Learn a bit more about the protagonists of vintage cycling images — that’s the purpose of the category Faces from the peloton.
The Belgian cyclist Gustaaf Van Slembrouck (1902-1968) was a professional rider between 1926 and 1932.
The first year of his professional career was the most successful: he wore the yellow jersey for 6 days at the Tour de France. Also, he finished Paris-Roubaix 2nd that year.
Van Slembrouck had a total of 4 Tour de France stage victories during his active years.
But he is most famous of being one of the four riders on the famous smoking cyclists image from the 1920s.
MORE FACES FROM THE PELOTON
Faces from the peloton: Olimpio Bizzi (1916-1976)
The youngest Giro-stage winner ever, Olimpio Bizzi (1916-1976) was active as professional cyclist between 1936 and 1952. Practically, he was racing in the shadow of the greatest generation of Italian cyclists, including Learco Guerra, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, or Giorenzo Magni Nevertheless, Bizzi had his own successes during his career. Besides some minor one-day race … Read more
Cyrille Van Hauwaert (Faces from the peloton)
Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1883-1974) was one of the most successful Belgian cyclist in the pre -WW1 era. His story began like a folktale. The big and strong Flemish farm boy, who didn’t speak French arrived in the office of the La Française team’s directeur sportif, Pierre Pierrard two days before Paris-Roubaix in 1907. Van Hauwaert … Read more
Faces from the peloton: Victor Fontan (1892-1982)
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
Faces from the peloton: Hippolyte Aucouturier (1876-1944)
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
Faces from the peloton: Raymond Delisle (1943-2013)
Raymond Delisle was one of those cyclists who was always lurking around the favourites in the most important and/or most iconic Tour de France stages without having significant success. Delisle started his professional career in 1965 in team Peugeot, where he was racing till 1976. (His last year as professional cyclist he spent with the … Read more
Faces from the peloton: Léon Vallotton and Alfons Lauwers
One of the reasons I’ve created the Faces from the peloton category on PelotonTales blog that there are so many cyclists from the good old black&white era, especially from the time period before the First World War who we know almost nothing about. Except the obvious thing, that they are the protagonsts of one of … Read more
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