The Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in the same year is the Holy Grail of cycling and in this century it has not yet been seen. Tadej Pogacar, a Slovenian champion who in 1998 when Marco Pantani achieved success in the “hardest race in the world in the most beautiful country in the world” and in the Grande Boucle, the last to do so, was not yet born, will chase it. He would see the light a couple of months later from the arm of the Pirate raised by Felice Gimondi on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
It was a very different type of cycling from the current one, but in which if there is a rider who fascinates the public as the Romagna man did, it is precisely the standard bearer of the UAE Team Emirates, number 1 favorite in the Giro d’Italia which starts from Venaria Reale on the 4th May, even though he never raced it. At 25 he is already in history with 70 victories as a professional, among which 6 Monumento classics and 2 Tour de France stand out, he wants and can become a legend. At the beginning of the year he dominated so much that it made the feats of times gone by seem easy (just think of the 81km solo escape at the Strade Bianche) and the pink jersey-yellow jersey double that no one has managed for 26 years seems possible.
So far, 7 have succeeded. Out of 150 editions of the Giro and Tour, since Fausto Coppi’s first double in 1949 the pairing has succeeded only 12 times. The Campionissimo succeeded again in 1952, then the Frenchman Jacques Anquetil in 1964, the Belgian Eddy Merckx three times in 1970, 1972 and 1974, the Frenchman Bernard Hinault in 1982 and ’85, the Irishman Stephen Roche in ’87, the Spanish Miguel Indurain in 1992 and ’93, and finally the Pirate of Cesenatico in 1998.
To understand how one can concretely aspire to a terribly complicated challenge, which begins on May 4th from Venaria Reale and will end in Nice on July 21st, a few days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, which the bronze medal in Tokyo 2021 has no intention of missing out, we asked for an opinion Andrea Morelli of the Mapei Sport Research Center in Olgiate Olona (Varese) which has been following professional runners since the days of Team Mapei.
«I have always been very skeptical about the possibility of achieving the Giro-Tour double, but All my respect goes to Tadej Pogacar and Geraint Thomas who will attempt the feat this year. It is much more realistic to think of having two peaks of form in the season and aiming for the Giro and Vuelta. Maintaining the condition for almost three months, assimilating the fatigue of three weeks of racing and with only 4 weeks between the first grand tour and the second on the calendar is a fascinating but extreme challenge. Also because we know that in stage races a small mistake or a bit of bad luck is enough to ruin months and months of work” explains the trainer in the last episode of Cubes of Knowledgeregistered in his office where the yellow jersey won by Cadel Evans in 2011 with BMC and the pink one worn in 2022 by Juan Pedro Lopez stand out, also competing in this edition with Lidl-Trek, which relies on the Varese center for periodic functional evaluation tests.
The choice to test oneself at the Giro coupled with the Tour this year is not a coincidence. This edition’s route has ten thousand meters less altitude difference than in 2023, there are 44,500, and in particular the last week is not as extreme as in the past. There are two time trials, in Umbria (Foligno-Perugia, 38 km) and on Lake Garda (Castiglione delle Stiviere-Desenzano, 31 km), very suitable for specialists like Pogacar and Thomas, who a year ago was only beaten by Primoz Roglic at penultimate day of competition. There are two key stages in the mountains: the 15th with the finish line in Livigno Mottolino, after tackling the Mortirolo from the easier Brescia side of Monno, and the 29th, penultimate, with the double ascent of Monte Grappa, the Semonzo side: that of Nibali 2010 and Quintana 2014. It is in these days that the Giro will be decided, known for having dangers scattered everywhere.
«If everything goes smoothly in the 21 days of the competition (in sport we know well that luck also has an impact!), for those aiming for this ambitious goal, it will be fundamental to manage themselves perfectly in the month that separates the Giro and the Tour – continues the head of the Mapei Sport Movement Analysis Laboratory -. He needs a period of relief from the fatigue accumulated in Italy, without losing too much of his “leg” to still be competitive in France. Generally the difference is made by the energy left in the last week of the Grande Boucle and the fateful “bad day” – if you are really lucky – will fall on the rest day. In my opinion the double is an almost impossible challenge, but champions of the caliber of those who will attempt it in a few days will perhaps prove me wrong».
article taken from www.mapeisport.it – video coverage of Giro d’Italia TV
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