Since the creation of the Vuelta a España in 1935, professional cycling has three stage races of three weeks at the top of the hierarchy: the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and the Vuelta. Winning each of these Grand Tours during a career places a rider in a very select circle. Only a few names appear on this list, and their profiles tell as much about the evolution of cycling as their individual qualities.
What the record of the triple winners reveals about the eras of cycling
One could simply compile a list of names and dates. The reading becomes richer when we observe the period in which each rider completed their triple. Jacques Anquetil, the first in history to win all three Grand Tours, built his record between the late 1950s and the mid-1960s, at a time when simultaneous participation in the Giro and the Tour in the same season was common.
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Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, and Bernard Hinault completed theirs in decades where the calendar allowed more room for a single leader within their team. In contrast, more recent cases (Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali) occur in a context where teams distribute their leaders across multiple objectives, making the quest for the triple less systematic.
To find the list of winners of the 3 Grand Tours with their detailed records, the observation is striking: the majority of the riders concerned took several years, sometimes a decade, between their first and last Grand Tour won.
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Vuelta a España: the gateway to the Grand Tour triple
A pattern has emerged since the mid-2010s. The Vuelta, whose routes are considered slightly less media-exposed than those of the Tour, serves as the first Grand Tour won by riders who then aim for the Giro and the Tour de France. Chris Froome and Primož Roglič illustrate this trajectory.
Froome won the Vuelta 2017 before claiming victory in the Giro 2018, thus completing his triple. Roglič won three Vueltas before tackling the Giro. This strategy is not coincidental.
- The positioning of the Vuelta at the end of the season (August-September) allows it to be targeted after a Tour de France run in support or preparation.
- The media pressure is lower than at the Tour, providing a more favorable ground for first Grand Tour victories.
- The demanding Spanish mountainous profile selects climber-rollers capable of excelling in the Giro and the Tour.
The Vuelta acts as a laboratory for future winners of the three races. The reverse phenomenon (winning the Tour first and then moving down to the Vuelta) was the norm among champions from the 1960s to the 1990s.
UCI points system and calendar: why the triple is becoming more difficult
Changes to the UCI points system since 2020 have altered the landscape. Teams, concerned about their world ranking to secure their WorldTour license, distribute their riders more evenly across the calendar. A single leader focused on the three Grand Tours mobilizes considerable resources without guaranteeing a sufficient return in UCI points from other races.
The result is tangible: building a career around victory in the three Grand Tours is no longer a stated objective for most teams. Tadej Pogačar, who has won the Tour and the Giro, remains one of the few current riders whose profile would make the triple plausible. The available data does not allow us to predict whether he will ever aim for the Vuelta with this specific goal.
The economic and symbolic weight of the Tour de France overshadows that of the Giro and the Vuelta. Some analyses highlight that sponsors and broadcasters focus their attention on July, which reduces the financial incentive to race the other two Grand Tours as a leader.
The triple in a single season: a nearly vanished feat
Finishing all three Grand Tours in the same year (not necessarily winning them, just finishing them) represents a physical effort that very few riders impose on themselves. An analysis by Le Monde in 2017 listed 34 riders who finished all three Grand Tours in the same season. Since then, no new cases have been added to recent UCI reports.
Winning all three in the same year has never been achieved in the modern era. The calendar almost prohibits it: chaining the Giro (May), Tour (July), and Vuelta (August-September) imposes about four months of competition at the highest level with very little recovery.
Physical and tactical profile of the winners of the three Grand Tours
The riders who have achieved the triple share a common profile. They are never pure specialists: neither exclusive climbers nor flat time trialists. Each winner of the three Grand Tours masters both time trialing and high mountain, two disciplines that determine the overall ranking over three weeks.
Eddy Merckx accumulated stage wins in addition to the overall. Hinault combined power in the time trial with explosiveness in the mountains. Contador distinguished himself with his unpredictable attacks. Nibali excelled in technical descents and difficult conditions. Froome relied on an extraordinary aerobic engine, supported by a team built around him.
Versatility remains the common denominator. A rider who dominates only one terrain does not win all three Grand Tours because each race offers a different balance between flat kilometers, climbs, and individual time trials.
Who can still join the club of winners of the three Grand Tours
The question arises every season. Pogačar, already a winner of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, only has one Vuelta left to win. Roglič, a three-time Vuelta winner and Giro champion, still needs to win the Tour. Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour winner, should aim for another Grand Tour to enter the discussion.
The number of credible candidates remains very low in each generation. Calendar constraints, team specialization, and the risk of injury in three-week races limit attempts. The triple retains its status as a rare feat, not because the level has dropped, but because the ecosystem of professional cycling pushes in the opposite direction.