Until Tadej Pogačar completed the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double in 2024 and brought it back as a possibility for the first time since Marco Pantani in 1998, it was fading away as an achievable feat in cycling.
Even when the previous generation's best - Chris Froome in 2018 and Alberto Contador three years prior - came close, winning the Italian Grand Tour ahead of cycling's biggest race, on both occasions come July they weren't able to match the form they'd shown and then lost.
