Debutant Winners – Winning your first Grand Tour

It’s always a strong sign when you can be known by your first name only. Lance. Eddy. Bernard. Fabian. And now Remco. The hype around young Belgian Evenepoel has been building since his junior days, where in 2018 he won practically every race he entered with gargantuan solo assaults on the field, culminating in a World’s TT where he was 2.2kph faster than the next best rider and won the road race by 1.25 despite having crashed and had to chase, solo, to catch the leading group before attacking them and dropping them all. It was above Merkcxian, it was a whole new world of domination – Remcoian.

Since then, Remco has entered the pro ranks rather than bothering with that pesky U23 category (in hindsight, a wise choice given the decimation of the U23 calendar by the pandemic), and continued handing out thrashings to riders old enough to be his father, becoming the first rider to win a WorldTour race born in the new Millennium at Classica San Sebastian, winning various short stage races, and being in the lead group at Il Lombardia until he crashed over a bridge and fell into a ravine, fracturing his pelvis.

The pandemic had already delayed Evenepoel’s first shot at a grand Tour, which he was meant to take at the tender age of 20 in May 2020, only for covid to compress the cycling calendar into a few months at the end of the year. Rather than make his Italian debut, Evenepoel won the Vuelta a Burgos and Tour of Poland, before his accident set him back and kept him out of racing for nine months. But now it’s May 2021, and Remco has made his debut with speculation festering as to what he might be able to achieve. Could he win the race? How would he perform in a race that lasted three weeks, having only raced for a week before. Would his prodigious time trialling translate into climbing prowess?

Well, we’ll find out soon enough, but if Remco does manage to win at his first attempt, where will that put him in the pantheon of cycling history?

Who won their debut grand Tour?

A blue ring represents winning on their very first grand tour, whilst no outline shows they just won their first attempt. Purple also means they won both at their first go, whilst Hinault is just amazeballs

Now, the Grand Tours have of course been going since 1903, when the Tour de France first departed from the Cafe au Réveil-Matin, 1909 for the Giro, and 1935 for the Vuelta. Obviously, as the first winner of the first ever Grand Tour, Maurice Garin is the only man who automatically qualifies as having won their debut grand tour by the sole virtue of it being the first one. After that, being the first winner of the Giro doesn’t necessarily mean you won your debut Grand Tour, just that you won the first Giro – as you could have entered the Tour beforehand. So the criteria for winning your debut Grand Tour is simple – you need to have won your very first Grand Tour. So who has done that?

1. Maurice Garin – 1903 Tour de France, 32 years, 4 months, 16 days

2. Henri Cornet – 1904 Tour de France, 19 years, 11 months, 20 days

   
   Cornet was the first man to win their debut Grand Tour thanks to the previous winner being stripped of their title – originally 5th, Cornet was promoted once others were removed from the standings thanks to their underhand tactics of getting men to beat up rivals, putting broken glass on the road, and, er, taking the train.

3. Louis Trousselier – 1905 Tour de France, 24 years, 1 month, 1 day

4. Alfonso Calzolari – 1914 Giro d’Italia, 27 years, 1 month, 28 days

5. Alfredo Binda – 1925 Giro d’Italia, 22 years, 10 months, 6 days

6. Luigi Marchisio – 1930 Giro d’Italia, 21 years, 1 month, 13 days

7. Gustaf Deloor – 1935 Vuelta a Espana, 21 years, 10 months, 21 days

8. Fausto Coppi – 1940 Giro d’Italia, 20 years, 8 months, 25 days

   
   Coppi won his first Giro, and then impressively also won his first Tour having waited for the Great War to pass by, having already won the Giro again a few months before.

9. Dalmacio Langarcia – 1946 Vuelta a Espana, 26 years, 5 months, 25 days

10. Edourad Van Dyck – 1947 Vuelta a Espana, 29 years, 2 months, 13 days

11. Jean Robic – 1947 Tour de France, 26 years, 1 month, 10 days

12. Hugo Koblet – 1950 Giro d’Italia, 25 years, 2 months, 23 days

    
    Suisse Koblet mirrored Fausto Coppi in winning both his first Giro and Tour, although unlike “The Heron” he never won another Grand Tour again.

13. Jacques Anquetil – 1957 Tour de France, 23 years, 6 months, 12 days

    
    Monsieur Chrono managed 13 Grand Tour podiums from 16 starts, and he DNFed the three he didn’t manage. This is an outright record over Hinault, Merckx and Gimondo, who all ended up on “just” 12. Pity poor Claudio Chiappucci, who managed six podiums without ever taking a title.

14. Franz de Mulder – 1960 Vuelta a Espana, 22 years, 4 months, 28 days

15. Angelino Soler – 1961 Vuelta a Espana, 21 years, 5 months, 16 days

16. Rudi Altig – 1962 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years 1 month, 25 days

17. Bernard Hinault – 1978 Vuelta a Espana, 23 years, 6 months, 0 days

    
    Hinault holds the distinguished position of being the only rider in history to have won every Grand Tour at their first attempt, as well as finishing on the podium of every grand tour he finished, a feat he shares with Jacques Anquetil.

