The Inauguration of Col du Tourmalet

Although nowadays Luigi Malabrocca is remembered by the unheroic fight for the maglia nera, the last place of the Giro d’Italia, he also managed to earn some real victories during his professional career between 1945 and 1958. Malabrocca, usually one of the domestiques for Fausto Coppi during road cycling races, was a two-time Italian cyclocross … Read more

Mario Cipollini won the most Giro d’Italia stages  He became the sole record holder on the 9th stage of Giro d’ Italia in 2003See the list of the top 25 riders:Mario Cipollini 42Alfredo Binda  41Learco Guerra  31Costante Girardengo  30Eddy Merckx  25Giuseppe Saronni  24Francesco Moser  23Roger De Vlaeminck 22Alessandro Petacchi 22Fausto Coppi  22Franco Bitossi  20Miguel Poblet … Read more

The rumors were true, after seven years, Giro d’Italia will visit Oropa again. This will be the earliest hilltop finish of the race  since 1989, when the finish of the 2nd stage was on the Etna. Oropa was included in the program of Giro d’Italia six times since 1963. Its most recent appearance happened in … Read more

Giro d’Italia 2024 starts in Venaria Reale suburb of Turin on 4th May 2024. The 140 km long stage will end in Turin. The program will include three ascents: Bersano di San Pietro (category 4), the famous Superga (category 3), part of the one-day race Milano-Torino, and Colle Maddalena, peaking 30 km before the finish … Read more

Definitely a stage for the classic sprinters. Stage 5 Genoa-Luca 8 May 2024 178 km MAP LAST KMS DID YOU KNOW? Lucca hosted the start of the 3rd stage of Giro d’Italia 1914. The 430 km long tappa between Lucca and Rome is the longest ever stage in the history of Giro d’Italia. The stage … Read more

The highest peak of Giro d’Italia 2024 will be the Passo dello Stelvio. There is little wonder, that Stelvio Pass will be the Cima Coppi this year. Usually, when it is part of the program, this ascent is one of the highests.Actually, when the Cima Coppi (remembering Fausto Coppi) was introduced to Giro d’Italia iin … Read more

From the 204 (other sources say 206) riders on 18 were members of sponsored teams, the rest of the peloton were independent participants, among them one former winner (1924), Giuseppe Enrici This edition of Giro d’Italia promised the epic of the ” Campionissimi”, Alfredo Binda (winner of the previous edition) and Costante Girardengo. Binda crashed … Read more

The first Tour de France started at 3 pm on the 1st of July in 1903 from the Café au Reveil Matin (Paris).

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 … Read more

Defining historical events of the 20th century often left  their marks on road cycling history. Just think about, for istance, the impact of World War 1 on the mythology of some famous races, like Paris-Roubaix. The born of the famous phase of “Hell of the North” is a quite well known story among cycling fans. … Read more

Although the idea of a French cyclist in a striped shirt might seem like a little bit of a cliché, sometimes stereotypes are carrying quite much truth in themselves. Just take a look at Hippolyte Aucouturier! One of the most iconic characters from the early days of road cycling races. Nevertheless, he was not only … Read more

It was a great moment and yet one of the weirdest situations in the history of Tour de France, when and, it seems to be more important,  how the organisers decided to put Col du Tourmalet in the program. Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly passable. -stood in the telegram Alphonse Steinès sent … Read more

In its more than 120-year-long history Tour de France, the most famous road cycling race of the world witnessed good time and bad time either. It had plenty of glourious moments, but also some shameful ones. Here are the four (arguably) most scandalous editions in the history of Tour de France . 1904 – an … Read more

After the introduction of the Pyrenees to the race in 1910, the next big challenge of Tour de France was how to include the “giants of the Alps” into the program.  The story behind using Galibier, Thelegraphe, Aravis, and Lautarer was far less dramatic than the organizers’ first encounter with Col du Tourmalet. Nevertheless, the … Read more