Felice Gimondi
 Felice Gimondi in 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Felice Gimondi | |||||||||||||||
| Nickname | The Phoenix | |||||||||||||||
| Born |
29 September 1942 Sedrina, Italy | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Weight | 71 kg (157 lb) | |||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | |||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Classics | |||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||
| Rider type | All-rounder | |||||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1972 | Salvarani | |||||||||||||||
| 1973–1979 | Bianchi | |||||||||||||||
| Major wins | ||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Felice Gimondi (Italian pronunciation: [feˈliːtʃe dʒiˈmondi]; born 29 September 1942) is an Italian former professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the second cyclist (after Jacques Anquetil) to win all three Grand Tours of road cycling: Tour de France (1965, his first year as a pro), Giro d'Italia (1967, 1969 and 1976), and Vuelta a España (1968).[1] He remains one of only six cyclists to have done so.[2]
Biography
Gimondi grew up cycling with his mother, a postal carrier who rode a bicycle to make her deliveries. In 1964 Gimondi rode the road race at the 1964 Olympic Games, where he finished in 33rd place.[3] After winning the amateur version of the Tour de France (Tour de l'Avenir), he was signed, in 1965, as a professional to the Salvarani team. With the withdrawal of another cyclist from Salvarani's Tour de France team, Gimondi was added at the last minute and went on to win the tour, becoming an Italian national hero.
In 1966, he won two of the 'Monument' Classics: Paris–Roubaix and the Giro di Lombardia. Gimondi also won the UCI World Championshipss in 1973, after placing second in 1971 and third in 1970.
In the Giro d'Italia, Gimondi holds the record for the most podium finishes: nine total, consisting of three first place wins, two second-place finishes and four third-place finishes. He is currently associated with the Bianchi bicycle manufacturer.
He failed twice to pass doping controls, first in 1968 Giro[4] and second in 1975 Tour.[5]
A major cyclosportive event is named in his honour, the Gran Fondo Felice Gimondi, held annually around Bergamo. Likewise Bianchi have named one of their high level framesets after him the "FG Lite".
Currently, Gimondi is president of the TX Active – Bianchi cycling team, specialized in MTB races.[6]
Major victories
- 1
Tour de France (1965) - 3 x
Giro d'Italia (1967, 1969, 1976) - 1
Vuelta a España (1968) - 1 UCI World Championships (1973)
- 1 Milan–San Remo (1974)
- 1 Paris–Roubaix (1966)
- 2 x Giro di Lombardia (1966, 1973)
- 2 x Paris–Brussels (1966, 1976)
- 1 Tour de Romandie (1969)
- 1 Volta a Catalunya (1972)
- 2
Italian National Road Race Championship (1968, 1972) - 2 x Grand Prix des Nations (1967, 1968)
Significant victories by year
Source:[7]
- 1963
- Giro del Friuli
- 1964
- Tour de l'Avenir
- 1965
- 3 stages and Overall classification of the Tour de France
- 1966
- Paris–Roubaix
- Giro di Lombardia
- 1 stage of the Giro d'Italia
- Paris–Brussels
- 1 stage of the Tour de Romandie
- Coppa Agostoni
- Coppa Placci
- 1967
- Overall classification of the Giro d'Italia
- 2 stages of the Tour de France
- Grand Prix des Nations
- Giro del Lazio
- Gran Premio di Lugano
- 1968
- 1 stage and Overall classification of the Vuelta a España
- Trofeo Baracchi
- Grand Prix des Nations
- 1 stage of the Giro d'Italia
- Giro di Romagna, valid as Italian National Road Race Championship
- Critérium des As
- 1969
- Overall classification of the Giro d'Italia
- Tour de Romandie (with 1 stage victory)
- Giro dell'Appennino
- 1 stage of the Tour de France
- 1 stage of the Paris–Luxembourg
- 1970
- Trofeo Matteotti
- 1 stage of the Tour de Suisse
- 1 stage of the Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1971
- Tour de Romandie
- 2 stages of the Giro d'Italia
- Giro del Piemonte
- Grand Prix de Wallonie
- 1972
- Gran Premio di Lugano
- Volta a Catalunya
- Giro dell'Appennino, valid as Italian National Road Race Championship
- Six-Days of Milan
- 1973
- UCI World Championshipss, in Barcelona
- Giro di Lombardia
- Giro del Piemonte
- 1 stage of the Giro d'Italia
- Trofeo Baracchi
- Coppa Bernocchi
- Giro di Puglia (with 1 stage victory)
- 1974
- Milan–San Remo
- Coppa Agostoni
- 1975
- 1 stage of the Tour de France
- 1976
- 1 stage and Overall classification of the Giro d'Italia
- Paris–Brussels
- 1977
- Six-Days of Milan
Grand Tour results timeline
| 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour | 1 | DNE | 7 | DNE | 4 | DNE | DNE | 2 | DNE | DNE | 5 | DNE | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | 3 | — | 2 | — | 1 | — | — | 0 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| Mountains classification | 4 | — | 4 | — | 6 | — | — | NR | — | — | 5 | — | — | — |
| Points classification | 3 | — | 5 | — | 5 | — | — | 6 | — | — | 17 | — | — | — |
| Giro | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 11 |
| Stages won | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mountains classification | NR | NR | 3 | NR | 3 | 7 | 9 | NR | 4 | NR | NR | 11 | NR | NR |
| Points classification | N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | NR | 3 | 3 | NR | NR |
| Vuelta | DNE | DNE | DNE | 1 | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mountains classification | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Points classification | — | — | — | NR | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Winner |
| 2–3 | Top three-finish |
| 4–10 | Top ten-finish |
| 11– | Other finish |
| DNE | Did Not Enter |
| DNF-x | Did Not Finish (retired on stage x) |
| DNS-x | Did Not Start (no started on stage x) |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| N/A | Race/classification not held |
| NR | Not Ranked in this classification |
References
- ↑ Felice Gimondi. Cycling Hall of Fame.
- ↑ Mehl, Cathy. Contador's place in history at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 January 2009). astana-cyclingteam.com
- ↑ Felice Gimondi. Sports reference.
- ↑ (Spanish) La Vanguardia (Spanish). Hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es (18 June 1968). Retrieved on 6 August 2014.
- ↑ El mundo deportivo (Spanish). Hemeroteca.elmundodeportivo.es (30 July 1975). Retrieved on 6 August 2014.
- ↑ 2008 Official Gewiss-Bianchi Team: in pursuit of new emotions and victories at the Wayback Machine (archived 14 July 2008). bianchi.com
- ↑ Felice Gimondi profile at Cycling Archives
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Felice Gimondi. |
- Gimondi, The Phoenix by Gabe Konrad
- Felice Gimondi profile at Cycling Archives
- Official Tour de France results for Felice Gimondi
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