“Grazie Felice” – Eddy Merckx and Co. mourn the death of cyclist Gimondi

The Italian is one of only seven cyclists to win all three major national tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta). “Grazie Felice. A great Italian has left,” was the headline in the Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday. In fact, Gimondi is right up there with Italian cycling greats like Fausto Coppi or Gino Bartali. The Son of a postwoman from Sedrina was not just a gifted tour driver. Gimondi also won cycling monuments such as Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo and became road world champion in 1973.

“Above all, I lost a friend.” Gimondi's long-term competitor Eddy Merckx “Above all, I lost a friend. I spoke to him two weeks ago. What can I say? “I’m devastated,” said Merckx, who fought big duels with Gimondi. And if it weren't for “Cannibal” Merckx, Gimondi's track record would be even more impressive than it already is.

In his first participation in the Tour de France, he took overall victory at the age of just 22 years and 288 days, even though he had actually only joined the team at short notice as a substitute. The fact that there were no further successes was also due to five-time champion Merckx. Felice Gimondi at the classic Paris-Roubaix (1969). © APA/afp/STF

Nevertheless, the Italian continued to celebrate great victories. In 1967, 1969 and 1976 he won the Giro d'Italia, and in 1968 he triumphed at the Tour of Spain. One of his most impressive victories was the 1973 World Cup title in Barcelona, when he sprinted past the Belgian Freddy Maertens, the Spaniard Luis Ocana and Merckx in an illustrious group.

“I didn't have great talent,” Gimondi said of himself. “But through my work and my will, I was successful.” Probably a little too much modesty, because Gimondi was an aesthete on the racing bike, a great tactician with climbing skills and strengths in the Time trial.

After his career, Gimondi founded an insurance company, but stayed in cycling as an ambassador for the top cycling brand Bianchi. In the meantime he also worked as a consultant to Marco Pantani. The climbing specialist who won the Tour in 1998 ahead of Jan Ullrich and, 33 years after Gimondi, ensured another Italian victory in France.

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“Grazie Felice” – Eddy Merckx and Co. mourn the death of cyclist Gimondi

For Eddy Merckx he was “one of the greatest of all time”, for Bradley Wiggins “an icon and a gentleman”: Cycling mourns Felice Gimondi, who died of a heart attack on Friday while on holiday in Sicily at the age of 76.

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