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
The early history of Tour de France is full with strange stories. Not necessarily great stories, sometimes quite unpleasant ones, as it, for example, happened at the 9th edition (1911) of the famous French grand tour. Paul Duboc (1884-1941) rode Tour de France twice (1908 and 1909) before, and earned some success (a stage victory … Read more
Henri Pépin was neither an eccentric aristocrat, nor a rookie cyclist when he hired two other persons to join him to ride the Tour de France just for fun. Pépin (1864-1915) was an active cyclist in the 19th century already. He even published a book about him and (possibly) his son riding a tandem from … Read more
Louis Trousselier (1881-1939), the winner of the 3rd Tour de France (1905) was an entertaining person, for sure. He even shouldn’t have been there, when he won the race, because his official leave from the French army ended days before. But he stayed a bit longer and won the general classification of the Tour de … Read more