Category: Races

Missing the Tour de France Start

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date November 15, 2012
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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 begin the race in last place, 2:54 behind Breukink.

Greg LeMond surprised by placing fourth in the opening prologue. Laurent Fignon was second, Sean Kelly third with all three finishing six seconds behind the winner on the day, Erik Breukink. Delgado ended the first day of the race placed last of the 198 riders.

Tags Erik Breukink, Laurent Fignon, Pedro Delgado, Sean Kelly, Tour de France 1989, Unforgettable Moments of Cycling

History and Legends Races Tour de France

Eight Seconds: The Narrowest Winning Margin in Tour de France History

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date November 13, 2012
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Eight seconds: Greg Lemond, 1989 Tour de France (cropped) — Greg LeMond is flying to the victory, Tour de France 1989, stage 21.

The 1989 edition of Tour de France was 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 after the Alpe d’Huez stage, thanks to a withering attack by Gert-Jan Theunisse, Fignon was able to rid himself of LeMond on the ascent.

Tags Laurent Fignon, Pedro Delgado, Tour de France 1989, Unforgettable Moments of Cycling

Races Cycling and Music, Cinema, Art History and Legends Tour de France

Two great photos about cycling, with no bikes

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date November 10, 2012
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Robert Capa with a camera — Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War.In the early 1950s, Capa traveled to Japan for an exhibition associated with Magnum Photos. While there, Life magazine asked him to go on assignment to Southeast Asia, where the French had been fighting for eight years in the First Indochina War. Despite the fact he had sworn not to photograph another war a few years earlier, Capa accepted and accompanied a French regiment with two other Time-Life journalists, John Mecklin and Jim Lucas. On May 25, 1954 at 2:55 p.m., the regiment was passing through a dangerous area under fire when Capa decided to leave his Jeep and go up the road to photograph the advance. About five minutes later, Mecklin and Lucas heard an explosion; Capa had stepped on a landmine. When they arrived on the scene, he was still alive but his left leg had been blown to pieces, and he had a serious wound in his chest. Mecklin called for a medic and Capa was taken to a small field hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. (wikipedia)

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 watching the tour come by in front of the bicycle shop owned by Cloarec. He won two stages in this Tour, stages 3 and 14.

History and Legends Races Tour de France

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

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date November 8, 2012
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Eugène Christophe (1919 Tour de France) — 1919 Tour de France: Eugène Christophe is the first official yellow jersey.

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 was not yet in action again, and La Sportive was the only marque supplying material was, and there was little difference between any of the jerseys they supplied.

Tags Unforgettable Moments of Cycling

Cyclists and Teams UCI Worlds

Will Oskar Svendsen join the greats in future?

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date September 26, 2012
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Oskar Svendsen won UCI Worlds 2012 Junior Men Time Trial title in Limburg

Oskar Svendsen, Junior Men Time Trial World Champion, has tested at the University of Lillehammer and his Vo2 Max measured sensational 97.5 ml/kg/min, believed to be the highest ever recorded.

Svendsen won UCI Road World Championships 2012 Junior Men Individual Time Trial title last week in Limburg, Netherlands.

Cycling Climbs Races Vuelta a España

Mirador de Ézaro, the steepest climb in bicycle racing history

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date August 31, 2012
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Mirador de Ézaro - 30% sign — A hundred meters from the beach of Ézaro, where the Galician coast at its best, there is an ominous sign with the red warning triangle: thirty percent (30%) warns the board, then you directly ride against uphill over a huge rock.

A hundred meters from the beach of Ézaro, where the Galician coast is at its best, there is an ominous sign with the red warning triangle: thirty percent (30%) warns the board, then you directly ride against uphill over a huge rock. Welcome to the Mirador de Ézaro, the steepest climb in bicycle racing history.