Maurice Garin after winning Paris-Roubaix 1897

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.

Hippolyte Aucouturier, one of the most iconic riders in the early days of road cycling races, was born on the 17th October in 1876 in La Celle (France). Aucouturier won Paris-Roubaix among a rather chaotic circumstances in 1903. During the early years of the race, riders traditionally changed their bikes at the entrance of the … 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

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 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

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

The founding father of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange (1865-1940)  was a cyclist in his younger days. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 km (1893) Apparently, Desgrange saw a bicycle race for a very first time while visiting the finish of Bordeaux-Paris in 1891. First he raced … Read more

Lisette Marton, “Mademoiselle Lisette”, or  Amélie le Gall”,  the women’s world champion in 1896 was born in 1869, in Quintin, France. In the early days in cycling history, the bicycle was first of all a new vechicle for the every day life, which had to be intruduced to potential costumers, and there were plety of … Read more

The Stade Vélodrome du Parc des Princes was the first successful cycling related enterprise of Henri Desgrange (“the founding father of the Tour de France”) and his business partner Victor Goddet (the uncle of future Tour de France director Jacques Goddet). It was build in 1897, and included 3000 seats and a 666,66 m  track, … Read more