK
2017 Chris Froome UK 2017 Chris Froome UK 2017 Tom Dumoulin Netherlands

Athletes managed to get into the ranking of the general cycling classification in the stages of the Grand Tour. They will forever remain in the history of road cycling. An incredible effort had to be made for such results. Athletes were able to show their strength and power.