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.
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! Due to the system of how Tour de France was competed by national teams between 1930 and 1961, the spectators of the race witnessed Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali riding in the same team during the late 1940s and early 1950s. This situation sometimes put the diplomatic skills of team manager Alfredo Binda to the test. Before the 16th stage, Fiorenzo Magni led the general classification.… Read More »18 July 1949 – The epic breakaway of Coppi and Bartali
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 almost untimely end of a great story The first Tour de France was a great success, not only financially, but participating in the race brought fame and prestige to the riders either. Unfortunately, when sport events have such a high stake, cheating becomes pivotal part of the happenings. Actually, at the second edition of the race, riders and fans went… Read More »Four scandalous Tour de France editions
Vitange cycling image of the day on PelotonTales: Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi in the Dolomites at Giro d’Italia 1940. Before Giro d’Italia 1940, Gino Bartali was already two-time Giro d’Italia (1936, 1937) and one-time Tour de France (1938) winner. He was the leader of the Legnano team in 1940, but had an ambicious and very talented young teammate, the 20 years old Fausto Coppi, who took the first place in the general classification in the 11th stage.
As La Vuelta ciclista a España (19 August-11 September 2022), the last three-week race of of the season is nearing, let’s talk about the cyclists who won all the three grand tours at least one time. Jacques Anquetil was the first rider to achieve this, when he finally won the Vuelta in 1963. At that point of his career, he already had a Giro d’Italia and 3 Tour de France victories. The full list of his grand tour triumphs: Tour de France 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 Giro d’Italia 1960, 1964 Vuelta a España 1963 Felice Gimondi also managed to win all the three big races at least one time: Tour de France 1965 Giro… Read More »Topic of the month in August: the giants of the grand tours
The 36th Tour de France was held between 20 June and 24 July 1949. The route was divided into 21 stages and included 4808 km. This was the first time the race visited Spain (9th stage). They also took a trip to Belgium and Italy. The Tour de France in 1949 was one of the peaks of the great rivalry between the two Italian superlegends Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi. Bartali won the Tour already twice (1938 and 1948). Coppi never rode the race before, but he triumphed at the Giro d’Italia that year (it was his third victory after 1940 and 1947) and wanted to win the Giro-Tour double which never happened in the… Read More »Tour de France 1949
And Fiorenzo Magni had to give up the race from the leading position.Read More »Gino Bartali Left the Tour de France (1950)