The smoking cyclists of Tour de France 1927 is one of the most famous vintage cycling images from the heydays of road cycling races. It’s popular because it conveys a certain aspect of the many differences between our time and the life hundred years ago. The dissonance between our 21st-centurian knowledge that smoking is very … Read more
It happened three times during the 110 years of Tour de France history, that there were no previous winners in the peloton. Obviously, in 1903 there couldn’t be any, because it was the very first edition. In 1927, it seems to have been a generational change in the peloton of Tour de France. Several riders, … Read more
The good old days of road cycling races oroved plehty of funny Tour de France images. For our 21st-cemturian eyes and mind, of course, cycling rsces in tge 1920s and 1930s seem so different. Maybe a bit less professional? Not exaclty. Let’s just stick to the word different. Different roads. Different bikes. Different type of … Read more
Honestly, I – the middle-aged classic educated Cental-European middle class woman – really cannot figure out, why the American part of the audience of this blog is so desperately obsessed with this picture, but here it is: the smoking cyclists at the Tour de France 1927 The riders from left to right: Julien Vervaecke (1899-1940) … Read more
Everybody knows the famous image of the “smoking cyclists” from 1927. One of them was Gustaaf Van Slembrouck. The Belgian cyclist Gustaaf Van Slembrouck (1902-1968) was a professional rider between 1926 and 1932. The first year of his professional career was the most successful: he wore the yellow jersey for 6 days at the Tour … Read more