Skip to content
Home » Firmin Lambot

Firmin Lambot

Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard celebrating his first Tour de France victory in Paris in 2022

The slowest and the fastest Tour de France

You might wonder which Tour de France edition was the slowest and wich one the fastest. Here you have the answer. The slowest Tour de France was the 13th edition, held between 29th June and 27 July in 1919. The 5560 km long route of the race was  divided into 15 stages. (And it wasn’t even the longest ever edition.) Because the First World War ended only a few months earlier, most of the cyclists had not enough possibility to train. Routine and experience of how to ride a Tour de France mattered, no wonder, that mostly the older riders dominated the race. On the other handy the international elite peloton suffered devastating personal losses:… Read More »The slowest and the fastest Tour de France

Climbing Col d’Allos at Tour de France 1914 -Vintage cycling image of the day

Tour de France 1914 started on the same day, 28th June, as the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg  were assassinated in Sarajevo. When the riders lined up in the middle of the nigh for the start of the first stage in Paris, they knew nothing about that this day would determinate the life of millions worldwide. They did not know either, that on 28th July, just two days after they finished the Tour de France, the Great War would break out and some of the cyclists would lose their life during the fights, including François Faber, who is among the three riders depicted on this image. The Alps were… Read More »Climbing Col d’Allos at Tour de France 1914 -Vintage cycling image of the day

Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Firmin Lambot

The oldest Tour de France winner ever, Firmin Lambot was born in Florennes (Belgium) in 1886. Like many of his contemporaries, Lambot used his bicycle to ride to work since his age of 17. When he won his first bike race, he bought a racing bicycle from the prize.He turned professional in 1908 and attended the Tour de France several times already before World War I broke out.  He also won a few stages of the race. The first Tour de France after the war was held in 1919, Eugene Christophe was the dominant rider, but he had bad luck (the fork of his bicycle has broken on the 13th stage, he lost more than… Read More »Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Firmin Lambot