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 jersey crashed badly on Aubisque, there was lot of talk about his inexperience in high mountains because of coming from a country being predominantly flat, this seems to have been a great achievement for Middelkamp.
Nevertheless he was a strange figure. As a child, he wanted to be a footballer, but after realising, that he would earn significantly less money by that than by being a professional cyclist, he changed his mind. It sounds a bit strange for us, here in the 21st century, but at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and, as the the career of Middelkamp suggests, even a few decades later, cycling as professional sport had much bigger marketing value than football.
Theo Middelkamp rode Tour de France three times. In 1936 he won a hard stage in the Alps (see another post about that stage here) despite, apparently, never seeing high mountains before, and finished 23rd in the general classification. Next year he had to abandon the race, but a year later he came back and won a stage again. At the feet of the Pyrenees. He earned 5000 francs, but he would have earned much more if he would have participated in cycling events in Flanders (Belgium), so he never chose to ride Tour de France again. His famous quote was
I cannot live on fame and honour.
Money played a very important role in Middlekamp's mind. During World War II he earned it by smuggling. (He was caught and inprisoned for a short time) After the war he came back to racing and became the first Dutch World Champion in 1947.
He has retired from professional cycling in 1951.
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: 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”
Miguel Angel Lopez conquers Col de la Loze (Tour de France retrospective -TDF 2020)
Col de la Loze was introduced to Tour de France in the 17th stage in 2020. The day delivered a Pog&Rog Show, a Lopez solo and a suddenly disappearing Bahrain-McLaren “suicide squad”. The 2 minutes gap between the three breakaway riders (Julian Alaphilippe, Richard Carapaz, Gorka Izagirre) and the peloton at foot of the 21… Read More »Miguel Angel Lopez conquers Col de la Loze (Tour de France retrospective -TDF 2020)
20 July 1986 Tour de France visits Col du Granon
The 190 km long stage between Gap and Serre Chevalier included Col du Vars, Col d’Izoard and it was the first time the race visited Col du Granon. Before the stage Bernard Hinault (La Vie Claire) led the general classification, but he dropped on the Col d’Izoard. He was suffering from an old knee injury.… Read More »20 July 1986 Tour de France visits Col du Granon
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