#  @CyclingLegends1 CyclingLegends CyclingLegends posts on X about france, legends, tour de, jersey the most. They currently have [-----] followers and [---] posts still getting attention that total [-----] engagements in the last [--] hours. ### Engagements: [-----] [#](/creator/twitter::953239759480147968/interactions)  - [--] Week [------] +54% - [--] Month [------] +15% - [--] Months [-------] +245% - [--] Year [-------] +139% ### Mentions: [--] [#](/creator/twitter::953239759480147968/posts_active)  - [--] Week [--] +80% - [--] Month [--] +88% - [--] Months [--] +52% - [--] Year [---] +111% ### Followers: [-----] [#](/creator/twitter::953239759480147968/followers)  - [--] Week [-----] +0.29% - [--] Month [-----] +2.50% - [--] Months [-----] +16% - [--] Year [-----] +30% ### CreatorRank: [---------] [#](/creator/twitter::953239759480147968/influencer_rank)  ### Social Influence **Social category influence** [countries](/list/countries) [travel destinations](/list/travel-destinations) [finance](/list/finance) [stocks](/list/stocks) [automotive brands](/list/automotive-brands) [musicians](/list/musicians) [technology brands](/list/technology-brands) [celebrities](/list/celebrities) [premier league](/list/premier-league) [la liga](/list/la-liga) **Social topic influence** [france](/topic/france), [legends](/topic/legends), [tour de](/topic/tour-de), [jersey](/topic/jersey), [in the](/topic/in-the), [belgium](/topic/belgium), [italy](/topic/italy), [the first](/topic/the-first), [if you](/topic/if-you), [money](/topic/money) **Top assets mentioned** [Grande Group Ltd (GRAN)](/topic/grande) [Flanders (TRENDS)](/topic/flanders) ### Top Social Posts Top posts by engagements in the last [--] hours "Fcked up Britain" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1707102353617223697) 2023-09-27T18:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Mick Jagger (If you know you know and Cycling Legends Podcast subscribers know if they have listened to the latest Feedzone show- join us on )" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1721871677254979905) 2023-11-07T12:46Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@TheGaryFairley @tonkovsferrari @vive_velo Quite decent is our [--] stars" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1728461010443641062) 2023-11-25T17:09Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@TheGaryFairley @tonkovsferrari @vive_velo 🤣🤣🤣🤣" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1728466131449454959) 2023-11-25T17:30Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@TheGaryFairley @marcfairclough @vive_velo I believe they were Ad Renting and rented billboard space. Thats just a dim recollection from the time" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1731645198789148702) 2023-12-04T12:02Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@bmfw @TheGaryFairley @vive_velo Very good" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1731645896683647138) 2023-12-04T12:05Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@NeilDotObrien You were [--] years in power this in on you not Keir Starmer" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1814204908125483250) 2024-07-19T07:45Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@dan_122707 @tykestakeonit Its their followers who are running riot. Wake up" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1819649110367932573) 2024-08-03T08:18Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@Jezebel969 @KarlLasis @thecarolemalone @tsmiggy They arent stopping it. It will be income dependent. Do you think Mick Jagger should get winter fuel allowance" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1826511896335258027) 2024-08-22T06:49Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "This is The Emperor named for both his imperious nature and racing style. Rik Van Looy won every single-day classicno one else has done that. Hes one of three riders to win all five Monuments. This image shows him dominating the [----] Paris-Roubaix racing solo to his third win" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1834834465048478023) 2024-09-14T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@wildandhigh There you go" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1835665862247805049) 2024-09-16T13:03Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there wrote 20th century novelist L.P. Hartley perfectly describing this [----] Tour de France scene. Back then many adults smoked including cyclists. After this stage a Ford France rider's first move was to light up" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1836284266919137639) 2024-09-18T06:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Mont Ventoux is a divaa place of beauty drama and excess. It rises above the Vaucluse plain nearly 2000m high. Its iconic inverted W profile leaves a lasting image. Cedar forests cover the base but the summit is a barren wasteland. Visit then ride to understand" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1837371430268186962) 2024-09-21T06:01Z [----] followers, 12.7K engagements "@TonzerWee Wow Ive done the classic [--] sides in one day and that was hard" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1837520219784306878) 2024-09-21T15:52Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "The [----] road race world championships have begun - each winner will wear a rainbow jersey. But why rainbow and who wore it first Introduced in [----] Alfredo Binda of Italy was the first champion. The colours are based on the Olympic rings representing all nations. #Zurich2024" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1838093437343518822) 2024-09-23T05:50Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Blue/yellow for Sweden blue/white for Greece tri-colours of France UK US Germany Belgium Italy Hungary red/yellow for Spain green/yellow for Brazil & Australia and red for Japan/China. A symbol of global unity. #Zurich2024" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1838111053000904887) 2024-09-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Chris Boardman Olympic gold medallist and the first World Elite TT champ in [--]. Hour Record holder and Tour de France yellow jersey to masterminding Team GBs post-2000 Olympic success. Now as Active Travel Englands Commissioner he's creating a more connected active nation" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1838458341825085597) 2024-09-24T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "The oldest mens elite road race world champion is Joop Zoetemelk nearly [--] when he won in [----]. His career includes a Tour de France (1980) Vuelta a Espaa (1979) and classics wins. He even competed in the [----] world pole-sitting championships (pictured) but wasn't to win" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1839183123877343240) 2024-09-26T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "The bike isnt retro but the jersey is Mandy Jones wore the rainbow jersey she won in [----] at the [----] Tom Simpson Retro Cycling Festival. At [--] she won the World Championship at Goodwood Sussex. Though over-training affected her career she still cycles and is delightful" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1839907896856916374) 2024-09-28T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Fans called Franco Bitossi Crazy Heart. He won points jerseys in the [----] Tour and 1969/1970 Giro. His heart would suddenly go into arrhythmia during races. He said recently It only happened in races and when it came I just stopped let it pass then carried on" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1840634393880068563) 2024-09-30T06:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Jean-Pierre Monser's story is one of talent and tragedy. A rising star from West Flanders he won Il Lombardia at [--] and the road race world title in [----]. In [----] his life was cut short when he collided with a car during a race. His son also died in a cycling accident in 1976" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1840995060093239600) 2024-10-01T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Hugo Koblet the Pedaleur de Charme earned his nickname with his immaculate post-race look. He won the [----] Giro and [----] Tour and its said he carried a comb and a sponge soaked in cologne in his jersey pocket to freshen up at the finishno matter how tough the race" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1841357449439187012) 2024-10-02T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Jacques Anquetil was the ultimate time triallist rarely beaten in a solo race he was the first man to win the Tour de France five times. The first to repeat Fausto Coppis ground-breaking Giro dItalia and Tour de France double and the winner of the then classic Grand Prix des Nations time trial nine times. His ability was innate well before fitness feedback devices Anquetil measured his effort by feel and he was never wrong. He was always at maximum always the fastest and he never misjudged. But there was far more to Jacques Anquetil than a time trial or a Tour 📖Pre-order Cycling Legends 03" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1842233218789265838) 2024-10-04T16:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "📖New Big Read - Jacques Anquetil [----] Bordeaux-Paris 🔗Pre-order now live Cycling Legends [--] Jacques Anquetil - only available on our new and improved website Several times during his career Jacques Anquetil performed minor miracles - winning when it looked he was beat overcoming difficulties and fighting the odds. In [----] he achieved the impossible. He beat a much better climber Raymond Poulidor in rampaging form in a mountainous edition of the Criterium du Dauphine then next day after dashing across France and with only [--] hours sleep he won the 580-kilometre single-day classic" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1842444610402226408) 2024-10-05T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@festinagirl @SwiftConnor Well well be commissioning freelancers further along the line so maybe you can tell them for us 🙏" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1844287054236287278) 2024-10-10T08:01Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "The cousins Nicholas Roche (@nicholasroche - left) and Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) pause during a ride and photo-shoot for Cycling Weekly in [----]. Martin was still an under-23 rider with Velo Club Pomme Marseille and Roche lived in the South of France. During our interview he outlined his previous weeks training which was typical he said. One session was seven-hour ride to which Martin raised an eyebrow and said; Oh I couldnt ride for seven hours. Roche looked at him smiled and said: Oh you will Dan you will have to when youre a pro. 📸@ChrisSidwells #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1845715997531009498) 2024-10-14T06:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This photo from the [----] Tour de France should be called Chase a la Canette or Hunting for Cans. Thats what the practise of raiding any drink source possible was called when Tour de France rules governed how many bidons of fluid each rider could be given during a stage. It was a ludicrous rule and caused a great deal of harm. It also caused friction between the races and caf owners along the route as thirst crazed riders would raid their premises to take anything liquid they could. Thank heaven cycling evolved into more enlightened times. 📸Cycling Legends Collection #cycling #cyclinglife" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1849353874261316023) 2024-10-24T07:34Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "What can anyone say about Allan Peiper He came from Australia to Belgium on a one-way ticket a teenager with a dream. He wanted to be a pro. His first night was in a down and out hostel dead tired but clutching his belongings to prevent them being stolen. He found a place to live it was horrible but he started racing and earning money. He had to just to survive. He succeeded then fell ill went home and built himself up. Returned and became a pro a good pro. Allan won races but he is more than a list of victories. Allan Peiper is a deep person thoughtful nurturing and he became a great DS." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1849739033175306528) 2024-10-25T09:05Z [----] followers, 15.8K engagements "📖 We're in the final stages of Cycling Legends [--] Jacques Anquetil While we wrap up this latest addition dive into our archived long-read on another cycling great "Iron Briek" and rediscover the legacy of Briek Schotte the indomitable force of Flemish cycling. Read the full story here 👉 #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike #retrocycling #cyclinghistory #cyclinglegends" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1850054760671695065) 2024-10-26T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Another Paris-Roubaix shot today this time from [----]. Coppi leading with Maurice Diot of France. They broke clear of the rest a few kilometres before and Coppi would shortly drop Diot to win by [--] minutes and [--] seconds. Coppi is riding a bike his mechanic Pinalla di Grande built for Paris-Roubaix. Its equipped with a single 52-tooth chainring and an old rod-operated Cambio Corsa gear. Cable derailleurs were available in [----] and easier to use but Coppi thought they might not be up to a battering from the Hell of the North. At least the Cambio Corsa was dependable and Paris-Roubaix is mostly" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1851881798789197927) 2024-10-31T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Discover Les Wests incredible [----] World Championship race storya day when legends battled it out in Leicestershire. Against cyclings best West pushed himself to the limit earning a historic finish and showing Britains grit on the world stage. This weeks big read: #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike #retrocycling #cyclinghistory #cyclinglegends https://cyclinglegends.co.uk/blogs/long-reads/wests-worlds" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1852606570560888956) 2024-11-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is [----] Giro dItalia and [----] Tour de France winner Hugo Koblet of Switzerland with his wife Sonja in Caracas Venezuela where they lived after his racing career was over. He worked there for a while as a representative for Pirelli and Alfa Romeo but behind the scenes he was having financial difficulties. The Koblets were a glamourous couple Sonja had been a model and came from an affluent family. Their lifestyle was lavish but Hugo was not good at managing money although he was very good at spending it. Their marriage broke up when financial pressure and changed life circumstances became" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1853330840933069173) 2024-11-04T06:58Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Ian Hallam winning the [----] British professional pursuit title on the Saffron Lane Velodrome in Leicester. Hallam won two Olympic bronze medals and a world championship silver in the team pursuit as well as worlds silver in the individual pursuit. All in the 1970s and all while working full-time as a dentist. Hallam comes from Nottingham and was coached by a Merseysider living in the city Norman Sheil. Sheil won two world pursuit tiles himself in the 1950s and was British national coach when he first worked with Hallam. Sheils training was simple. During the week he had Hallam riding reps up" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1854056125361983712) 2024-11-06T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Rik Van Steenbergen of Belgium was the definition of the professional cyclist of his day he raced for money not the honour of winning or a glorious palmars even though he had one. He was in it for the cash and the way to make lots of that in the 1940s 50s and 60s was to ride lots of track meetings and criterium races. They paid good money for big stars to take part and they had lots of cash prizes. Van Steenbergen raced summer and winter raking in the money. Its reckoned that he won [----] times in his career mostly on the track but he still won [---] road races and some were big. Van Steenbergen" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1854792528865702270) 2024-11-08T07:46Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "While the cameras focus often on the very front of a race it's the crowd and photographers on the route that see the personal turmoil and brutality that a race like the Ronde Van Vlaanderen often dishes out. Here is [----] Olympic Champion and World Record Holder in the Team Pursuit - Kelland O'Brien (@kell_obrien) of Jayco Alula (@GreenEDGEteam). Muddied with bloodshot eyes and a bike hanging over his shoulder - trying by foot along with all those around him to just get over the next savage cobbled climb at the [----] Tour of Flanders. 📸@swpix_cycling #cycling #Cyclinglife #bike #bikelife" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1855870730044395541) 2024-11-11T07:10Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "One of our favourite cycling images of all time - Felice Gimondi of Italy world champion and riding a Celeste Bianchi on White Roads the Strade Bianche of Tuscany on stage 11a of the [----] Giro dItalia. Its glorious Gimondi had a fabulous career. He won the [----] Tour de France in his first year as a pro. Then won the Giro dItalia in [----] and the Vuelta a Espaa in [----]. All three Grand Tours by the age of [--] only Jacques Anquetil had won all three and it took him a lot longer. It seemed like Felice Gimondi would rule cycling in the coming years then Eddy Merckx happened and we know the rest." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1857317613426139409) 2024-11-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Rain mud and relentless cobblestonesParis-Roubaix in [----] was nothing short of chaos but it produced an unforgettable winner. Andrei Tchmils strength outlasted even the harshest conditions in the Hell of the North. Read the story of his victory here 📸Cycling Legends Collection 💭@ChrisSidwells 🚴Andrei Tchmil @johanmuseeuw @seanyatescoach Olaf Ludwig #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike #retrocycling #cyclinghistory" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1858767166990152039) 2024-11-19T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Ole Ritter of Denmark celebrates setting a new World Hour Record in [----] at the Olympic Velodrome in Mexico City. His distance of [------] kilometres was over one kilometre further than Jacques Anquetils [------] which was the furthest to that date but was never ratified by the UCI. Anquetil wouldnt supply a urine sample for drugs testing in the way the doctor overseeing the test required so nothing was supplied. Ritter did give a sample and it was passed okay so his was the new world record. However there are two things in this photo that changed record setting forever. It was the first Hour" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1859491941144199255) 2024-11-21T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Two men from the Isle of Man Peter Kennaugh (@Petekennaugh) and Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish ) preparing to represent Great Britain at the [----] track world championships in the BGZ Arena Pruszkw Poland. Neither won medals at this championships but Kennaugh became Olympic and world champion in the team pursuit (2012) and Cavendish was three times the world Madison champion on the track (2005 [----] and 2016). The photo was taken one week after Cavendish won Milan-San Remo in an amazing finish in which he closed an impossible looking gap on Heinrich Haussler of at that time Germany but later" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1860941491977282038) 2024-11-25T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "His hair his clothes and his love of punk rock set Ronan Pensec apart from the eighties and nineties pro peloton. Hes best remembered for a spirited defence of the yellow jersey that ultimately helped his team-mate Greg Lemond win the [----] Tour de France but also for his distinctive look. I liked English music and fashion when I was a teenager and as I grew older I came to appreciate English and American things. Like my E-type Jaguar which is British racing green and my Harley-Davidson motor bike. I also have an American pick-up truck and my house has an American-style front porch complete" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1861666270120132965) 2024-11-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Do you want to ride our cyclo-cross Eddy Sure how much you paying Until the 1990s when more big businesses got into cycling and team salaries began to climb in fact they rocketed for the best most big names did some cyclo-cross during the winter. Not so much to keep fit although it didnt hurt but to earn extra cash. Even Eddy Merckx who weve heard grumble that his son Axel made more money from cycling than he ever did. Axel was good and he deserved to make money but he wasnt Eddy. We love that he hasnt bothered with a cross bike just stuck some cross tubs on his road wheels put them in his" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1862028655234318338) 2024-11-28T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This Viking track bike was ridden to victory in the [----] world pursuit championships by the British cycling legend Beryl Burton. She won the [----] title on the velodrome at Rocourt a suburb of Lige Belgium. Viking was a Wolverhampton bike manufacturer founded in [----] as a spare-time bike project by a railway clerk Alfred Victor Davies. He started out simply repairing bikes but his business quickly blossomed into a bike shop and around [----] he moved into manufacturing. Alfreds son Reg Davies registered the business as Viking Cycles Limited in [----] by which time it was producing [---] bikes a" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1863840595753554280) 2024-12-03T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "@ColinASturgess ❤" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1863847779111452705) 