2015

Francesco
Moser

Italy

Date of birth
19/06/1951

Place of birth
PALU' DI GIOVO

Career start
1973

Career end
1988

Francesco Moser entered the Giro d'Italia Hall of Fame thanks to his success in the 1984 Corsa Rosa when he out-time trialed the famous Laurent Fignon to tear the Maglia Rosa from his grasp on the final stage. Winner of 23 Giro stages and the Points Classifications at four editions, 1984 was Moser’s only GC victory, and it lives long in the memory. With 273 race victories, ‘The Sheriff’ – so called for his outstanding leadership qualities – is Italy’s most successful rider of all time and places third in the world rankings after Eddy Merckx and Rik Van Looy. As well as earning the 1977 UCI Road World Champion title in San Cristobal, Venezuela, Moser is well-known for collecting three consecutive victories at Paris-Roubaix between 1978 and 1980. He also won the Milano-Sanremo (1984), two editions of the Giro di Lombardia (1975 and 1978) and beat Eddy Merckx’s Hour Record in Mexico City (1972) with a mark of 50,808m.