Today’s historic photo of the day: Roy Schuiten of Scic-Bottecchia team is time trialing at 14th stage of the 1978 Giro d’Italia in Venezia (Venice), near “Canal Grande” – The Grand Canal. May 21, 1978.
The Venice Time-Trial of stage 14 required the construction of a floating bridge over the Grand Canal so that the riders could cross the “Canal Grande” and finish in San Marco Square. The length of the course was 12 km (7 mi).
Today’s historic photo of the day is – the finish of the 1966 Milan-San Remo. A Peugeot-BP-Michelin rider, only 20 years old Eddy Merckx sprints to win his first-ever classics victory. It was the start of Merckx’s run of seven “La Primavera” wins in 11 years.
A photo from Bordeaux-Paris 1912, team cars and bikes at the start. It’s amazing that how many bikes the team cars could carry in those years.
First held on 23 May 1891, The Bordeaux-Paris was one of Europe’s Classic cycle races, and one of the longest in the professional calendar, covering approximately 560 km (350 mi) – more than twice the most modern single-day races.
These days, I am reading Graeme Obree’s (A.K.A. the Flying Scotsman) book about training – “The Obree Way”. I’ll write a review later, but his words about “passion” worth mentioning here.
Cannondale’s Ted King published a new blog post on his personal website and wrote about his early exit from the Tour de France.
Ted King’s ride at the Tour de France ended abruptly on Monday as he was forced to abandon after a Stage 10 crash. He also did crash earlier in the race, once in Stage 3 and again in Stage 4, forcing him to race with tight bandages on both sides of his body. Furthermore, he fell ill on Monday, adding to his tough luck in a stage current yellow jersey holder Vincenzo Nibali called “the hardest stage I’ve ever done in a Grand Tour.”
I bought a pair of Bontrager R2 clincher folding road tires, and I rode over 560 km with them in 8 days. Here is a quick review.
First, some specifications:
Vincenzo Torriani (Novate Milanese, 17 September 1918 – Milano, 24 April 1996) was best known as one of the original “Giro Bosses” or organizers of the Giro d’Italia. He held the role for 46 years, from 1946 to 1992. This video clip is from the documentary named “The Greatest Show on Earth“. Soundtrack: “Di quella pira” – a popular tenor aria (or more specifically cabaletta) sung by Manrico in Act 3, Scene 2 of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, “Il Trovatore“. Tenor: Franco Corelli.
Marcel Kittel, the sprinter of the team Giant-Shimano, in a video prepared in collaboration with the ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation – the Organizer of the Tour de France) gave the cycling fans some safety advice.
Kittel says: “Thanks for coming to the Tour to support us. Please respect the riders, protect yourself and especially your children.”
Stage 20 of Giro d’Italia 2014 finished atop Monte Zoncolan. It is widely regarded as one of the most difficult climbs in Europe: the Zoncolan has been compared with Vuelta a España’s El Angliru, in the Spanish region of Asturias. The steepest, 23.6% pitch of the Angliru is very short however, being part of a kilometer stretch that averages “only” 17.2 percent – while the Zoncolan has a kilometer of nearly 20%.
The “thing” is situated in Friuli Venezia Giulia and belongs to the Alps. Starting from Ovaro, the Monte Zoncolan ascent is 10.5 km long. Over this distance, you climb 1210 vertical meters. The average percentage thus is 11.5%.
Biagio Cavanna (b. Novi Ligure, 1893 – d. Novi Ligure, December 21, 1961) was an Italian track cyclist and sports manager, who became famous for having discovered and initially coached campionissimi (champions of champions) Costante Girardengo and, later, Fausto Coppi.
He dedicated himself to the sport from a young age, before boxing and then to cycling, competing until late in life. It was during a Six Days in Dortmund in 1936, to feel the first symptoms of blindness.