Category: Races

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Races History and Legends Tour de France

Missing the Tour de France Start

Pedro Delgado
At the start of the 1989 Tour de France, the defending champion, Pedro Delgado, missed his start time at the prologue.

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.

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History and Legends Races Tour de France

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

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.

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

Two great photos about cycling, with no bikes

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.

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History and Legends Races Tour de France

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

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.

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Races Classics

Rodríguez wins an epic Il Lombardia 2012

Joaquim Rodríguez wins Il Lombardia 2012
Joaquim Rodríguez of Katusha Team won Il Lombardia 2012. It was an unlucky year for the Spaniard that full of near-misses (for example, Vuelta a España, where he was leading the race and looking really strong, but lost the race to Alberto Contador after a surprise solo attack by "El Pistolero" at the seventeenth stage). Rodríguez celebrated his victory (and breaking the bad luck of the 2012 season) by throwing his bottle in the air.

Joaquim Rodríguez of Katusha Team won Il Lombardia 2012, the 106th edition of the race, under heavy rain. He became the first Spaniard to win the Italian monumental classic. Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel-Euskadi finished in second, while Rigoberto Uran of Team Sky finished in third.

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Cyclists and Teams UCI Worlds

Will Oskar Svendsen join the greats in future?

Oskar Svendsen won UCI Worlds 2012 Junior Men Time Trial title in Limburg
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.

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Giro d'Italia Cycling Climbs Races

Giro d’Italia goes back on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in 2013

Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Tre Cime di Lavaredo

A new Giro d’Italia stage route officially announced. On Stage 20, Saturday May 25th 2013, “Il Giro” goes back on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

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Tour de France Cycling Climbs Races

Mont Ventoux and two ascents of L’Alpe d’Huez in the Tour de France 2013

Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux is one of the most epic climbs in Tour de France history.

Tour de France 2013 official presentation will take place in Paris on October 24, Wednesday. But rumors and speculations already spread. Le Dauphine Libere, the French news outlet is reporting that the legendary Mont Ventoux and the Tour classic Alpe d’Huez will be included in the 100th editions’ rote. And Alpe d’Huez not once, but twice!

As already reported, the 2013 Tour will take place on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. It will be the Tour’s first visit to the island since its inception in 1903. There will be three stages hosted by Corsica. Then the race will leave the island to a team time trial in Nice.

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Races Giro d'Italia

Giro d’Italia 2013 official promo (Promo ufficiale)

Giro 2013 Official Promo
96th edition of Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) will start from Naples on May 4th, 2013, Saturday. It will finish on May 26th 2013, Sunday. "This is Giro d'Italia! The toughest race in the world's most beautiful place."

96th edition of the Giro d’Italia will start from Naples on May 4th, 2013, Saturday. It will finish on May 26th, 2013, Sunday. The organizer RCS Sport published the Giro d’Italia 2013 official promo (Promo ufficiale).

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Races UCI Worlds

Mohoric wins 2012 UCI Worlds Junior Men road race

UCI Worlds 2012 Junior Men road race podium
UCI Worlds 2012 Junior Men road race podium: 1- Matej Mojoric (Slovenia), 2- Caleb Ewan (Australia), 3- Josip Rumac (Croatia)

Matej Mohoric of Slovenia won the UCI Worlds 2012 Junior Men road race. He launched a perfect-timed attack over the top of the Cauberg climb and won the title. Caleb Ewan of Australia won the sprint for second place, while Josip Rumac of Croatia finished in third.

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