If Evenepoel were to win the 2021 Giro on May 30th, he would do so at the age of 21 years, 4 months, 6 days, which would make him the 4th youngest rider to do so.

Debut Giro Winners

These are the riders who won the Giro at their first attempt. Obviously, there is some overlap with the “debut winners” list, but there are some more modern names, plus of course the inaugural winner.

1. Luigi Ganna – 1909 Giro d’Italia, 25 years, 5 months, 29 days

2. Alfonso Calzolari – 1914 Giro d’Italia, 27 years, 1 month, 28 days

3. Alfredo Binda – 1925 Giro d’Italia, 22 years, 10 months, 6 days

   
   Binda was infamously so good, he was eventually offered money to the tune of 22,500 lira to miss thee 1930 race, not only because he’d won the previous three editions, but because he wasn’t exactly popular with the ruling Facist Party, who supported Learco Guerra instead. Oddly, Guerca entered the Tour that year, coming second, and would only win the Giro in 1934 when Binda was no longer at the height of his powers. Binda took his year out to take on the Tour as well, but besides two stage wins, he wasn’t able to finish the race. Still, he held the stage win record at the Giro for 80 years, and holds the record for consecutive Grand Tour stage wins (8).

4. Luigi Marchisio – 1930 Giro d’Italia, 21 years, 1 month, 13 days

5. Fausto Coppi – 1940 Giro d’Italia, 20 years, 8 months, 25 days

6. Hugo Koblet – 1950 Giro d’Italia, 25 years, 2 months, 23 days

7. Charly Gaul – 1956 Giro d’Italia, 23 years, 6 months, 3 days

8. Michel Pollentier – 1977 Giro d’Italia, 26 years, 3 months, 30 days

   Pollentier would probably like people to recall his Giro win more than the incident for which he is most famously known – trying to cheat the doping tests after winning at Alpe d’Huez and taking the yellow jersey at the Tour, only to have his contraption of urine filled condoms found out. Sorry Michel, not going to happen.

9. Bernard Hinault – 1980 Giro d’Italia, 25 years, 6 months, 24 days

10. Alberto Contador – 2008 Giro d’Italia, 25 years, 5 months, 26 days

    
    Not allowed at the Tour de France thanks to Alexandre Vinokourov and co.s indiscretions the year before, Contador’s Astana team were originally not invited to the Giro either when the invitations were announced on February 1st, absent alongside Team HighRoad in what was seemingly part of the UCI v ASO/RCS/Unipublic war that was going on at that time. Astana eventually received an invite on May 4th, just six days before the start, and hastily pulled all their stars together to form a team, with Contador supposedly getting the news whilst “on the beach.” The Spaniard managed to overcome defending champion Danilo Di Luca, upstart Riccardo Ricco, and his total lack of preparation to eventually win in Milan. Contador holds a bizarre record of having won the Giro twice, but having never won a stage, given his 2011 race results were expunged for his clenbuterol positive in 2010.

Debut Tour Winners

Winning the Tour at your first attempt could arguably be easier these days due to the habit of using the other Grand Tours, the Vuelta in particular, to “blood” riders and introduce them to the stresses and strains of three-week racing. And yet, Tadej Pogacar was the first rider to do it since 1983, a 37 year gap. Alberto Contador is sometimes cited as having won his first Tour, but this stems from a mistake by Phil Liggett in commentary, forgetting El Pistolero had ridden to a creditable 31st at his 2005 debut as a 22 year old, before being at the start of the 2006 edition only for Astana, having mostly been Liberty Seguros-Wurth, were excluded for their Operacion Puerto connections.

1. Maurice Garin – 1903 Tour de France, 32 years, 4 months, 16 days

   

   Tache Goals

   Garin has the dubious honour of being the oldest rider to win on their debut, albeit obviously in pretty unique circumstances. Only he, Angel Conterno and Ferdinand Bracke at the Vuelta have won a race having entered it for the first time in their 30s.

2. Henri Cornet – 1904 Tour de France, 19 years, 11 months, 20 days

3. Louis Trousselier – 1905 Tour de France, 24 years, 1 month, 1 day

4. Jean Robic – 1947 Tour de France, 26 years, 1 month, 10 days

5. Fausto Coppi – 1949 Tour de France, 29 years, 10 months, 9 days

6. Hugo Koblet – 1951 Tour de France, 26 years, 4 months, 8 days

7. Jacques Anquetil – 1957 Tour de France, 23 years, 6 months, 12 days

8. Felice Gimondi – 1965 Tour de France, 22 years, 9 months, 15 days

9. Eddy Merckx – 1969 Tour de France, 24 years, 1 month, 3 days

   
   Until Tadej Pogacar in 2020, Merckx was the last rider to win three distinctive jerseys at the Tour, taking the Yellow, Green and Polka Dot jerseys home. He would have won the white jersey as well, if it was a thing – unfortunately for him, it was only introduced in 1975, although from 1968 there was a white jersey for the combined classification, which Merckx obviously won with the smallest possible total of three points.

