Felice Gimondi, nicknamed “The Phoenix” and admired for his elegant riding style, is one of the all time greats of cycling and a precociously young winner of the Tour de France in 1965. The 22 year old, fresh faced Italian kid, was originally enlisted to fetch water and help pace his team leader, Vittorio Adorni … but to everyone’s surprise, Gimondi himself became race leader after winning the third stage. After Adorni suffered a crash, then illness, Gimondi was quickly bumped up to team leader and hung onto the Yellow Jersey until the finish in Paris. It would be 33 years until another Italian won the coveted ‘Tour’. Gimondi once told Agence France-Presse. “I did not have a brilliant gift. But doing my job properly, with will and application, I succeeded.”