The 10th stage of Tour de France 1926 is often dubbed as the toughest stage ever in the history of the race. The 326 km long route between Bayonne and Luchon on the 6th July 1926 went down in history also as one of the most chaotic ones thanks to the extreme weather conditions in … Read more
Tour de France 2023 presented a great gift for every road cycling history fans: after 35 years Puy de Dôme was reintroduced to the race. Although the 9th stage of Tour de France 2023 was only the 14th appearance of the ascent, it became one of the most iconic places in the history road cycling … Read more
From our special 21st centurian point of view, it’s hard to imagine the atmosphere of Tour de France in 1921, when it seemed totally normal to have a little break and some drink during the race. Although Tour de France was always a professional race, some solutions seem in our very modern eyes a bit … Read more
A Tour de France stage in the Pyrenees (especially, when it includes the big four, Peyresourde, Auspin, Aubisque and Tourmalet) always provides stories to tell. Belgian rider Felicien Vervaecke won the mountain competition of Tour de France twice, in 1935 and 1937. Before the 16th stage (Peyresourde, Tourmalet, Aspin, Aubisque) in 1936, he was 4 … Read more
When Jacques Anquetil won Vuelta a Espana on 15th May, he became the first rider in the history of cycling to win all three Grand Tours at least one time. When he managed to win also the Tour de France that year, he became the first rider to make the Vuelta-Tour double. By the way, … Read more
Between 1946 and 1951 a special jersey was awarded to the last cyclist in the general classification of the Giro d ‘Italia, called Maglia Nera. The idea came from a story in the 1920s. A football player, called Giuseppe Ticozzelli was such a cycling enthusiast, that he attended the race as an individual rider in … Read more
The 36th Tour de France was held between 20 June and 24 July 1949. The route was divided into 21 stages and included 4808 km. This was the first time the race visited Spain (9th stage). They also took a trip to Belgium and Italy. The Tour de France in 1949 was one of the … Read more
Serse Coppi, the younger brother of the big Fausto was born on the 19th of March in 1923 in Castellania, Italy.
Paul Deman was the first winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1913). During the WW1 he was working as a courier for underground resistance movements and carrying messages around Belgium and also in the Netherlands. In November 1918 he had already 14 successful missions, but unfortunately on the 15th, he was stopped by the Germans. … Read more
Although Louison Bobet is remembered mostly by his three consecutive Tour de France victories (1953, 1954, 1955), he also had some success in the world of one day races. Actually, Louison Bobet won four of the five monuments, he missed only the triumph at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Nevertheless, he attended La Doyenne three times, his best result … Read more