“The Obree Way” is a book written by Graeme Obree aka “The Flying Scotsman”, who broke the world hour record twice, in July 1993 and April 1994, and was the individual pursuit world champion in 1993 and 1995. It explains Graeme Obree’s radical insights into technique, training, psychology and diet, and the logic behind them.
After I got the book, the first thing I noticed was the comment on the back cover, from Sir Chris Hoy (see notes 1), saying:
Today’s historic photo of the day: after the Paris-Roubaix 1959 edition, Fausto Coppi, covered with mud. It was the latest Paris-Roubaix of “il campionissimo”, before his premature death in less than nine months.
The final three seasons of Coppi’s life, between 1957 and 1959, saw his inevitable decline. He remained a living legend, but as the champion’s power fade away, he wasn’t winning big races like the Paris-Roubaix anymore.
Today’s historic photo of the day, with a video: Fausto Coppi winning the Paris-Roubaix 1950 edition, with a great solo attack. Coppi’s 1950 Paris-Roubaix winning move is widely regarded as one of the greatest rides in cycling history.
In 1972, On 25 October, Eddy Merckx set the Hour Record, after a great season: he started the year winning “la primavera”, Milan-San Remo, the first classic of the cycling season. He then won Liège-Bastogne-Liège, one of the five “monuments” (see notes 1), the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France (both general classification and points classification), and another monument, Giro di Lombardia (currently “Il Lombardia“) as well as many other races.
Then he attacked the Hour Record.
Pino Cerami, 1960 Paris-Roubaix and La Flèche Wallonne winner, and the oldest Tour de France stage winner (1963) after second world war, has died aged 92, after a long illness.
Jens Voigt breaks the Hour Record by 1,410 meters at the Vélodrome Suisse in Grenchen. The recently-retired German, who turned 43 on Wednesday, covered 51.110 kilometers (31.76 miles-205 laps) in one hour on 18 September 2014. The previous record was 49.700 km (30.88 miles) set by Ondřej Sosenka of the Czech Republic in 2005 in Moscow.
Voigt said after the record that: “51 kilometers in an hour, it’s a lot more than I had imagined. I gave it everything in the last 20 minutes. I knew that I still had the energy, that I was ahead of the mark. I felt euphoric – it was the last 20 minutes of my sporting career. I was super-motivated. Now I am on the list of all the famous names, I am so proud to join the likes of Merckx, Indurain. It’s fantastic to finish like this.”
Today’s historic photo of the day: Charly Gaul on Mont Ventoux; Tour de France 1958, stage 18, July 13, Sunday, 21.5 km Individual Time Trial.
A 21.5-kilometer individual time trial from Bédouin – up Mount Ventoux. Charly Gaul, as usual, let himself lose some time on the flat stages, always confident that he could make the time up in the mountains.
Trek has revealed the bike which Jens Voigt will use n his Hour Record attempt on September 18. The Trek Speed Concept 9 series bike has a Shimano Dura-Ace drivetrain and full disc wheels.
It is a modified version of Trek’s standard time trial machine, which Trek Factory Racing team using in the road races. The biggest modifications are – changes in the rear dropouts to accommodate track hub spacing of 120mm, and removal of the front and rear integrated brakes (they replaced with carbon filler to maintain the same surface geometry as the standard Speed Concept).
Today’s historic photo of the day: well, it’s actually not a photo of a cyclist, just a photo of a magazine – 11 August 1960 edition of “The Adventures of Tintin”. “Il Campionissimo” Fausto Coppi was on the cover of the magazine.
Fausto Coppi was not alive when the magazine was published.
Today, Giovanni Pinarello, the founder of the Pinarello bicycles has died at 92. The death of the Italian framebuilder has been announced on the Italian bike manufacturer’s Facebook page.