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Paris-Roubaix Classics History and Legends Races

Alfred Achermann crashes on Paris-Roubaix cobbles

Today’s historic photo of the day: KAS rider Alfred Achermann crashes heavily and retires from the race on the Paris-Roubaix cobbles, in the Arenberg Forest. 86th edition of the “Queen of the classics”, Sunday, April 10, 1988.

1988 Paris-Roubaix surprisingly won by Belgian Dirk Demol (later, he was the Directeur sportif of the UCI Pro team RadioShack). With 27 km to go, a group of unknown riders broke away. The peloton did nothing to chase them down. It was on a section of cobblestones outside Roubaix that Swiss rider Thomas Wegmuller (KAS) and Dirk Demol (AD Renting) broke away from the lead group to search for the victory.

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History and Legends Classics Paris-Roubaix Races

Serse Coppi wins Paris-Roubaix 1949

Today’s historic photo of the day: Serse Coppi kisses his elder brother Fausto Coppi after winning the Paris-Roubaix 1949 edition.

For the first and only time in history, there were two winners in Paris-Roubaix, and Serse was one of them. The other was team Stella-Dunlop’s French rider André Mahé.

1949 Paris-Roubaix, the 47th edition of the race was held on April 18. There was great chaos at the end of the race. The two winners finished separately, they were separated by four other riders and they both even reached the line by two different routes!

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History and Legends Classics Paris-Roubaix Races

Fausto Coppi after Paris-Roubaix 1959

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.

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History and Legends Classics Paris-Roubaix Races

Fausto Coppi wins Paris-Roubaix 1950 [Video]

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.

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History and Legends Classics Paris-Roubaix Races

Pino Cerami passes away

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.

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Milan-San Remo Classics History and Legends Races

Eddy Merckx wins 1966 Milan-San Remo (video)

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.

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Paris-Roubaix Classics Races

Terpstra wins Paris-Roubaix 2014

Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the Paris-Roubaix 2014, the “queen of the classics” with a late attack on an elite group containing all the favorites in the last ten kilometer. John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) finished in second, big pre-race favorite Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) finished in third.

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Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) Classics Races

Passion for cycling

An anonymous but very beautiful photo… One of the best cycling-related photos, which contains no bike.

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Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) Classics Races

Cancellara makes the history at Tour of Flanders 2014

Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) won the Tour of Flanders 2014 (Ronde van Vlaanderen) spectacularly. This is his third (second consecutive) Tour of Flanders victory – so he joined the “Lions of Flanders” who won this monumental classic three times in history.

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Cycling and Music, Cinema, Art Classics History and Legends Paris-Roubaix

Jean Metzinger’s “At the Cycle-Race Track (Au Vélodrome)”, 1912

“Au Vélodrome”, also known as “At the Cycle-Race Track” and “Le cycliste”, is a painting by the French painter Jean Metzinger. According to the art historian Erasmus Weddigen, it illustrates the final meters of the Paris-Roubaix monumental classic and portrays its 1912 winner Charles Crupelandt (1886-1955).

The painting was acquired by Peggy Guggenheim in 1945 and is now permanently on view in her museum in Venice; Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Jean Metzinger (June 24, 1883- November 3, 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, writer, critic, poet, and sensitive and intelligent theoretician. Along with Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Albert Gleizes, developed the art style known as Cubism.