2024-12-03T07:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@gentlemanjackmk @100Climbs I can find out. Probably [---] but I dont. Well get back you tomorrow latest" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1863865998996107516) 2024-12-03T08:40Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@nearthecoast He certainly did 🙌🙌" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1863866914394484924) 2024-12-03T08:44Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "Yvonne Reynders of Belgium seen here in the individual pursuit at the [----] World Championships in Amsterdam was the big competition to Britains Beryl Burton. If you look down the winners of pursuit and road race world titles from the late 1950s to the middle of the 60s if Burton didnt win most likely Reynders did. The Belgian who is from just outside Antwerp won five road race world titles and three in the pursuit as well as other medals in the same events. When she was first into sport Reynders wanted to be a runner like her hero Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands. Blankers-Koen won four" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1865290147241107813) 2024-12-07T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Sean Kelly in full flight on the climb he made his own. Its Col dEze just outside Nice and its Kellys because Paris-Nice often ended with a time trial there. He won Paris-Nice a record seven times. Cold dEze is about [--] kilometres long gains around [---] metres and the gradient varies a lot. In fact as Kelly pointed out in an interview with Chris Sidwells; The last [---] hundred metres are downhill so it was possible to sprint with a big gear there. Talking of gears this is what he told Chris about the bike he used for Col dEze. I had a [--] or [--] inner ring with a straight 13-up block. When I" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1866014923408478659) 2024-12-09T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "You wont all agree with this and its only our opinion but we think this green jersey the [----] version as worn here by the Tour de France points winner that year Thor Hushovd of Norway is the best green jersey. Bright green not the muted green it was before nor the dark green it is now. Having said that Biniam Girmay made the dark green current version look better this year. Still not enough to change our minds though sorry Skoda. We appreciate that sponsors have a big say in the colours chosen for classification leaders jerseys in stage races. Its why the yellow jersey is yellow. Yellow was" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1869638802370937056) 2024-12-19T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "@drewkelly545 Lovely. Great green jersey for truly great rider" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1869664524271563041) 2024-12-19T08:42Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "This is Paul Deman first winner of the Tour of Flanders. It was held on [--] May [----] started in the Korenmarkt Ghent at [--] a.m. and covered [---] kilometres of cobbled roads few cinder tracks and hills finishing on an old outdoor velodrome in Mariakerke. Flemish riders filled the first ten setting a precedence for Belgian domination that continued through the ages. The race was a huge success for its sponsors the newspaper Sportwereld and for its creator a writer steeped in Flemish history and legend and in cycling called Karel van Wijnendaele. Van Wijnendaele was one of fifteen children left" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1870725962049970534) 2024-12-22T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Wednesday June 17th [----] and the best cyclists in the world are waiting to start a race on British roads for the very first time. Were in the Isle of Man and the race is the first edition of the Manx Premier Road Race. Partly the brainchild of renowned French journalist and passionate anglophile Ren De Latour who used his contacts within the sport specifically the powerful rider agents Daniel Dousset and Roger Piel to pay five of the biggest names in cycling to race on the island with enough money each to allow them four team mates. How many of those legends can you see in this photos Fausto" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1871088353866575939) 2024-12-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@RiksRedGuard Me neither" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1871113775321104574) 2024-12-23T08:41Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@RiksRedGuard Lombardia65 isnt it" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1871114040547946775) 2024-12-23T08:42Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "We featured a photo from a 1960s six-day race a few weeks ago and mentioned that some of the races back then required riders to be inside the velodrome for all the [---] hours of the race. In some one rider from each two-man team had to circle the track throughout even outside of the time the race was on so to speak. In fact periods between full on racing were only due to gentleman agreements between teams. Riders rested ate got changed and even slept between bouts of racing in makeshift cabins like this. Delightful isnt it A real home from home. Its got everything buckets under the bed for" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1872175515584573619) 2024-12-26T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Roger De Vlaeminck leads Denmarks Leif Mortensen (left) and Frans Verbeek (tucked in behind) on the jewel of Milan-San Remo Il Poggio. There are hundreds of poggios in Italy the word means hill but nothing like this one its slopes are the finale of Il Primavera the Monument of Spring. It hasnt always been in the race but increasingly through the 1950s big groups were fighting out the finish. So [----] saw the inclusion of this climb starting eight kilometres from the finish with its descent ending on the streets of San Remo. It worked Ren Privat of France launched a solo attack on Il Poggio to" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1875799394135507235) 2025-01-05T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Geraint Thomas made his Tour de France debut in [----] racing for Barloworld. Here he rides next to Bradley Wiggins. Both would go on to win the race. On the face of it his final [----] Tour de France placing of 140th might not shout future winner but there was something about the way he rode that stood out. He was [--] easily the youngest rider and his focus was four minutes of intense effort on the track not 90-odd hours flogging around the roads of France. But whenever we grabbed a few post-stage words from him no matter what hed been through he recovered so quickly he looked like hed ridden to" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1876886560450412547) 2025-01-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Resolutions health tips and inspiration for the new year - we offer none of that as we stumble into [----]. Instead settle yourself down for an hour of chat with Chris David and Gary covering everything from neutralised moto-pacing to make races safer to the UK honours system. Plus we talk Six Days of Ghent (only [--] weeks late) and remember the legendary Gianni Savio who passed away last week. God speed Swiss Toni 🎶The Cycling Legends Podcast - Available on all good Podcast sites. #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1876977155902730496) 2025-01-08T13:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Coming back from bad fractures in key joints is hard for anyone but its harder for professional sports people due to the level of fitness and performance they need. And if they want to win big again its sometimes impossible. Well the man in todays photo Belgian cyclist Johan Museeuw not only did that he had life-threatening complications to overcome as well. The shattered kneecap Museeuw sustained in Paris-Roubaix [----] a race he won two years before would have presented challenge enough but the complications nearly killed him. That he later won Roubaix again not once but twice is incredible." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1878698499891691679) 2025-01-13T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "They call it golden week in Flanders the week of the cobbled monuments Tour of Flanders (De Ronde) on the first Sunday in April followed next Sunday by Paris-Roubaix. Only ten riders have won Flanders and Roubaix in the same year and todays photo subject Pieter Van Petegem is one of them. It was [----] Van Petegems best year. The strength hed built his power on cobbled roads and his ability to peak at the right time came together. He won a bronze medal in the world championships later that year. Van Petegem was born in the heartland of the Ronde in Brakel and he still rides in the Flemish" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1879060884275728786) 2025-01-14T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "They call it golden week in Flanders the week of the cobbled monuments Tour of Flanders (De Ronde) on the first Sunday in April followed next Sunday by Paris-Roubaix. Only ten riders have won Flanders and Roubaix in the same year and todays photo subject Peter Van Petegem is one of them. It was [----] Van Petegems best year. The strength hed built his power on cobbled roads and his ability to peak at the right time came together. He won a bronze medal in the world championships later that year. Van Petegem was born in the heartland of the Ronde in Brakel and he still rides in the Flemish" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1879076745422217273) 2025-01-14T08:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Todays photo is a cyclist of course but not a racing cyclist. He was still a world champion - its Nigel Mansell Formula [--] world champion in [----] and winner of [--] Grand Prix over [--] seasons. He was the president of UK Youth a charity celebrating its centenary in [----] and he wanted to mark that by raising extra money as well as public awareness of the work the charity did. Work he was very proud of. UK Youth sponsored a cycling team which included [----] Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt. Magnus arranged for Chris to meet Mansell in Jersey take some photos and interview him. The first thing" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1881597602711609757) 2025-01-21T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Heres a question to provoke debate. Whats the single piece of bike tech that made the biggest difference to bike performance and ease of use We think it was integrated brake and gear-shift levers. The first of those was Shimanos STI and the man in todays photo was their test pilot in the peloton. Phil Anderson Australias first yellow jersey began working with Shimano during the [----] road season. He was with the Dutch TVM team and another member the Dane Jesper Skibby was also involved. The STIs they used were very crude looking but that was because bits of them were constantly being improved" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1882327266379846124) 2025-01-23T07:19Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Did you know a team of unemployed pros once raced the Tour de France In [----] Amis du Tour lined up funded by benefits and prize money. The story of these riders plus the Zero Boys role in saving a future Tour stage winner is the subject of this weeks short read. 📖Available to read for free on the Cycling Legends website. 💬@chris_sidwells 📸Cor Vos / Cycling Legends Collection #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1885946252342522357) 2025-02-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Go on how many riders in todays photo can you name Tom Simpson Rik Van Looy and Raymond Poulidor are there but it will be fun if you can tell us the rest. The photo is the start of the [----] Manx Premier on the Isle of Man an annual professional race that saw many of the worlds best road racers compete together on UK soil for the first time. It was created by Ren de Latour a New York-born French journalist who knew the island from trips to its Cycling Week which had a full programme of amateur races. That always attracted lots of visitors so De Latour thought a pro race would be a great" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1887909188476748135) 2025-02-07T17:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Vin Denson and hes just won the 9th stage of the [----] Giro dItalia. He was the first British cyclist ever to win a stage in the Italian grand tour. Vin rode the race for the Ford France team of five-time Tour de France winner Jacques Anquetil. It was the best. It was like a footballer playing for Manchester United. We had the best equipment stayed in the best hotels we were paid well and Jacques was always a gentleman with us he says. We had other good riders so in that Giro we had the Spanish climber Julio Jimenez in the pink jersey but there were still days when the DS Raphael" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1888309670688723232) 2025-02-08T19:31Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "In [----] Brian Robinson achieved his and the UKs second Tour de France stage win on a bike exactly like this. That bike was returned to the team at the end of the year but it was Robinsons favourite so [--] years ago he spent some time sourcing the frame and equipment to build an exact replica. Its the same size and age as his original and all the equipment is from that time too; it was all lovingly restored. Robinson was the first British cyclist to make it in the pro peloton and ride all the biggest races. He was always part of the biggest and best teams and was in constant employment from the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1888845358018507019) 2025-02-10T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Andy Hampsten is known to millions of cycling fans for THAT image taken as he attacked in Arctic conditions on the Gavia Pass on his way to take the Maglia Rosa during the [----] Giro dItalia. He would then go on to become so far the only US rider to win the Italian Grand Tour. In a show first aired exclusively for premium subscribers in January [----] Andy talks to Chris Sidwells about some of the highlights of racing career from riding as a rookie for Bernard Hinault to winning on LAlpe dHuez in [----] and everything else in between. 🎶The Cycling Legends Podcast - Available on all good Podcast" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1888935962170057210) 2025-02-10T13:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is the Col du Galibier on July 10th [----] the first time it was tackled by cyclists in the Tour de France. The race ventured over the highest passes for the first time the previous year in the Pyrenees now it was the Alps. The caption claims this rider is Gustave Garrigou of France. However most accounts of the day say that Garrigou Emile Georget and Paul Duboc were the only competitors not to walk at least some of the climb. Thats the thing with these early races imagine having to write about what happened when there were so few ways of covering the action. Most information came from" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1894282180865523939) 2025-02-25T07:04Z [----] followers, 23.3K engagements "This is Willy Planckaert winning stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. He is the oldest of the Planckaert brothers the cycling dynasty from Nevele in East Flanders. All three were part of a large family that Willy became head of in [----] at the young age of [--]. The events that led to that began one year earlier when their father Gaston was badly injured in a road collision that occurred while he was driving home from watching Willy win one of the many races he did as a junior and senior amateur. Gaston was badly injured and remained in hospital for several months before finally succumbing to" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1899354608037663157) 2025-03-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Star of todays photo is Alfonsina Strada. In [----] she rode the Giro dItalia. Not the womens Giro there wasnt one but the mens. Shed already raced Il Lombardia. In [----] she lined up with the likes of Tour de France winner Phillipe Thys of Belgium and Italian star Costante Giradengo a future double Giro winner and six editions of Milan-San Remo. She finished 29th [--] hour [--] minutes behind Thys and future Tour de France winner Henri Plissier. [--] started and [--] finished the [---] kilometres of rough roads and tracks. She was 21st the following year only [--] minutes behind the winner Gaetano Belloni" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1899716997128278050) 2025-03-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "The rules of the Tour de France changed a lot in [----]. Race director Henri Desgrange decided to only allow national teams into the race. Belgium Italy Spain Germany and of course France lined up for the first edition of the thirties each fielding their eight best riders. The rest of the race was made up of [--] Touriste-Routiers a category of cyclists we wrote about recently. Desgrange brought in other rules which on the face of it appeared austere (more about those in a minute) but he also introduced this the Tour de France advertising caravanne. But lets do the austerity first. No rider was" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1900441770464600199) 2025-03-14T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "@NeonBrown10 @TheGaryFairley Bet my boy" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1900597357521019161) 2025-03-14T17:18Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "@NeonBrown10 @TheGaryFairley @Academy_ds Can we ask everyone to download on this Sundays Feedzone" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1900616733808796025) 2025-03-14T18:35Z [----] followers, [--] engagements "The polka-dot jersey white with red spots on first appeared in the [----] Tour de France. The often quoted explanation for its design is it was inspired by a wrapper used by its first sponsor Chocolat Poulain which was white with red polka dots all over it; only. The man in todays photo the first winner of the polka-dot jersey Lucien Van Impe told Chris in an interview; As far as I remember the jersey design was the then Tour de France director Flix Lvitans idea. Flix Lvitan was Tour director from [----] to [----] for most of the time running it with Jacques Goddet who looked after the technical" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1900804155670769688) 2025-03-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Strade Bianchi is an incredible beautiful race albeit a young one. Its first edition was [----] but with every one since being an epic should Strade Bianchi be cyclings sixth monument We think so what do you think Lets examine what a monument is because in the sense that cycling as a sport is more than [---] years old the term monument to describe five single day races is relatively new. The monuments are Milan-San Remo Tour of Flanders Paris-Roubaix Lige-Bastogne-Lige and Il Lombardia and as recently as the later 1990s and early 2000s they were referred to as classics with races that have" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1901891318520897861) 2025-03-18T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is Apo Lazarides leading his friend and mentor Rene Vietto across the summit of the Col dAllos in the [----] Tour de France but this is a story of Lazarides war. After the [----] liberation of France and with a view to holding a full Tour de France in [----] the newspapers LEquipe and Le Parisien organised a stage race in [----] for national teams like the Tour had before the war called the Course du Tour de France. The winner was Apo (Jean-Apotre) Lazarides. He was born in northern France had Greek blood and moved as a child with his family to the Cote dAzur. On leaving school there he got a" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1902253708454600721) 2025-03-19T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Weve got another Brian Robinson story today. We recently featured one of his two Tour de France stage wins Britains first and said that Brian was also the first Brit to get a place in the European pro peloton. This story told to Chris in [----] by Brian is how he got into one of the biggest teams St Raphael whose jersey hes wearing here. I didnt have anywhere I could call a home after the start of the [----] Tour which was the first one we had a British team in. I lived out of my suitcase riding criteriums and sleeping in peoples spare rooms even their sofas. Once the racing ended in October I" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1907157608575664534) 2025-04-01T19:46Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Weve got another Brian Robinson story today. We recently featured one of his two Tour de France stage wins Britains first and said that Brian was also the first Brit to get a place in the European pro peloton. This story told to Chris in [----] by Brian is how he got into one of the biggest teams St Raphael whose jersey hes wearing here. I didnt have anywhere I could call a home after the start of the [----] Tour which was the first one we had a British team in. I lived out of my suitcase riding criteriums and sleeping in peoples spare rooms even their sofas. Once the racing ended in October I" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1908399203933708376) 2025-04-05T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Chris Boardman riding for Gan at the start of the [----] Porthole GP a British time trial with a very continental feel. And no wonder it did the race was sponsored by the stylish gentleman in the hat an Italian called Gianni Berton who owned the Porthole restaurant in Bowness on Windermere. The Porthole GP was a regular fixture and was originally a complete circuit of Lake Windermere just over [--] miles. Then traffic lights were installed on a junction and that prevented the circumnavigation and cut the distance to [----] miles. It was still