Giro d’Italia 2022 Stage 4 (Avola-Etna -Nicolosi, 170 km)

Every generation has its “eternal second” rider. During the post WW1 period in Italy, this was Gaetano Belloni. Belloni was born on the 26th of August in 1892 in Pizzighettone, Italy. Before turning professional, he won several races as amateur, including the Italian Championship. There were significantly more races held during the first World War … Read more

Vittorio Adorni was born on 14th November 1937 in  San Lazzaro di Parma. His professional career began in 1961. Adorni was rather known as a domestique (he played an important role in Eddy Merckx’s first Giro d’Italia victory in 1968) , but he also managed to win the Giro d’Italia in 1965. He was a … Read more

Cycling in extreme weather: Charly Gaul on the famous stage 20 up to Monte Bondone at the Giro d’Italia 1956   Race director Vincenzo Torriani was asked to cancel the stage due to the rough weather conditions were forecasted. But he declined it, he may have thought, this could make the unexciting race exciting again. … Read more

Learco Guerra was born on the 14 of October 1902 in Bagnolo San Vito, Italy. After a short attempt to be a football player, Guerra turned to road cycling and became professional in 1928.  He was among the top riders of the era both in the peloton of the Grand Tours and the one-day classics. … Read more

Giovanni Brunero was born on the 4 October 1895 in San Maurizio Canavese, Italy. Brunero was the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia 3 times (1921, 1922, 1926), which was a remarkable result during the era of Costante Girardengo and  Alfredo Binda. On the other hand, Brunero’s triumphs seemed to be not entirely undisputable. … Read more

The first Bordeaux-Paris was held on the 23rd May in 1891. The route was 560 km long, the race was won by George Pilkington Mills.

The 12th Tour de France started on the very same day (28th June), when Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. 11 former or future Tour de France winners participated the race: Philippe Thys,Louis Trousselier, Lucien Petit-Breton, Octave Lapize, François Faber, Odile Defraye, Gustave Garrigou, Philippe Thys, Firmin Lambot, Léon Scieur, … Read more

The 70th Ronde van Vlaanderen was held on the 6th April 1986. After the Koppenberg, a 10-man breakaway group formed. With 30 km to go, Eddy Planckaert and Steve Bauer rode away from this group. On the Muur Kappelmuur (Muur van Geraardsbergen) Planckaert dropped, menawhile Sean Kelly, Jean-Philippe Vandenbranden and Adrie van der Poel joined … Read more

From our special 21st centurian point of view, it’s hard to imagine the atmosphere of Tour de France in 1921, when it seemed totally normal to have a little break and some drink during the race. Although Tour de France was always a professional race, some solutions seem in our very modern eyes a bit … Read more

The second edition of Paris-Roubaix was  held on the 18th April 1897. 32 professional and 28 amateur cyclists departed in the rainy Paris, but the 280 km long racerun mostly under sunny conditions. The Italian-born French Maurice Garin, who is best known for winning the first Tour de France in 1903, and the Duch Mathieu … Read more

Learco Guerra was born on the 14 of October 1902 in Bagnolo San Vito, Italy. After a short attempt to be a football player, Guerra turned to road cycling and became professional in 1928.  He was among the top riders of the era both in the peloton of the Grand Tours and the one-day classics. … 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

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

“I thought I was dead, I thought it was the time.” -said Bernard Hinault after the 4th stage of Dauphine Libere is 1977. Hinault basically just rode off the road on the descent of Col de Porte and fell into a ravine. The photo shows the moment he climbs back to the road. He seems … Read more

Passo dello Stelvio (Stelvio Pass) is a 2757 m high pass in the Alps. The ascent was introduced to the Giro d’Italia in 1953. That stage was won by Fausto Coppi