Campo Imperatore at Giro d’Italia

Olimpio Bizzi is the younges stage winner ever with19 years  and 229 days.He won the 8th stage at Giro d’Italia 1936.Mark Cavendish was38 years and 7 daysold, when he crossed the finish line first in the last stage of Giro d’Italia 2023. 

Vuelta a Espana was a sping race for decades, the first autumn edition was held in 1995, and its original schedules were usually very close to Giro d’Italia. Little wonder, that the first Giro-Vuelta happened only in 1973, and the first rider to achieve it was Eddy Merkcx. (Just for the record: Fausto Coppi managed … Read more

Vicente López Carril 1971 Pescasseroli – Campo Imperatore 198 km Franco Chioccioli 1985 Frosinone – Campo Imperatore 195 km John Carlsen 1989 Roma – Campo Imperatore 179 km Marco Pantani 1999 Pescara – Campo Imperatore 253 Simon Yates 2018 Pesco Sannita – Campo Imperatore 224 km Davide Bais 2023 Capua – Campo Imperatore 218 km … Read more

Fausto Coppi was the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year (1949) 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 … Read more

Mario Cipollini wonnthe most Giro d’Italia stages in the history of the race. He managed to be the sole recordholder on the 9th stage of Giro d’ Italia in 2003 See the list of the top 25 places: 1 Mario Cipollini 42 2 Alfredo Binda  41 3 Learco Guerra  31 4 Costante Girardengo  30 5 … Read more

In 2022 Giro d’Italia visits Etna on the 4th stage, right after the first rest day (following the opening stages in Hungary) Although it’s a place well known worldwide, Giro d’Italia visited it only a few times. List of stages and stage winners on Etna at the Giro d’Italia 1967 Stage 7 Catani -Etna (198 … Read more

Cima Coppi is the highest peak of the Giro d’Italia every year. The special prize was named after Fausto Coppi and was introduced in 1965. 

The pink jersey was introduced to the Giro d’Italia during the race in 1931. The first wearer was Learco Guerra (nickname: “The Human Locomotive”).

Olimpio Bizzi is the younges stage winner ever with19 years  and 229 days.He won the 8th stage at Giro d’Italia 1936.Mark Cavendish was38 years and 7 daysold, when he crossed the finish line first in the last stage of Giro d’Italia 2023. 

Winners of both Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix in the same year: Henri Suter 1923 Romain Gijssels 1932 Gaston Rebry 1934 Raymond Impanis 1954 Fred De Bruyne 1957 Rik Van Looy 1962 Roger De Vlaeminck 1977 Peter van Petegem 2003 Tom Boonen 2005 Fabian Cancellara 2010 Tom Boonen Belgium 2012 Fabian Cancellara 2013 Mathieu van … Read more

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 Francewas 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 even the … Read more

The first edition (originally called Omloop van Vlaanderen) was held on 25 March 1945. It was only a few weeks after Belgium was liberated by the Aliied Forces, Jerome Stevens, journalist of the Het Volk newspaper, crewtor of the rsce had to have an approval of the British Army to hold the event. Jerome Stevens … Read more

List of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winners 1945-20231945 Jean Bogaerts (Alcyon–Dunlop)1946 André Pieters (Alcyon–Dunlop)1947 Albert Sercu (Bertin–Wolber)1948 Sylvain Grysolle (Zircon)1949 André Declerck (Bertin–Wolber)1950 André Declerck (Bertin–Wolber)1951 Jean Bogaerts (Starnord–Wolber)1952 Ernest Sterckx (L’Avenir)1953 Ernest Sterckx (L’Avenir)1954 Karel De Baere (Mercier–BP–Hutchinson)1955 Lode Anthonis (L’Avenir)1956 Ernest Sterckx (L’Avenir)1957 Norbert Kerckhove (Faema–Guerra)1958 Joseph Planckaert (Carpano)1959 Seamus Elliott (Helyett–Fynsec)1960 No race1961 … Read more

