Challenge Desgrange-Colombo
The "Challenge Desgrange-Colombo" was an annual ranking in the pro - road cycling , which was from 1948 to 1958 the most versatile and overall most successful cyclist to crown the season.
Named after Henri Desgrange and Emilio Colombo , the founders and organizers of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia , the "Challenge Desgrange-Colombo" was published by the European sports newspapers L'Équipe (Fra), La Gazzetta dello Sport (Ita) , Het Nieuwsblad (Bel) and Les Sports (Bel). Disagreements between the organizers led to the abolition of the rating. Three years later, from 1961, a similar format for the annual cycling ranking was created: the so-called Super Prestige Pernod ranking.
The most important one-day races and tours of the cycling season were included in the ranking . These included the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as the classics Milan – Sanremo , Paris – Roubaix , Tour of Flanders , La Flèche Wallonne , Paris – Brussels , Paris – Tours and the Lombardy Tour . The Tour de Suisse was added in 1949, Liège – Bastogne – Liège in 1951 and the Vuelta a España in 1958, the last year it was held .
The "Challenge Desgrange-Colombo" was naturally dominated by the best cyclists of their respective generation. Briek Schotte was awarded as the first winner . a. Fausto Coppi and Louison Bobet . The Swiss Ferdy Kübler (1950, 1952, 1954) and the Belgian Fred De Bruyne (1956-1958) each won three times .
Winners list
year | winner | Second | Third |
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1948 |
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1949 |
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1950 |
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1951 |
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1952 |
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1953 |
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1954 |
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1955 |
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1956 |
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1957 |
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1958 |
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