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Mont Ventoux was introduced to Tour de France in 1951 (one year earlier than Alpe d’Huez and Puy de Dôme). At the first three occasions (1951, 1954 and 1955) the peloton crossed the top during  mid-race, the first summit finish was organized only in 1958. The 11th stage of the 1955 Tour de France began in Marseille and ended in Avignon, covering a distance of 198 km. Standing between them was the formidable Mont Ventoux. Louison Bobet, the reigning world champion, was the first to conquer the brutal climb and went on to win the stage. Bobet, clad in the prestigious rainbow jersey of the world champion, would later trade it for the yellow jersey… Read More »Louison Bobet on Mont Ventoux (Tour de France 1955)

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 a España—making him one of the select few riders to win each of these prestigious races. However, Gimondi stands out even more for being one of the very few cyclists to have also claimed a World Championship title, elevating his status in the sport.

The first Tour de France started at 3 pm on the 1st of July in 1903 from the Café au Reveil Matin (Paris).

In sports, rivalries have always played a pivotal role in defining the nature of competition, drawing interest from fans, the media, and historians alike. In the realm of road cycling, the intense competition between the best riders has not only influenced the sport’s trajectory but also captured the hearts of audiences across generations. These legendary rivalries have forced cyclists to push their physical and mental limits, injecting drama and suspense into every race. From gripping showdowns at the Tour de France to thrilling clashes in the classics, cycling rivalries have produced some of the sport’s most unforgettable moments. From time to time it’s worth celebrating these big cycling duels, therefore this will be the topic… Read More »Topic of the week: great rivalries in road cycling history

The 1949 Tour de France marked a high point in the legendary rivalry between two Italian cycling icons, Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi. Bartali had already claimed two Tour victories (1938 and 1948), while Coppi, though a three-time Giro d’Italia champion (1940, 1947, 1949), was making his Tour debut. Determined to make history, Coppi aimed to achieve the elusive Giro-Tour double, a feat never before accomplished in cycling.

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 Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1952 Jacques Anquetil (FRA) 1964 Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1970 Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1972 Bernard Hinault (FRA) 1982 Bernard Hinault (FRA) 1985 Miguel Indurain (ESP) 1992 Miguel Indurain (ESP) 1993 Marco Pantani (ITA) 1998 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) 2024  

Hello there, the article you might have been looking for about my opinion why Strade Bianche can never be called the 6th monument is avaible now on my Patreon page (click/tap the card below) Currently, you have two options to read my articles on Patreon: be a subscriber fot 7$/month buy a particular article (usually between 3.20$ and 3.90$/ aeticle) to read it! Please, note, buying even just one article can be a nice gesture to support my blogs.  

As you might have read in an earlier post, PelotonTales is going through a huge tranformation. Or maybe from an outsider point of view, not that huge, because it is rather a structural thing. Instead of having every kind of content (all road cycling related, of course) on the central website (which is this one, where you are now, the original pelotontales.com), and the important topocs get their own sub-pages, as it happened with the Vintage Cycling Stories, fullfilled with old road cxcling stories originally posted on the old-styled PelotonTales blog. Restructuring a website in that way also helps clarify what kind of topic are really inportant or usefull. Therefore the three grand tours get… Read More »Prepare for Tour de France 2025 with PelotonTales