hard and hilly and a British classic because of its" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1908476049828307108) 2025-04-05T11:05Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "What must it feel like to be Tadej Pogaar Like a bird in flight Like a cheetah in full stride Like the wind His final attack on the Kwaremont in the closing stages of the Tour of Flanders was a thing of beauty. It was power dedication talent and desire in one irresistible move made even better by it being his last chance in the race. "He had few chances to break it. He had to drop Van der Poel on the Kwaremont otherwise it would have been impossible to win but he did it" former pro Allan Peiper told the Belgian journal Sporza after the race. Peiper and Pogaar have history. Peiper was his team" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1910211144767205807) 2025-04-10T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Geraint Thomas in the pink jersey of the [----] Giro dItalia a race he would probably have won but for a storming time trial ride close to the end by Primoz Roglic. The pink jersey or Maglia Rosa to give it its Italian title denotes the leader of the race. It first appeared in the [----] Giro and is pink because the pages of the sports newspaper that founded the race La Gazzetta dello Sport are pink. The first Maglia Rosa won by the Italian racer Francesco Camusso had a roll-neck collar and front pockets for food. The only marking on it was a grey shield in the middle of the chest which bore the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1913835018843050198) 2025-04-20T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Barry Hoban has left the building. If that sounds flippant its not meant to be. The fact is in British cycling in the lives of his family and everyone who knew him Barrys passing has left an Elvis-sized hole. Barry first came into my life when I was young child and I was immediately in awe of him. I still am but for different reasons. I came to know him because he married Tom Simpsons widow Helen and that came with a lot of responsibility. For a start Helen and Tom had two very young children Jane and Joanne and Barry was suddenly responsible for them their growing their maturing everything" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1914197410122781111) 2025-04-21T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Barry Hoban - Our Obituary Yesterday Chris Sidwells wrote about Barry Hoban the man. Today he pays tribute to Barry Hoban the talented cyclist looking back on his racing career. Barry Hoban eyes on fire chiselled legs pounding the pedals every sinew straining. The arm in air the huge toothy grin another race won- that was Barry Hoban the cyclist on days like these he used to say: I was Electrique. There were plenty of them. Barry was born in Wakefield West Yorkshire on 5th February [----] and grew up in the connected coal mining village of Stanley. His first encounter with cycling was in the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1914559801272467863) 2025-04-22T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Chris' book tour starts next week With glowing reviews from our last book tour secure your tickets now to see Chris live in action - expect great stories from the legends of Flanders exclusive interviews and unseen photos of all your favourite Flandriens. Chris will stay after each talk for a chat ready to share even more stories and memories. Tuesday 13th May - The Cyclist Cafe York Wednesday 14th May - Manchester Velodrome Thursday 15th May - Alf Jones Cycles Wrexham Thursday 22nd May - Vive le Velo Hull Wednesday 28th May - Cotswold Cycles Moreton-in-Marsh Thursday 29th May - Giant Paddock" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1920116412502405628) 2025-05-07T14:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "By now you all know Simon Yates won the [----] Giro dItalia with nobody more pleased for him than his identical twin brother Adam. But todays photo was taken when they were [--] and their bikes were their biggest distinguishing feature - one rode red the other blue. Can you tell who rode which Chris took the picture as part of the first big magazine feature ever written about the Yates twins. It was a My Favourite Ride' piece in Cycling Weekly and their mum and dad contributed. We thought it might be fun to publish an extract for you today. Mum first When they were really young and they wanted to" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1929417702726312204) 2025-06-02T06:00Z [----] followers, 17.9K engagements "Yesterday we mentioned the super-steep Alto de lAngliru climb in northern Spain todays photo is Chris Froome racing up Italys version Monte Zoncolan on stage [--] of the [----] Giro dItalia. Situated deep in the Carnic Alps in the north-eastern corner of Italy close to the Austrian border and not so far from Slovenia Monte Zoncolan is so extreme we think it could be the toughest climb in racing. Let us know if you agree or not of course. Its western ascent is so steep for so long that like El Angliru it was only accessible for racing after the development of compact chainsets. The low gears allow" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1930142476951752794) 2025-06-04T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "The under-23 womens team we are deeply involved with Simpson-Nouvelles is competing today in Belgium in its first UCI [---] race of the year. Its called the GP Mazda-Schelkens after its sponsor but is also known as the Stan Ockers Classic. Ockers being the [----] mens road race world champion who died in a tragic racing accident in [----] and the man in todays photo. It was taken in Amsterdam the day before the start there of the [----] Tour de France the first time the Tour ever started outside of its home country. The first stage went from Amsterdam to Brasschaat in the Antwerpen province of" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1931954413322805579) 2025-06-09T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Nicholas Frantz the second Luxembourg Tour de France winner after Francois Faber but the first of a new breed of champion cyclist. The son of a wealthy farmer Frantz didnt need to race on a bike to make money. It wasnt his way out of poverty as it was for many others of his era. He just loved it had amazing talent and an unbreakable body. In this photo Frantz is just starting to climb the Col du Tourmalet in the [----] Tour. Hes chasing Giovanni Gordini who we featured yesterday and would win the stage from Bayonne to Luchon by [--] minutes. That put him in the yellow jersey and Frantz" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1933766357008724080) 2025-06-14T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Until his defeat in [----] Eddy Merckx had won every Tour hed competed in so five out of five for Belgium. Belgium was back winning in [----] this time through a completely different kind of rider. Lucien Van Impe star of todays photo had won the Tours king of the mountains title three times already by the end of [----] and would win three more but he had his eye on a bigger prize in [----]. It was a mountainous edition and Van Impes target going in was the yellow jersey in Paris. He won it too and won in the way only a true climber can win with one glorious attack in the mountains. It was on stage" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1935940681010442328) 2025-06-20T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This week marks a new chapter for the Simpson Nouvelles U23 women's team as they have now relocated to Belgium - following the same path Tom Simpson took in pursuit of his professional dreams. The riders are based in a team house racing kermesses and taking on elite competition from across Europe. Theyre also joined by the teams latest signing double Junior World Champion Nicole Duncan as their summer campaign gets underway. In a nod to Tom Simpsons famous Ghent-based supporter's club the team is also relaunching its own. Joining the Simpson Nouvelles Supporters Club helps cover the many" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1936037548238774713) 2025-06-20T12:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is the [----] Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt on his recce of the same race in [----] when Chris went with him. Backstedt was on his way back to form after time out due to severe shoulder injuries he sustained in a crash and needed to test his recovery. After refamiliarising himself with several cobbled sectors the Swedish rider chose one of the worst La Tranchee dArenberg for the test. He did a series of four repeats for the whole length of the sector all done on the cobbles in the direction of the race route with a slow ride back on the adjacent cinder path. The last run was the big" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1936665458461016538) 2025-06-22T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Seamus (Shay) Elliott leading the first Irishman to win a stage and wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France the first to win a medal in the elite road race world championships (silver). The first Irishman to break into the pro peloton and make a living at what was then for all native English speakers an alien sport. He had to live in France to do it his chance coming after winning a place on a French training camp in [----] when he was the Irish amateur road race champion. He graduated to a place in the ACBB club in Paris and after winning several high profile French amateur races" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1937027847748559298) 2025-06-23T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Wed like to think this is the Service de Course HQ and base of operations for the once great Peugeot-sponsored Parisian cycling club Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB). Unfortunately weve no idea if it is but its a great photo and provides an excuse to tell this story. Its about the Irish triple-crown (1987 Giro Tour and worlds) winner and it happened when he was [--]. After a steady start Roche quickly became the best amateur in Ireland and in [----] won the legendary Ras Tailteann a week-long stage race with a history dating back to [----]. Its a hard race and at [--] Stephen Roche is its" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1937752619960668467) 2025-06-25T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Andr Darrigade of France winning stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France one of [--] Tour de France stages he won during his career. If anyone can be called the first of the great roadman sprinters its this man. At least we think so let us know if you disagree. Charles Plissier won [--] stages during his career including a record [--] in one Tour but without ever winning the race overall. However bunch sprints werent a thing in the late 1920s and early 30s when he raced. They became more common through the late 1940s and into the 50s and thats when Andr Darrigade became their master. Hes from Les" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1938115013165637920) 2025-06-26T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Jacques Anquetil lost in thought. Maitre Jacques was the imperious king of late 1950s and early 1960s cycling although as Chris found out while researching the third in our illustrated book series Cycling Legends [--] Jacques Anquetil the man behind the mask that was how the public saw him. It wasnt how or who he was. Jacques was superstitious needy self-centred and just to add another layer to his personality puzzle enigmatic. He seemed to have many friends but in truth relied on just three the best team director he ever had Raphael Geminiani his most trusted team mate Jean Stablinski and his" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1938839788863320407) 2025-06-28T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Greg LeMond at [--] and this is how he started out in cycling. Like most kids he had a bike growing up but was introduced to the idea of training on it during a freestyle skiing camp in [----]. Skiing was LeMonds sport at that time. It appealed to his love of adventure and a need to push his limits. His hero was Wayne Wong a pioneer of freestyle skiing and inductee of the Canadian Ski and the US Ski and Snowboard Halls of Fame. Wong led the ski camp and suggested LeMond took up cycling during the off-season because it was something Wong and a lot of top skiers did. So once the roads were" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1939202172530631044) 2025-06-29T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Back in the 1910s 20s and into the 1930s cycling was big in the US. Track cycling and in particular six-day racing. Indeed the Madison was invented there named after Madison Square Gardens home of the New York Six-Day for many years. But after the Second World War there was a decline. Racing went on in particular in enclaves where European immigrants lived. Very few American cyclists were known outside those areas and certainly not in Europe. Then almost out of the blue in [----] the woman in todays photo Audrey McElmury won the womens road race world title in Brno in what was then" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1940315609629172145) 2025-07-02T07:44Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "🎧 New Feed Zone Episode OUT NOW Is it all over before a wheel has turned or will there be some twists and turns on the road from Lille to the Champs Elysees [--] years after the peloton first graced cyclings second-most famous cobbles Join the team and a very special guest to preview the 112th Tour de France. No matter what we think it will be a cracker 📷 ASO 🎙 @TheGaryFairley @ChrisSidwells & David Stanley 🎶The Cycling Legends Podcast - Available on all good podcast sites #Cycling #CyclingLegends #Podcast #CyclingPodcast #FeedZone" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1940379933106184698) 2025-07-02T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Peter Kennaugh -who has been doing sterling work throughout ITVs final year of free-to-air Tour de France coverage - also holds the lap record on the Isle of Man TT circuit albeit on a human-powered bicycle rather than a motorbike. This famed route better known in cycling circles as the Mountain Circuit is celebrated for its role in the Manx International road race. Originally established for motorcycle competition in [----] the 37.5-mile course weaves through twisting bends and challenging climbs cresting at Snaefell the islands highest point at [---] metres. While the TTs reputation was forged" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1942826050276450550) 2025-07-09T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "In April this year the world of cycling lost a giant and the Cycling Legends family lost an uncle a friend and an inspiration when legendary British racer Barry Hoban passed away at the age of [--]. Barry rode no fewer than [--] Tours de France between [----] and [----]. He would go on to win [--] stages along the way setting a British record that would stand until Mark Cavendish surpassed that total in [----] In [----] Chris Sidwells sat down with Barry to record a series of chats about his first experiences of riding cyclings iconic races. In this episode Barry talks to Chris about riding his first Tour" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1942909097952600479) 2025-07-09T11:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Jacques Anquetil: the man behind the mask is the third edition in our Cycling Legends Collection an illustrated book series that reveals the untold stories and unseen photos from cyclings rich history. With foreword by Sir Paul Smith who as well as being an incredibly successful fashion designer is an avid cycling fan. Growing up during the era of Jacques Anquetils dominance he tells us how he would save up his pocket money to buy a copy of LEquipe but only if Jacques Anquetil was on the front cover. This book goes into who Jacques really was behind the image he portrayed to the media and" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1943569962376859778) 2025-07-11T07:16Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "So much going on in this photo of the Italian star Fiorenzo Magni. First of all whats he holding between his teeth Magni crashed on stage [--] of the [----] Giro dItalia and broke his right collar bone. He continued racing pain was something Magni could handle what he couldnt handle though was being uncompetitive. He couldnt pull on his handlebars with his right arm so Magnis mechanic cut an inner tube of an old tyre tied one end to Magnis handlebars and when Magni needed extra leverage he put the other end between his teeth and pulled on that. The other big thing is his jersey or rather its" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1943913212522492013) 2025-07-12T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Yesterday we wrote about the [----] Tour de France and the goings on between powerful riders agents that helped shape it. What we didnt intend to do was in any way denigrate its winner. This man Federico Bahamontes of Spain. He was a superb climber nicknamed the Eagle of Toledo because of the way he soared over mountains usually on his own. That ability brought him six king of the mountains titles in the Tour de France as well as overall victory in [----]. Bahamontes was born in Toledo in [----] part of a poor family that had been rich before the Spanish Civil War. Whether it was because of that we" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1944637992389206394) 2025-07-14T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Yesterday we looked at the early life of one of the two great climbers who had the best nicknames in cycling the Eagle of Toledo Federico Bahamontes. Today well look at the later life of the other this man - Charly Gaul of Luxembourg who was the Angel of the Mountains. Charly Gaul was an amazing climber who won the [----] Tour de France and [----] Giro dItalia by wasting the field in each race on one big mountain day in. He was devastating but looked glorious angelic even as he flew up the biggest climbs. But although Gaul climbed like an angel he was far from angelic in real life. Hed been a" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1945000377205539163) 2025-07-15T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "🎶New Episode of the Cycling Legends Podcast🎶 🎙@ChrisSidwells sits down with Richard Oakes. Richard Oakes was a successful junior racer before pursuing a high-flying business career. He returned to top-level competition in [----] in a personal quest to see how fast he could go. In the course of doing so he has won masters titles on the track at national and world level and in [----] at the age of [--] set a new Masters Hour World Record. In [----] he published The Equation co-written with our very own Chris Sidwells. Richard sat down with Chris recently to talk about the book which isnt so much a" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1945090978114605099) 2025-07-15T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "In the winter of [----] the manager of the French Renault team Cyrille Guimard (left) and its star rider Bernard Hinault (centre) visited [--] year-old Greg LeMond (right) and his parents at their home in the US. They talked a lot especially about Gregs future got to know each other and posed for photos like this one. Heres Guimard talking about why he and Hinault made that long journey. Id heard about Greg for a while. People told me hed make a good pro so in [----] found out where his next race was and went to watch. It was the last stage of Ruban-Granitier in Brittany. LeMond got in the winning" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1945362768778998000) 2025-07-16T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "🎧 New Feed Zone Episode OUT NOW Crosswinds crashes and chaos marked the opening few stages of this year's and there seems to have been no let-up in the crazy ever since. Walker from Yellowstone wins a stage and leads GC but will things be more Rip Wheeler than Beth Dutton in the second week Gary Chris David and John look back at a most atypical first week and ask for just how long will Irish eyes keep smiling as the battle for the Geansa Bu picks up and the Rs na Francach moves into the Pyrenees And in trying to improve his Tadejness has Jonas somehow lost a little of his essential Jonasness" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1945445812169052571) 2025-07-16T11:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "For those new to Cycling Legends Media all the words you read on this page are by Chris Sidwells. Chris is a well known cycling author journalist historian and the nephew of the great Tommy Simpson. It was Tom who set Chris out on his writing journey over [--] years ago and Tom Simpson is the very first book in our Cycling Legends Collection. It tells the story of who Tom was his ability as a cyclist the way he raced how he won and lost. But its also so much more than that. Alongside years of conversations with Toms family Chris has met and spoken with many of Toms rivals teammates managers" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1945725160419651973) 2025-07-17T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "To celebrate brave Ben Healys yellow jersey were looking back to another era of Irish grand tour greatness. The time when Irish riders won all three grand tours in a row. Stephen Roche kicked things off with his [----] Giro Tour double which became THE triple when he won the [----] world title. Then Sean Kelly won the [----] Vuelta a Espaa when it started in April. Lots has been written about Stephens golden year so well look at Seans Spanish exertions. The [----] Vuelta was less mountainous than previous years which helped Kelly. It also started in the Canary Islands in an effort to shake off the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1945815755314036901) 2025-07-17T12:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is Maurice Garin (right with Leon Georget left) winner of the first ever