Similar to the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, the curse of the rainbow jersey is a popular term to refer to the phenomenon where cyclists who have become World Champion often suffer from poor luck the next year – though, in some cases, the 'bad luck' was brought on by their own actions.
Tom Simpson (UK) won the world title in 1965. During the following winter (Jan/Feb 1966) he broke his leg skiing thus missing out on his most lucrative benefits from wearing the rainbow jersey.
Other notable 'victims' of the curse include the 1970 world champion Jean-Pierre Monseré who died wearing the rainbow jersey in March 1971.
The 1981 winner, Freddy Maertens of Belgium, also won the Green Jersey in the 1981 Tour De France, but in 1982 won no races, and only won a further two races in his professional cycling career.
The 1987 winner, Irishman Stephen Roche, who had won the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia in the same season, had a disastrous following year, missing nearly the entire season with a knee injury.
The 1990 winner, Rudy Dhaenens of Belgium, had no results in 1991, and was forced to retire shortly after with heart problems. He was killed in a car accident six years later at the age of 36.
The 1994 winner, Luc Leblanc of France had an injury plagued following season with very poor results, winning only one small race, before bouncing back in 1996.
The 1997 winner, Laurent Brochard, became entangled in the infamous Festina doping scandal a year later.
The 2003 winner, Spaniard Igor Astarloa, switched to the French team Cofidis for the 2004 season which almost immediately suspended itself from racing due to doping allegations against several members of the team. In response to this, Astarloa switched first to the Lampre team, and then the Barloworld team. He has had a very quiet career since his 2003 victory.
The 2004 World Road Champion Óscar Freire was in good form throughout the spring, but developed a saddle sore mid-season that ended his hopes for a second consecutive title on home turf in Spain.
In August 2004 British professional cyclist David Millar was suspended for two years by British Cycling, stripped of his 2003 World Time Trial Championship jersey, and given a $1,600 fine, after confessing to the use of EPO in 2001 and 2003.
On 24 September 2006, Italian Paolo Bettini won the rainbow jersey in the World Road Race Championship in Salzburg, Austria. Eight days later on 2 October his older brother Sauro died when his car struck an obstacle and overturned into a ditch. He also had a few accidents in the beginning of 2007 season (Tirreno–Adriatico) and technical problems (in E3 Prijs Vlaanderen his chain snapped).
On November 26, 2006, while wearing the rainbow jersey of World Madison Champion, Isaac Gálvez died during the Six Days of Ghent, following a horrific crash into the upper barrier surrounding the indoor track.
The 2008 World Road Champion Alessandro Ballan was diagnosed with Cytomegalovirus near the beginning of the 2009 season, and as a consequence missed the spring's classics and the Giro d'Italia, his home tour. As a result he was in poor form for that year's Tour de France, and only made a proper appearance once, on stage 19 when he unsuccessfully broke away near the end of the stage.
There are of course exceptions to the curse. Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond each won the Tour de France wearing the rainbow jersey.
Read more about this topic: Rainbow Jersey
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