The race in 1972 was Bernard Thévenet's second Tour de France. In his devutant year, in 1971 he finished fifth in the general classification and also won stage. It was a bit of a surprise performance, but in the subsequent year he was considered as one of the favourites.
The 7th stage of Tour de France 1972 was a day in the Pyrenees with only one big challenge, the Aubisque. Thévenet crashed with Luis Ocaña and went down.
He was temporarily amnesic. As he began to regain his memory, he looked down at his own Peugeot jersey and wondered whether he might be a cyclist. On recognizing the team car, he exclaimed:
"I'm riding the Tour de France!"
He refused to abandon the race.
Later he won the 11th stage finishing on the top of Mont Ventoux.
Iconic Cycling Images: Bernard Thévenet after a crash (Tour de France 1972)
The race in 1972 was Bernard Thévenet’s second Tour de France. In his devutant year, in 1971 he finished fifth in the general classification and also won stage. It was a bit of a surprise performance, but in the subsequent year he was considered as one of the favourites. The 7th stage of Tour de France… Read More »Iconic Cycling Images: Bernard Thévenet after a crash (Tour de France 1972)
13 July 1972 Bernard Thévenet’s victory on Mont Ventoux
1972 was the second year when Bernard Thevenet rode Tour de France. His debut in previous year was a little bit of a surprise performance, when he finished fourth in the general classification. Unfortunatelyi a crash in the 7th stage prevented him to repeat or even surpass his result from previous year. He lost more… Read More »13 July 1972 Bernard Thévenet’s victory on Mont Ventoux
What is in your bag? (Felice Gimondi and Eddy Merckx 1967)
Felice Gimondi’s cycling career is remembered for his remarkable ability to compete at the highest level during the same era as the legendary Eddy Merckx, widely regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time. Despite Merckx’s dominance, Gimondi achieved numerous significant victories, including all three Grand Tours—Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta… Read More »What is in your bag? (Felice Gimondi and Eddy Merckx 1967)
Giro d’ Italia -Tour de France doubles
Fausto Coppi was the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year (1949) In 2024, 26 years after Marco Pantani’s double victory, Tadej Pogacar managed to win both Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year. The list of the riders Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1949… Read More »Giro d’ Italia -Tour de France doubles
19 July 1977 Lucien Van Impe ‘s crash on Alpe d’Huez
Thank you for being a devoted reader of PelotonTales. You are the reason why it’s worth spending so many hours to create new content and trying to improve this website. If you would show appreciation to my work, please consider supporting the blog with a small donation. Thank you! One of the oddest images from… Read More »19 July 1977 Lucien Van Impe ‘s crash on Alpe d’Huez
Faces from the peloton: Raymond Delisle (1943-2013)
Thank you for being a devoted reader of PelotonTales. You are the reason why it’s worth spending so many hours to create new content and trying to improve this website. If you would show appreciation to my work, please consider supporting the blog with a small donation. Thank you! Raymond Delisle was one of those… Read More »Faces from the peloton: Raymond Delisle (1943-2013)
Faces from the Peloton: Theo Middelkamp (1914-2005)
You would never guess in what kind of stage the first Dutch Tour de France stage winner, Theo (Theofiel) Middelkamp (1914-2005) gained his victory. In a mountain stage in the Alps, including Télégraphe, Galibier and Lautaret. Considering that even in the early 1950s, when Wim van Est, the first Dutch cyclist to wear the yellow… Read More »Faces from the Peloton: Theo Middelkamp (1914-2005)
Faces from the peloton: Jean Alavoine (1888-1943)
French cyclist Jean Alavoine holds a unique record in the history of Tour de France: there are 14 years between his first (1909) and his last (1923) stage victory.1 Indeed, he was one of… Read More »Faces from the peloton: Jean Alavoine (1888-1943)
Faces from the peloton: Jules Deloffre, “the acrobat cyclist”
Undoubtedly, there were plenty of cyclists with unique stories in the peloton in the first few decades of road cycling races. These atlethes were not necessarily successful riders or didn’t become the bigest stars of their days, but yet, their stories are worth to be told. Actually, if we are looking deeper into the well… Read More »Faces from the peloton: Jules Deloffre, “the acrobat cyclist”
Faces from the peloton: Raymond Impanis (1925-2010)
The winner of the longest ever individual time trial (139 km ) in the history of Tour de France, Raymond Impanis had a successful career. Although a bit in the shadow of the biggest names of the era. That certain individual time trial at Tour de France 1947 was one of his two TDF stage… Read More »Faces from the peloton: Raymond Impanis (1925-2010)
Giro d’ Italia -Tour de France doubles
Fausto Coppi was the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year (1949) In 2024, 26 years after Marco Pantani’s double victory, Tadej Pogacar managed to win both Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year. The list of the riders Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1949… Read More »Giro d’ Italia -Tour de France doubles
The slowest and the fastest Tour de France
You might wonder which Tour de France edition was the slowest and wich one the fastest. Here you have the answer. The slowest Tour de France was the 13th edition, held between 29th June and 27 July in 1919. The 5560 km long route of the race was divided into 15 stages. (And it wasn’t… Read More »The slowest and the fastest Tour de France
Tour de France editions without previous winners in the peloton
During its 120-year long history, it happened only three times, when the peloton of Tour de France did not includ any previous winner. Obviously, in 1903 there couldn’t be any, because it was the very first edition. In 1927, it seems to have been a generational change in the peloton of Tour de France. Several… Read More »Tour de France editions without previous winners in the peloton
Most days in pink jersey
The pink jersey (maglia rosa) was introduced to the Giro d’Italia during the race in 1931.Learco Guerra (The Human Locomotive”) was the first rider to wear it.The top 11 riders with most days in pink jersey :Eddy Merckx 78 (1968,1969,1970,1972,1973,1974)Alfredo Binda 65 (1925,1927,1928,1929,1931,1933)Francesco Moser 50 (1976,1977,1979,1980,1981,1982,1984,1985)Giuseppe Saronni 48 (1979,1981,1983,1985,1986)Gino Bartali 42 (1936,1937,1939,1946,1947)Jacques Anquetil 42 (1959,1960,1961,1964,1967)Fausto… Read More »Most days in pink jersey
Every time Passo del Mortirolo was part of Giro d’Italia
Passo del Mortirolo, usually a mid-stage ascent, was introduced to Giro d’Italia in 1990. The first rider on the top was the Venezuelan Leonardo Sierra. There is a monument to Marco Pantani at 8 km from the top (from the side of Mazzo di Valtellina).Also, there is a special prize for the rider first atop,… Read More »Every time Passo del Mortirolo was part of Giro d’Italia
- If Mark Cavendish would succeed next year, he would break this record either. He celebrated his first stage victory in 2008. [↩]