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.