With the conclusion of Vuelta a España 2016, Lotto-Soudal’s Australian rider Adam Hansen has extended the record of completing the most number of consecutive grand tours which already belong to him.
Category: Tour de France
Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali: two cycling legends of Italy. The rivalry between them is perhaps the most famous sporting duel in history. It has been started during World War II and continued afterward.
In December 2012, RCS Sport, the organizer of the Giro d’Italia, has put together 100 journalists to rate the greatest moments of the race’s 103-year history. The fifth question was “Which are the biggest sporting rivalries in the Giro d’Italia?”, and the obvious answer was: “The rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali.”
At stage 8 of the 2016 Tour de France, Chris Froome attacked during the descent, using the so-called “Supertuck” style. He quickly opened up a gap of a few seconds on his main general classification rivals, including Nairo Quintana. Then he tucked down onto the top tube of his bicycle and spun the 54-teeth chainring with all he had, opening up an even bigger gap in the process. Finally, he won the stage by 13 seconds over his rivals.
A lot of people were astonished at his descending technique. But, in fact, we saw it before.
In his final year as a pro, Fabian Cancellara got a special-edition Trek Madone for his last Tour de France. The bike is specially painted for him, and it celebrates Spartacus’ entire career.
Another great achievement for team MTN-Qhubeka in this year’s Tour de France: Steve Cummings wins stage 14. This is the first-ever victory for an African team in the history of the Tour, and the best thing is, it was on Nelson Mandela International Day (or Mandela Day), an annual international day in honor of Nelson Mandela, celebrated each year on 18 July, Mandela’s birthday.
A lot of people are wondering what is the black stick below the riders’ saddles at the Tour de France. Well, it’s a real-time data transmitter. It is provided by Dimension Data, a South African company specializing in information technology services, and officially called the “Fox”.
Rohan Dennis (BMC) beats Greg LeMond’s Tour de France time trial speed record which was set in 1989, at the final time trial in Paris (LeMond won that edition with only eight seconds over the Frenchman Laurent Fignon, the narrowest winning margin in history). Dennis’s time over the 13.8 km course was 14 minutes 56 seconds, clocking an average speed of 55.446 km/h. Dennis also broke the prologue record of Chris Boardman which was set in the 1994 edition, Boardman’s previous record was 55.2 km/h (34.3 mph) set during the 7.2 km prologue of the 1994 Tour in Lille.
In the opening time trial of 2015 Tour de France, this years’ Tour Down Under winner Rohan Dennis was the only rider to go under the 15-minute mark on the course and established time trial legends and multiple former world champions Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) failed to beat his time. Martin finished in second with 15:01, while Cancellara finished in third with 15:02.
Today’s historic photo of the day: during the penultimate (14th) stage of the 1921 Tour de France, Léon Scieur, the Belgian rider of La Sportive team carries his own wheel to the finish line. Scieur won the 1921 Tour de France when he was 33-year-old, along with stages 3 and 10.
The 15th edition of the Tour de France took place June 26 to July 24, 1921, with 138 starters. The total distance was 5484 km. The Belgians dominated the entire race, partly due to the absence of the French Pélissier brothers: the French cyclists Henri and Francis Pélissier had left the 1920 Tour de France after Henri received a penalty from the Tour organization for throwing away a tire, and they were still fighting. Therefore, the Pélissier brothers did not join the 1921 Tour de France.
Today’s historic photo of the day: Italian cyclist Bartolomeo Aimo (sometimes written Bartolomeo Aymo) leading a greatly reduced peloton over the Allos at stage 13 of the Tour de France 1925.
Stage 13 was a 275 km (171 mi) long trip from Nice to Briançon. It was a cold, rainy day in the Alps. The Italian sports fans who had flocked to the Tour to see their hero, Ottavio Bottecchia, had the pleasure of seeing their compatriot Bartolomeo Aimo be the first over both the Vars and the Izoard as he rode to win the stage.
Bottecchia was 10 minutes back but still leading the General Classification. Nicolas Frantz, who was in second place in the general classification at the beginning of the day lost over 13 minutes.
Today’s historic photo of the day: Charly Gaul on Mont Ventoux; Tour de France 1958, stage 18, July 13, Sunday, 21.5 km Individual Time Trial.
A 21.5-kilometer individual time trial from Bédouin – up Mount Ventoux. Charly Gaul, as usual, let himself lose some time on the flat stages, always confident that he could make the time up in the mountains.