Tour de France in [----] and this is the colourful story of his early life. He was born in the Aosta valley in the Italian Alps so close to the French border his native language was French. After he won the Tour many articles said that Garin was swapped by his father for some cheese when he was young which is why he grew up in northern France. But while many children were traded for goods in the poorer areas of France even babies and many died Garins early story was much kinder although still tough and hard to" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1946087540085432797) 2025-07-18T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This steely eyed young man was a demon on a bike. Hes called Fred Hamerlinck and in the 1920s and 30s when pro kermesse racing in Flanders was a very lucrative cycling world of its own he was king. So prolific that in [----] he won five kermesses in one week. Hamerlinck was third in the Tour of Flanders that year too and was so good so highly regarded that the Belgian cycling authorities talked him into riding the Tour de France in [----]. Hamerlinck won the first stage and he won again a few days later in Bordeaux but he didnt enjoy it. He didnt like racing in France he didnt like the heat of" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1947899481409921241) 2025-07-23T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "🎶 New Cycling Legends Podcast out now Greg Lemonds first Tour de France victories are writ large in the history of the race; his duel to the (almost) bitter end with team mate Bernard Hinault in [----] and then snatching the Yellow Jersey from Laurent Fignon by a mere eight seconds [--] years later. Twelve months on from that momentous historic afternoon on the Champs Elysees Lemond won his third Tour de France and in doing so joined an exclusive club alongside Philippe Thys Louison Bobet Jacques Anquetil Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Gary Fairley looks back at an edition of cyclings greatest" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1947990079936536868) 2025-07-23T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is a still from the film Stars and Water Carriers by Danish film director Jorgen Leth. It was shot during the [----] Giro dItalia and was the first of three films that are among the most celebrated in cycling. Leth needed someone inside the pro peloton to make the films happen and that man was fellow Dane and former World Hour Record holder Ole Ritter. This is what Ritter told Chris about Stars and Water Carriers and its Genesis in [----]. I met Jorgen when he was a young journalist in Denmark. He was writing poems and small things but he was very enthusiastic about cycling and said that if" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1950073810042179887) 2025-07-29T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Todays photo is massive. This image represents a game changer for womens cycling. By cutting through the noise to the front page of The Wall Street Journal Pauline Ferrand-Prevots Tour de France victory at the weekend placed womens cycling firmly in the media spotlight. David Walters the manager of the womens under [--] team were involved with Simpson-Nouvelles has been involved with womens cycling for a long time heres what he says it means. "The way this race has caught the collective imagination not only with cycling fans but with wider media has turned a page for women's cycling. The way" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1953335300497002594) 2025-08-07T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Miguel Indurain of Spain was one of the greatest time-triallists theres ever been. He could do everything else too which is why he was the first to win five consecutive Tours. But the time trial was his art form and his masterpiece was stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. It was [--] kilometres long and undulated up down and around the hills surrounding Luxembourg city. Indurains time was an incredible [--] hour [--] minutes [--] minutes ahead of 2ndplace Armand de-Las Cuevas of France and nearly [--] ahead of the Italian road race world champion Gianni Bugno. Indurain the Rocket LEquipes headline declared" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1954422464165085634) 2025-08-10T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is Fausto Coppi (right) with Giulia and their child Faustino. Giulia was Coppis second wife but not before a scandal that rocked Italy and made the lives of two people who simply loved each other very difficult. Before Fausto Giulia was married to a doctor called Locatelli. He loved cycling and one day after a race they were both at Locatelli asked Giulia to approach Coppi for his autograph. She did but the champion made a great impression on her and she on him. Soon they were exchanging letters then phone conversations and secret meetings. Coppi was unhappy. He believed his first wife" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1956959176514531776) 2025-08-17T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "George Pilkington Mills (2nd left in this image) was the supreme long-distance cyclist of his generation. He started at the age of [--] and early promise saw him recruited by the elite Anfield Cycling Club which contained most of the top long-distance racers in the UK. In [----] and still only [--] Mills set a new British 24-hour record of [---] miles riding a Penny-Farthing. The race he set the record in was called the Anfield 24-hour and Mills repeated his victory the following year. But an even more remarkable achievement came later in [----] when he rode a Penny-Farthing from Lands End to John" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1958046343395434684) 2025-08-20T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Another exciting announcement for Simpson Retro Joining our retro bike display will be Jan Ullrich's Pinarello low-profile time trial bike in Deutsche Telekom colours. Ullrich won the [----] Tour de France and was runner-up five times between [----] and [----]. He won the Vuelta a Espaa in [----] as well as Olympic gold in the road race and silver in the time trial at Sydney [----]. You can see this bike in person at Simpson Retro in Harworth North Nottinghamshire part of the wider Tom Simpson Cycling Festival in September. The retro bike and car display will be on from 12pm on Saturday 13th September" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1958499332283613326) 2025-08-21T12:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "On May 10th this year Vittoria Bussi of Italy set a new World Hour Record for women of [------] kilometres beating the old record which she also set by [---] metres. That record was in turn over [--] kilometre further than 5-time time trial world champion Ellen Van Dijks of the Netherlands world record set in [----]. Van Dijk is well known shes been part of the womens WorldTour for some time although in April this year she announced she will retire at the end of this road season but you may not have heard of Bussi. The reason shes a specialist. A specialist in the Hour Record she held it once before" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1958771114458423322) 2025-08-22T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Were delighted to announce a new team car at Simpson Retro this year Steve Grimwood of Elmy Cycles is bringing his lovingly restored 1960s Alfa Romeo that serviced the Italian Salvarani team. Genuine team cars from the past have been part of Simpson Retro for several years now and most of our regulars like Bob Johnsons Bianchi-Campagnolo car and Richard Disbrows Peugeot-BP-Michelin cars will be with us again this year. The Salvarani Alfa known as alfabetti66 on Instagram where it has a large following will be a great addition because Salvarani is the team Tom had signed to join in [----]. Thats" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1959948882890162226) 2025-08-25T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Dali Hemingway Picasso Er Elton John Things get surreal as the Vuelta a Espana heads to Salvador Dali country and little - if any - of it is related to the racing of bicycles. Doncaster celebrates a Grand Tour victory presumably while Visma Lease-a-Bike were too busy filling in the insurance paperwork after their entire fleet of race bikes evaporated so we wonder just how hard can it be to fit a decent bike lock. Almost as hard as fitting a GPS tracking device in Romandie it would appear. Photo: The Team Time Trial is one of the most spectacular sights in cycling as demonstrated by Team" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1960749160593777033) 2025-08-27T17:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Hes not wearing it in this shot because it was taken the year before there was a rainbow jersey but the man on the left Alfredo Binda was the first to wear it. The occasion was another first the first mens professional road race world title in [----]. Binda won and repeated the victory in [----] and [----]. He also won six monuments and is a five-time Giro dItalia winner. The rainbow bands on the jerseys white background represent the colours of all the countries that competed in the [----] Olympic Games which is when the Olympic rings first appeared on a flag. The creator of the modern games Baron" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1962032605328814347) 2025-08-31T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Tom Simpson led the Peugeot-BP-Michelin team from [----] until his death in [----]. It was a French cycling institution that had been in existence since the start of pro cycling and would continue in different iterations into the 2000s. In that time the team won almost everything but Tom Simposn added a rich slice to its history with [--] monuments Bordeaux-Paris his world title and Paris-Nice victories as well as two stages of the Vuelta a Espana all in Peugeot colours. The car is a Peugeot [---] adapted for bike race support with itss custom roof rack designed to carry as many spare bikes and wheels" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1963572753363345652) 2025-09-04T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "The public either sponsors or cycling fans are incredibly important to elite sport; they are how and why it happens. Most pro cyclists understand that and show great patience. A few are exceptional one of those was Stephen Roche. Heres an example. At the height of his fame Roche was riding a stage race and after his team had dinner some businessmen who were staying at the same big hotel started chatting with him. They invited him to sit with them and the conversation went on and on. The guys were really enjoying it but time was slipping by. Eventually but well after his bedtime Roche managed" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1963844545344393316) 2025-09-05T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Marcel Kint the serious looking rider with his arms folded on the right of this [----] photo was a Belgian cyclist known to fans as the Black Eagle. Like many of his compatriots he was a single day race specialist and although he won Paris-Roubaix and Ghent-Wevelgem he loved the hills. He won La Fleche Wallonne [--] years in succession and the [----] mens professional road race world championships on a very hilly circuit in Amstel Gold country. It climbed the infamous Cauberg [--] times Kint had a great career especially for a rider who gave [--] years in the middle of it to the Second World War. He was" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1967468429671030832) 2025-09-15T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Its [----] and Stephen Roche of Ireland has just done what only Eddy Merckx had done before and only Tadej Pogacar since; hes won the mens pro road race world title after winning the Giro dItalia and Tour de France in the same year. This is how he did it. Eddy Merckx said the Villach circuit in Austria was for sprinters but it was raining and a lot more rolling than Eddy must have seen. Roche and the other Irish favourite Sean Kelly stayed close to the front but without committing to breakaways. With one lap to go [--] riders were in contention with Roche committed to helping Kelly who he thought" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1972179470342578614) 2025-09-28T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This was peak Tom Simpson. Winning the Tour of Flanders at [--] in his first attempt was incredible. Following it with the Tour de France yellow jersey Bordeaux-Paris and Milan-San Remo was unprecedented. Hes still the only British male to have won more than one monument. In fact only one other British man has ever won one. This though was more. Wearing the [----] world champions rainbow jersey Tom is now on his way to winning Il Lombardia his third monument just a few weeks after the worlds and winning in spectacular manner. One other rider had ever achieved a rainbow Lombardia before Tom" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1972574775051419786) 2025-09-29T08:10Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Phil Anderson of Australia was a fearsome natural talent. He could have excelled at any sport but he chose cycling and when he did he was winning from the beginning. He was the rider other Aussies measured themselves against. After he won the [----] Commonwealth Games Road Race gold in Canada at age [--] there was no point staying in Australia Phil needed a much bigger stage to play on. He found it in France where he joined the cycling wing of Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB) in [----] an amateur sports club in Paris. Its A-team cyclists were sponsored by Cycles Peugeot. Phil won [--] big" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1973991404385833143) 2025-10-03T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Andy Hampsten (2nd right) became the first US rider to win a major European pro stage race when he won the Tour of Switzerland in [----] just weeks before Greg LeMond won the Tour de France. Hampsten made his own grand tour history in [----] when he won the Giro dItalia. Fantastic results especially when he came from somewhere far from US cycling hotspots. Yeah North Dakota. The only people with road bikes near me were a group of [--] or [--] hippies. Some of them had European 10-speeds and there was one bike shop wed hang around that Hampsten told Chris in an interview for the Cycling Legends Podcast." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1976528125455675844) 2025-10-10T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Nicole Cooke (left) was the first British woman to win a real Tour de France when she won La Grand Boucle in [----]. Millie Robinson had won a race called the Tour de France in [----] but its stages were confined to Normandy so it was really a Tour of Normandy. Cooke won La Grande Boucle again in [----] but a knee injury caused her to miss the world championships. She also lost the lead in the womens UCI World Cup that shed held all year finishing a narrow second to Marianne Vos of the Netherlands. The [----] Olympic Games were held in Beijing China with the womens road race the first event of the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1976890511127666971) 2025-10-11T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is Sir Chris Hoy in [----] in the glorious theatre of the high Andes the Velodromo Alto Iparvi. Its an exciting place even without anything happening add in one of the greatest-ever power sprinters of all time going for an audacious world record attempt after a logistics nightmare and you have feature film stuff. Chris Hoys sprinting was a long burst of horsepower; his muscles could drink lactic acid. He was already world champion when in [----] he won the Olympic 1000-metre time trial. But then the IOC removed it one of the longest standing Olympic cycling events from the Games programme" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1981963938850820331) 2025-10-25T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "They say the past is a foreign country and as you can see from this photo it really was. Its from the [----] Tour de France in the days when most of the time the riders were booked into hotels the race organisation provided although not always good ones but sometimes they had to make do with whatever was available. Including in this photo what looks like an army barracks. No information came with this photo except the year and the race but the riders are in race kit so this could be from stage [--] of the [----] Tour which was split into a road race in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1982341429101027461) 2025-10-26T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "In [----] the Dutch Olympic and world road race champion Hennie Kuiper was drafted into the TI-Raleigh team by its manager Peter Post to win the Tour de France. He had success taking stages and finishing second overall in [----] so it was a surprise when he switched to the French Peugeot-Esso team in [----]. This is what Kuiper says about that in our book Cycling Legends 02: TI-Raleigh. I liked being in the Raleigh team. The team spirit was fantastic. We were all for one and one for all totally committed to each other but I decided that to win the Tour de France I needed a different manager. Post" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1982703813745049898) 2025-10-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Flanders has its Koppenbergs and Kwaremonts the Tour de France its Galibiers and Tourmalets the Giro its Stelvios the Vuelta its Anglirus. Iconic climbs places to be to ride to watch and remember. And when Europe was divided by an Iron Curtain the communist countries behind it had their own places made famous by cycling. One of them was this the Wall of Meerane. It was in East Germany in the west or the German Democratic Republic (DDR) was its proper name. A 300-metre [--] percent ramp of cobbles in the centre of Chemnitz or Karl-Marx-Stadt as it was and it became famous in cycling because of" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1984153368785514667) 2025-10-31T07:00Z [----] followers, 29.3K engagements "This is the track-stand from the days before it was a technique for staying on your bike at traffic lights but instead was a tactical tool used by sprint cyclists. In this case tandem sprinters of Italy Bruno Gonzato and Dino Verzini (leading) and France Daniel Morelon and Pierre Trentin. We were inspired to put this story together by a regular reader of our Photo of the Day slot Syd Wall who remembers a teenage trip to the [----] track world championships in Rome where he witnessed a track stand of [--] minutes during a round of the professional sprint series. Thats a long one but its not the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1984515756676300927) 2025-11-01T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Yesterday we featured a story about Fausto Coppi elevating cycling to an art. In contrast todays star had little consideration for aesthetics but boy was he effective. Bernard Hinaults second Tour de France victory in [----] saw him annihilate the field despite early setbacks. It started in Fleurance close to the Pyrenees. There was one flat stage then three in the mountains and Hinault won two of them. He took the yellow jersey on stage [--] and by stage [--] was [--] minute [--] seconds clear of his nearest rival Joop Zoetemelk. The gap flattered Zoetemelk because his team TI Raleigh was by far the best" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1985965309702848528) 2025-11-05T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is Jacques Anquetil (left) catching and passing fellow Frenchman Raymond Poulidor on stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. It was a 68-kilometre time trial between Bourgoin and Lyon during which Anquetil took the yellow jersey and beat second place Italian Ercole Baldini by nearly [--] minutes and 3rd place Poulidor by over [--]. Cycling was war for Jacques Anquetil and rivalry was his fuel; especially rivalry with Raymond Poulidor. The reason for that rivalry was jealousy. Anquetil was the better rider he was the first man to win the Tour France five times the first after Fausto Coppi of Italy" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1987052471533834268) 2025-11-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Jan Raas had presence. He was a powerful bike rider with a powerful personality. Strong fast durable Raas was the cobbled classics rider of his generation with victories in the Tour of Flanders (1979 and 1983) and Paris-Roubaix (1982). He was road race world champion in [----] and he won his Dutch home classic Amstel Gold Race five times. He won lots of other single-day races as well as stages in grand tours and he would work for others. There were no days off in stage races for Jan Raas. He was an incredibly loyal team-mate but not a man to disrespect as some Italian fans discovered to their" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1987414856262193245) 2025-11-09T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Todays photo shows the aftermath of a less reported but very dramatic incident in Tour de France history. It shows the aftermath of an aircraft crash onto the route of stage [--] Luchon to Pau in the [----] Tour de France. The plane was chartered by the premier French sports newspaper LEquipe to carry one of their photographers to get dramatic aerial shots of the race. They turned out to be very dramatic indeed. The plane was circling the Pyrenees when it hit a patch of turbulence while swooping low over the Col du Tourmalet. