Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1883-1974) was one of the most successful Belgian cyclist in the pre -WW1 era. His story began like a folktale. The big and strong Flemish farm boy, who didn’t speak French arrived in the office of the La Française team’s directeur sportif, Pierre Pierrard two days before Paris-Roubaix in 1907. Van Hauwaert … 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
On the 13 May 1909 115 cyclist started the first Giro d’Italia from the headquarter of Gazzetta dello Sport in Milano. The race contained 8 stages and covered 2447,9 km. The first stage was won by Dario Beni. Luigi Ganna was the first overall winner of the race.
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
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
1913 was the first times, when the route of the race went anti-clockwise. Six former Tour de France winner started the race (Louis Trousselier, Lucien Petit-Breton, François Faber, Octave Lapize, Gustave Garrigou and Odile Defraye), which is still a record.(Please note, that 3 of them, Petit-Breton, Faber and Lapize would not survive the 1st world … Read more
Odile Defraye was the first Belgian cyclist to win the Tour. Moreover, he was the first Belgian having a serious chance to win the race, so all Belgians in the race, regardless of their team, were helping him. Which, of course, made Henri Desgrange quite furious. Originally, Gustave Garrigou, winner of the previous edition was … 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
Every road cycling fan knows the name Octave Lapize, the rider who crossed Tourmalet first at the Tour de France in 1910. His memorial is on the top of the ascent. Lapize also won that year’s Tour de France. But, although he was rather considered a climber, he was good also at the Paris-Roubaix. Actually, he … 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