July 9, 1925: in this historic photo, the legendary Italian cyclist Ottavio Bottecchia approaches to the finish line at Tour de France 1925 stage 13, a 275 km going from Nice to Briançon. The monster stage had featured three major ascents, all above two thousand meters: Col d’Allos (2,250 m), Col de Vars (2,108 m), and Col d’Izoard (2,360 m).
Fellow Italian Bartolomeo Aymo (sometimes written Bartolomeo Aimo), the Alcyon teammate of Bottecchia’s rival Nicolas Frantz won the stage in 13 hours 5 minutes, and 3 seconds. Bottecchia finished in second at 9 min 57 sec, 3 min 40 sec ahead of Frantz, who finished in third and reinforced his yellow jersey. Bottecchia, who had also won the previous year’s edition and became the first Italian to win the Tour de France, started the 1925 Tour by winning the first stage, then he won 6th and 7th stages, and made his Tour victory complete by also winning the last stage.
