Henri Desgrange, the cyclist

Edmond Jacquelin, one of the first stars in the history of cycling races was born on the 15th March 1875 in Santenay, France. He started his professional career in 1893. This was the time period when cycling races were predominantly track events. Jacquelin won the Grand Prix Turin in 1898, the Grand Prix de Paris … Read more

Maurice Garin (1871-1957), the winner of the first Tour de France became a professional cyclist only accidentally. Garin was racing as amateur already (he won his first race in 1893), when he decided to start at a race near to his hometown. He learned only at the start of the race, that this was an … Read more

“It was up Kingston Hill that he first noticed a peculiar feeling, a slight tightness at his knees; but he noticed, too, at the top that he rode straighter than he did before. The pleasure of riding straight blotted out these first intimations of fatigue.” (H. G. Wells: The Wheels of Chance: a Bicycle Idyll)

Henri Pépin was neither an eccentric aristocrat, nor a rookie cyclist when he hired two other persons to join him to ride the Tour de France just for fun. Pépin (1864-1915) was an active cyclist in the 19th century already. He even published a book about him and (possibly) his son riding a tandem from … Read more

During the early days of road cycling races, bicycle events quite often produced extraordinary scenes. One of the most hilarious (and also a bit sad)  ones, almost like a comedy sketch happened at the Paris-Roubaix in 1907. French cyclist Georges Passerieu, leader of the race arrived to the gates of the Velodrome in Roubaix alone, … Read more

In September 1893, a young sixteen-year-old girl rode on bicycle from  Brighton to London and back. The road between the two cities was 190 km (120 mi) long and it took her 8 hours and 30 minutes to return to Brighton from the capitol, wich was considered a new record.   Tessie Reynolds was the daughter … Read more

The penny-farthing bicycle was the first vechicle called bicycle. With its large front wheel, it was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, before the modern bicycles became fashionable.

The hour record, riding the longest distance as possible during exactly 60 minutes was a populare challenge since the birt of the bicycle. Actually there were several “first” records during the 19th century: James Moore, a British cyclist set the record of 23,3 km in 1873, but most likely it wasn’t an accurataly measured distance, … Read more

Josef Fischer, the winner of the first Paris-Roubaix (1896) was born on the 20th January, 1865 in Atzlern (near München, Germany).  Fischer participated in several of the earliest long-distance bicycle races, like the 582,5 km long Vienna-Berlin race in 1893, where he triumphed. The route took him 31 hours. Next year, among others, he attended … Read more

Henri Cornet (1884-1941), the youngest Tour de France winner ever, had a quite short list of  triumphs. Indeed, besides winning the most famous cycling race, his other big success was his victory at Paris-Roubaix in 1906. Actually Cornet wasn’t the best rider on the roads at the Tour France in 1904. It was Maurice Garin, … Read more