A theme across cycling history
Riders of the period
Riders as people, competitors and products of their time.
See all seven themes →Jan van Hout and the 44,588 metres
Jan van Hout rode 44.588 kilometres in an hour in 1933. A dispute followed his ride; he later closed his café and joined the resistance.
Open →Story · 1959–1960Coppi’s last journey and the missed malaria
Fausto Coppi returned ill from Upper Volta. Fellow traveller Raphaël Géminiani had the same disease, but malaria was recognised too late in Coppi’s case.
Open →Story · 1985When Oosterbosch found the time trial again
On 6.6 wet kilometres through Winschoten, Bert Oosterbosch beat team-mate Eric Vanderaerden by eleven seconds and briefly recovered his speciality.
Open →Story · 1940–1952Coppi, Bartali and a divided Italy
Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali began as team-mates and became rivals through whom post-war Italy told stories about itself.
Open →Story · 2017–2026Tour of Guangxi: Six days and one steep finish
The final stage race of the WorldTour season crosses the rolling landscape of Guangxi and is decided on the short, steep road to NongLa.
Open →Story · 1971When Gimondi opened the sprint against Merckx
At the 1971 World Championships in Mendrisio, Eddy Merckx and Felice Gimondi reached the finish alone. Gimondi opened, but Merckx took his second rainbow jersey.
Open →Story · 1868The race that was called the first
James Moore won a short race in Parc de Saint-Cloud in 1868. The day was later cast as the beginning of cycle racing—but the history is more complicated than that.
Open →Story · 1893–1896The world champion who changed from skates to bicycle
Jaap Eden became world champion in speed skating and track cycling in the 1890s—and one of the Netherlands’ first sporting celebrities.
Open →Story · 1983Kund Rindbøl’s time trial on the old main road
A reader remembers 30 kilometres against the clock, a 54 × 14 gear and his mother at the roadside between Holbæk and Roskilde.
Open →Story · 2017The comfort break that nearly cost Dumoulin the Giro
Tom Dumoulin had to stop with stomach trouble on stage 16 of the 2017 Giro and defend the pink jersey alone.
Open →Story · 1984When Hinault rode into a workers’ protest
Paris–Nice met a road blockade by La Ciotat shipyard workers. Bernard Hinault was knocked down, got up and struck a demonstrator.
Open →Story · 2011French champion at 52
Jeannie Longo won the 2011 French time trial championship at the age of 52, finishing 42 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Open →Story · 1953–2019Why the whole Forum cheered for Pair Number 7
From Kay Werner Nielsen and Evan Klamer to Michael Mørkøv and Alex Rasmussen: one race number became the Danish crowd’s own pair.
Open →Story · 1934The spectator's bicycle that cost Lapébie Paris–Roubaix
Roger Lapébie punctured near the finish, borrowed a spectator's bicycle and crossed the line first. The rules awarded victory to Gaston Rebry.
Open →Story · 1978The condom that cost Pollentier the yellow jersey
Michel Pollentier won on Alpe d’Huez and took the yellow jersey. That evening, the doping control revealed a container of someone else’s urine beneath his jersey.
Open →Story · 2017A 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 · 1968Ole Ritter's hour in Mexico City
On 10 October 1968, Ole Ritter rode farther in one hour than anyone before him. The thin air of Mexico City helped the speed, but it did not make the effort easier.
Open →Story · 1959–2026When the bicycle left its first owner
A gold Favorit F11, its 1960 receipt and a meeting with the man who had kept the bicycle for more than six decades.
Open →Story · 1995When Olano finished on a flat rear tyre
Abraham Olano punctured shortly before the finish at the World Championships in Duitama. Behind him, Miguel Induráin kept the chase under control.
Open →Story · 1959–1966When the coal had been delivered, training began
Yvonne Reynders delivered coal on a three-wheeled cargo bicycle before winning seven world titles on road and track.
Open →Story · 1946The 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 · 1980The day snow emptied Liège–Bastogne–Liège
A field of 174 began in the cold and only 21 finished, while Bernard Hinault rode roughly 80 kilometres alone and suffered lasting damage to his hands.
Open →Story · 1899Major Taylor also had to win the right to race
Marshall “Major” Taylor became world sprint champion in 1899. His route there passed through records, packed velodromes and a cycling establishment that repeatedly tried to exclude him.
Open →Story · 1968–1979Keetie 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 · 1894–1895Annie Londonderry turned a bicycle journey into a performance
Annie Cohen Kopchovsky travelled around the world by bicycle, ship and train, making names, clothes, advertising and storytelling part of the feat.
Open →Story · 1896Teddy Hale and 142 hours in New York
In December 1896, Teddy Hale won the individual six-day race at Madison Square Garden after 142 hours and roughly 3,074 kilometres.
Open →Story · 2018When Froome attacked with 80 kilometres remaining
On the Colle delle Finestre, Chris Froome rode away alone and overturned a Giro he began that day 3 minutes 22 seconds from the lead.
Open →Story · 2019When a Tour stage ended without a finish line
Egan Bernal attacked on the Col de l’Iseran as hail and a landslide made the road to Tignes impassable and stopped the stage.