10. Bernard Hinault – 1978 Tour de France, 23 years, 8 months, 9 days

    
    In winning the 1978 Tour, having already taken the Vuelta the same year, Hinault is the first and only rider to have won a Grand Tour double (i.e. two in one year) at the first attempt.

11. Laurent Fignon – 1983 Tour de France, 23 years, 11 months, 10 days

12. Tadej Pogacar – 2020 Tour de France, 21 years, 11 months, 30 days

    
    “Pog” became the youngest rider in 116 years to win the Tour, beaten only by the teenage Cornet, when he supplanted Primoz Roglic on the penultimate day in 2020. In winning the time trial, he also pipped Richard Carapaz to the KOM jersey at the last.

Debut Vuelta Winners

By far and away the place for debutants to go and win, with 25 first “Vuelta Virgins” winning at their first attempt. This could be due to the race’s lower status meaning it traditionally had a lower standard of competition, that it was a “last chance saloon” for those who hadn’t done so well at the Giro or Tour (especially after it’s 1995 calendar shuffle to late summer), or because it ended up being the final piece in the puzzle to unlock the “triple crown” of having won all three grand tours, a collector’s item that has become increasingly prized in recent years.

1. Gustaf Deloor – 1935 Vuelta a Espana, 21 years, 10 months, 21 days

2. Dalmacio Langarcia – 1946 Vuelta a Espana, 26 years, 5 months, 25 days

3. Edourad Van Dyck – 1947 Vuelta a Espana, 29 years, 2 months, 13 days

4. Jean Dotto – 1955 Vuelta a Espana, 27 years, 1 month, 11 days

5. Angel Conterno – 1956 Vuelta a Espana, 31 years, 2 months, 0 days

6. Jean Stablinski – 1958 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years, 11 months, 24 days

7. Franz de Mulder – 1960 Vuelta a Espana, 22 years, 4 months, 28 days

8. Angelino Soler – 1961 Vuelta a Espana, 21 years, 5 months, 16 days

9. Rudi Altig – 1962 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years 1 month, 25 days

10. Raymond Poulidor – 1964 Vuelta a Espana, 28 years, 1 month, 1 day

    
    Yes, the “Eternal Second” did actually win a Grand Tour! Oddly, despite his nickname, he only finished 2nd four times, including in defending his Vuelta title, behind riders such as Jan Ullrich (5 second places) Joop Zoetemelk (6 times, all at the Tour), Vincenzo Nibali (4 times), and level with Alejandro Valverde.

11. Rolf Wolfshohl – 1965 Vuelta a Espana, 26 years, 4 months, 19 days

12. Jan Janssen – 1967 Vuelta a Espana, 26 years, 11 months, 25 days

13. Felice Gimondi – 1968 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years, 7 months, 13 days

14. Roger Pingeon – 1969 Vuelta a Espana, 28 years, 8 months, 13 days

15. Ferdinand Bracke – 1971 Vuelta a Espana, 31 years, 11 months, 21 days

16. Eddy Merckx – 1973 Vuelta a Espana, 27 years, 10 months, 26 days

17. Freddy Maertens – 1977 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years, 3 months, 2 days

    
    Maertens won 13 of the 19 Vuelta stages in 1977, leading the entire way through, winning the first and last stages, and managing a streak of five wins in a row along the way. Despite such seeming dominance, he “only” won by 2’51.

18. Bernard Hinault – 1978 Vuelta a Espana, 23 years, 6 months, 0 days

19. Giovanni Battaglin – 1981 Vuelta a Espana, 29 years, 9 months, 18 days

20. Eric Caritoux – 1984 Vuelta a Espana, 23 years, 8 months, 20 days

21. Aitor Gonzalez – 2002 Vuelta a Espana, 27 years, 7 months, 2 days

22. Alberto Contador – 2008 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years, 9 months, 15 days

    
    Contador has won both the gold and red leader’s jerseys of the Vuelta, a unique achievement that can only else be achieved by Alejandro Valverde, given he is the only rider left active to have won the previous incarnation of the Maglia Roja.

23. Vincenzo Nibali – 2010 Vuelta a Espana, 25 years, 10 months, 5 days

    

    Nibbles tries to make green and red go

    Nibali had the honour of being the first recipient of the red jersey, rather than a gold jersey, as the winner of the 2010 race.

24. Christopher Froome – 2011 Vuelta a Espana, 26 years, 3 months, 22 days

    
    Froome technically won this race at the age of 34 years, 29 days, given it was awarded to him nearly eight years after Juan Jose Cobo had originally captured the race for Geox-TMC, only for a passport violation to catch up with him. Cobo himself had already entered the Vuelta before, so would not have counted as a debutant winner.

25. Primoz Roglic –  2019 Vuelta a Espana, 29 years, 10 months, 17 days