[3] Gimondi also won three of the five Cycling monuments, winning the Giro di Lombardia twice, and finished on the podium of a grand tour twelve times.

[4] With the withdrawal of another cyclist from Salvarani's 1965 Tour de France team, Gimondi was added at the last minute and later recalled that he had to ask his mother for permission to start the race.

He took the yellow jersey on stage 3, but lost the race lead later when he waited for his nominal team captain Vittorio Adorni.

Adorni later dropped out, leaving Gimondi to fight out the overall victory with Raymond Poulidor, securing the Tour in the final time trial.

[8][9] His early successes led to him being regarded as a successor to well-renowned fellow Italian Fausto Coppi, nicknamed campionissimo.

[8] After winning the 1967 Giro d'Italia and the 1968 Vuelta a España, Gimondi had become the second-ever rider to have won all three Grand Tours after Jacques Anquetil.

[10] In the 1973 World Championship road race, he formed a group with Luis Ocaña and Freddy Maertens to bridge a gap to Merckx, who had attacked earlier.

[6] A major cyclosportive event is named in his honour, the Gran Fondo Felice Gimondi, held annually around Bergamo.