The Triple Crown of Cycling in road bicycle racing denotes the achievement of winning three major titles in the same season: the UCI Road World Championships Road Race, the Tour de France general classification, and the general classification of the Giro d'Italia.[1] It is considered by many fans of the sport to be the greatest 'single' achievement in cycling.
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The triple crown of cycling has been achieved by three men, Eddy Merckx in 1974, Stephen Roche in 1987 and Tadej Pogačar in 2024. There are no three week grand tours in women's cycling, but shorter stage races associated with the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and the World Championship, were won by Annemiek van Vleuten in 2022.
Despite the prestige and recognition of the achievement, the Triple Crown of cycling is not an official title, and there is no physical award given for its accomplishment.
Other definitions
Career Triple Crown
Only seven riders have won the equivalent of a career Triple Crown, meaning a Gold in the UCI Road World Championships road race, the Tour de France, and the Giro d'Italia. In addition to Merckx, Roche, Pogacar and Van Vleuten who won the triple crown in a single season they are Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi and Bernard Hinault.
Grand Tours
No rider has ever won all three grand tours in a single calendar year, but three riders - Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome - have won all three in a row, split over calendar years.[2] Seven men have won all three grand tours in their career; Gimondi and Hinault have achieved that alongside a career Triple Crown, and Merckx alongside a classic Triple Crown.
In women's cycling, the status of the Grand Tours is less established, and the races are considerably shorter.. While the Giro d'Italia Women was first held in 1988 and consistently since 1993, a full Tour de France Femmes was only launched in 2022 (though the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale offered a female equivalent of the Tour from 1984-2009) and La Vuelta Femenina was only established in 2023. Nonetheless, taking these races as 'Grand Tours', Annemiek van Vleuten is the only rider to have won all three in her career, having won them in a row - in addition to the 2022 World Championships - split across 2022-23.[3]
"All the jerseys"
While no rider has ever won all three grand tours in a single calendar year/season, three riders have won the three Grand tours consecutively across two seasons, thus holding ''all the jerseys'' at one time:
Eddy Merckx won four consecutive grand tours in 1972–1973: Giro 1972, Tour 1972, Vuelta 1973, and Giro 1973;
Bernard Hinault won three consecutive grand tours in 1982–1983: Giro 1982, Tour 1982, and Vuelta 1983;
Chris Froome won three consecutive grand tours in 2017–2018: Tour 2017, Vuelta 2017 and Giro 2018 before finishing 3rd in Tour 2018.
Career triple crown of Grand Tours
In bold the win that achieved a grand tour career triple crown.
designates a World Championship winner.
| Cyclist | Tour de France wins | Giro d'Italia wins | Vuelta a España wins |
|---|---|---|---|
 Jacques Anquetil (FRA) |
1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 | 1960, 1964 | 1963 |
 Felice Gimondi (ITA) |
1965 | 1967, 1969, 1976 | 1968 |
 Eddy Merckx (BEL) |
1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 | 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974 | 1973 |
| Bernard Hinault (FRA) |
1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985 | 1980, 1982, 1985 | 1978, 1983 |
 Alberto Contador (ESP) |
2007, 2009 | 2008, 2015 | 2008, 2012, 2014 |
| Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) |
2014 | 2013, 2016 | 2010 |
 Chris Froome (GBR) |
2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 | 2018 | 2011, 2017 |
Winning world titles in three disciplines
In 2014, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the World Championship road race and followed this in 2015 with the world championships in cyclocross and cross-country mountain biking, which meant she held world titles in three cycling disciplines simultaneously.[4] She subsequently won the gravel world championship as well.
Winning world championships in at least three disciplines across a career has also been achieved by Marianne Vos (road race three times, cyclo-cross on eight occasions, track twice (in a different discipline each time) and gravel racing once) and Mathieu van der Poel (cyclo cross six times road and gravel once each).
References
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