There is no road cycling history without Tour de France history
It was the first time, when the podium of the general classification was not entirely French. The 2nd in overall François Faber, although born and lived in France was originally a Luxembourgian. Lucien Petit-Breton became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France twice after he repeated his success from previous year. At one … Read more
It’s a well known fact, that many of the big road cycling races were created for marketing reasons: sport newspapers were selling better by including reports about cycling events. But it’s a lesser known story, that even the format of the individual time trial at the Tour de France based on the rivalry between two … Read more
Tour de France visited Switzerland for the very first time in 1907. The 5th edition was the first time when a car with bicycle repairmen drove behind the riders, to give assistance in solving mechanical problems on bicycles. Although the riders officially rode Tour de France as individuals, some shared the same sponsor and cooperated … Read more
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
Since the introduction of the yellow jersey in 1919, there were only two cyclists to win the race with taking the first place in the general classification in the last stage. Thus they didn’t have the opportunity to wear the yellow jersey during that particular edition of Tour de France. Jean Robic (1947) After the … Read more
The first decades of history of Tour de France are full with extraordinary stories. One of them is the story of the cyclist with a glass eye.Honoré Barthélémy (1891-1964) crashed badly on the 8th stage (Perpignan- Aix-en-Provence, 325 km) of Tour de France in 1920. Despite having problems with his sight, he mounted his bike … Read more
There is a story about Louis Trousselier (1881-1939), the winner of Tour de France in 1905, that’s makes him one of those very characteristic protagonists of the early days of road cycling races: he lost all his prize money earned during the Tour de France by playing dice with friends on the night of his … Read more
The first Tour de France without Henri Desgrange in charge since the creation of the event in 1903 didn’t go down well in the history of road cycling at all. In 1937 Jacques Goddet was full in charge and with him came the first big change: it was the first time when gear change … Read more
The cyclist, who is mostly remembered by being poisoned at the Tour de France in 1911. Paul Duboc (1884-1941) competed as a professional rider between 1907 and 1927. He won 5 Tour de France stages (one in 1909 and four in 1911) his best result in the general classification was a 2nd place. In 1909 … Read more
The first edition of the Tour de France in 1903 was a big success. Not only for the L’Auto, which was able to increase its sell numbers but for all the cycling fans in France. Actually, it changed the history of bycicle forever. But the growing popularity of the event caused some unexpected issues right … Read more