Tomorrow is gonna be tough!
Coppi dominated in 1952 but the crushing nature of his win – and the suspense-killing effect it had on the race – meant that it was a full 24 years before the race returned. Joop Zoetemelk topped the podium in 1976 and started a dominant period by riders from the Netherlands, with eight out of the thirteen finishes there between that year and Gert-Jan Theunisse’s 1989 victory falling to competitors from that country.
This in turn led to it’s unofficial christening as the ‘Dutch Mountain’ and the regularly huge influx of beer drinking orange-clad spectators. More recently the top prize has gone in other directions, though, with six Italian wins, three American victories and one Spanish triumph.