The toughest Tour de France stage ever

Lucien Buysee in the Pyrenees on the 20th stage of Tour de France 1926

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

Puy de Dôme (Iconic places #2)

Puy de Dôme Tour de France

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

13 July 1972 Bernard Thévenet’s victory on Mont Ventoux

Bernard Thévenet and Eddy Merckx on Mont Ventoux at Tour de France 1972

1972 was the second year when Bernard Thevenet rode Tour de France.  His debut in previous year was a little bit of a surprise performance, when he finished fourth in the general classification. Unfortunatelyi a crash in the 7th stage  prevented him to repeat or even surpass his result from previous year. He lost more … Read more

6 July 1965 Raymond Poulidor’s victory on Mont Ventoux

Raymond Poulidor Tour de France 1965 Mont Ventoux

This was the 14th stage of that year’s Tour de France. A 173 km long route from Montpelier to the top of the Mont Ventoux. With his victory, Poulidor jumped up to the second place, but Felice Gimondi, who gained the yellow on the 9th stage (Aubisque, Tourmalet), remained in the leading position till the … Read more

Vintage cycling image of the day: Federico Bahamontes on Tourmalet (Tour de France 1954)

Vintage cycling image of the day: Frederico Bahamontes cresses Tourmalet at Tour de France 1954

Federico Bahamontes competed at Tour de France for the first time in 1954. He was picked for the race by Julián Berredero, the director of the Spanish team already during previous summer. The 161 km long 12th stage of Tour de France 1954 between Pau and Luchon visited Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde. As usual, all … Read more

Vintage cycling image of the day: Louison Bobet on Mont Ventoux

Frech multipe Tour de France winner Louison Bobet is riding solo on the mighty ascent Mont Ventoux at the Tour de Frwnce 1955. His wife Christiane is running alongside the road showing support for his husband.

Mont Ventoux was introduced to Tour de France in 1951 (one year earlier than Alpe d’Huez and Puy de Dôme). At the first 3 occasions (1951, 1954 and 1955) the peloton crossed the top during  mid-race, the first summit finish was organized only in 1958. The 11th stage of Tour de France 1955 started in … Read more

Ocaña and Zoetemelk doubled on the top of Puy de Dôme

Lucien van Impe and Joop Zoetemelk on the Puy de Dome Tour de France 1976

Between 1952 and 1988 Puy de Dôme was included into the program of Tour de France 13 times. Among the winners on the top are Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi, Federico Bahamontes  Lucien van Impe, Luis Ocaña or Joop Zoetemelk. In fact, the two latter are those riders, who were able to win a Puy de … Read more

Puy de Dôme first time at the Tour de France (1952)

Fausto Coppi at the Tour de France 1952

1952 was an extraordinary year in the history of Tour de France, not only because the terrific performance of Fausto Coppi. But also, it was the first time, when a Tour de France stage ended on the top of the ascent: this was the legendary debut of Alpe d’Huez. The program of the 39th Tour de … Read more

Puy de Dôme 1964 – when Raymond Poulidor was the closest to win Tour de France

Raymond Poulidor and Jacques Anquetil on the Puy de Dôme, Tour de France 1964

The world of road cycling sometimes loves the second placed riders more than the winners. It’s especially the case of French cyclist, “The Eternal Second”, Raymond Poulidor (1936-2019), who rode Tour de France 14 times, he completed 12 of them, finished second of the general classification 3 times, and third 5 times. But he never … Read more