Felice Gimondi: Phoenix rising

 

No.1: 1973 world road race champion

Felice Gimondi was one of Italy's greatest cycling champions of the postwar era, young winner of the 1965 Tour de France (22 year-old) who was viewed as the successor to the legendary 'Campionissimo' Fausto Coppi. However, every professional cyclist racing between 1966 and 1976, The Phoenix was unfortunate to be competing when Eddy Merckx was in his prime, he built a prolific palmarès that places him in the top 10 cyclists of all time.

"In the first Tour, I had so much energy because of my age, I could spend a lot and still recover quickly. But the Giro I won when I was 33 (in 1976) was special too, because it was thanks to intelligence and experience. Winning the Giro, 11 years after that Tour, remains an important achievement for me."
-Felice Gimondi

Palmarès of Felice Gimondi 



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