CQ22-Digital

The first ever rider to bask in
the glory of their race-winning team
leader at all three Grand Tours
was the Italian all-rounder Nino
Defilippis. He was a teammate of
Angelo Conterno at Bianchi when he
won the 1956 Vuelta a España. He was
at Carpano in 1960 when Gastone
Nencini won the Tour de France.
And finally, when Franco Balmamion
won his first Giro d’Italia in 1962,
Defilippis was there too. In all three
of those Grand Tours Defilippis won
at least one stage of his own.
In subsequent years a mishmash
of riders have managed this
triple. For every Raphaël Géminiani,
there’s a Bernard Quilfen; for every
Jean Stablinski, a Michel Stolker.
The rider who has assisted the most
overall wins in Grand Tour history
is Victor Van Schil, who did it 11
times. This is perhaps unsurprising
as Van Schil spent most of his good
years as a teammate of Eddy Merckx.
With Merckx he assisted at four
Tours, four Giri and a Vuelta, with a
further Vuelta alongside each of Rolf
Wolfshohl and Raymond Poulidor.
The most recent addition to the
list is Mikel Landa, who was at Astana
when Fabio Aru won the Vuelta. He
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