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[edit] In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:

• Tour de France - Tour of France (est. 1903)
• Giro d'Italia - Tour of Italy (est. 1909)
• Vuelta a España - Tour of Spain (est. 1935)

Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three are similar in format. All are multi-week races with daily stages. The stages are a mix of long massed start races (sometimes including mountain and hill climbs and descents; others are flat stages favoring those with a sprint finish), as well as individual and team time trials and non-competitive exhibition and rest days. Unlike most one-day races, stages in the Grand Tours are generally under 200 kilometers in length. These days the Grand Tours are held over three consecutive weeks and typically include two "rest" days near the end of the first and second week

The Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious of all three and also the world's most famous cycling race. While the other two European Grand Tours are well known in Europe, they are relatively unknown outside the continent, and are familiar only to cycling enthusiasts. The Tour de France, in contrast, has long been a household sporting name around the globe, known even to those not generally interested in cycling.

The prizes include the individual General Classification, the team classification, the King of the Mountains, the points classification, and often the best young rider classification, in addition to other less known classifications. The most contested ones are the individual general classification (Maillot jaune (yellow jersey) in the Tour de France), king of the mountains classification (Maillot à pois rouges (polka dot jersey) in the Tour de France), and points classification (Maillot vert (green jersey) in the Tour de France). Only two riders have won all three in the same race: Eddy Merckx in the 1969 Tour de France and Laurent Jalabert in the 1995 Vuelta a España.

No cyclist has ever won all three Grand Tour events in the same year. Only four cyclists have won all three of the Grand Tours during their career:

• Jacques Anquetil; France; 5 Tours (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964), 2 Giros (1960, 1964), 1 Vuelta (1963).
• Felice Gimondi; Italy; 1 Tour (1965), 3 Giros (1967, 1969, 1976), 1 Vuelta (1968)
• Eddy Merckx; Belgium; 5 Tours (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974), 5 Giros (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974), 1 Vuelta (1973)
• Bernard Hinault; France; 5 Tours (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985), 3 Giros (1980, 1982, 1985), 2 Vueltas (1978, 1983)

Only three cyclists have won stages in all three of the Grand Tours in the same year:

• Miguel Poblet; Spain; (1956)
• Pierino Baffi; Italy; (1958)
• Alessandro Petacchi; Italy; (2003)

Each team in the Union Cycliste Internationale (International Cycling Union) ProTour must race in all three, though they may change riders between the events. (There has been recent controversy as the Unibet team, a ProTour team who would normally be guaranteed entry, has been banned from the three grand tours due to gambling advertising laws).

¹Landis tested positive for elevated ratios of testosterone after Stage 17 of the Tour. On September 20, 2007, Landis was found guilty of doping and ordered that he forfeit his 2006 Tour de France victory, making Pereiro the official winner.^[1]
2Menchov finished second in the race, but was elevated to first when Roberto Heras was disqualified after testing positive for the banned performance enhancing substance EPO.

• Triple Crown of Cycling