2024

Gianni
Bugno

Italy

Date of birth
14/02/1964

Place of birth
Brugg

Career start
1985

Career end
1998

Costante Girardengo, Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx. Then, half a century later, Gianni Bugno came along. The only rider in the last 50 years to wear the Maglia Rosa from the first to the last stage of the Giro d'Italia, a feat which not even the otherwise dominant Tadej Pogacar managed to achieve in his jaw-dropping 2024 campaign. This record alone would suffice to describe the greatness of this all-round champion, capable of battling shoulder to shoulder with the best climbers in Grand Tours while also competing with specialists in one-day classics.During his fourteen seasons as a pro, Bugno not only claimed the 1990 Giro d'Italia, but also victories at Milano-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, and two consecutive World Championships on radically different courses. Alongside Claudio Chiappucci, with whom he developed a healthy and incredibly entertaining rivalry, Bugno was one of the main challengers in the early Tour de France editions dominated by Miguel Indurain. He bid farewell to professional cycling in 1998, not before completing his collection of stage wins in all three Grand Tours with a stage victory at the Vuelta a España. Bugno later began a career as a helicopter pilot, becoming the pilot for RAI’s aerial coverage of several editions of the Giro d’Italia.