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. The only way the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1987836373458436521) 2025-11-10T10:54Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is the Ginseng Kid; well thats what one British rider called him. For [--] years Henk Lubberding worked in the engine room of Dutch compatriot Peter Posts teams first with TI-Raleigh then Panasonic. Lubberding was the perfect team man and more. Post called him his Third knife because he would work his legs off for others but had the talent to win if called upon. He was also of his age. The Dutch really embraced the 1970s from their Prog Rock bands to liberal laws and attitudes. Henk Lubberding with his long hair love of tie-died T-shirts and flares fitted right in. It was the British 1976" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1988502020077043855) 2025-11-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Henri Desgrange is the father of the Tour de France the man who made it happen and its first director. He looks stern and he was. A stickler for rules he ruled the Tour with an iron rod but had his moments of rebellion in youth. Like when he was sacked as a young lawyer for exposing his calves in a Paris park That was his first job a 20-something lawyer but at heart a 20-something cyclist. He trained every lunch time with a group of young guys in a local park. Thats where a client of his law firm saw him pedalling furiously along wearing three-quarter cycling trousers and no socks The client" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1989226796429017391) 2025-11-14T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Trudging along a lonely mountain road eating an apple hours behind the best most of the spectators gone sometimes no idea where they would sleep that night- that was the lot of the touriste-routiers category riders in the early days of the Tour de France. They were individual entrants not part of any team and did the race at their own cost. Some were good and did well enough to get on teams which is probably what these two were hoping. They are Werner Eugen of Switzerland followed by Marcel Gendrin of France. Neither of them achieved that ambition. They were good enough to finish the 1929" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1991401121361900018) 2025-11-20T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "The madness of Arenberg runs riot in this [----] photo of a crash on the wicked cobblestones of the Tranche (or Troue) dArenberg crux and often turning point of Paris-Roubaix. Its an incredible place to watch the race. The speed the noise the sheer jeopardy of racing there is incredible to witness and it is madness to be in. Ben Turner made his Roubaix debut in [----] finishing a very worthy 11th. Hes a talented experienced cyclo-cross rider with a junior world championship bronze medal. Hes got the strength and skills to have a big future in the cobbled classics but this is what he told our" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1992125899903520916) 2025-11-22T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This [----] photo marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one in Tour de France history. We see a rider about to remount after shifting gear at the foot of a mountain but its one of the last times we will see photos like this from the Tour. Up to and including the [----] Tour although they were widely used by cyclists even in other races the Tour de France director Henri Desgrange banned the use of derailleur gears in his race. Tour de France bikes had [--] gear ratios facilitated by a [--] smaller and [--] larger sprocket either side of the rear hub. To shift gear riders had to stop and" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1992889765109141950) 2025-11-24T09:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Cycling Legends Podcast Join Chris Sidwells and the team for regular features interviews lively discussions and all the latest in pro cycling. Free on all good podcasting sites With regular co-hosts Gary Fairley and David Stanley" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1993001672734654734) 2025-11-24T17:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "From the 1960s and through the 70s there was a trend in the Tour de France to have split stages. Thats [--] stages in one day with [--] stage starts and [--] finishes. With towns and cities paying to host the Tour it became quite a lucrative practice for the organisers but the riders hated it. Things came to a head in [----]. Thered already been [--] split stage with stages 1a and 1b as road stages of [---] and [---] kilometres. But there was another this time totalling [---] kilometres in the day. It was too much and the riders went on strike. During stage 12a Tarbes to Valence dAgen the riders didnt race." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1993213065148744126) 2025-11-25T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Lets talk about Christophe Bassons and the debt cycling owes him. The then very young French pro was with the Festina team in [----] the year the lid was lifted by French customs and police on the doping arms race going on inside mens pro cycling and particularly in the Tour de France. Other idealistic pros had spoken about out before Giles Delion for example. He was a good French rider who won Il Lombardia and the Tour de France white jersey in [----] but no one listened to him then. They listened to Bassons in [----] though. He didnt ride that Tour partly because he was a first-year pro but" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1993575450845569119) 2025-11-26T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Theres something about this photo that speaks to us. The riders faces for a start. A mix of happy and/or confident smiles a couple look fed up and we arent sure what the dude 2nd right is pulling maybe the camera caught him at the wrong moment. Its the [----] Dutch Tour de France team but this isnt the Tour. Its the start of the Ronde van Wouw a post-Tour criterium. No Dutch riders finished the [----] Tour but it wasnt their fault. The Dutch team had a great Tour until the man on the far right; Wim Van Est ran off the road and plunged into a ravine on the descent of the Aubisque. He was leading" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1993937842242757024) 2025-11-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "The Grand Dpart in a different country is a regular thing now but the Tour de France was [--] years old before it did it for the first time. The first ever Grand Dpart outside of France was in Amsterdam in [----]. It was a big celebration in the Netherlands. The Olympic Stadium hosted the start with activities buzzing in and around it for days before the Tour start. One of those activities was having top riders do a lap of the velodrome on veteran bikes like [----] Tour winner Hugo Koblet here in our photo. Its the rider on Hugos right his Swiss team-mate Ferdi Kubler we want to talk about but" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1994300225524212076) 2025-11-28T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Its July 6th [----] - the 14th stage of the Tour de France and Jacques Anquetil believes hes about to die Jacques was complicated outwardly cool but full of conflict and mistaken beliefs. One such belief was astrology and in [----] an astrologer working for a Paris newspaper predicted that Jacques Anquetil would die in that years Tour de France on this stage. Anquetil read it tried put the prediction out of his mind but had a morbid belief he would die young anyway. To make things worse some uncharitable fans had waved copies of it in his face along the route. Stage [--] was the day after a rest" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1995749780241395950) 2025-12-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "A road race world title and [--] Tour de France stage victories and a total of [--] wins in [----]. Thirteen stages and overall victory in the [----] Vuelta a Espaa with a 12-month total of [--] wins. These are the epic stats achieved by Freddy Maertens (leading in our pic) by the end of [----] and he was only [--]. There would be [--] victories the following year including [--] in the Tour and another green jersey. Then he stumbled. Only two victories in [----] and one in [----]. Hes burnt out we knew it would happen the doom merchants said. But Maertens proved them wrong. He came back in style taking a second road" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1996474552956715033) 2025-12-04T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This man Michel Pollentier of Belgium won stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France at Alpe dHuez by [--] minute [--] seconds. He took over the race lead but within hours he was thrown off the race. Pollentier had to provide a urine sample at the doping control but there were no chaperones for riders then and after the victory ceremony he disappeared for a while. He eventually arrived at doping control only to be confronted by a very suspicious doctor and no wonder. Two Spanish riders had already been there but the first Antoine Guitierrez had taken so long to supply his sample the doctor asked him to" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1998648879475044688) 2025-12-10T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Rik Van Looy (left) and Jacques Anquetil (right) ruled late 1950s and early 60s cycling. Rik was number [--] in the classics and Anquetil the grand Tour king. However there was a time at the height of his power that Van Looy believed he could win a grand tour. He had good reason he was twice 3rd in the Vuelta (1959 1960) and was king of the mountains and 4th overall in the [----] Giro dItalia. Anquetil certainly considered Van Looy a legitimate threat so he dealt with him the way that served him so well with treachery. Rik gave Chris Sidwells an example in a long interview in our book about" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1999011270910161275) 2025-12-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Todays photo is of the Dutchman Peter Post (inside making a Madison change with team-mate Leo Duyndem) taken during his racing career. He was the best of his generation in the once very lucrative world of six-day track racing and a classics winner on the road. However he is most remembered today as the team manager who changed the way teams raced as well as for his uncompromising nature. Racing against Post was hard. He was hard on himself as well as on others but as a manager he sometimes went over the top. But for all those who ended up on the wrong side of him there are many who rate Peter" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/1999373655776621049) 2025-12-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Sir Paul Smith. He knows a thing or two about what looks good and he thinks the Cycling Legends illustrated book series looks very good indeed. Not only that but he also wrote the foreword to Cycling Legends 03: Jacques Anquetil. Sir Paul was a talented cyclist before he entered the fashion industry and Jacques was his teenage hero. He says he used to save his pocket money to buy copies of the French sports newspaper LEquipe from a newsagent in his native Nottingham. But only if it had a photo of Jacques Anquetil on the cover. Well there is an unexpected image of Anquetil on the front" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2000185252267041010) 2025-12-14T12:45Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Today we take a brief look at the murky world of 1970s pro kermesse racing. Our guide is the late Barry Hoban an 8-time Tour de France stage winner (the photo is from Bordeaux 1969) who was based in Ghent during his long pro career and were using a passage from the autobiography we helped him write and we published Vas-y Barry. When I lived in Belgium there were pro teams that only did the kermesses. Between May and September there was a kermesse somewhere in Belgium nearly every day and some of them were big. A good living could be made by some so good there were strong riders who didnt want" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2003359923497763024) 2025-12-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "There are so many firsts here. Its the first time the Tour de France has climbed the steep Col de Joux Plane in the High Alps. The lead rider Bernard Hinault is competing in his first Tour (1978 he won it) and somewhere in the crowd a 17-year-old future Tour winner Greg LeMond is watching the race live for the first time. LeMond was a prodigy in the US when in [----] he made his first racing trip to Europe. He quickly became regarded as one there too. The parents of one of his cycling friends Kent Gordis had a house in Switzerland and Gordiss mum piloted the two US juniors on a whirlwind racing" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2003722313720541371) 2025-12-24T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "How did an Australian swimmer influence the training of this French 1950s Tour de France winner The swimmer was 4-time Olympic gold medallist (as well as [--] silvers) Dawn Fraser. The cyclist was Louison Bobet pictured here in the Olympic stadium Amsterdam at the start of the [----] Tour. It his second of three Tour wins in a row (1953 [----] and 1956). The link was explained to Chris Sidwells by Louisons brother Jean. I read about Dawn Fraser and about how she was using interval training as part of her preparation. I was racing when I read that and Id not heard of any cyclists in the early 1950s" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2005612513799676308) 2025-12-29T12:11Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Charles Crupelandt the only winner of Paris-Roubaix from Roubaix and on the evidence of this photo owner of the hairiest legs ever seen on a professional cyclist. He was a great rider though. The subject of a painting in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice a war hero and a frustrated talent. Crupelandt had [--] Roubaix victories (1912 and 1914) he won Paris-Tours in [----] when he was also French champion and took [--] stages in the Tour de France before his career was interrupted by the First World War then derailed by the French Cycling Federation. Its a sad story. Tour de France" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2006621418801475750) 2026-01-01T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Henri Plissier on the final drag into Brianon at the end of stage [--] a 275-kilometre trek through the Alps from Nice. He won the stage and in doing so took the lead of the [----] Tour de France which he eventually won. Henri was the eldest of three Plissier brothers who were all successful pros but Henri was the best; and the most divisive. He always had war going on with someone mostly race organisers but sponsors and the press regularly came under fire from him. He really didnt like the Tour de France director Henri Desgrange who often wrote bad things about him in his newspaper" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2006983802376303061) 2026-01-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "In [----] Brian Robinson won a Tour de France stage by the 4th largest victory margin ever (20 minutes [--] seconds) on a Raphael Geminiani bike. It wasnt this one but this was a bike Brian owned. In [----] he got hold of a Geminiani frame and the correct parts and had them lovingly restored to look like the one he raced on. Its immaculate too just as it would have looked way back then. Between [----] and [----] Brian raced for one of the biggest and best teams in the sport. From [----] until [----] it was called St Raphael-Geminiani but became Rapha-Gitane (1960 and 1961) then St Raphael-Helyett in 1962." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2008433355818496473) 2026-01-06T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Look at this its Eddy Merckx (right) and fellow Belgian Herman Van Springel in their successful breakaway towards the end of Paris-Roubaix in [----]. Now look closely at Van Springels wheels- the rims are made from wood. Wood was used for wheel rims before steel and racing cyclists preferred them until the first aluminium alloys of the 1930s because wood rims were lighter than steel. But wood had one advantage over aluminium even in [----] it was stronger more resilient and could absorb shocks better. So why had Van Springel procured a pair of wood rims to help him in this race It was the first" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2009158127225336202) 2026-01-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Sean Kelly was [--] when he won Milan-San Remo in [----]. It was his 9th monument hed won the last of the previous season Il Lombardia and he looked back to full strength after breaking his collarbone in March [--]. It looked like he would go on forever but this was his last big win. Moreno Argentin of Italy was the race favourite; hed won seven classics and a world title in short order but had never won Milan-San Remo. With three stage wins in Tirreno-Adriatico right before Argentins form was everything it should be and his Ariostea team was committed to helping him. They set the pace from the" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2009520516928033056) 2026-01-09T07:00Z [----] followers, 15.9K engagements "Todays photo is from a time that seems like a dream now. A time when briefly cycling became mainstream in the UK. British cyclists dominated the Olympics and our sports awards. Mark Cavendish (now Sir Mark) had raced in the mens elite road race rainbow jersey and Team Sky delivered the Tour de France through another cycling knight Bradley Wiggins - the mainstream media loved him. Brad became Wiggo acted the rock star and played the part. As we know now this wasnt something he was comfortable with but it worked. He looked it played a guitar and knew his music but the music part was real. This" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2010245291266486532) 2026-01-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Alpe dHuez was the first summit finish in Tour de France history. It was [----] Fausto Coppi won but getting a Tour finish up and down a mountain proved difficult. Also the high mountains werent as accessible as they are now so there werent many spectators. The Tour didnt return until [----] when the world was different Alpe dHuez was developed and the stage a real spectacle. It was won by a Dutchman Hennie Kuiper riding for TI-Raleigh and Dutch riders won [--] of the next [--] Alpe dHuez stages. It became known as Dutch Mountain. Peter Winnen the man in todays photo added [--] pages of his countrys rich" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2010607682063831535) 2026-01-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This is former pro Matt Brammeier Irish road race champion and a valued member of World Tour teams like HTC-Columbia and Quick-Step with his close friend Mark Cavendish. He currently overseas British Cyclings elite road race programme and ran the under [--] academies when BC last had one which is ironic because Brammeier and Cavendish were part of its first intake. It was led by Rod Ellingworth himself a former pro and a mastermind coach. Ellingworth was behind a lot of British Cycling success over the years but he was a tough taskmaster. Hed make us do circuits of a punishment lap if he caught" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2010970068922843351) 2026-01-13T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Stephen Roche proved he could win the Tour de France with his performance in [----] and he did it with help from a rider of a different age. Raphael Geminiani directed Roches La Redoute team in [----]. A former contender Geminiani steered Jacques Anquetil to victories in the 1960s but he was bang up to date with developments. Roche moved to 3rd overall through the Alps but although he was ahead of the rest he lost time to Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault. But then Hinault crashed badly on stage [--] and Roche started closing. He was a danger again. After riding well to Luz Ardiden on the first stage" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2011694969422299197) 2026-01-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Looking for some entertainment in these dark winter evenings Then take a look at our Illustrated Book Collection packed full of stories about cyclings rich past from British cycling legend Tom Simpson to the heroes of Flanders. All are written by Chris Sidwells a cycling journalist and author of over [--] years who also happens to be Tom Simpson's nephew Our recent reviews: 'These books are very well written with excellent content and photographs with some great anecdotes. Hard to put down once you start reading. I would recommend them to any cycling fan.' 