One of the uncountable records Eddy Merckx  holds is his success to win four consecutive grand tours in a row. No one ever has won  all the three grand tours in a year¹, … Read more

They used to say history remembers only the winners. Fortunately this is not the case of Tour de France history. The last ones, the receivers of the famous lanterne rouge get enough attention too. Lanterne rouge is an actual red lamp used to be served to the last rider of the race as some of … Read more

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

Tour de France 1914 started on the same day, 28th June, as the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg  were assassinated in Sarajevo. When the riders lined up in the middle of the nigh for the start of the first stage in Paris, they knew nothing about that this day … Read more

Defining historical events of the 20th century often left  their marks on road cycling history. Just think about, for istance, the impact of World War 1 on the mythology of some famous races, like Paris-Roubaix. The born of the famous phase of “Hell of the North” is a quite well known story among cycling fans. … Read more

Although the idea of a French cyclist in a striped shirt might seem like a little bit of a cliché, sometimes stereotypes are carrying quite much truth in themselves. Just take a look at Hippolyte Aucouturier! One of the most iconic characters from the early days of road cycling races. Nevertheless, he was not only … Read more

It was a great moment and yet one of the weirdest situations in the history of Tour de France, when and, it seems to be more important,  how the organisers decided to put Col du Tourmalet in the program. Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly passable. -stood in the telegram Alphonse Steinès sent … Read more

In its more than 120-year-long history Tour de France, the most famous road cycling race of the world witnessed good time and bad time either. It had plenty of glourious moments, but also some shameful ones. Here are the four (arguably) most scandalous editions in the history of Tour de France . 1904 – an … Read more

After the introduction of the Pyrenees to the race in 1910, the next big challenge of Tour de France was how to include the “giants of the Alps” into the program.  The story behind using Galibier, Thelegraphe, Aravis, and Lautarer was far less dramatic than the organizers’ first encounter with Col du Tourmalet. Nevertheless, the … Read more

The smoking cyclists of Tour de France 1927 is one of the most famous vintage cycling images from the heydays of road cycling races. It’s popular because  it conveys a certain aspect of the many differences between our time and the life hundred years ago. The dissonance between our 21st-centurian knowledge that smoking is very … Read more

A cyclist running while carrying his bike on his shoulder. Surely, you’ve seen this vintage cycling image several times. Now it’s time to learn a bit more about the protagonist of the picture. Victor Fontan (1892-1982) in the Faces from the peloton series of PelotonTales blog. A local rider World War I (as did World … Read more

The 10th stage of Tour de France 1926 is often dubbed as the toughest stage ever in the history of the race. The 326 km long route between Bayonne and Luchon  on the 6th July 1926 went down in history also as one of the most chaotic ones thanks to the extreme weather conditions in … Read more

Giusto Cerutti (1903-1993) had at least one bad day at the Tour de France in 1928.We don’t know much about the grumpy cyclist with the broken bicycle. But one thing is sure, he is the unlucky (anti)hero of one of the most searched vintage cycling images on the internet.According to  ProCyclingStats, Cerutti abandoned the race … Read more

During the first few decades in the history of Tour de France, mountain routes were kind of “terrae incognitae”, uncharted territories. We all know the story when Alphonse Steniès persuaded Henri Desgrange to include Tourmalet in the program of Tour de France 1910. He was struggling even to find a car driver, a local guide … Read more

After the quarell between Henri Desgrange and Henri Pelissier last year, a new rule was made, that any rider that harmed the Tour’s image would be banned for the next years. Team Automoto had a really strong line-up: Ottavio Bottecchia (Tour de France winner 1924 and 1925) , Philippe Thys (Tour de France winner 1913,1914,1920)  … Read more

Ottavio Bottecchia became the first Italian cyclist to win Tour de France. Also, he was the first rider to take the yellow jersey on the first day and to keep it until Paris. (Leading the race from the very first day was not a novelty, it happened at the very first Tour de France already. … Read more