The Triple Crown of Cycling in road bicycle racing denotes the achievement of winning three major titles in the same season, usually the Giro d'Italia general classification, the Tour de France general classification and the UCI Road World Championships Road Race.
The Vuelta a España is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the race was first organised in 1935. The race was prevented from being run by the Spanish Civil War and World War II in the early years of its existence; however, the race has been held annually since 1955. As the Vuelta gained prestige and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend all around the globe. Since 1979, the event has been staged and managed by Unipublic, until in 2014, when the Amaury Sport Organisation acquired control. Since then, they have been working together. The peloton expanded from a primarily Spanish participation to include riders from all over the world. The Vuelta is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with the exception of the wild card teams that the organizers can invite.
Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian former professional racing cyclist who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along with Greg LeMond and Egan Bernal – to have won the Tour de France, winning the race in 2011.
Astana Qazaqstan Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful.
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 races more than one week in duration.
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad.
Jose María Jiménez Sastre was a Spanish professional road bicycle racer. During his career he excelled as a climber, winning numerous mountain stages. His nickname was "El Chava".
Carlos Sastre Candil is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer and winner of the 2008 Tour de France. He consistently achieved outstanding results in the Vuelta a España and in the Tour de France. Sastre established himself as a strong and stable climbing specialist, and after working to improve his individual time trial skills, he became a contender for the top GC spots in the Grand Tours. In total, Sastre finished in the top ten of fifteen Grand Tours during his career, and finished on the podium of each of them. Sastre never tested positive for drugs, nor was he implicated in any doping investigation, even though he performed at the top level of cycling.
Giovanni Lombardi is an Italian former professional road bicycling racer who raced from 1992 to 2006. He started his career as a sprinter, winning multiple stages in the Giro d'Italia. He went on to ride as an important helper for the top sprinter names of Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini. Most recently, he rode for Team CSC as a helper for Ivan Basso. Lombardi was also an active track racer during wintertime, and has participated in many six-day races, frequently as a partner of Marco Villa. He also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal at the latter.
Time is a manufacturer of pedals and bicycles.
Cervélo Cycles is an American manufacturer of racing and track bicycles. Cervélo uses CAD, computational fluid dynamics, and wind tunnel testing at a variety of facilities including the San Diego Air and Space Technology Center, in California, US, to aid its designs. Frame materials include carbon fibre. Cervélo currently makes 5 series of bikes: the C series and R series of road bikes, the latter featuring multi-shaped, "Squoval" frame tubes; the S series of road bikes and P series of triathlon/time trial bikes, both of which feature airfoil shaped down tubes; and the T series of track bikes. In professional competition, cyclists have ridden Cervélo bicycles to victory in all three of road cycling's grand tours: the Tour de France; the Giro d'Italia; and the Vuelta a España.
Alberto Contador Velasco is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice, the Giro d'Italia twice, and the Vuelta a España three times. He is one of only seven riders to have won all three Grand Tours of cycling, and one of only two riders to have won all three more than once. He has also won the Vélo d'Or a record 4 times.
José Luis Rubiera Vigil is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He last rode for the UCI ProTour team Team RadioShack. Rubiera won his first professional race at the 1997 Giro d'Italia, winning stage 19. He won another stage in the 2000 Giro d'Italia and was part of three consecutive team time trial (TTT) stage wins in the Tour de France.
David Arroyo Durán is a Spanish cyclist, who currently competes in mountain biking for the Primaflor–Mondraker–XSauce team. He is also a former professional road bicycle racer, who rode between 2001 and 2018 for the ONCE–Eroski, LA Alumínios–Pecol, Movistar Team, Caja Rural–Seguros RGA and Efapel teams.
Iván Ramiro Parra Pinto is a Colombian former road bicycle racer, who competed professionally for Petróleos de Colombia, Vitalicio Seguros, ONCE–Eroski, Comunidad Valenciana–Kelme, Cafes Baque, Colombia–Selle Italia, Cofidis, Colombia es Pasión–Coldeportes and EPM–UNE. Parra comes from a Colombian cycling family. His father, Humberto was a successful in the Vuelta a Colombia, his eldest brother was the Colombian climber Fabio Parra who won stages in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España in the 1980s. His other brother Humberto was also a professional cyclist for several years.
Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver is a Spanish cyclist, who competed in road bicycle racing between 2001 and 2016 for the ONCE–Eroski, Saunier Duval–Prodir, Caisse d'Epargne and Team Katusha teams. Following his retirement from road racing, Rodríguez has competed in mountain bike racing and formed his own mountain bike racing team, Andbank–La Purito.
Mikel Landa Meana is a Spanish professional road cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Soudal–Quick-Step. His career breakthrough came at the 2015 Giro d'Italia where he won two stages and finished third overall.
Fabio Aru is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2012 and 2021 for the Astana, UAE Team Emirates and Team Qhubeka NextHash squads. He hails from San Gavino Monreale in Sardinia, and is known for his climbing ability, which made him a favorite for the Grand Tours. He is known as "The Knight of the four Moors", a reference to his native island of Sardinia.
The Giro d'Italia is an annual stage race bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1909 to increase sales of the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport; however it is currently run by RCS Sport. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1909, except when it was stopped for the two world wars. As the Giro gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened, and the peloton expanded from primarily Italian participation to riders from all over the world.
