The Triple Crown of Cycling is made up of the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the World Cycling Championship. It is considered the hardest thing to win in professional bicycle road racing. The Giro dItalia, also simply known as the Giro, is a long distance road bicycle race for professionals held over three weeks in May or early June in and around Italy. ... The Tour de France (French for Tour of France), often referred to as La Grande Boucle, Le Tour or The Tour, is an epic long distance road bicycle racing competition for professionals held over three weeks in July in and around France. ... The professional World Cycling Championship is organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and is a single massed start road race, the winner being the first across the line at the completion of the full race distance. ... This racing bicycle is built using lightweight, shaped aluminum tubing and carbon fiber stays and forks. ...

The cycling triple crown has only been won twice:

• Belgian Eddy Merckx did it in 1974
• Ireland's Stephen Roche in 1987.

Among those who came close are Frenchman Bernard Hinault and later Spaniard Miguel Induráin who finished second in the World Championships in 1993. Baron Eddy Merckx /merks/ (born Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx on June 17, 1945 in Meensel-Kiezegem, Belgium) is considered by many to be the greatest cyclist of the 19th and 20th centuries. ... See also: 1973 in sports, other events of 1974, 1975 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Auto Racing Stock car racing: Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 NASCAR Championship - Richard Petty IROC Championship - inaugural year won by Mark Donohue Indianapolis 500 - Johnny Rutherford USAC Racing - Bobby Unser... Stephen Roche (born November 28, 1959 in Dundrum near Dublin, Ireland) is a retired professional cyclist. ... See also: 1986 in sports, other events of 1987, 1988 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Auto Racing Stock car racing: Bill Elliott won the Daytona 500 NASCAR Championship - Dale Earnhardt CART Racing - Bobby Rahal won the season championship Indianapolis 500 - Al Unser, Sr. ... Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea, and from the Rhine River to the Atlantic Ocean; it is bordered by the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. ... Bernard Hinault (born 14 November 1954) is a French cyclist best known for his five victories in the Tour de France. ... Miguel Ángel Induráin Larraya (born July 16, 1964, Villava, Navarre) is a retired Spanish cyclist. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

See also

• Grand Tour (cycling)