Gimondi also won three of the five
Cycling monuments, winning the
Giro di Lombardia twice, and finished on the podium of a grand tour twelve times.
He accomplished all of these major victories despite his career coinciding with that of
Eddy Merckx.
Biography
Gimondi was born on 29 September 1942 in
Sedrina in the
Province of Bergamo.[4] He was the son of a transport manager and a post mistress.[5] In his youth, he frequently took his mother's post bicycle and later helped to deliver mail on it.[6] In 1964, Gimondi rode the
road race at the
1964 Olympic Games, where he finished in 33rd place.[7] After winning the
Tour de l'Avenir, he was signed, in 1965, as a professional to the
Salvarani team.[4] With the withdrawal of another cyclist from Salvarani's
1965 Tour de France team, Gimondi was added at the last minute and later recalled that he had to ask his mother for permission to start the race. He took the yellow jersey on stage 3, but lost the race lead later when he waited for his nominal team captain
Vittorio Adorni. Adorni later dropped out, leaving Gimondi to fight out the overall victory with
Raymond Poulidor, securing the Tour in the final
time trial.[8][9]
His early successes led to him being regarded as a successor to well-renowned fellow Italian
Fausto Coppi, nicknamed campionissimo. Gimondi's career coincided for the most part with that of highly-successful
Eddy Merckx. However, Gimondi was able to build up a respectable palmarès himself, even through the era of Merckx' dominance.[8]
After winning the
1967 Giro d'Italia and the
1968 Vuelta a España, Gimondi had become the second-ever rider to have won all three
Grand Tours after
Jacques Anquetil. He won the Giro a further two times, first in
1969.[10] In
1976, Gimondi was not counted among the favourites, being regarded as past his prime, but overcame a deficit on race leader
Johan De Muynck in the final
time trial to take his third victory in the race. His success was subsequently called the "miracle in Milan".[9]
He failed twice to pass doping controls, first in the
1968 Giro d'Italia[11] and then at the
1975 Tour de France.[12] His positive test at the 1968 Giro was for the stimulant
Fencamfamin, but since the substance was not on the prohibited list at the time, he kept his third place overall at the race.[13] At the 1975 Tour, he received a 10-minute time penalty.[6]
A major
cyclosportive event is named in his honour, the Gran Fondo Felice Gimondi, held annually around
Bergamo. Since 2019, it honours all seven riders to have won all three Grand Tours.[14]
Throughout his career and after it, Gimondi was closely associated with the bicycle manufacturer
Bianchi.[15] In the late 1980s, Gimondi was briefly directeur sportif at the
Gewiss–Bianchi team.[9] He served as manager for Bianchi's mountain-bike team for a long period of time.[15] Between 2000 and 2001, Gimondi briefly worked as president of the
Mercatone Uno–Albacom team[9] and as an advisor to
Marco Pantani. At the end of the
1998 Tour de France, race organiser
Jean-Marie Leblanc invited Gimondi onto the stage during the podium celebration, when Pantani became the first Italian winner of the race since he had himself won the event in 1965.[16] In 2008, Gimondi was the president of the TX Active – Bianchi cycling team which specializes in MTB races.[17]
In 1968, Gimondi married Tiziana Bersano, with whom he had two daughters, Norma and Federica.[8]
Gimondi died on 16 August 2019 after suffering a heart attack while swimming on vacation in
Sicily. He was 76.[9] His funeral was held on 20 August in
Paladina near Bergamo, attended by thousands of people. His long-time rival Eddy Merckx did not attend, stating that he was "too saddened" by the loss of his friend.[15]