Stephen Roche is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia general classification, plus the World road race championship, the first was Eddy Merckx. Roche's rise coincided with that of fellow Irishman Sean Kelly.
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days, and these differ from Major stage race than one week duration.
The 1991 Tour de France was the 78th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 6 to 28 July. The total race distance was 22 stages over 3,914 km (2,432 mi). The race was won by Miguel Induráin, whose Banesto team also won the team classification. The points classification was won by Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, although he almost crashed out in the final stage. The mountains classification was won by Claudio Chiappucci, and the young rider classification by Álvaro Mejía.
The 1992 Tour de France was the 79th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 4 to 26 July. The total race distance was 21 stages and a prologue over 3,978 km (2,472 mi). In honor of the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union, the Tour visited a record seven countries: France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Italy.
Claudio Chiappucci is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 1992.
Roberto Visentini is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist who won the White Jersey in the 1978 Giro, finished in the top 10 of the 1979, 1980, and 1981 Giro's, made the podium in 1983, wore the Maglia Rosa for nine days in 1985, three days in 1987 and won the 1986 Giro d'Italia. All total he was the victor in 7 Grand Tour stages.
Giovanni Battaglin is an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1981 Giro d'Italia. He also won the 1981 Vuelta a España.
Giovanni Visconti is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI ProTeam Green Project–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè.
Eddy Schepers is a Belgian former professional cyclist. He was a professional cyclist from 1978 to 1990 where he rode for many teams including C&A, Carrera and Fagor–MBK. He started out in the C&A cycling team of Belgian Eddy Merckx before riding for various teams. He competed in the individual road race event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Francesco Conconi is an Italian sports doctor and scientist, with disciples such as Michele Ferrari and Luigi Cecchini. Conconi is a professor at the University of Ferrara in Italy where he heads the Centro Studi Biomedici Applicati allo Sport or Biomedical Research Institute. His research focused on tracing techniques for doping substances but he is better known for his doping activities and is said to have introduced Erythropoietin or EPO to the sport of cycling. Conconi is most famous for having prepared Francesco Moser for his successful attempt to break the world hour record in Mexico, 1984.
Mercatone Uno–Scanavino is a former professional cycling team which was based in San Marino and then in Italy. Throughout the 1990s it was one of the strongest Italian cycling teams in the peloton. The team was sponsored by a chain of supermarkets in Italy.
The 1987 Giro d'Italia was the 70th edition of the bicycle race. It began on 21 May with a 4 km (2.5 mi) prologue in San Remo, and concluded on 13 June with a 32 km (19.9 mi) individual time trial in Saint-Vincent. A total of 180 riders from 20 teams entered the 22-stage, 3,915 km (2,433 mi)-long race, which was won by Irishman Stephen Roche of the Carrera Jeans–Vagabond team. Second and third places were taken by British rider Robert Millar and Dutchman Erik Breukink, respectively. It was the second time in the history of the Giro that the podium was occupied solely by non-Italian riders. Roche's victory in the 1987 Giro was his first step in completing the Triple Crown of Cycling – winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the World Championship road race in one calendar year – becoming the second rider ever to do so.
The 1993 Giro d'Italia,, was the 76th edition of the race. It started off in Porto Azzurro on 23 May with a split stage, with the first leg being a mass-start stage and the latter an individual time trial. The race ended on 13 June with a stage that stretched 166 km (103.1 mi) from Biella to Milan. Twenty teams entered the race, which was won by Miguel Induráin of the Banesto team. Second and third respectively were the Latvian Piotr Ugrumov and the Italian rider, Claudio Chiappucci. Indurain's victory in the 1993 Giro was his first step in completing the Giro – Tour double – winning the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in one calendar year – becoming the first rider to repeat this feat in consecutive years.
The 1994 Giro d'Italia was the 77th edition of the race. The Giro started off in Bologna on 22 May with a short 86 km (53.4 mi) stage. The race came to a close on 12 June with a flat stage that stretched 198 km (123.0 mi) from Turin to Milan. Seventeen teams entered the race, which was won by Evgeni Berzin of the Gewiss–Ballan team. Second and third respectively were the Italian Marco Pantani and the Spanish rider, Miguel Induráin.
Davide Cassani is a former road cyclist and cycling commentator on Italian television from Italy. Now he works as manager for Italy national cycling team.
Guido Bontempi is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Bontempi's career highlights include winning the spring's classic Gent–Wevelgem two times and a total of 16 stages in the Giro d'Italia throughout his career. He also won six stages in the Tour de France and four stages in the Vuelta a España. In the 1988 Tour de France he won the prologue, allowing him to wear the yellow jersey in the first stage. He also won the points classification in the 1986 Giro d'Italia and wore the pink jersey as leader of the general classification for one stage in the 1981 Giro d'Italia. He also competed in the 1000m time trial and team pursuit events at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Bianchi was an Italian professional cycling team that was sponsored by and cycled on Bianchi Bicycles. A Bianchi cycling team existed in 1899 which implies that Bianchi was sponsoring professional cycling at a very early stage in the sport. It appears that the team existed from 1899 to 1900, then from 1905 to 1966, then from 1973 until 1984. It existed again in 1993 and for the last time in 2003, as Team Bianchi. In addition Bianchi has been a co-sponsor of many cycling teams.
Gewiss–Ballan was an Italian-based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 1997, named after the Italian electrical engineering company Gewiss. The team was successful in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France as well as several classics during the early 1990s.
Jollj Ceramica was an Italian professional cycling team that existed from 1973 to 1977. Fausto Bertoglio won the general classification of the 1975 Giro d'Italia with team.
