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
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 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
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
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
After the quarell between Henri Desgrange and Henri Pelissier last year, a new rule was made, that any rider that harmed the Tour’s image would be banned for the next years. Team Automoto had a really strong line-up: Ottavio Bottecchia (Tour de France winner 1924 and 1925) , Philippe Thys (Tour de France winner 1913,1914,1920) … Read more
Ottavio Bottecchia became the first Italian cyclist to win Tour de France. Also, he was the first rider to take the yellow jersey on the first day and to keep it until Paris. (Leading the race from the very first day was not a novelty, it happened at the very first Tour de France already. … 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
French cyclist Jean Alavoine holds a unique record in the history of Tour de France: there are 14 years between his first (1909) and his last (1923) stage victory. ((If Mark Cavendish would succeed next year, he would break this record either. He celebrated his first stage victory in 2008.)) Indeed, he was one of … Read more
Jean Alavoine (1888-1943) had a very good Tour de France in 1922. He won three stages, two of them in the Pyrenees and thanks to his great performance, he was wearing the yellow jersey for five days. Col d’Aspin was part of the program of the 6th stage alongside with Aubisque and Peyresourde, as usual. … Read more