'I read all four books over Christmas" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2011775371944042869) 2026-01-15T12:20Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is El Jardinero the Little Gardener (leading). His real name is Luis Herrera and he comes from Fusagasug in Colombia a hot steamy town [----] metres up in the Andes with an average annual temperature of [--] degrees. He was an incredible climber king of the mountains in all [--] grand tours and winner of the [----] Vuelta a Espaa. Luiss mum bought him his first bike. He used it to get to school but was soon following local racers riding to the Alto de Rosas pass which leads to Bogot. They would ride the climb turn around at the top freewheel down and do it again. Luis started copying them" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2013869172137017479) 2026-01-21T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Tickets for the Tom Simpson Cycling Festival go on sale on Sunday 1st February at 6pm GMT. This is for both Simpson Sportive and Simpson Retro. To keep things simple this year weve created a new Tom Simpson Cycling Festival Facebook page so you can find all our updates in one place: Please give the page a follow to stay up to date with the latest news. A quick reminder of the two main events: Simpson Sportive (Sunday 6th September): Open to all bikes regardless of their age Simpson Retro (Friday 11th - Sunday 13th September): For bikes or trikes built before [----] (or at least look to be)." [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2013949699355468033) 2026-01-21T12:20Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Benoni Beheyt of Belgium crossing the finish line in second place on stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. Beheyt was world champion a title he won in Ronse Belgium in one of the most controversial finishes of any title race. It gave Beheyt the rainbow jersey but it created a very powerful enemy. That enemy was double world champion and one of only [--] men all Belgians to win all [--] monuments Rik Van Looy. This is Rik putting his side of the story to Chris Sidwells. Chris had asked Beheyt but he wouldnt talk. Let us explain the [----] pro worlds ended in a group sprint. Beheyt won from Van Looy but" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2014593944320147695) 2026-01-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Todays story is about when these team-mates almost came to blows. It happened in [----] but not during the Tour de France which Greg LeMond (left) won and Bernard Hinault finished second. The bond between them frayed there it almost snapped later in a US stage race called the Coors Classic. The Coors Classic ran for [--] years and was part of a LeMond-inspired US cycling boom. Hinault would retire at the end of [----] so with LeMond becoming the first US winner of the Tour de France that year it would be good PR for several reasons if he won the Coors. Their French team was sponsored by a US firm" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2005198301268783144) 2025-12-28T08:45Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "British cycling legend Hugh Porter (right) is [--] today. Not only was Hugh the professional pursuit world champion [--] times the record until Filippo Ganna beat it in [----] he was a good road racer who became the voice of cycling for the BBC. Porter commentated on the biggest races and his insight and command of English helped viewers understand what was happening in a sport they might not have watched before. Todays story though is about Hughs initiation into six-day racing a side of cycling that was big business and highly competitive when he raced. Best let him tell it I won my first world" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2016043499079000217) 2026-01-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "A new Feed Zone episode is out The world is all over the place and cycling is not immune from the madness. Jay Vine finds a new way to crash in Australia Lucinda Brand is suddenly rubbish* in Belgium and British Cycling finds a way to slight the nations best cyclocross racer. Again. (*Yes were kidding - shes still ace.) 📸 Victor Harbour South Australia [--] January 1999: Stuart OGrady takes stage [--] on the inaugural Santos Tour Down Under and with it the leaders Ochre Jersey which he will wear for the remainder of the race. (Credit: unknown) 🎶 Cycling Legends Podcast - available on all good" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2016124529492558014) 2026-01-27T12:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Although he rode miles in the service of others as one of the most valued team riders of his generation Sean Yates had many personal high points in his long racing career including this the Tour de France yellow jersey in [----]. Yellow jerseys were like London busses for British cycling back then you wait ages then [--] come along at once. Tom Simpson was the first to wear it in [----] then no one did until Chris Boardman won the prologue of the [----] Tour. He wore it for [--] days then no British for [--] then Yates took over for a day. Talking about that years ago before he was involved with several" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2016405887225889089) 2026-01-28T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Heres an experience many new pros have been through I turned pro in [----] and my first big race was Milan-San Remo. Its a long one so I thought; right Roger De Vlaeminck won this last year so Ill follow him and Ill be okay and I did. If De Vlaeminck took a drink I took a drink. If he went to the front I went to the front. If he stopped for a pee I stopped for a pee. Then on the Capo Berta De Vlaeminck accelerated and I blew to pieces. Like we say an experience many new pros went through but how many would share it in an interview The man in our photo today did. Hes Beat Breu of Switzerland and" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2016768277318398219) 2026-01-29T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "The first two weeks of April [----] were peak Sean Kelly. It started on April 1st when he was the strongest in the Tour of Flanders but made a tactical error. It left him fuming. He said lots after the finish but what he really meant was: I will get my revenge in Paris-Roubaix. And he did. But between Flanders and Roubaix Kelly did something no contender for either race would do now. He flew with his Skil team to Spain and the following day started the Tour of the Basque Country. He won it he won [--] stages too. On Friday April 6th he flew to Paris ready for Paris-Roubaix on the 8th. Conditions" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2017130661094838468) 2026-01-30T07:00Z [----] followers, 13.5K engagements "The moment of truth in Paris-Roubaix [----] as Thomas Wegmuller of Switzerland (leading) and the Belgian Dirk De Mol ride clear of the rest on the Carrefour de lArbre cobbles. De Mol had been in one move or another since the 40-kilometre mark so the finish would see him in the wind for [---] of the [---] kilometres. Everyone thought Wegmuller would win but he didnt. The finish was different. The famous Roubaix Velodrome was being refurbished so the race finished nearer the centre of town on the avenue des Nations-Unies. Its fair to say Wegmuller was the strongest he was a second-year pro and had" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2017493048469406112) 2026-01-31T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "Weve posted Allan Peiper (centre) a few times but if you keep following us youll soon find out why. Allan packs a lot into life. He left Australia in [----] with a one-way ticket to Belgium intending to become a professional cyclist. And he was almost from the off. Truth is he had to be from the off he had no other way of supporting himself. Luckily at that time almost every day in Flanders there was a kermesse race somewhere and cash prizes could be won. Allan became a professional junior. Every day there was a kermesse within riding distance of his Ghent base living in a unit inside a" [X Link](https://x.com/CyclingLegends1/status/2017855435332571448) 2026-02-01T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "E is for echelon: A word used in non-cycling English to describe a military formation but more of that later. In cycling its used to describe a formation adopted by groups of riders in races to combat crosswinds. This group is the Saxo Bank team taken during the team time trial stage of the [----] Eneco Tour around Sittard in the Netherlands. The formation is led here by the multi-grand tour winner Alberto Contador of Spain. A cycling echelon works the same way as a pace-line or chain gang in the UK except the leading rider or pacesetter takes up a position on the road towards the side the wind" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2018217827996483812) 2026-02-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Do you remember this guy. If you have been following cycling since [----] you will when you read on Hes Giuseppe Guerini an Italian with the German T-Mobile team and a few seconds ago he prized himself clear of the Lance Armstrong-led front group on Alpe dHuez in the [----] Tour. Its stage [--] the halfway point of the race and Armstrong has the yellow jersey. Guerini can climb but hes no threat overall which is why Amstrong has dropped back from the lead in this photo. It serves his purpose if Guerini takes the stage and the bonus seconds that come with victory. There wasnt far to go when the" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2018580210732724592) 2026-02-03T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "We have had a fantastic response to the Simpson Retro tickets going on sale on Sunday. Tickets for Friday and Saturday especially have sold very quickly. They are already in short supply All available tickets are on sale - once these are gone they are gone. So make sure to get your tickets soon if you are planning to attend Simpson Retro this year. Take a look at our website using the link below to see everything we have planned this year. Some of the highlights include: Friday Night - The live Cycling Legends Podcast is returning. We are thrilled to host the legendary Allan Peiper for an" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2018746306160889883) 2026-02-03T18:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Patrick Sercu (left) and Eddy Merckx were the best mens Madison team ever. They rode [--] six-day races together and won [--] of them. This is Patrick talking to Chris Sidwells about their meeting and early days together. We had very different backgrounds. The first time I visited Eddys home I thought how well-off his family was compared to us. We still became friends although at first it was only because it was good for us. Eddy was already a brilliant road racer and was a track sprinter but literally by accident. I crashed in a road race in [----] and my injuries prevented me from racing for a" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2018942603840933955) 2026-02-04T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "See Tom Simpsons bike in this one Its autumn [----] hes just won the professional road race world title and the race is Paris-Tours but hes riding what looks like a single-speed. It wasnt not quite but it was a mad idea cooked up by the race organisers to stop sprinters winning a race that was regarded as a classic. Sprinters got a bad rap in those days. They were somehow seen as malingering chancers who let others do the work then snatched victory at the end. Of course thats too simplistic sprinting is an art requiring strength speed and bravery. Thank goodness attitudes have changed." [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2019304989789995078) 2026-02-05T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "This year we have three brand new routes for Simpson Sportive exploring more of those lovely quiet roads in North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. All routes start and finish at Harworth & Bircotes Town Hall North Nottinghamshire and are mostly flat with just a few punchy climbs to keep things interesting. Choose from three distances - 63km 100km and 161km (100 miles). Simpson Sportive kicks off the eight-day Tom Simpson Cycling Festival on Sunday 6th September; it is open to anyone on any bike. Check out the routes and find out more on our website -" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2019751428596621801) 2026-02-06T12:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Now bear with us on this one Chris is having a bit of a nostalgic wallow today. Not about the two riders in the photo but the yellow top Greg LeMond is wearing. His team-mate the great Bernard Hinault is wearing standard La Vie Claire kit but Greg has gone of a little extra flare with his hooded Assos top. Oh come on If you were into cycling in the 1980s you either had one or wanted one. Those Assos hoodies were the business. Wed not long come out of wool remember where thickness and layers ruled in winter. These tops were thin but warm made from a textile mix that kept its shape due to the" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2020029766863319519) 2026-02-07T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "We posted recently about Paris-Tours and its 1960s and 70s director the Tour de France director Felix Lvitan. Lvitan treated races as his own as evidenced by his decision to ban derailleurs for Paris-Tours in [----] and [--] shows. It didnt matter what the UCI said if rules didnt suit Lvitan he imposed his own as this extract from the late Barry Hobans autobiography Vas-y Barry shows. (Barry is captured today winning a [----] Tour de France stage in Versailles.) Lvitan used to wind me up hed just overrule judges like the time I won an intermediate sprint in the [----] Tour. There was an overall prize" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2020392152883179543) 2026-02-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Cycling Legends 03: Jacques Anquetil The third book in our illustrated book collection lifts the lid on the man as well as the sporting icon that was Jacques Anquetil. Using first-hand accounts from many who knew him best we reveal the truth about the man who made his own rules. Uncompromising yet fragile brave yet needy logical but superstitious Jacques Anquetil was complicated. The personification of 1960s style and culture his friends were film and music stars but he was a country boy who loved to be alone in nature. Looking for some entertainment in these cold evenings Rated 4.87/5 'Worth" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2020512955574653131) 2026-02-08T15:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Heres your cycling Wheres Wally courtesy of the [----] Tour de France. Well nearly Wheres Wally competitor number [--] Georges Fleury of the Globe team is a good resemblance but not quite the right mix of stripes. Seriously though we picked this photo because its so representative of the early 20th century a time or rapid change and contrast between old and more modern times. The relatively new sport invention in fact of cycle racing mixed with the old horse and carriage. The still primitive mostly gravel road mixed with cobbled firm support for tramlines the tram having been introduced in Europe" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2020785097964675446) 2026-02-09T09:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Sean Kelly along with Bernard Hinault (left) and Phil Anderson (right) and Kelly is making history in the [----] Tour de France. After [--] years as a professional hes graduated from team helper who could win to leader of a team built around him. That team was Sem-France Loire-Campagnolo and it was created by Kellys mentor the Frenchman Jean De Gribaldy. It was De Gribaldy who travelled to Ireland to sign the then amateur to the Flandria team in [----] and De Gribaldy who guided his progress to become what he knew Kelly would be a great champion. Kelly was ready and confident enough to" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2021116928899616823) 2026-02-10T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "We are delighted to announce Allan Peiper as our guest of honour at the live podcast and dinner event that kicks off the Simpson Retro [----] weekend which this year will be held from Friday 11th September to Sunday 13th September with event HQ at Harworth & Bircotes Town Hall. You can get your tickets here but be quick there are not many left For me Chris Sidwells it will be a welcome reunion. Right at the start of my writing career I had Allan in my sights as an interview subject. Hed always stood out not just because of his prodigious talent but because of his struggle to get there" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2021267923994649012) 2026-02-10T17:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "In [----] Tadej Pogaar will try something only [--] other men have ever achieved and [--] of them feature in todays photo. Felice Gimondi (centre) and Eddy Merckx (right) won the Tour de France Giro dItalia and Paris-Roubaix so did Fausto Coppi and Bernard Hinault. They are the [--]. Its a rare achievement because Paris-Roubaix is a total outlier compared to the others [--]. Its not just they are stage races or even grand tours and Paris-Roubaix a single-day they are different down to their DNA with Roubaix demanding a very particular talent. Only the very best have enough to win them all. Gimondi did it" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2021479317989920957) 2026-02-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements "🎶 Cycling Legends Podcast - Feedzone 26-3 Crashes retiring team mates and departing coaches: is something rotten in the state of Denmarks GC heros team Just what does it take to impress Roger De Vlaeminck Not an eighth world cyclocross title it appears. Have cycling fans gone mad (again) Chris David and Gary ponder all this and more in the latest Feed Zone. 📸 He is perhaps regarded more highly as a coach/DS but with no fewer than [--] Tour de France winners under his tutelage Cyrille Guimard was no slouch on the bike winning [--] Tour de France and [--] Vuleta a Espana stages between [----] and 1974." [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022296672240365800) 2026-02-13T13:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "This is Sjef Jansen a Dutchman at the end of the [----] Tour de France. He looks very happy and the [----] Tour was a happy one. Europe had just emerged from the Second World War the Tour was too much to organise at first but everyone was glad when it returned. Europe suffered in the war and the Netherlands suffered as much as any other country maybe more. There was a great feeling of relief in the country when it was over. Heres one early post-war baby the [----] world champion and classics winner Hennie Kuiper talking about his childhood. I was born in [----] and remember growing up at a beautiful" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2019667380368994478) 2026-02-06T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Invitation to The Equation Live event in London You may have seen the book we co-produced and Chris co-wrote with multi masters world champion and creative entrepreneur Richard Oakes - 'The Equation'. Richard will be presenting an Equation Live event along with Chris at The Clubhouse 1a Putney Embankment London SW15 1LB at 7pm Thursday 26th February. Theyd love you to join them. Event Overview An evening with Richard Oakes presents The Equation Live using cycling to explore modern life purpose and progress with his book co-creator Chris Sidwells of Cycling Legends Media and U23 riders from" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2021932299772997644) 2026-02-12T13:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Andr Leducq a French double Tour de France winner taking part in the [----] Paris-Roubaix which he also won. Hes one of several riders from the [----] to 1950s who became sports writers when they stopped racing. Writing was a gift Leducq always had which made him a godsend for harassed editors because he could write his own race reports. Weve used some of Leducqs words in todays post. This is him describing his mental checklist at the start of Paris-Roubaix: I inflated my tyres to the right pressure. Then I carefully checked my pockets to see I hadnt forgotten anything: a small Allen key a spare" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022204094262223164) 2026-02-13T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Cycling Legends 04: Flandriens The latest book in our illustrated book collection explores what it means to be a true Flandrien. Covering stories from the likes of Briek Schotte Rik Van Looy the De Vlaeminck's Tom Boonen and other legends of Flanders. Using personal interviews by Chris Sidwells with insights and stories you won't find anywhere else. With beautiful photos on high quality paper this book makes for great reading. Get your copy here - 'Excellent accounts lavishly illustrated with wonderful photographs which benefit greatly from being displayed in the large format pages that the" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022649525425647747) 2026-02-14T12:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Eddy Merckx is [--] still the GOAT of mens cycling with the record for both grand tour and monument victories. Hes done everything won everything and is the number [--] but even he had to learn. When Eddy Merckx was young he had a coach the man in our photo today Felicien Vervaecke. When the teenage Eddy met him Vervaecke owned a bike shop in the northern Brussels suburb of Laeken. It was called Au Roi de la Montagne and Vervaecke was the Tour de France king of the mountains in [----] and [----]. He also finished on the Tour de France podium [--] times with 3rd in [----] and [----] then 2nd overall in 1938." [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022928869607846029) 2026-02-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "Cycling Legends 04: Flandriens The latest book in our illustrated book collection explores what it means to be a true Flandrien. Covering stories from the likes of Briek Schotte Rik Van Looy the De Vlaeminck's Tom Boonen and other legends of Flanders. Using personal interviews by Chris Sidwells with insights and stories you won't find anywhere else. With beautiful photos on high quality paper this book makes for great reading. Get your copy here - 'Excellent accounts lavishly illustrated with wonderful photographs which benefit greatly from being displayed in the large format pages that the" [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022649525425647747) 2026-02-14T12:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements "🎶 Cycling Legends Podcast - Feedzone 26-3 Crashes retiring team mates and departing coaches: is something rotten in the state of Denmarks GC heros team Just what does it take to impress Roger De Vlaeminck Not an eighth world cyclocross title it appears. Have cycling fans gone mad (again) Chris David and Gary ponder all this and more in the latest Feed Zone. 📸 He is perhaps regarded more highly as a coach/DS but with no fewer than [--] Tour de France winners under his tutelage Cyrille Guimard was no slouch on the bike winning [--] Tour de France and [--] Vuleta a Espana stages between [----] and 1974." [X Link](https://x.com/anyuser/status/2022296672240365800) 2026-02-13T13:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements Limited data mode. Full metrics available with subscription: lunarcrush.com/pricing
@CyclingLegends1 CyclingLegends
CyclingLegends posts on X about france, legends, tour de, jersey the most. They currently have [-----] followers and [---] posts still getting attention that total [-----] engagements in the last [--] hours.
