This name, you must have heard it before. Gimondi, that was so often associated with the Cannibal Eddy Merckx. Gimondi, which deprived Raymond Poulidor of a success on the Tour in 1965, just 22 years and for his first participation. Gimondi, become in 1968 the second runner in history, after Jacques Anquetil, to win the three Grand Tours. It was that time when the greatest champions could start their season with a victory over the Hell of the North, and finish it victoriously on the Tour of Lombardy, by having won the Tour de France or the Giro. What a wonderful time !
Gimondi, it is also a world champion title acquired in 1963, after more than 6.30 hours of effort, to get ahead of Freddy Maertens and Luis Ocaña. In total, the one we remember today as one of the greatest runners in history, totals 14 stage victories on the big tours, half of which on the Grande Boucle, a world champion title, 4 monuments and especially 5 victories on the Grand Tours. He even holds the record for the most podiums on his national tour., podium on which he climbed to 9 occasions.
He is a great man who left us a few days ago, victim of cardiac arrest, at the age of 76 years. Eddy Merckx paid him this beautiful tribute, which alone sums up all of his work : “How many fights has there been between us ? He was among the greatest of all time. That's a great man. This time, I lost. I lose a friend and I lose the adversary of my life. We were rivals for so many years on the roads, then we became friends at the end of our career. I had spoken to her again two weeks ago as it still happened to us from time to time. What can I say ? i am destroyed. Felice was above all a great man, a great champion. It's a big loss for cycling. All the struggles we had together come to mind. A man like Gimondi is not born every day.”
