Pretty in Pink Trivia Quiz

Although the first Giro d'Italia was held in 1909, it took until 1931 for a distinctive leader's jersey to be introduced. The responsible person, Armando Cougnet, a journalist at the Italian newspaper, Gazetto dello Sport, who were the organisers of the race, decided to follow the successful route chosen by the Tour de France and its famous 'maillot jaune'. The 'maglia rosa', as it became known, was chosen to pay homage to the colour of the paper on which the newspaper was printed which just happened to be pink. Francesco Camusso, an Italian climber, went down in history as the first rider to win the Giro d'Italia wearing the pink jersey.

Francesco Camusso was born in Piedmont on 09 March 1908 and is considered to be one of the best climbers of his era. His victory in the 1931 Giro d'Italia came in only his second year as a professional. The following year he won a stage of the Tour de France and took third place overall. In 1934 he nearly repeated his earlier victory, but finished second to Learco Guerra. There was a certain poetic justice here as in 1931, Guerra was the first ever person to pull on a maglia rosa when he won the opening stage, but lost out on the overall victory. Camusso died in Turin on 23 June 1995, aged 87.

Italian riders held a monopoly on all Giro d'Italia victories until 1950 when along came a quirky Swiss climber by the name of Hugo Koblet. Koblet was quite a character who was known for his impeccable style and grooming. Sacrificing aerodynamics for elan, he always carried, in his back pocket, a comb, a bottle of eau de cologne and a damp sponge to ensure that he looked good for the photographers at the finish line. He was nicknamed the "Pedaleur de Charme" by the cycling media for his good looks and friendly demeanor. In 1950, the Giro was again supposed to be dominated by the rivalry between the two great Italian champions, Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi. However, when Coppi crashed out of the race with a broken pelvis, Koblet seized his chance and by the end of the three weeks, he won the Giro by over 5 minutes becoming the first non-Italian to claim the maglia rosa. He also claimed the mountain classification that year. Hugo Koblet was born in Zurich on 21 March 1925 and started his career as a track cyclist. He won multiple Swiss national titles and was the Swiss champion the year he claimed the Giro

The year after his Giro win would be the pinnacle of Koblet's career when he won both the 1951 edition of the Tour de France and the Grand Prix des Nations which was then considered to be the 'unofficial' world championships. Unfortunately, his glamorous lifestyle began to catch up with him and victories started drying up. He finally retired in 1958 with 70 professional victories to his name. Sadly his retirement was not long lived as he died on 6 November 1964 at the age of 39 from injuries sustained in a car crash.

Once described by a French journalist as "Mozart on two wheels", Charly Gaul was the tiny climber from Luxembourg whose temper was as short as his stature. His exploits on stage 18 of the 1956 Giro d'Italia that laid the foundation for his overall win that year are the stuff of cycling lore. Gaul's ability to ride well in the coldest, most miserable of conditions stood him in good stead as the riders approached the 242 kilometre stage 18 from Merano-Monte to Bondone. The weather was absolutely appalling with the stage being ridden in a freezing snowstorm. Of the eighty-three riders who started the stage only forty-two finished. Gaul rode alone for 88 kilometres and won the stage by over 12 minutes. This epic ride brought him the maglia rosa with a lead of nearly 8 minutes. He would hold onto this lead to become the first Luxembourgian to win the Giro d'Italia when the race finished.

Charly Gaul was one of most talented climbers of his era and was known as the "angel of the mountains" for his rhythmical style of climbing. He was born on the outskirts of Luxembourg City on 08 December 1932. He became a butcher by trade and was known for his irascible temper and prickly nature. He once threatened to make sausages out of his bitter rival, Louison Bobet. He turned professional in 1953 after a stellar amateur career. After his victory in the 1956 Giro, he won the Tour de France in 1958 and the following year, he took his second Giro title. Before he retired in 1965, he amassed a total of 11 Giro stage wins as well as 10 in the Tour de France . Always a bit of an antisocial character, after his retirement in 1965, he disappeared to live the life of a hermit in a forest hut in the hills of the Ardennes region. He only re-emerged into society in 1983 after he had met and married his third wife. Charly Gaul died in Luxembourg City on 06 December 2005 and remains very much a national hero in the tiny country.

