Challenge Desgrange-Colombo

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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
1948 BelgiumBelgium Briek Schotte ItalyItaly Fermo Camellini ItalyItaly Gino Bartali
1949 ItalyItaly Fausto Coppi ItalyItaly Gino Bartali and Fiorenzo MagniItalyItaly
1950 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Ferdy Kübler ItalyItaly Fiorenzo Magni SwitzerlandSwitzerland Hugo Koblet
1951 FranceFrance Louison Bobet SwitzerlandSwitzerland Ferdy Kübler ItalyItaly Fiorenzo Magni
1952 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Ferdy Kübler ItalyItaly Fausto Coppi BelgiumBelgium Stan Ockers
1953 ItalyItaly Loretto Petrucci FranceFrance Louison Bobet BelgiumBelgium Stan Ockers
1954 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Ferdy Kübler BelgiumBelgium Raymond Impanis FranceFrance Louison Bobet
1955 BelgiumBelgium Stan Ockers FranceFrance Louison Bobet FranceFrance Jean Brankart
1956 BelgiumBelgium Fred De Bruyne BelgiumBelgium Stan Ockers FranceFrance Jean Forestier
1957 BelgiumBelgium Fred De Bruyne BelgiumBelgium Raymond Impanis ItalyItaly Gastone Nencini
1958 BelgiumBelgium Fred De Bruyne BelgiumBelgium Rik Van Looy FranceFrance Jacques Anquetil

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