Cyclist5 of the biggest and best final week Grand Tour comebacksTadej Pogaar is set to win another Grand Tour on debut at this years Giro dItalia should he hold on to his massive lead to cross the finish line in Rome on Sunday. If so, it will match his debut success at the 2020 Tour de France, with the Slovenian having claimed the maglia rosa on Stage 2 and steadily added to his lead ever since.Considering tomorrow takes in a double ascent of the iconic Monte Grappa, we cant entirely rule out someone snatching the jersey from Tadejs shoulders at the 11th hour. And if they do, theyll be joining some seriously illustrious company as this round-up of five epic final-week company demonstrates. Be warned, though, Pogaar himself is included in this very list. Related Posts Big Ride: Monte Grappa, the giant of the Giro Cyclist Magazine Podcast episode 84: Greg LeMond, winner of the greatest ever Tour de France How much is the 2024 Giro dItalia prize money? 5. 1958 Tour de France: Charly GaulA 16-minute deficit overturnedCharly Gaul on his way to winning the Stage 18 ITT at the 1958 Tour de France on VentouxSTAFF / AFP via Getty ImagesThe yellow jersey was restless during the 1958 Tour de France, being bandied about between eight different riders and only definitively settling on the shoulders of Charly Gaul at the end of the penultimate stage. The man from Luxembourg earned the moniker Angel of the Mountains for his performance in this Grand Tour, a far cry from his showing at the previous Tour de France, which he abandoned after the second day.Gaul arrived with the Luxembourg team at the 1958 Tour (the peloton comprised regional and national squads at the time) after finishing third overall at the Giro dItalia, behind winner Ercole Baldini (Legnano) and Jean Brankart (Saint Raphal).He would lose time early in the race, finishing over 10 minutes behind the days winner Martin van Geneugden (Belgium) on Stage 6. But he would thrive in the individual time-trials.He won the 46km Stage 8 ITT around Chateaulin by seven seconds over Jacques Anquetil (France). As late as Stage 17, though, he was still over 10 minutes down on overall leader Vito Favero (Italy). That would soon change. During the 21km Stage 18 ITT that finished on Mont Ventoux, he would set a 41-year record from the Bdoin side with a time of 1h 02min 09sec, lifting him to third overall. But a disastrous day would then follow, in which he finished almost 11 minutes behind stage winner Gastone Nencini (Italy).Fortunes turned again on Stage 21. After starting the 219km stage from Brianon to Aix-les-Bains 16 minutes down overall, he crossed the line eight minutes clear of second placed Jan Adriaensens (Belgium). He was still sitting in third place overal, but just 1min 07sec down on maillot jaune Favero.What counted in Gauls favour was that Stage 23 was the third and final individual time-trial of the race, and the Frenchman won again, taking three minutes out of Favero to claim the yellow jersey with one day remaining.He then finished safely in the bunch on the final stage to claim the 1958 Tour de France by 3min 10sec over Favero.4. 2020 Tour de France: Tadej PogaarA debut on La Planche des Belles Filles to go down in historyTadej Pogaar on his way to victory atop La Planche des Belles Filles at the 2020 Tour de France Marco Bertorello - Pool/Getty ImagesStage 20 of the 2020 Tour de France is regarded as one of the greatest individual time-trials witnessed in the history of the sport. So much can change in such a short period of time, and maillot jaune-wearing Primo Rogli of Jumbo-Visma found that out first hand to see his chances of victory snatched away by Slovenian compatriot Pogaar.The day would take riders up the punishing La Planche des Belles Filles climb, a Category 1 slog culminating a 20% gradient just before the line. Hairpins of agony and suffering for 5.9km to the summit finish a dramatic finale befitting the Tour de France.Pogaar, starting the day 57 seconds down on Rogli in his first Tour de France appearance, passed his two-minute man Miguel ngel Lpez (Astana) halfway into the 36.2km stage. But it was in the final 5km of the climb that Rogli truly began to slip into the red and see Pogaar overtake him in the standings. Crossing the line, Pogaars time was the best of the day, nearly a minute and half inside erstwhile leader Tom Dumoulins time.As they waited for their team leader, the camera focussed on Roglis Jumbo-Visma teammates Dumoulin and Wout van Aert as the pair watched the scene unfold on the road. Rogli, helmet slipping and elbows jutting in his efforts to cling on to his overall lead, crossed the finish line almost two minutes down on his rival.As a consolation, Rogli would go on to at least partially exorcise his time-trial demons at the 2023 Giro dItalia, when he overhauled a 26-second gap at the beginning of the day to then-maglia rosa Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) on the Stage 20 18.6km race against the clock to Monte Lussari. He would ultimately win the race by just 14 seconds overall.3. 