Galibier on the 4th day of Tour de France 2024
Stage 4
2 July 2024
Pinerolo -Valloire 138 km
Whioe waiting for next year's Tour de France, PelotonTales blog focus a bit more on the stories, when Tour de France went abroad. Beginning with the first time the race finished in a foreign city in 1907.
TOUR DE FRANCE ABROAD
When Tour de France went abroad before 1914
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
Tour de France visits Turin (Tour de France 1956)
Although the first ever Italian Grand Depart of Tour de France will take place in 2024, the race visited Italy for plenty of times, usually during mountain stages in the Alps. Turin is one of the most visited Italian cities by Tour de France. In 1956, peloton made a trip to the place in 17th … Read more
Every time Tour de France started abroad
Tour de France 2024 will start in Florence (Italy). Although the race visited neigbour countries before the First World War already, the tradition of starting the first stage of Tour de France abroad dated back to 1954 only, when the Grand Départ took place in Amsterdam (Netherland) One of the most uniqe occasions was the … Read more
PelotonTales blog tends to focus on the early years of Tour de France. Just look around, you can find plentyful posts about fascinating stories, exciting fun facts and unique cycling personalities.
The early years are most likely the most mesmerizing because of our modern custom feeling nostalgic towards old black and withe pictures and the stories behind them due to the overflowing presence of this kind of images shared on social media. Of course PelotonTales blog is part of this game too. For instance, if you take a look at PelotonTales blog's Instagram, you will find hundreds of old black and white cycling images and the stories or sometimes just some little unbelievable fun facts behind them. Here, on PelotonTales, of course, you can find the longer version of those stories.
Anyway, as you can see, PelotonTales is a blog mostly about the history of road cycling, created by Anita Pethő, a literary critic and cultural historian.
While waiting to learn more about Tour de France 2024, why not take scroll down and pick some stories to read from the post recommendations below?
EARLY YEARS OF TOUR DE FRANCE (1903-1914)
5 facts about Tour de France 1903
The first Tour de France started at 3 pm on the 1st of July in 1903 from the Café au Reveil Matin (Paris).
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 … Read more
Faces from the peloton: Hippolyte Aucouturier (1876-1944)
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
Introducing Col du Tourmalet to Tour de France
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
Four scandalous Tour de France editions
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
TOUR DE FRANCE IN THE 1920S
Who were the smoking cyclists at Tour de France 1927
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
Faces from the peloton: Victor Fontan (1892-1982)
A cyclist running while carrying his bike on his shoulder. Surely, you’ve seen this vintage cycling image several times. Now it’s time to learn a bit more about the protagonist of the picture. Victor Fontan (1892-1982) in the Faces from the peloton series of PelotonTales blog. A local rider World War I (as did World … Read more
The toughest Tour de France stage ever
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
The grumpy cyclist with the broken bicycle – Giusto Cerutti at Tour de France 1928
Giusto Cerutti (1903-1993) had at least one bad day at the Tour de France in 1928.We don’t know much about the grumpy cyclist with the broken bicycle. But one thing is sure, he is the unlucky (anti)hero of one of the most searched vintage cycling images on the internet.According to ProCyclingStats, Cerutti abandoned the race … Read more
Cyclists meet a local inhabitant during Tour de France 1925
During the first few decades in the history of Tour de France, mountain routes were kind of “terrae incognitae”, uncharted territories. We all know the story when Alphonse Steniès persuaded Henri Desgrange to include Tourmalet in the program of Tour de France 1910. He was struggling even to find a car driver, a local guide … Read more
TOUR DE FRANCE IN THE 1930S
André Leducq and Antonin Magne crossing the finish line together (Tour de France 1938)
Before Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault on the top of Alpe d’Huez, there were André Leducq and Antonin Magne in Paris. Two dominant French riders from the first part of the 1930s, both Leducq (1930 and 1932) and Magne (1931 and 1934) won the Tour de France twice. In the very last stage of Tour … Read more
Faces from the Peloton: Theo Middelkamp (1914-2005)
You would never guess in what kind of stage the first Dutch Tour de France stage winner, Theo (Theofiel) Middelkamp (1914-2005) gained his victory. In a mountain stage in the Alps, including Télégraphe, Galibier and Lautaret. Considering that even in the early 1950s, when Wim van Est, the first Dutch cyclist to wear the yellow … Read more
Fédérico Ezquerra on the Galibier (Tour de France 1936)
Col du Galibier was part of the 7th stage alongside with Thélégraphe and Lautaret at the Tour de France in 1936. (Usually, when the peloton climbs Galibier, they climb also Thélégraphe and Lautaret.) The 230 km long stage ended in Grenoble (hilltop finishes were introduced to Tour de France only in 1952), and a whole … Read more
Four scandalous Tour de France editions
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
Felicien Vervaecke’s bad luck (Tour de France 1936)
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