Has anyone held all three Grand Tour jerseys at the same time?

Yep. Hinault did, so did Merckx. If you’re Froome, putting your name alongside those two is probably a pretty big draw

Next question… who will be the leader for Sky at the Vuelta now?

You don’t think if he pulls off the Giro/Tour double he won’t be tempted to go for that too? He’s said on numerous occasions that he likes the Vuelta a lot and could conceivably try for all three. It seems a humongous ask and extremely unlikely but still a possibility to go down in history.

He must be thinking about going for the Vuelta too, but he wouldn’t dare say it until the Tour was in the bag. And they’d definitely want a solid backup plan.

he doesn’t have that many years of top level riding left so if he’s going to do the giro/tour it needs to be now, and he has a training method ready to go.

the fifth tour can be reattempted in 2019 if it doesn’t happen in 2018 – but Daniel Friebe’s analysis to say that 5 isn’t a certainty is correct; if Bardet goes out on his tt bike he’ll be a force to be reckoned with, Nairo can put him in danger if he decides which GT to go for, dumoulin is a threat as he can hang in there and is a better TTer

whether you like froome or not at least he’s making it interesting!

if he attempts giro and tour then the vuelta is not happening

His competition is great though is it so he can afford to do both. The last couple of years have been comfortable.

edhornby – Member

whether you like froome or not at least he’s making it interesting!

Agreed!!

if Bardet goes out on his tt bike he’ll be a force to be reckoned with, Nairo can put him in danger if he decides which GT to go for, dumoulin is a threat as he can hang in there and is a better TTer

If only they were allowed to tag-team, I reckon they’d have him licked.

I’m also glad he’s having a crack at it. I don’t necessarily want him to pull it off though.

La Gazzetta saying Dumoulin will ride the Giro.

Bring it!

So, predictions for next year’s grand tours? I’m going to go with “almost the same as this year”. So:

Giro: Dumoulin (something will go wrong for Froome, illness, crash or very bad day)
Tour: Froome
Giro: Landa

who will be the leader for Sky at the Vuelta now?

Poels maybe? Or G?

Giro Vuelta: Landa

FTFY

I feel for Geraint.. Billed as a leader, never gets the opportunity because old spider legs “wants a go”

Well Geraint should tell him to sod off.

Looking forward to this. I’ll be in Novello for Stage 18!

I feel for Geraint.. Billed as a leader, never gets the opportunity because old spider legs “wants a go”

Well Geraint should tell him to sod off.

Problem is, the 5-time grand tour winner is the marquee rider there. Gee, as good as he is, doesn’t have the palmares to tell anyone to sod off as a grand tour leader.

Poels maybe? Or G?

Ooh I’d like to see Poels have a crack at it.

Geraint is my favourite, but the Vuelta’s likely to be a bit too full of mentally steep hills innit?

He’s indicated that he’s open to offers for 2019 onwards, and I think that might be the best thing for him if he wants to lead in more grand tours.

If only they were allowed to tag-team, I reckon they’d have him licked.

they can; not as far as mechanical assistance but they can take it in turns to attack and let froome chase every time – but of course he has Wout, G and even guys like kiryenka, henao to pull for him so that the attackers run out of road. also for this tactic to work you have to be prepared to let one of your rivals go and not chase, it takes balls of steel to do this

nobody’s talked about Nibali or Porte or Aru either.
ok predictions

Giro: Froome
Tour: Nairo
Vuelta: Aru

bikebouy – Member
I feel for Geraint.. Billed as a leader, never gets the opportunity because old spider legs “wants a go”
Well Geraint should tell him to sod off.

The trouble with G is he’s not consistent, and he’s unlucky. I’ve been a big fan of his since 2007, but whilst he’s a great superdom, he’s too likely to crash out to be the team leader.

Nairo! That’s bold. I’d love to see Porte or Gee do well. Porte for the Tour would be awesome. I do like Froome, but I’d be pretty happy if he dropped out of contention on the Giro for some reason, and then Gee took over and won it, then Porte came good in the Tour.

they can; not as far as mechanical assistance but they can take it in turns to attack and let froome chase every time

As you suggest he tends to know when he’s being played and will ride to his power monitor, reeling in the attacks and getting a tow off Poels or Kwiatkowski.

Porte for the Tour would be awesome.

He must be having another crack at it in 2018. I’s tend to put him in the same category as G above – very talented but a little inconsistent.

And not totally sure he has the head for it.

http://www.cityam.com/277165/top-merckx-complete-rider-chris-froome-set-repeat

according to GCN Movistar’s plan is:

Giro – Valverde
Tour – Nairo
Vuelta – Landa
(personally I hope they send Landa to the Giro too as backup protected rider cos ValvPiti is past it)

ValvPiti is past it

If only that were true.
The reality is he seems to get stronger as he gets older, and never ever has bad days.

Would’ve been good to see Landa up against a tired Froome in the TdF.

He might be happy enough racing the Vuelta against a weaker field though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/42282670