A theme across cycling history

The people behind cycling

Mechanics, soigneurs, organisers and others who kept races and bicycles working.

Story · 1990–2012

Michele Ferrari, training science and the doping era

Michele Ferrari helped make training measurable and was later banned for life by USADA. His story separates measurement, explanation and documented doping violations.

Open →Story · 1903–1973

When the rider was his own mechanic

Early Tour riders repaired their own bicycles. From Christophe at the forge to neutral service, the tools gradually moved into the following cars.

Open →Story · c. 1900

The centimetres between Gresse and Nasq

A surviving postcard naming stayer Gresse and pacer Nasq opens the story of motor-paced racing, where two people and two machines had to work as one.

Open →Story · 1956

When Magni bit an inner tube to stay in the Giro

With a badly injured shoulder, Fiorenzo Magni continued the Giro with an inner tube tied between his handlebars and teeth.

Open →Story · 2017

A Man of Steel

Albert is 82 and still rides every day. A photographic reader story about a yellow steel Gazelle, daily kilometres and an iron will.

Open →Story · 1990–2007

Principia and the Danish aluminium dream

Three triathletes in Aalborg began welding the aluminium frames they could not afford to buy. Within a few years, Principia was racing far beyond the basement workshop.

Open →Story · 1972–1977

When the neutral service car became everyone’s mechanic

A car broke down during the Dauphiné Libéré. The following year, Mavic sent out a yellow service car to help the entire field — including riders far from their own mechanic.

Open →Story · 1973–1977

When the Brooklyn team turned GIOS blue

A sponsor's request joined the Brooklyn jersey, the GIOS Super Record and Roger De Vlaeminck's team — and the colour outlived the contract.

Open →Story · 1926

When the Tour had to pay the taxi fare

Three riders stepped out of a car in Luchon and disappeared, according to a story passed down from the 1926 Tour. The driver instead took his bill to the race officials.

Open →Story · 1946–1970’erne

Bianchi on the down tube, Drali at the file bench

Peppino Drali built made-to-measure Bianchi frames in Milan. The large factory supplied the name and materials; the small workshop supplied the fit and handwork.

Open →Story · 1980’erne

When pasta took over the breakfast table

Steak did not vanish in a morning, but during the 1980s carbohydrate became something teams could measure, mix into bottles and put on the plate.

Open →Story · 1948

The track bicycle said to weigh 3.48 kilograms

Ugo Bianchi built bicycles for Legnano’s finest riders. A later account credits him with a 3.48-kilogram track machine—a number that invites both curiosity and a raised eyebrow.

Open →Story · 1946

The gear change with a loose rear wheel

Cambio Corsa offered several gears, but demanded two levers, back-pedalling and a moment with the rear wheel released while the bicycle was moving.

Open →Story · 1930’erne

When the Tour had to provide dinner

National teams made the Tour organiser responsible for the riders’ food and lodging. Menus were heavy, advice plentiful and nutritional science still far from the measuring cup.

Open →Story · 1949–1969

The tailor beneath the Vigorelli

Faliero Masi built bicycles beneath Milan’s velodrome and fitted them to riders including Anquetil, Van Looy and Merckx – often with another name on the down tube.

Open →Story · 1968–1979

Keetie won almost everything that existed

Keetie van Oosten-Hage became world champion on road and track and set an hour record. She did it in a sport without the Olympics, a Tour or proper daily support.

Open →Story · 1985–1986

When 7-Eleven came to Europe

The American team learned Europe’s unwritten rules at the Giro and became the first US-based team in the Tour de France a year later.

Open →Story · 1992

The bicycle without the usual triangle

Mike Burrows’s monocoque idea, Lotus engineers and Chris Boardman met in a black track bicycle that won Olympic gold in Barcelona.

Open →Story · 1899–1927

From Paris–Roubaix to spark plugs

Albert Champion won Paris–Roubaix at twenty. His work and a dispute over his name later produced two American spark-plug brands: Champion and AC.

Open →Story · 2015

When the gear cable disappeared

SRAM RED eTap made road shifting wireless and gave riders, mechanics and frame designers a new way to think about control.

Open →Story · 2001–2009

When Bjarne Riis built Team CSC

A struggling Danish team became an international organisation built around clear roles, training data and a team spirit tested far from the road.

Open →Story · 2000–2009

When the carbon bicycle reached the weight limit

Carbon gave designers new shapes while the UCI’s 6.8-kilogram minimum made ballast and gram counting part of the mechanics’ work.

Open →Story · 1988

When the summer peloton rode into snow

Rain turned to snow on the Passo di Gavia. Johan van der Velde reached the summit first, Erik Breukink won the stage and Andy Hampsten took pink.

Open →Story · 1970’erne

Steak at five and coffee with cognac

Before gels and precise carbohydrate plans, the soigneur packed sandwiches, fruit and tarts, filled the bottles and tried to keep riders eating through a long working day.

Open →Story · 1942

The Tour the occupation wanted

The six-stage Circuit de France was meant to resemble a national revival. Instead, it showed how difficult a major bicycle race was under occupation.

Open →Story · 1943–1944

Bartali's training rides had another purpose

During the German occupation of Italy, Gino Bartali used the familiar sight of a professional rider in training as cover while carrying material for a rescue network.

Open →Story · 1951