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- [--] Week [------] +54%
- [--] Month [------] +15%
- [--] Months [-------] +245%
- [--] Year [-------] +139%
Mentions: [--] #
- [--] Week [--] +80%
- [--] Month [--] +88%
- [--] Months [--] +52%
- [--] Year [---] +111%
Followers: [-----] #
- [--] Week [-----] +0.29%
- [--] Month [-----] +2.50%
- [--] Months [-----] +16%
- [--] Year [-----] +30%
CreatorRank: [---------] #
Social Influence
Social category influence countries travel destinations finance stocks automotive brands musicians technology brands celebrities premier league la liga
Social topic influence france, legends, tour de, jersey, in the, belgium, italy, the first, if you, money
Top assets mentioned Grande Group Ltd (GRAN) Flanders (TRENDS)
Top Social Posts
Top posts by engagements in the last [--] hours
"Fcked up Britain"
X Link 2023-09-27T18:38Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Mick Jagger (If you know you know and Cycling Legends Podcast subscribers know if they have listened to the latest Feedzone show- join us on )"
X Link 2023-11-07T12:46Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@TheGaryFairley @tonkovsferrari @vive_velo Quite decent is our [--] stars"
X Link 2023-11-25T17:09Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@TheGaryFairley @tonkovsferrari @vive_velo 🤣🤣🤣🤣"
X Link 2023-11-25T17:30Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@TheGaryFairley @marcfairclough @vive_velo I believe they were Ad Renting and rented billboard space. Thats just a dim recollection from the time"
X Link 2023-12-04T12:02Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@bmfw @TheGaryFairley @vive_velo Very good"
X Link 2023-12-04T12:05Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@NeilDotObrien You were [--] years in power this in on you not Keir Starmer"
X Link 2024-07-19T07:45Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@dan_122707 @tykestakeonit Its their followers who are running riot. Wake up"
X Link 2024-08-03T08:18Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@Jezebel969 @KarlLasis @thecarolemalone @tsmiggy They arent stopping it. It will be income dependent. Do you think Mick Jagger should get winter fuel allowance"
X Link 2024-08-22T06:49Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"This is The Emperor named for both his imperious nature and racing style. Rik Van Looy won every single-day classicno one else has done that. Hes one of three riders to win all five Monuments. This image shows him dominating the [----] Paris-Roubaix racing solo to his third win"
X Link 2024-09-14T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@wildandhigh There you go"
X Link 2024-09-16T13:03Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there wrote 20th century novelist L.P. Hartley perfectly describing this [----] Tour de France scene. Back then many adults smoked including cyclists. After this stage a Ford France rider's first move was to light up"
X Link 2024-09-18T06:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Mont Ventoux is a divaa place of beauty drama and excess. It rises above the Vaucluse plain nearly 2000m high. Its iconic inverted W profile leaves a lasting image. Cedar forests cover the base but the summit is a barren wasteland. Visit then ride to understand"
X Link 2024-09-21T06:01Z [----] followers, 12.7K engagements
"@TonzerWee Wow Ive done the classic [--] sides in one day and that was hard"
X Link 2024-09-21T15:52Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"The [----] road race world championships have begun - each winner will wear a rainbow jersey. But why rainbow and who wore it first Introduced in [----] Alfredo Binda of Italy was the first champion. The colours are based on the Olympic rings representing all nations. #Zurich2024"
X Link 2024-09-23T05:50Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Blue/yellow for Sweden blue/white for Greece tri-colours of France UK US Germany Belgium Italy Hungary red/yellow for Spain green/yellow for Brazil & Australia and red for Japan/China. A symbol of global unity. #Zurich2024"
X Link 2024-09-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Chris Boardman Olympic gold medallist and the first World Elite TT champ in [--]. Hour Record holder and Tour de France yellow jersey to masterminding Team GBs post-2000 Olympic success. Now as Active Travel Englands Commissioner he's creating a more connected active nation"
X Link 2024-09-24T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"The oldest mens elite road race world champion is Joop Zoetemelk nearly [--] when he won in [----]. His career includes a Tour de France (1980) Vuelta a Espaa (1979) and classics wins. He even competed in the [----] world pole-sitting championships (pictured) but wasn't to win"
X Link 2024-09-26T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"The bike isnt retro but the jersey is Mandy Jones wore the rainbow jersey she won in [----] at the [----] Tom Simpson Retro Cycling Festival. At [--] she won the World Championship at Goodwood Sussex. Though over-training affected her career she still cycles and is delightful"
X Link 2024-09-28T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Fans called Franco Bitossi Crazy Heart. He won points jerseys in the [----] Tour and 1969/1970 Giro. His heart would suddenly go into arrhythmia during races. He said recently It only happened in races and when it came I just stopped let it pass then carried on"
X Link 2024-09-30T06:06Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Jean-Pierre Monser's story is one of talent and tragedy. A rising star from West Flanders he won Il Lombardia at [--] and the road race world title in [----]. In [----] his life was cut short when he collided with a car during a race. His son also died in a cycling accident in 1976"
X Link 2024-10-01T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Hugo Koblet the Pedaleur de Charme earned his nickname with his immaculate post-race look. He won the [----] Giro and [----] Tour and its said he carried a comb and a sponge soaked in cologne in his jersey pocket to freshen up at the finishno matter how tough the race"
X Link 2024-10-02T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Jacques Anquetil was the ultimate time triallist rarely beaten in a solo race he was the first man to win the Tour de France five times. The first to repeat Fausto Coppis ground-breaking Giro dItalia and Tour de France double and the winner of the then classic Grand Prix des Nations time trial nine times. His ability was innate well before fitness feedback devices Anquetil measured his effort by feel and he was never wrong. He was always at maximum always the fastest and he never misjudged. But there was far more to Jacques Anquetil than a time trial or a Tour 📖Pre-order Cycling Legends 03"
X Link 2024-10-04T16:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"📖New Big Read - Jacques Anquetil [----] Bordeaux-Paris 🔗Pre-order now live Cycling Legends [--] Jacques Anquetil - only available on our new and improved website Several times during his career Jacques Anquetil performed minor miracles - winning when it looked he was beat overcoming difficulties and fighting the odds. In [----] he achieved the impossible. He beat a much better climber Raymond Poulidor in rampaging form in a mountainous edition of the Criterium du Dauphine then next day after dashing across France and with only [--] hours sleep he won the 580-kilometre single-day classic"
X Link 2024-10-05T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@festinagirl @SwiftConnor Well well be commissioning freelancers further along the line so maybe you can tell them for us 🙏"
X Link 2024-10-10T08:01Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"The cousins Nicholas Roche (@nicholasroche - left) and Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) pause during a ride and photo-shoot for Cycling Weekly in [----]. Martin was still an under-23 rider with Velo Club Pomme Marseille and Roche lived in the South of France. During our interview he outlined his previous weeks training which was typical he said. One session was seven-hour ride to which Martin raised an eyebrow and said; Oh I couldnt ride for seven hours. Roche looked at him smiled and said: Oh you will Dan you will have to when youre a pro. 📸@ChrisSidwells #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife"
X Link 2024-10-14T06:39Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This photo from the [----] Tour de France should be called Chase a la Canette or Hunting for Cans. Thats what the practise of raiding any drink source possible was called when Tour de France rules governed how many bidons of fluid each rider could be given during a stage. It was a ludicrous rule and caused a great deal of harm. It also caused friction between the races and caf owners along the route as thirst crazed riders would raid their premises to take anything liquid they could. Thank heaven cycling evolved into more enlightened times. 📸Cycling Legends Collection #cycling #cyclinglife"
X Link 2024-10-24T07:34Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"What can anyone say about Allan Peiper He came from Australia to Belgium on a one-way ticket a teenager with a dream. He wanted to be a pro. His first night was in a down and out hostel dead tired but clutching his belongings to prevent them being stolen. He found a place to live it was horrible but he started racing and earning money. He had to just to survive. He succeeded then fell ill went home and built himself up. Returned and became a pro a good pro. Allan won races but he is more than a list of victories. Allan Peiper is a deep person thoughtful nurturing and he became a great DS."
X Link 2024-10-25T09:05Z [----] followers, 15.8K engagements
"📖 We're in the final stages of Cycling Legends [--] Jacques Anquetil While we wrap up this latest addition dive into our archived long-read on another cycling great "Iron Briek" and rediscover the legacy of Briek Schotte the indomitable force of Flemish cycling. Read the full story here 👉 #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike #retrocycling #cyclinghistory #cyclinglegends"
X Link 2024-10-26T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Another Paris-Roubaix shot today this time from [----]. Coppi leading with Maurice Diot of France. They broke clear of the rest a few kilometres before and Coppi would shortly drop Diot to win by [--] minutes and [--] seconds. Coppi is riding a bike his mechanic Pinalla di Grande built for Paris-Roubaix. Its equipped with a single 52-tooth chainring and an old rod-operated Cambio Corsa gear. Cable derailleurs were available in [----] and easier to use but Coppi thought they might not be up to a battering from the Hell of the North. At least the Cambio Corsa was dependable and Paris-Roubaix is mostly"
X Link 2024-10-31T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Discover Les Wests incredible [----] World Championship race storya day when legends battled it out in Leicestershire. Against cyclings best West pushed himself to the limit earning a historic finish and showing Britains grit on the world stage. This weeks big read: #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike #retrocycling #cyclinghistory #cyclinglegends https://cyclinglegends.co.uk/blogs/long-reads/wests-worlds"
X Link 2024-11-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is [----] Giro dItalia and [----] Tour de France winner Hugo Koblet of Switzerland with his wife Sonja in Caracas Venezuela where they lived after his racing career was over. He worked there for a while as a representative for Pirelli and Alfa Romeo but behind the scenes he was having financial difficulties. The Koblets were a glamourous couple Sonja had been a model and came from an affluent family. Their lifestyle was lavish but Hugo was not good at managing money although he was very good at spending it. Their marriage broke up when financial pressure and changed life circumstances became"
X Link 2024-11-04T06:58Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Ian Hallam winning the [----] British professional pursuit title on the Saffron Lane Velodrome in Leicester. Hallam won two Olympic bronze medals and a world championship silver in the team pursuit as well as worlds silver in the individual pursuit. All in the 1970s and all while working full-time as a dentist. Hallam comes from Nottingham and was coached by a Merseysider living in the city Norman Sheil. Sheil won two world pursuit tiles himself in the 1950s and was British national coach when he first worked with Hallam. Sheils training was simple. During the week he had Hallam riding reps up"
X Link 2024-11-06T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Rik Van Steenbergen of Belgium was the definition of the professional cyclist of his day he raced for money not the honour of winning or a glorious palmars even though he had one. He was in it for the cash and the way to make lots of that in the 1940s 50s and 60s was to ride lots of track meetings and criterium races. They paid good money for big stars to take part and they had lots of cash prizes. Van Steenbergen raced summer and winter raking in the money. Its reckoned that he won [----] times in his career mostly on the track but he still won [---] road races and some were big. Van Steenbergen"
X Link 2024-11-08T07:46Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"While the cameras focus often on the very front of a race it's the crowd and photographers on the route that see the personal turmoil and brutality that a race like the Ronde Van Vlaanderen often dishes out. Here is [----] Olympic Champion and World Record Holder in the Team Pursuit - Kelland O'Brien (@kell_obrien) of Jayco Alula (@GreenEDGEteam). Muddied with bloodshot eyes and a bike hanging over his shoulder - trying by foot along with all those around him to just get over the next savage cobbled climb at the [----] Tour of Flanders. 📸@swpix_cycling #cycling #Cyclinglife #bike #bikelife"
X Link 2024-11-11T07:10Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"One of our favourite cycling images of all time - Felice Gimondi of Italy world champion and riding a Celeste Bianchi on White Roads the Strade Bianche of Tuscany on stage 11a of the [----] Giro dItalia. Its glorious Gimondi had a fabulous career. He won the [----] Tour de France in his first year as a pro. Then won the Giro dItalia in [----] and the Vuelta a Espaa in [----]. All three Grand Tours by the age of [--] only Jacques Anquetil had won all three and it took him a lot longer. It seemed like Felice Gimondi would rule cycling in the coming years then Eddy Merckx happened and we know the rest."
