I Know a Guy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marco Pantani

With his gold earrings and trademark bandana wrapped around his shaven head, Marco Pantani was certainly one of the most talented and colourful characters ever to grace a peloton. The mercurial Italian was a natural climber with an attacking style of riding that was never going to leave him wondering what might have been. In 1998 Pantani won both the Tour de France and the Giro d' Italia becoming one of a few riders who have managed to capture the elusive double.

Unfortunately Pantani was also a rather fragile character. After he was disqualified from the 1999 Giro d'Italia for irregular blood values while leading the race, he never really recovered his emotional equilibrium. He suffered from bouts of severe depression. In 2004 he was found dead in his hotel room in Rimini, Italy at the age of 34, a victim of acute cocaine poisoning. A sad fate for a popular and talented rider.

Answer: Eddy Merckx

With a staggering 525 victories in a professional career that spanned eighteen years, Belgium's Eddy Merckx is arguably the best professional rider of all time. He dominated the era between 1965 and 1978 and his voracious appetite for winning earned him the nickname of "The Cannibal" because he supposedly only left crumbs for the other riders.

His list of victories is far too long to detail here, but among the jewels in his glittering palmares are five Tour de France crowns, an equal number of Giro d'Italia wins and a triumph in the Vuelta a Espana, making him one of a handful of riders who have achieved victory in all three Grand Tours. Besides winning all five of the Monuments of cycling, in 1974 he also became the first rider to win the "Triple Crown" of cycling - the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Road Race Championship in one year.

Answer: Mark Cavendish

Successful on both the track and on the road, Britain's Mark Cavendish has earned the nickname of "The Manx Missile", a reference to both his birthplace of the Isle of Man and his prodigious sprinting ability. Cavendish started his career on the track and won two World Championship gold medals in 2005 and 2008 in the Madison, a feat he repeated in 2016 while riding with Bradley Wiggins.

Switching to professionally riding on the road in 2005, Cavendish has been equally successful. His turn of speed saw him crowned World Road Racing Champion in 2011. Besides also winning Milan-San Remo, one of the Monuments of cycling, in 2009 Cavendish also won the points classification at all three Grand Tours. In the 2016 edition of the Tour de France he notched up his 30th stage win, a feat only bettered, at that point in time, by the legendary Eddy Merckx.

Answer: Fabian Cancellara

Although the origin of his nickname of "Spartacus" is unknown, there is no doubt that Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara was a true gladiator of the sport, boasting a palmares that would be the envy of most professional riders. A powerful individual time trial specialist, Cancellara has two Olympic gold medals and four world championship titles in the discipline to his name. In one of the final few races of his career, Cancellara turned back the clock to capture gold in the men's time trial in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Besides excelling at the time trial, Cancellara was also a formidable specialist in the one day Classic races. He counts amongst his many wins, three Paris-Roubaix and three Tour of Flanders victories. In these two Monuments, he twice did the double, first in 2010 and then repeating the feat in 2013. He has also worn the leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de France on 29 occasions. Fabian Cancellara retired from professional cycling at the end of the 2016 season.

Answer: Bernard Hinault

One of the greatest cyclists that France has ever produced, Bernard Hinault's pugnacious character and style are reflected in his nickname of "Le Blaireau" which means "The Badger". Although there are numerous versions of how he came to acquire the nickname, there is no doubt that it is apt. Never one to be backward in coming forward, Hinault was regarded as the "patron" or "boss" of the peloton and inspired both fear and respect in his fellow riders. He once summed up his racing philosophy by saying "I race to win, not to please people".

With over 250 professional victories, Hinault's achievements are legendary. He achieved something that defeated even the legendary Eddy Merckx. He won all three Grand Tours twice, becoming the first man to do so! In fact he has a total of five Tour de France crowns, is a three time champion of the Giro d' Italia and triumphed twice in the Vuelta a Espana. Not content with dominating the Grand Tours, Hinault also claimed a World Road Race Championship and numerous one day classic victories including one in Paris-Roubaix and two in Liege-Bastogne Liege.

Answer: Laurent Fignon

Probably best known for losing the 1989 Tour de France to Greg Lemond by 8 seconds, Laurent Fignon was, nevertheless, one the most elegant and talented riders to grace the sport. He acquired the nickname of "Le Professeur" (The Professor) both as a result of the small round glasses he sported and to the fact that he was one of the few professional cyclists to pass his baccalaureat exams.

His slight build and long ponytail belied a prodigious talent and he was only 22 years of age when he won his first Tour de France title in 1983. He backed that up by defending his title the following year. He very nearly claimed a third crown in 1989, but lost out when Greg Lemond overturned a 50 second deficit in the final stage's individual time trial to win by 8 seconds. It has been postulated that had Fignon not sported his trademark long ponytail, he would have held onto his lead. As he had already won the 1989 Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France loss also deprived him of the coveted Giro-Tour double. A bitter pill indeed!

Sadly Laurent Fignon passed away from cancer in 2010 at the age of 50.

Answer: Alberto Contador

Nicknamed "El Pistolero" for his trademark victory salute of pretending to cock and fire a pistol, Spain's Alberto Contador is one of the most successful Grand Tour riders in the history of the sport. Despite being stripped of both his 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia victories due to a doping violation, he is still the second rider (after Bernard Hinault) to win all three Grand Tours twice. Quite a feat for a man who nearly lost his life in 2004 when he suffered a brain haemorrhage while riding the Tour of Asturias.

Contador's revised palmares still sports two Tour de France and two Giro d'Italia victories as well as three Vuelta a Espana crowns.

Answer: Mario Cipollini

Mario Cipollini is arguably one of the greatest, and is certainly one of the most flamboyant, sprinters ever to don lycra and join the professional peloton. Known as "The Lion King" for his trademark mane of blond hair, Cipollini and his Saeco team's "red train" dominated sprinting during the 1990s and early 2000s. "Super Mario" won the points classification of his native Giro d'Italia on three occasions. He also notched up 12 individual stage wins in the Tour de France and three in the Vuelta a Espana, although his aversion to mountainous terrain meant that he never completed either of those races.

A strong and powerful sprinter, Cipollini also claimed the World Road Race title in 2002. Among his 191 professional victories were three wins in Gent-Wevelgem and the 2002 Milan-San Remo. The peloton certainly became a much duller place after he retired from cycling.

Answer: Vincenzo Nibali

When he won the 2016 Giro d'Italia Vincenzo Nibali became only the 6th rider in the history of professional cycling to win all three Grand Tours. Nicknamed "The Shark of Messina" after his birthplace of Messina, the young Nibali left his Sicilian homeland at the age of 16 to move to the mainland and pursue his dream of becoming a professional cyclist. His sacrifice and dedication has paid dividends as he is now considered to be one of the greatest grand tour riders of all time.

Not solely a grand tour rider, "Nibbles" as he is affectionately known among the English speaking cycling media, has also collected a win in the 2015 Giro de Lombardia, one of the five Monuments of cycling.

Answer: Peter Sagan

By his 27th birthday, Slovakia's Peter Sagan had claimed back-to-back World Road Race titles, five Tour de France Green Jerseys, a European Road Race Championship and one of the Monuments of cycling in the form of the Tour of Flanders. A precocious talent, Sagan is considered by many to be the most complete rider the peloton has seen in many a year.

Nicknamed "The Terminator" from his unfortunate tendency as a young rider to trash his bikes and be hard on his equipment, Sagan is a charismatic and popular rider. Not a pure sprinter, but with a hefty finishing kick, he is also able to hold his own in the hillier terrain and is also a very handy individual time triallist as his overall victory in the 2015 Tour of California proved.