From the first races to 1899
Cycling’s wild pioneer years
The safety bicycle, pneumatic tyre, newspaper races and velodromes turned cycling into machine, sport and public spectacle.
Read the period →The larger, connected history
Periods
Each chapter gives a chronological view of racing, roads, rules, mechanics and culture.
1900–1920s
Pioneers and endurance
The Tour de France begins, the yellow jersey gets its colour, and riders struggle with roads, darkness and mechanics.
Read the period →
1920–1929
Cycle racing’s hard golden age
Enormous Tour stages, primitive mountain roads, reversible rear wheels and riders acting as their own mechanics.
Read the period →
1930–1939
When the racing bicycle became modern
National teams, the publicity caravan, the first Vuelta and gear changes without reversing the rear wheel.
Read the period →
1940–1949
When war closed the roads
The grand tours disappeared and returned to a Europe marked by war, reconstruction and new mechanical solutions.
Read the period →
1950–1959
When cycle racing entered the living room
Modern derailleurs, new mountain stages, radio and television made the sport faster, more international and more visible.
Read the period →
1960–1969
When the racing bicycle found its modern form
Anquetil against Poulidor, Fredborg on the track, lighter steel bicycles and the difficult beginnings of doping control.
Read the period →
1970–1979
Between the Cannibal and the Badger
Steel frames, friction shifting and a professional peloton moving from Merckx’s dominance towards Hinault’s new order.
Read the period →
1980–1989
When the bicycle became a laboratory
Steel frames, clipless pedals, indexed gears and radical time-trial bicycles met in a decade of closer measurement.
Read the period →
1990–1999
When shifting moved to the handlebars
Indurain, Pantani and Riis, integrated shifters, new frame materials and the Festina affair in 1998.
Read the period →
2000–2009
When cycling became a control room
Specialisation, carbon, power measurement and electronic gears met cancelled victories, raids and fading trust.
Read the period →
2010–2019
When the computer took over the bicycle
Team Sky, marginal gains, carbon and electronic gears shaped a decade in which even a planned Tour could still end on foot.
Read the period →Follow a subject through time
Explore the seven themes
The theme pages connect the periods without turning this chronological overview into another large archive.
Go to themes and search →