Michele Ferrari: “I did not dope Lance Armstrong”, Greg LeMond: “Ferrari is master at doping”

In an exclusive interview, life-time banned doctor Michele Ferrari told Al Jazeera’s Lee Wellings that “he did not dope Lance Armstrong”. But 3-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond is having none of it. He says about former Lance Armstrong doctor that “Ferrari is master at doping”.

Tour de France 2014 Grand Départ will be in Yorkshire

Tour de France 2014 Grand Départ (the 101st edition of the French grand tour) will be in Yorkshire, England. Other candidates were Edinburgh, Florence, Barcelona, and Lille, but race organizer ASO (Amaury Sport Organization) announced today Yorkshire is the winner and the Tour will start from there.

Hugo Koblet: Pédaleur de charme

Pédaleur de charme, meaning “Pedaler of Charm“, was Hugo Koblet‘s nickname (He won Tour de France in 1951 and Giro d’Italia in 1950). He also won the Mountain Classification of Giro d’Italia in 1950.

The Yellow Rosebud: Orson Welles and the 1950 Tour de France

Orson Welles, the famous American director was the official starter of the Tour de France in 1950. The best-known film directed by him is Citizen Kane. The film was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories; it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman Mankiewicz and Welles. Citizen Kane was voted …

Ocaña vs Merckx, 1971 Tour de France

1971 Tour de France was a scene of an epic Luis Ocaña vs Eddy Merckx battle. Eventually, the tour was a great tragedy for Luis Ocaña, who won the Tour de France in 1973 and the Vuelta a España in 1970. Eddy Merckx won Tour de France in 1969 and 1970, and it looked like …

Marco Pantani’s used Tour de France bikes sold at auction

Two bicycles used by Marco Pantani in the Tour de France sold for 13,000 and 8,000 Euro at an auction in Italy. 1998 bike sold for 13,000 Euro (Pantani won Tour de France in 1998). The auction was in Ravenna on November 17th and according to reports in the Italian press, one hundred Pantani fans …

Missing the Tour de France Start

Pedro Delgado, the defending champion, missed his start time with 2:40 at the prologue at the start of the 1989 Tour de France. Delgado covered the distance only 14 seconds slower than Erik Breukink, the stage winner. But adding the 2 minutes and 40 seconds at his time, he became the only defending champion to …

Eight Seconds

1989 edition of Tour de France won by Greg LeMond with the narrowest margin in its history: eight seconds. It was LeMond’s second Tour victory. Before the final stage of the 1989 Tour de France, Frenchman Laurent Fignon (Système U) was 50 seconds ahead of American Greg LeMond (ADR). Fignon took the yellow jersey from LeMond …

Two great photos about cycling, with no bikes

Look at these two great photos about cycling, with no bikes. The photos were taken by Robert Capa in Pleyben, Brittany, France, during the 1939 Tour de France. The owner of the small bicycle shop in Brittany, Pierre Cloarec was competing in the 1939 tour for the French team A. Leducq-Hutchinson. The excited crowd in the photos …

Eugène Christophe and the first yellow jersey (Tour de France 1919)

In 1919, Frenchman Eugène Christophe became the first rider to wear the race leader’s yellow jersey (maillot jaune) of the Tour de France. In the first few years after the 1st world war, there was a shortage of material and dye for jerseys. So many of the teams wore the same grey colored tops: the cycle industry …