Former stage racing great Alberto Contador believes that if Tadej Pogachar wins the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, the Slovenian will achieve an unprecedented "triple" and also win the Vuelta a España.

Until 1995, when the Giro and Vuelta often overlapped on the calendar, no rider had ever attempted to win all three of cycling's top stage races in the same year. However, Contador has previously said that with a stronger team, and before he retired in 2017, he would have at least attempted the "Grand Tour Triple Crown" himself.

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), like Contador, is a Giro, Vuelta, and Tour champion, but in a different year, and said that in 2017 "it will take some effort to achieve the triple crown, but it is not impossible. The last time a Giro-Tour double was won by Marco Pantani was in 1998, and last year Jumbo Visma became the first team to win three Grand Tours in one season, but with different riders.

Contador, who retired in 2017 and now co-directs the Portico Meter team, recently told Gazzetta dello Sport If Tadei Pogachar wins the Giro and the Tour, he will also go for the Vuelta and try to win an unprecedented three consecutive titles. I am convinced of that."

The Vuelta was created relatively recently, in 1936, more than 20 years after the Giro and Tour began. [Partly due to the Vuelta's relatively low prestige until the 1970s, when the Vuelta was held in April or May, the dates often overlapped, making it an even more difficult challenge to pick three Grand Tours in the modern cycling world. "Three major" in a maximum of four months, from April to July. This was before taking into account the physical and psychological demands of doing the "Grand Tours.

Marco Pantani, the only rider to win the Giro/Tour double since the 1995 Vuelta date change, abruptly abandoned the Vuelta in September of that year, and Eddy Merckx, who had won the Vuelta and Giro double in 1973, did not compete in the Tour that year. Merckx (1972-73), Bernard Hinault (1982-83), and Chris Froome (2017-2018) are the reigning champions of all three Grand Tours, but span two separate seasons.

On winning the Giro and Tour in one year in 2024, Contador argued that the key factor for Pogachar's success is "having a really strong team around him in the Giro and a really strong team in the Tour." does the UAE have that ability?

And Contador recalled that when he won the 2015 Giro (the year he tried to win the double), he was put on the defensive by a strong Astana team captained by Fabio Al and Mikel Landa. But because he did not have a strong team, "I ended up riding alone with 50km to go, and I finished the Giro feeling really tired, and paid a high price for that year's Tour, finishing fifth."

"Then there was another factor. I was 32 when I did the double. That changed things," Contador said.

"But the main challenge for the Slovenian will not be the race itself. It's the consistency of Jonas Vingegaard (Vismaris A Bikes). He (Vingegaard) has planned everything down to the last detail."

Pogachar himself has said that after competing in the 2024 Tour he will focus on the Olympics and the World Championships; he has not mentioned competing in the Vuelta, which he last competed in 2019 and finished third overall.

Contador insisted that while Pogachar would be the leading contender in the Giro, he would never say he would be an easy winner.

"It is impossible," he argued, "even if the runner-up is seven minutes behind."

"The Giro is always exhausting, even if he did everything to win. Apart from his strength, he has race instincts," he said. Other points in favor of riders like Pogachar, who likes open and unpredictable races in the Italian Grand Tour, Contador told the Gazzetta dell Sport newspaper.

Contador said that the often very difficult weather conditions of the Giro would also help, "Pogachar works well when it is really cold. He has everything."

"In modern cycling, a double is possible. And there are two riders who can do it: Taddei and Vingegaard."