The career of the Italian rider Felice Gimondi is probably one of the most overlooked in the history of cycling. He has a palmares that most riders of any era would envy. When he won his first maglia rosa in 1967, he already had a Tour de France victory under his belt, having won the race the previous year on his debut at the age of 22. In 1968, he triumphed in the Vuelta a Espana. This victory meant that became only the second rider in history, after Jacques Anquetil, to win all three of cycling's grand tours and he'd achieved it in his first three years as a professional rider and by the tender age of 25. Gimondi was born in Sedrina, Italy on 29 September 1942 where his mother was a postmistress who did her mail round by bicycle. The young Felice used to assist her by cycling the steep hills to deliver parcels. He turned professional in 1965 and the victories starting coming thick and fast for the young Italian. To add to his grand tour achievement are, inter alia, two more Giro 'd Italia victories, three of cycling's five monuments and a world championship road race title.

So what happened to make him one of the sport's unsung heroes? The answer is actually quite simple. His career, unfortunately for him, coincided with that of the legendary Eddy Merckx and he would mostly remain in the shadow of his great rival and friend once Merckx arrived on the scene. A popular and gregarious man, Gimondi took his regular losses to Merckx with good grace and kept plugging away. Over 12 seasons, he amassed 143 victories before he finally retired in 1978. Gimondi died on 16 August 2019 at the age of 76 after suffering a heart attack while swimming on holiday in Sicily.

Stephen Roche's win in the 1987 Giro d'Italia was a remarkable feat that continues to be celebrated in the cycling community and one that firmly established him as one of the greatest cyclists of his generation. His victory not only over his rivals on other teams, but his tussle with his own teammate, the defending champion, Roberto Visentini and his fanatical 'tifosi' supporters, made this an edition of the Giro'd Italia that would go down in history. It has been compared to the famous Bernard Hinault/Greg Lemond battle in the 1986 Tour de France. When Roche, who endured endless abuse and attacks during the race, finally emerged as the winner, he became the first Irishman to claim the famous Maglia Rosa.

Stephen Roche's was born in Dublin on 28 November 1959. After a successful amateur career he turned professional in 1981. His triumph in the 1987 Giro d'Italia marked the beginning of a historic year for him. He went on to win the Tour de France later in the season. He then crowned a victorious year by winning the UCI Road World Championships, making him the second rider, after Eddy Merckx, to clinch cycling's elusive triple crown of victories - the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and World Championship in a single season. Hampered by a recurrent knee problem, Roche never quite again reached the heights of 1987 and retired from the sport in 1993.

Marco Pantani, 'Il Pirata', is widely regarded as one of the most talented climbers in the history of cycling and was a natural climber with an attacking style of riding that made him beloved not only of the Italian 'tifosi' and cycling fans around the world. The mercurial Italian, with his shaven head, earring and trademark bandana, was born on January 13, 1970, in Cesena, Italy. A successful amateur career saw the young Pantani turn professional in 1992. He rose to national prominence when he won back to back mountains stages in the 1994 Giro d'Italia. He followed that up with a Young Rider's classification in that year's Tour de France. His career between 1995 and 1997 was plagued by crashes and career threatening injuries which prevented him from competing at his best.However, in 1998, Pantani was back with a vengeance. His lightweight frame, explosive power, and exceptional climbing ability made him a formidable competitor .He won both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France that year, becoming only the seventh rider in history to achieve this double. In the Giro, Pantani won four mountain stages and claimed the overall victory ahead of Pavel Tonkov.

Unfortunately Pantani was also what is called in cycling parlance "an angel of the mountains" - an exceptionally talented climber who is also emotionally fragile and insecure. In 1999, he returned to defend his Giro title and was wearing the maglia rosa with two stages to go. However, a routine blood test showed what was called "irregular blood values" and he was expelled from the race for "health reasons". He never emotionally recovered from this and suffered from bouts of severe depression. On 14 February 2004 he was found dead in his hotel room in Rimini, Italy at the age of 34, a victim of acute cocaine poisoning.

