During the first half century in the history of Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) the race wasn’t meant for British cyclists. Before 1961 non of them finished the race. Then came the 45th edition and Tom Simpson, already a well-known name in the world of road cycling, but a debutant in the universe of … Read more
You might wonder why an edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (or as it was called back in those day, Omloop Het Volk) was held so late in the spring classic calendar. The Omloop is one of the earliest races of the season, it always has been, because the creators of the competition wanted to have … Read more
Understandably, the death of Serse Coppi after a crash during a race in Turin (Italy) had a huge impact onhis brother, the great Fausto Coppi’s life. Serse Coppi, like his more famous brother, was a professional cyclist too. He was three and a half years younger than Fausto, and started his career only after … Read more
For sixty years, since the first edition in 1935, Vuelta a Espana was a spring race. The first time the Spanish grand tour started in September happened only in 1995. The race was won by Laurent Jalabert. This was a much significant change in the calendar, than we might think of it from our present … Read more
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the oldest of the Monuments, the five most prestigious one-day road cycling races. Usually held in spring (end of April). The first edition (an amateur race) between Spa and Bastogne was held in 1892. The first professional edition was held in 1894. This was the 3rd edition of Liége-Bastonge-Liège. The first theee editions … Read more
The 31st Tour de France (held between 30th June and 25th July 1937) was the first race for the new director Jacques Goddet. Since the beginning in 1903, Henri Desgrange, the “founding father of Tour de France” was the race director, now he has retired. He still visited the race frequently untill his death in … Read more
When the 36th Tour de France finished in Paris on 24th July 1949, it wasn’t only Fausto Coppi’s first Tour de France victory, but also the first ever Giro-Tour double was accomplished. In June, Coppi won his 3rd Giro d’Italia (after 1940 and 1947). But he never rode Tour de France before 1949. It was … Read more
Tadej Pogacar won the white jersey competition at Tour de France in every year since he attended the race first in 2020. He jumped into the first position after the 4th stage (Sisteron-Orcières-Merlette) in 2020 for the first time. And he wore it on the last stage of Tour de France 2023 for the last … Read more
The 65th edition of Tour de France was held between 29 June and 23 July in 1978. With his performance on the mountain stages (especially on the Puy de Dôme), Joop Zoetemelk seemed to be the slightly bigger favourite of the race. He led the general classification before the 20 stage, a 75 km long … Read more
Mont Ventoux was included into the program of the Tour de France for the very first time on the 17th stage in 1951. It was a 221 km long stage between Montpeiller and Avignon, which was won by Louison Bobet. In the early 1950s, Mont Ventoux was climbed during mid-race. Only 1958 finished a stage … Read more