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.
Category: Tour de France
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.
Today’s historic photo of the day: the first-ever stage ascent of Col du Tourmalet in Tour de France (1910), Octave Lapize of the Alcyon team walks over the summit and goes on to win the Tour. When he passed the organizer’s car atop the Tourmalet, he screamed “Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!” (French for “You are murderers! Yes, murderers!”)
The courses of the Tour de France in 1907, 1908, and 1909 had been nearly identical. But in 1910, the Pyrenees were included, an initiative from Adolphe Steinès, who had drawn the course for the Tour de France since the first Tour in 1903.
Today’s historic photo of the day – the legendary Ottavio Bottecchia climbing Col du Tourmalet, stage 6 of the Tour de France 1924.
The previous Tour de France was won by Henri Pélissier. But the Frenchman was clear as to who the rising star was: He had said that the runner-up Ottavio Bottecchia would go on to win the race – “Bottecchia will succeed me.”
Today’s historic photo of the day is about one of the most iconic figures of cycling history – Jens Voigt. When he was riding for Saxo Bank team, he participated in the Tour de France 2010 edition as a domestique to his leaders, the Schleck brothers.
After completing his domestique duties on the mountainous stage 16, he crashed heavily on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde, and his bike became destroyed. After getting back up, he realized that all the team cars had passed and that he would not be handed a new bike. Desperate, he borrowed a bike much too small for him, from a children group’s car which was following the race. He rode on it for about 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) before reaching a policeman who had another bicycle which had been left for him by his team.