Open →Story · 2017When Philippe Gilbert rode away on the Oude Kwaremont
An attack more than 50 kilometres from the finish became a solo ride over cobbles and climbs and Gilbert’s first Tour of Flanders victory.
Open →Story · 2009When the Roubaix favourites disappeared one by one
Flecha crashed at Carrefour de l’Arbre, Hushovd hit the barriers and Tom Boonen rode alone into the velodrome for his third victory.
Open →Story · 1984–1985When the toe strap gave way to a click
LOOK transferred the ski binding’s lock to the racing bicycle. Bernard Hinault’s fifth Tour victory made the clipless pedal visible to the whole peloton.
Open →Story · 1988When 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 · 1989Eight seconds on the Champs-Élysées
Greg LeMond began the final time trial 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon and finished the Tour eight seconds ahead.
Open →Story · 1943–1944Bartali'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 · 1943–1949From prisoner of war to Giro–Tour winner
Fausto Coppi had already won the Giro when he was captured in North Africa. Six years later, he became the first rider to win the Giro and Tour in the same season.
Open →Story · 1947Robic took yellow on the final day
Jean Robic began the last stage of the 1947 Tour in third place. On the road to Paris, he attacked and overturned the entire classification.
Open →Story · 1956The Tour winner nobody expected
Roger Walkowiak won no stage in the 1956 Tour. He won the race because the favourites first underestimated his breakaway and later could not drop him.
Open →Story · 1956When the snow broke the Giro peloton
On the 242-kilometre stage to Monte Bondone, Charly Gaul rode through snow and cold from eleventh place into the pink jersey.
Open →Story · 1952When “necessary” meant almost always
In a RAI interview, Fausto Coppi spoke unusually openly about the peloton’s use of “la bomba” in an age without effective doping controls.
Open →Story · 1946–1951The hide-and-seek contest for the Giro's black jersey
Luigi Malabrocca tried to finish last in the 1949 Giro. The problem was that bricklayer Sante Carollo was already almost two hours further behind.
Open →Story · 1995–2004The man behind the Pirate
Marco Pantani returned from a shattered left leg to win both the Giro and the Tour. The rider’s story also contains the vulnerable man.
Open →Story · 1970When Mogens Frey won after a hand on the handlebars
Joaquim Agostinho crossed first in Mulhouse, but the jury awarded victory to team-mate Mogens Frey after visible interference in the sprint.
Open →Story · 1968When Fredborg equalled the world record and won silver
Niels Fredborg equalled the world record in the Olympic kilometre in Mexico City. Eleven starters later, Pierre Trentin went faster.
Open →Story · 1948Did Bartali really bring peace back to Italy?
After the attempt on Palmiro Togliatti, Gino Bartali won three consecutive Tour stages. His victories gave a political crisis its most enduring hero.
Open →Story · 1891Paris–Brest–Paris 1891 – Charles Terront's three days
Charles Terront covered 1,200 kilometres in 71 hours 37 minutes. The newspaper race tested both the rider and the young safety bicycle.
Open →Story · 1912Three men held at the start on the Buffalo track
A press photograph from Paris shows Thorvald Ellegaard, André Perchicot and Gabriel Poulain in the still moment before a sprint match.
Open →Story · 1913Christian Christensen – out of the Tour, but on to Paris
Christian Christensen missed the time limit in the 1913 Tour. Later accounts describe how the Danish dairy worker continued to Paris outside the classification.
Open →Story · 1967The day Tom Simpson died on Mont Ventoux
Heat, dehydration, exhaustion and stimulants came together on the bare mountain during the 1967 Tour de France.
Open →Story · 1967Beryl Burton, twelve hours and a liquorice allsort
Beryl Burton rode 277.25 miles in twelve hours, broke the British men’s record and handed Mike McNamara a liquorice allsort as she passed.
Open →Story · 1964When Anquetil and Poulidor rode shoulder to shoulder
Poulidor won the duel on the Puy de Dôme, but Anquetil kept the yellow jersey by fourteen seconds.
Open →Story · 1953When Coppi found a loophole in the Stelvio agreement
Koblet led the Giro by almost two minutes. Then Coppi sent a young team-mate up the road on the Stelvio.
Open →Story · 1927When the cold created the quick release
Tullio Campagnolo’s frozen wheel change became the beginning of a new mechanical solution.
Open →Story · 1948The star who fell from the top
Aldo Bini completed the Giro d’Italia with a broken hand and found distinction in the black jersey.
Open →Story · 1987When the race car drove over Skibby’s bicycle
Jesper Skibby led alone on the Koppenberg in the 1987 Tour of Flanders when an official car drove over his bicycle.
Open →Story · 1968–1988When Gunnar Asmussen made the bicycle lower
From Olympic gold in Mexico City to a yellow-and-black funny bike from a bicycle workshop in Aarhus.
Open →Story · 1924The woman the Giro could not get rid of
Alfonsina Strada arrived outside the time limit in Perugia. Even so, she continued all the way to Milan.
Open →Story · 1951The yellow jersey disappeared down the mountainside
Wim van Est crashed over the Aubisque and was hauled back up with an improvised rope made from inner tubes.
Open →Story · 1925–1930When the Giro paid Binda to stay at home
Alfredo Binda had made the Giro so predictable that the organisers paid him 22,500 lire not to start.
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