Alberto Contador is one of the most successful Grand Tour riders in the history of the sport. The Spaniard, who was known as "El Pistolero" for his trademark victory salute of pretending to cock and fire a pistol, was always exciting to watch with his attacking style and take no prisoners approach. His career, however, was not without controversy and he was stripped of both his 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia victories due to a doping violation. Despite this, he is only the second rider (after Bernard Hinault) to win all three Grand Tours twice and his revised palmares sports two Tour de France and two Giro d'Italia victories as well as three Vuelta a Espana crowns.

Alberto Contador was born in Pinto, Spain on 06 December 1982 and started cycling at the age of fourteen. By the time he was sixteen, he had dropped out of school to pursue a cycling career. He turned professional in 2001, but his dreams were nearly thwarted in 2004 after he nearly lost his life following a brain haemorrhage while riding the Tour of Asturias. Following surgery and recovery, he returned to racing in 2005. In 2007 he took his first Grand Tour victory at the Tour de France followed by the double of the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana in 2008. Contador retired from racing at the end of the 2017 season.

In 2012, Ryder Hesjedal cemented his place in Canadian sporting lore when became the first Canadian not only to win the Giro d' Italia, but to triumph in any of the sport's three Grand Tours. He did so in thrilling style too by overturning a 31 second deficit to Spain Joachim Rodriguez in the final 30.2 kilometre time trail into Milan to take the final Maglia Rosa by 16 seconds. This win remains one of the most significant achievements in Canadian cycling history. Eric Ryder Hesjedal was born on December 9, 1980, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

He began his cycling career as a mountain biker, achieving success in the discipline before switching to road cycling in 2004. He turned professional with the U.S.-based Discovery Channel cycling team, gaining experience and recognition as a domestique, supporting team leaders in various races. In 2009 he won two stages at the Vuelta a Espana and in 2010, he finished 5th in the Tour de France. He retired from the professional peloton in 2015.

In 2017 the Giro d'Italia celebrated its centenary with the 100th edition of the race, making it a particularly special event in the history of the race. Tom Dumoulin, the poster of boy of Dutch cycling, made it even more special for the cycling mad nation when he won the edition and became the first Dutchman to claim the fabled maglia rosa. With this victory he completed his transition from being one of the world's best time triallist to being a Grand Tour winner. Tom Dumoulin was born on November 11, 1990, in Maastricht, Netherlands. He initially began his sporting career as a talented rower but eventually switched to cycling. He turned professional in 2012 and quickly established himself as a specialist in the individual time trial. Dumoulin's breakthrough came in 2015 when he won two stages and the overall classification at the Tour de Suisse.

In 2016, he achieved significant success. He won two stages at the Tour de France, becoming the first Dutchman to win a Tour de France stage in 30 years. Despite riding with a broken wrist, he won the silver medal in the individual time trial at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 2017 was a peak year for Dumoulin who followed up his Giro d'Italia victory with a world championship title in the individual time trial. However, his career was hampered by injury and in 2019, he took a temporary break from professional cycling to recharge mentally and physically, citing the pressures of the sport. After returning in 2020, he retired for good in August 2022.

Primoz Roglic is the former ski jumper who, when his career was cut short by serous injury, transformed himself into one of the most successful cyclists of his generation. Primoz Roglic was born on October 29, 1989, in Trbovlje, Slovenia. Following his career ending accident on the slopes of Planica in his native Slovenia in 2007, he switched to cycling. He debuted in road cycling in 2012 and gained international recognition in 2016 when he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia in the individual time trial. Despite a late start in the sport, his superb time trialling and solid climbing skills have ensured that he has already amassed an impressive palmares of results.

He became the first Slovenian to win the Vuelta a Espana in 2019 and followed this with two more victories in 2020 and 2021. This victory made him the first Slovenian to win any Grand Tour. He claimed Liege-Bastogne- Liege, one of cycling's five monuments, in 2020. At the Summer Games in Tokyo held in 2021, he added an Olympic gold medal to his result sheet by winning the Men's Individual Time Trial. In 2023, he added the Giro d' Italia to his list of victories when he claimed the maglia rosa in Rome after taking 40 seconds from his nearest rival, Geraint Thomas, in the final individual time trial on stage 20 to give him the overall victory by 14 seconds.