The first 3-time winner of the Tour de France, Philippe Thys was born in Anderlecht on the 8th of October 1889.
He won the first Belgian cyclo-cross championship (1910) and some road stage races before he turned professional. Also, he was the best independent rider at the Tour de France in 1911.
Philippe Thys won the Tour de France first time in 1913 when he was 22 years and 9 month old. He repeated his success next year, but for his third victory, he had to wait for 6 more years, till he triumphed in 1920 again. The reason for this 6-year hiatus was obvious: World War I. As Henri Desgrange wrote about Thys: if the war wouldn’t have disrupted the career of the Belgian rider, he might have win five or six editions of Tour de France.
During the war, Thys served in the French Aircraft and was much more luckier than his cyclist colleague, the Tour de France winner and 3-time Paris-Roubaix champion Octave Lapize, who lost his life during the fights.
Philippe Thys won the Giro di Lombardia and Paris-Tours in the same year, in 1917. Only 3 other riders managed to repeat the “Autumn double”: Rik van Looy in 1959, Jo de Roo in 1962 and 1963 and Philippe Gilbert in 2009.
After his retirement from professional cycling Thys’s interest turned to archery.
He died on the 16th of January in 1971.
Famous vintage cycling image of the day: smoking cyclists (Tour de France 1927)
Honestly, I – the middle-aged classic educated Cental-European middle class woman – really cannot figure out, why the American part of the audience of this blog is so desperately obsessed with this picture, but here it is: the smoking cyclists at the Tour de France 1927 The riders from left to right: Julien Vervaecke (1899-1940) … Read more
5 facts about Tour de France 1919
The 13th Tour de France, held between 29 June and 27 July was the first edition after First World War. The yellow jersey was introduced during this edition of Tour de France. Most of the cyclists were racing in grey jersey, thus there must have been something, a colorful jersey for example, to distinguish the … Read more
Vintage Tour de France: cows on the road
Nowadays, one of the basic things organizers of a cycling race have to prepare for is to make sure, that no one else uses the same roads during the event. Of course, errors can still happen at any time, but this is one of those basic things that define modern-day cycling races. Very few other … Read more
Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Philippe Thys
The first 3-time winner of the Tour de France, Philippe Thys was born in Anderlecht on the 8th of October 1889. He won the first Belgian cyclo-cross championship (1910) and some road stage races before he turned professional. Also, he was the best independent rider at the Tour de France in 1911. Philippe Thys won … Read more
Snow at Tour de France 1923
Snow at Tour de France is quite rare, but not impossible, as the image of Hector Heusghem at Tour de France 1923 proves. Belgian cyclist Hector Heusghem (1890-1982) was active as professional cyclist between 1912 and 1925. His best result at Tour de France was 2nd position both in 1920 and 1921. In 1922 he … Read more
19 July 1903 Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France
The first Tour de France started with 60 riders on the 1st of July in 1903. After six stages (a total of 2428 km) only 21 cyclists arrived in the Parc de Princes velodrome in Paris. Maurice Garin won the first stage already and remained in leading position untill the end of the race. More … Read more
5 facts about Tour de France 1922
Firmin Lambot became the first Tour de France winner without winning a stage during the race. Also, he is the oldest cyclist ever to win Tour de France. Veteran cyclist Eugéne Christophe was leading the general classification for three days, which made him the oldest leader (37 years, 164 days) leader of the race ever.
Vintage cycling image of the day: checkpoint at Tour de France 1911
Paul Duboc was one of the favourite of the Tour de France in 1911. Here youcan see him at one of the official checkpoints of the race. Paul Duboc (1884-1941) rode Tour de France twice (1908 and 1909) before, and earned some success (a stage victory and 4h place in overall in 1909) already, when … Read more
28 June 1914 – Last Tour de France before World War I started
On the 28th of June 1914, Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated. A month later the First World War broke out. When the peloton of the 12th Tour de France rolled out from Paris in the early morning on the same day, the cyclists were, of course not aware of what would … Read more
Robert Jacquinot having a meal in a café (Tour de France 1922)
The close proximity to the everyday life has always been one of the most intriguing essencial features of road cycling races. Since the beginning of the multi-staged cycling events, the riders usually had to organize to have proper food during the race. It wasn’t that difficult, because usually coffeehouses hosted the mid-stage checkpoints. Also, the … Read more