2018 Giro dItalia: Chris FroomeAn 80km solo attack that flipped the standingsChris Froome on the Colle delle Finestre at the 2018 Giro dItaliaLuca Bettini/AFP via Getty ImagesChris Froome did not begin the 2018 Giro dItalia in ideal fashion. Despite arriving as the reigning Tour de France and Vuelta a Espaa champion, the Team Sky rider crashed during a recon of the opening day 9.9km time-trial. He was left with a bloody knee and ripped skinsuit but managed to make the start line in Jerusalem, though he would drop 37 seconds to stage winner Dumoulin.By the end of the first week, Froome was 2min 27sec down, now to countryman Simon Yates of Mitchelton-Scott. A sub-par second week followed in which Froomes deficit would balloon to nearly five minutes. Froome would win the pivotal Stage 14 ascent of Monte Zoncolan, but Yates stuck to him like glue, and the following day Froome was nowhere to be seen when Yates attacked himself to win in Sappada, dropping a further minute and a half behind.Everything would change on Stage 19, a 185km day finishing in Bardonecchia atop the Category 1 Jafferau. With Yates riding defensively and looking vulnerable on the 9% gradients of the 18.5km Colle delle Finestre, Team Skys Kenny Ellissonde drove a fierce pace at the front before peeling off as Froome went on the attack with all of 80km still remaining.Dumoulin and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) tried and failed to bridge the gap. Up Froome went, claiming the Cima Coppi at the top of the Colle delle Finestre and continuing to push the pace on the descent, all the while putting more and more time into the floundering Yates. By the time Froome reached the summit finish at the top of Jafferau, one fist punching in the air in celebration, he had definitively pedalled his way into the maglia rosa, Yates having given up nearly 40 minutes on the day. The fates of Froome and Yates had switched overnight, one on his way to completing a hattrick of Grand Tour victories, the other kicked off the podium altogether having looked so secure in top spot for so long.2. 1948 Tour de France: Gino BartaliA phone call to save ItalyGino Bartali after winning the 1948 Tour de FranceKeystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesIn July of 1948, Palmiro Togliatti, the leader of the Italian Communist Party, was shot three times by a student at point-blank range in Rome. He survived, but Italy descended into riots, strikes and demonstrations.It is said that Alcide De Gasperi, leader of the Christian Democrats, called Gino Bartali amidst the countrys unrest to ask if he would win the Tour de France as a matter of national patriotism. The problem was, by this point it was the third rest day in Cannes after nearly two weeks of racing and Bartalis fortunes in the general classification had soured. The Italian had won the 237km opening stage from Paris to Trouville and tasted further success in Lourdes and Toulouse, but had drifted to now sit over 20 minutes down on maillot jaune-wearing Frenchman Louison Bobet.A few decades later, Bartali told La Repubblica that he had replied: I cant promise you that I will win the Tour because the Tour is won by arriving in Paris in yellow. I guarantee you the stage I will make it beautiful.A man of his word, Bartali attacked on the Col dAllos the next day and won in Lausanne after eight hours on the bike to rocket up the general classification. It kicked off a run of three successive stage victories that ended with Bartali wearing yellow and Bobet over 13 minutes down.Bartali would end up winning the 1948 Tour de France by 26 minutes from Belgian Briek Schotte. Bobet would finish off the podium in fourth, over half an hour down.1. 1989 Tour de France: Greg LeMondFrom being shot to winning the Tour de France by eight secondsGreg Lemond wins the 1989 Tour de FranceJean-Yves Ruszniewski/Corbis/VCG via Getty ImagesIn truth, Greg LeMonds comeback to win the 1989 Tour de France victory began long before the race even started in Luxembourg.He had risen to fame by becoming the first American to win the Tour in 1986, despite fierce competition from La Vie Claire teammate Bernaud Hinault. The Frenchman had spent much of the race seemingly riding at odds with his public declaration to help LeMond to victory after the American had helped Hinault win the 1985 title.Following his success, however, LeMond had been unable to defend his title in the 1987 after being accidentally shot by his brother-in-law during a hunting expedition and only narrowly escaping death.His recovery complete, LeMond would return to the Tour in 1989, now riding with the unfancied ADR team and not considered among the favourites for overall victory. What followed was a duel for the ages between LeMond and another Frenchman, Laurent Fignon of the Super U team himself already a double Tour winner and the coveted maillot jaune would swap shoulders between the pair multiple times over the three weeks that followed.With all the drama of a well-written masterpiece, it would all come down to the final day a day that would write itself into the history books as one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time.In a break from the tradition of the Tour finishing with a processional sprint stage on the Champslyses in Paris, in 1989 the final stage was a 24.5km individual time-trial into the French capital from nearby Versailles. Fignon held a 50-second advantage over LeMond going into the stage, and while LeMond was widely acknowledged as the superior rider against the clock, few game him any chance of overhauling his deficit given the stages relatively short distance.LeMond set off two minutes in front of Fignon, instructing his team not to give him time splits over the course. He crossed the line 26min 57sec later in what was at the time the fastest average speed ever recorded in a Tour time-trial. And then he waited. Fignon, his muscles straining and his face contorted in pain, could only manage a time of 27min 55sec, good enough for third place on the day, but a cruel eight seconds shy of what he needed to hold onto the yellow jersey and win the Tour.Eight seconds. It remains the narrowest Tour de France winning margin in history, and surely has to go down as cyclings greatest ever final week Grand Tour comeback.Click for more on the Giro dItalia and Tour de France.The post 5 of the biggest and best final week Grand Tour comebacks appeared first on Cyclist.