Today’s historic photo of the day – the legendary Ottavio Bottecchia climbing Col du Tourmalet, stage 6 of the Tour de France 1924.
The previous Tour de France was won by Henri Pélissier. But the Frenchman was clear as to who the rising star was: He had said that the runner-up Ottavio Bottecchia would go on to win the race – “Bottecchia will succeed me.”
Today’s historic photo of the day is about one of the most iconic figures of cycling history – Jens Voigt. When he was riding for Saxo Bank team, he participated in the Tour de France 2010 edition as a domestique to his leaders, the Schleck brothers.
After completing his domestique duties on the mountainous stage 16, he crashed heavily on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde, and his bike became destroyed. After getting back up, he realized that all the team cars had passed and that he would not be handed a new bike. Desperate, he borrowed a bike much too small for him, from a children group’s car which was following the race. He rode on it for about 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) before reaching a policeman who had another bicycle which had been left for him by his team.
Today’s “historic photo of the day” is: Franco Chioccioli climbing Passo di Gavia, during stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia 1988.
Before the 14th stage of 1988 Giro d’Italia, Del Tongo team’s Italian rider Franco Chioccioli was wearing the maglia rosa. He was leading the race 33 seconds ahead of Urs Zimmermann. The top ten of the general classification was:
Today’s historic photo of the day: Roy Schuiten of Scic-Bottecchia team is time trialing at 14th stage of the 1978 Giro d’Italia in Venezia (Venice), near “Canal Grande” – The Grand Canal. May 21, 1978.
The Venice Time-Trial of stage 14 required the construction of a floating bridge over the Grand Canal so that the riders could cross the “Canal Grande” and finish in San Marco Square. The length of the course was 12 km (7 mi).
Today’s historic photo of the day is – the finish of the 1966 Milan-San Remo. A Peugeot-BP-Michelin rider, only 20 years old Eddy Merckx sprints to win his first-ever classics victory. It was the start of Merckx’s run of seven “La Primavera” wins in 11 years.
A photo from Bordeaux-Paris 1912, team cars and bikes at the start. It’s amazing that how many bikes the team cars could carry in those years.
First held on 23 May 1891, The Bordeaux-Paris was one of Europe’s Classic cycle races, and one of the longest in the professional calendar, covering approximately 560 km (350 mi) – more than twice the most modern single-day races.
These days, I am reading Graeme Obree’s (A.K.A. the Flying Scotsman) book about training – “The Obree Way”. I’ll write a review later, but his words about “passion” worth mentioning here.
Biagio Cavanna (b. Novi Ligure, 1893 – d. Novi Ligure, December 21, 1961) was an Italian track cyclist and sports manager, who became famous for having discovered and initially coached campionissimi (champions of champions) Costante Girardengo and, later, Fausto Coppi.
He dedicated himself to the sport from a young age, before boxing and then to cycling, competing until late in life. It was during a Six Days in Dortmund in 1936, to feel the first symptoms of blindness.
If you watch Jørgen Leth’s great documentary about the 1973 Giro d’Italia, “Stars and Water Carriers” (Stjernerne
On one of the early climbs of the day, Eddy Merckx escaped bringing Spanish climber José Manuel Fuente (KAS) and the young Italian Giovanni Battaglin (Jollj Ceramica) along for company. Foolishly, Fuente took his pulls with the powerful Belgian and after having burned his matches, was spit out the back.
Here’s the quote of the day by Eddy Merckx: “In cycling, being sure of yourself is an almost inevitable guarantee of not winning.”