X Link 2024-11-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Rain mud and relentless cobblestonesParis-Roubaix in [----] was nothing short of chaos but it produced an unforgettable winner. Andrei Tchmils strength outlasted even the harshest conditions in the Hell of the North. Read the story of his victory here 📸Cycling Legends Collection 💭@ChrisSidwells 🚴Andrei Tchmil @johanmuseeuw @seanyatescoach Olaf Ludwig #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike #retrocycling #cyclinghistory"
X Link 2024-11-19T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Ole Ritter of Denmark celebrates setting a new World Hour Record in [----] at the Olympic Velodrome in Mexico City. His distance of [------] kilometres was over one kilometre further than Jacques Anquetils [------] which was the furthest to that date but was never ratified by the UCI. Anquetil wouldnt supply a urine sample for drugs testing in the way the doctor overseeing the test required so nothing was supplied. Ritter did give a sample and it was passed okay so his was the new world record. However there are two things in this photo that changed record setting forever. It was the first Hour"
X Link 2024-11-21T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Two men from the Isle of Man Peter Kennaugh (@Petekennaugh) and Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish ) preparing to represent Great Britain at the [----] track world championships in the BGZ Arena Pruszkw Poland. Neither won medals at this championships but Kennaugh became Olympic and world champion in the team pursuit (2012) and Cavendish was three times the world Madison champion on the track (2005 [----] and 2016). The photo was taken one week after Cavendish won Milan-San Remo in an amazing finish in which he closed an impossible looking gap on Heinrich Haussler of at that time Germany but later"
X Link 2024-11-25T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"His hair his clothes and his love of punk rock set Ronan Pensec apart from the eighties and nineties pro peloton. Hes best remembered for a spirited defence of the yellow jersey that ultimately helped his team-mate Greg Lemond win the [----] Tour de France but also for his distinctive look. I liked English music and fashion when I was a teenager and as I grew older I came to appreciate English and American things. Like my E-type Jaguar which is British racing green and my Harley-Davidson motor bike. I also have an American pick-up truck and my house has an American-style front porch complete"
X Link 2024-11-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Do you want to ride our cyclo-cross Eddy Sure how much you paying Until the 1990s when more big businesses got into cycling and team salaries began to climb in fact they rocketed for the best most big names did some cyclo-cross during the winter. Not so much to keep fit although it didnt hurt but to earn extra cash. Even Eddy Merckx who weve heard grumble that his son Axel made more money from cycling than he ever did. Axel was good and he deserved to make money but he wasnt Eddy. We love that he hasnt bothered with a cross bike just stuck some cross tubs on his road wheels put them in his"
X Link 2024-11-28T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This Viking track bike was ridden to victory in the [----] world pursuit championships by the British cycling legend Beryl Burton. She won the [----] title on the velodrome at Rocourt a suburb of Lige Belgium. Viking was a Wolverhampton bike manufacturer founded in [----] as a spare-time bike project by a railway clerk Alfred Victor Davies. He started out simply repairing bikes but his business quickly blossomed into a bike shop and around [----] he moved into manufacturing. Alfreds son Reg Davies registered the business as Viking Cycles Limited in [----] by which time it was producing [---] bikes a"
X Link 2024-12-03T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"@ColinASturgess ❤"
X Link 2024-12-03T07:28Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@gentlemanjackmk @100Climbs I can find out. Probably [---] but I dont. Well get back you tomorrow latest"
X Link 2024-12-03T08:40Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@nearthecoast He certainly did 🙌🙌"
X Link 2024-12-03T08:44Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"Yvonne Reynders of Belgium seen here in the individual pursuit at the [----] World Championships in Amsterdam was the big competition to Britains Beryl Burton. If you look down the winners of pursuit and road race world titles from the late 1950s to the middle of the 60s if Burton didnt win most likely Reynders did. The Belgian who is from just outside Antwerp won five road race world titles and three in the pursuit as well as other medals in the same events. When she was first into sport Reynders wanted to be a runner like her hero Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands. Blankers-Koen won four"
X Link 2024-12-07T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Sean Kelly in full flight on the climb he made his own. Its Col dEze just outside Nice and its Kellys because Paris-Nice often ended with a time trial there. He won Paris-Nice a record seven times. Cold dEze is about [--] kilometres long gains around [---] metres and the gradient varies a lot. In fact as Kelly pointed out in an interview with Chris Sidwells; The last [---] hundred metres are downhill so it was possible to sprint with a big gear there. Talking of gears this is what he told Chris about the bike he used for Col dEze. I had a [--] or [--] inner ring with a straight 13-up block. When I"
X Link 2024-12-09T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"You wont all agree with this and its only our opinion but we think this green jersey the [----] version as worn here by the Tour de France points winner that year Thor Hushovd of Norway is the best green jersey. Bright green not the muted green it was before nor the dark green it is now. Having said that Biniam Girmay made the dark green current version look better this year. Still not enough to change our minds though sorry Skoda. We appreciate that sponsors have a big say in the colours chosen for classification leaders jerseys in stage races. Its why the yellow jersey is yellow. Yellow was"
X Link 2024-12-19T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"@drewkelly545 Lovely. Great green jersey for truly great rider"
X Link 2024-12-19T08:42Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"This is Paul Deman first winner of the Tour of Flanders. It was held on [--] May [----] started in the Korenmarkt Ghent at [--] a.m. and covered [---] kilometres of cobbled roads few cinder tracks and hills finishing on an old outdoor velodrome in Mariakerke. Flemish riders filled the first ten setting a precedence for Belgian domination that continued through the ages. The race was a huge success for its sponsors the newspaper Sportwereld and for its creator a writer steeped in Flemish history and legend and in cycling called Karel van Wijnendaele. Van Wijnendaele was one of fifteen children left"
X Link 2024-12-22T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Wednesday June 17th [----] and the best cyclists in the world are waiting to start a race on British roads for the very first time. Were in the Isle of Man and the race is the first edition of the Manx Premier Road Race. Partly the brainchild of renowned French journalist and passionate anglophile Ren De Latour who used his contacts within the sport specifically the powerful rider agents Daniel Dousset and Roger Piel to pay five of the biggest names in cycling to race on the island with enough money each to allow them four team mates. How many of those legends can you see in this photos Fausto"
X Link 2024-12-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@RiksRedGuard Me neither"
X Link 2024-12-23T08:41Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@RiksRedGuard Lombardia65 isnt it"
X Link 2024-12-23T08:42Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"We featured a photo from a 1960s six-day race a few weeks ago and mentioned that some of the races back then required riders to be inside the velodrome for all the [---] hours of the race. In some one rider from each two-man team had to circle the track throughout even outside of the time the race was on so to speak. In fact periods between full on racing were only due to gentleman agreements between teams. Riders rested ate got changed and even slept between bouts of racing in makeshift cabins like this. Delightful isnt it A real home from home. Its got everything buckets under the bed for"
X Link 2024-12-26T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Roger De Vlaeminck leads Denmarks Leif Mortensen (left) and Frans Verbeek (tucked in behind) on the jewel of Milan-San Remo Il Poggio. There are hundreds of poggios in Italy the word means hill but nothing like this one its slopes are the finale of Il Primavera the Monument of Spring. It hasnt always been in the race but increasingly through the 1950s big groups were fighting out the finish. So [----] saw the inclusion of this climb starting eight kilometres from the finish with its descent ending on the streets of San Remo. It worked Ren Privat of France launched a solo attack on Il Poggio to"
X Link 2025-01-05T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Geraint Thomas made his Tour de France debut in [----] racing for Barloworld. Here he rides next to Bradley Wiggins. Both would go on to win the race. On the face of it his final [----] Tour de France placing of 140th might not shout future winner but there was something about the way he rode that stood out. He was [--] easily the youngest rider and his focus was four minutes of intense effort on the track not 90-odd hours flogging around the roads of France. But whenever we grabbed a few post-stage words from him no matter what hed been through he recovered so quickly he looked like hed ridden to"
X Link 2025-01-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Resolutions health tips and inspiration for the new year - we offer none of that as we stumble into [----]. Instead settle yourself down for an hour of chat with Chris David and Gary covering everything from neutralised moto-pacing to make races safer to the UK honours system. Plus we talk Six Days of Ghent (only [--] weeks late) and remember the legendary Gianni Savio who passed away last week. God speed Swiss Toni 🎶The Cycling Legends Podcast - Available on all good Podcast sites. #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling"
X Link 2025-01-08T13:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Coming back from bad fractures in key joints is hard for anyone but its harder for professional sports people due to the level of fitness and performance they need. And if they want to win big again its sometimes impossible. Well the man in todays photo Belgian cyclist Johan Museeuw not only did that he had life-threatening complications to overcome as well. The shattered kneecap Museeuw sustained in Paris-Roubaix [----] a race he won two years before would have presented challenge enough but the complications nearly killed him. That he later won Roubaix again not once but twice is incredible."
X Link 2025-01-13T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"They call it golden week in Flanders the week of the cobbled monuments Tour of Flanders (De Ronde) on the first Sunday in April followed next Sunday by Paris-Roubaix. Only ten riders have won Flanders and Roubaix in the same year and todays photo subject Pieter Van Petegem is one of them. It was [----] Van Petegems best year. The strength hed built his power on cobbled roads and his ability to peak at the right time came together. He won a bronze medal in the world championships later that year. Van Petegem was born in the heartland of the Ronde in Brakel and he still rides in the Flemish"
X Link 2025-01-14T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"They call it golden week in Flanders the week of the cobbled monuments Tour of Flanders (De Ronde) on the first Sunday in April followed next Sunday by Paris-Roubaix. Only ten riders have won Flanders and Roubaix in the same year and todays photo subject Peter Van Petegem is one of them. It was [----] Van Petegems best year. The strength hed built his power on cobbled roads and his ability to peak at the right time came together. He won a bronze medal in the world championships later that year. Van Petegem was born in the heartland of the Ronde in Brakel and he still rides in the Flemish"
X Link 2025-01-14T08:03Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Todays photo is a cyclist of course but not a racing cyclist. He was still a world champion - its Nigel Mansell Formula [--] world champion in [----] and winner of [--] Grand Prix over [--] seasons. He was the president of UK Youth a charity celebrating its centenary in [----] and he wanted to mark that by raising extra money as well as public awareness of the work the charity did. Work he was very proud of. UK Youth sponsored a cycling team which included [----] Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt. Magnus arranged for Chris to meet Mansell in Jersey take some photos and interview him. The first thing"
X Link 2025-01-21T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Heres a question to provoke debate. Whats the single piece of bike tech that made the biggest difference to bike performance and ease of use We think it was integrated brake and gear-shift levers. The first of those was Shimanos STI and the man in todays photo was their test pilot in the peloton. Phil Anderson Australias first yellow jersey began working with Shimano during the [----] road season. He was with the Dutch TVM team and another member the Dane Jesper Skibby was also involved. The STIs they used were very crude looking but that was because bits of them were constantly being improved"
X Link 2025-01-23T07:19Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Did you know a team of unemployed pros once raced the Tour de France In [----] Amis du Tour lined up funded by benefits and prize money. The story of these riders plus the Zero Boys role in saving a future Tour stage winner is the subject of this weeks short read. 📖Available to read for free on the Cycling Legends website. 💬@chris_sidwells 📸Cor Vos / Cycling Legends Collection #cycling #cyclinglife #bike #bikelife #cyclingphotos #roadbike #cyclist #ciclismo #bicycle #roadcycling #instacycling #cyclingshots #fitness #cycle #cyclingpics #strava #sport #bikes #bicicleta #ride #instabike"
X Link 2025-02-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Go on how many riders in todays photo can you name Tom Simpson Rik Van Looy and Raymond Poulidor are there but it will be fun if you can tell us the rest. The photo is the start of the [----] Manx Premier on the Isle of Man an annual professional race that saw many of the worlds best road racers compete together on UK soil for the first time. It was created by Ren de Latour a New York-born French journalist who knew the island from trips to its Cycling Week which had a full programme of amateur races. That always attracted lots of visitors so De Latour thought a pro race would be a great"
X Link 2025-02-07T17:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Vin Denson and hes just won the 9th stage of the [----] Giro dItalia. He was the first British cyclist ever to win a stage in the Italian grand tour. Vin rode the race for the Ford France team of five-time Tour de France winner Jacques Anquetil. It was the best. It was like a footballer playing for Manchester United. We had the best equipment stayed in the best hotels we were paid well and Jacques was always a gentleman with us he says. We had other good riders so in that Giro we had the Spanish climber Julio Jimenez in the pink jersey but there were still days when the DS Raphael"
X Link 2025-02-08T19:31Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"In [----] Brian Robinson achieved his and the UKs second Tour de France stage win on a bike exactly like this. That bike was returned to the team at the end of the year but it was Robinsons favourite so [--] years ago he spent some time sourcing the frame and equipment to build an exact replica. Its the same size and age as his original and all the equipment is from that time too; it was all lovingly restored. Robinson was the first British cyclist to make it in the pro peloton and ride all the biggest races. He was always part of the biggest and best teams and was in constant employment from the"
X Link 2025-02-10T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Andy Hampsten is known to millions of cycling fans for THAT image taken as he attacked in Arctic conditions on the Gavia Pass on his way to take the Maglia Rosa during the [----] Giro dItalia. He would then go on to become so far the only US rider to win the Italian Grand Tour. In a show first aired exclusively for premium subscribers in January [----] Andy talks to Chris Sidwells about some of the highlights of racing career from riding as a rookie for Bernard Hinault to winning on LAlpe dHuez in [----] and everything else in between. 🎶The Cycling Legends Podcast - Available on all good Podcast"
X Link 2025-02-10T13:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is the Col du Galibier on July 10th [----] the first time it was tackled by cyclists in the Tour de France. The race ventured over the highest passes for the first time the previous year in the Pyrenees now it was the Alps. The caption claims this rider is Gustave Garrigou of France. However most accounts of the day say that Garrigou Emile Georget and Paul Duboc were the only competitors not to walk at least some of the climb. Thats the thing with these early races imagine having to write about what happened when there were so few ways of covering the action. Most information came from"
X Link 2025-02-25T07:04Z [----] followers, 23.3K engagements
"This is Willy Planckaert winning stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. He is the oldest of the Planckaert brothers the cycling dynasty from Nevele in East Flanders. All three were part of a large family that Willy became head of in [----] at the young age of [--]. The events that led to that began one year earlier when their father Gaston was badly injured in a road collision that occurred while he was driving home from watching Willy win one of the many races he did as a junior and senior amateur. Gaston was badly injured and remained in hospital for several months before finally succumbing to"
X Link 2025-03-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Star of todays photo is Alfonsina Strada. In [----] she rode the Giro dItalia. Not the womens Giro there wasnt one but the mens. Shed already raced Il Lombardia. In [----] she lined up with the likes of Tour de France winner Phillipe Thys of Belgium and Italian star Costante Giradengo a future double Giro winner and six editions of Milan-San Remo. She finished 29th [--] hour [--] minutes behind Thys and future Tour de France winner Henri Plissier. [--] started and [--] finished the [---] kilometres of rough roads and tracks. She was 21st the following year only [--] minutes behind the winner Gaetano Belloni"
X Link 2025-03-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"The rules of the Tour de France changed a lot in [----]. Race director Henri Desgrange decided to only allow national teams into the race. Belgium Italy Spain Germany and of course France lined up for the first edition of the thirties each fielding their eight best riders. The rest of the race was made up of [--] Touriste-Routiers a category of cyclists we wrote about recently. Desgrange brought in other rules which on the face of it appeared austere (more about those in a minute) but he also introduced this the Tour de France advertising caravanne. But lets do the austerity first. No rider was"
X Link 2025-03-14T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"@NeonBrown10 @TheGaryFairley Bet my boy"
X Link 2025-03-14T17:18Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"@NeonBrown10 @TheGaryFairley @Academy_ds Can we ask everyone to download on this Sundays Feedzone"
X Link 2025-03-14T18:35Z [----] followers, [--] engagements
"The polka-dot jersey white with red spots on first appeared in the [----] Tour de France. The often quoted explanation for its design is it was inspired by a wrapper used by its first sponsor Chocolat Poulain which was white with red polka dots all over it; only. The man in todays photo the first winner of the polka-dot jersey Lucien Van Impe told Chris in an interview; As far as I remember the jersey design was the then Tour de France director Flix Lvitans idea. Flix Lvitan was Tour director from [----] to [----] for most of the time running it with Jacques Goddet who looked after the technical"
X Link 2025-03-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Strade Bianchi is an incredible beautiful race albeit a young one. Its first edition was [----] but with every one since being an epic should Strade Bianchi be cyclings sixth monument We think so what do you think Lets examine what a monument is because in the sense that cycling as a sport is more than [---] years old the term monument to describe five single day races is relatively new. The monuments are Milan-San Remo Tour of Flanders Paris-Roubaix Lige-Bastogne-Lige and Il Lombardia and as recently as the later 1990s and early 2000s they were referred to as classics with races that have"
X Link 2025-03-18T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is Apo Lazarides leading his friend and mentor Rene Vietto across the summit of the Col dAllos in the [----] Tour de France but this is a story of Lazarides war. After the [----] liberation of France and with a view to holding a full Tour de France in [----] the newspapers LEquipe and Le Parisien organised a stage race in [----] for national teams like the Tour had before the war called the Course du Tour de France. The winner was Apo (Jean-Apotre) Lazarides. He was born in northern France had Greek blood and moved as a child with his family to the Cote dAzur. On leaving school there he got a"
X Link 2025-03-19T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Weve got another Brian Robinson story today. We recently featured one of his two Tour de France stage wins Britains first and said that Brian was also the first Brit to get a place in the European pro peloton. This story told to Chris in [----] by Brian is how he got into one of the biggest teams St Raphael whose jersey hes wearing here. I didnt have anywhere I could call a home after the start of the [----] Tour which was the first one we had a British team in. I lived out of my suitcase riding criteriums and sleeping in peoples spare rooms even their sofas. Once the racing ended in October I"
X Link 2025-04-01T19:46Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Weve got another Brian Robinson story today. We recently featured one of his two Tour de France stage wins Britains first and said that Brian was also the first Brit to get a place in the European pro peloton. This story told to Chris in [----] by Brian is how he got into one of the biggest teams St Raphael whose jersey hes wearing here. I didnt have anywhere I could call a home after the start of the [----] Tour which was the first one we had a British team in. I lived out of my suitcase riding criteriums and sleeping in peoples spare rooms even their sofas. Once the racing ended in October I"
X Link 2025-04-05T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Chris Boardman riding for Gan at the start of the [----] Porthole GP a British time trial with a very continental feel. And no wonder it did the race was sponsored by the stylish gentleman in the hat an Italian called Gianni Berton who owned the Porthole restaurant in Bowness on Windermere. The Porthole GP was a regular fixture and was originally a complete circuit of Lake Windermere just over [--] miles. Then traffic lights were installed on a junction and that prevented the circumnavigation and cut the distance to [----] miles. It was still hard and hilly and a British classic because of its"
X Link 2025-04-05T11:05Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"What must it feel like to be Tadej Pogaar Like a bird in flight Like a cheetah in full stride Like the wind His final attack on the Kwaremont in the closing stages of the Tour of Flanders was a thing of beauty. It was power dedication talent and desire in one irresistible move made even better by it being his last chance in the race. "He had few chances to break it. He had to drop Van der Poel on the Kwaremont otherwise it would have been impossible to win but he did it" former pro Allan Peiper told the Belgian journal Sporza after the race. Peiper and Pogaar have history. Peiper was his team"
X Link 2025-04-10T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Geraint Thomas in the pink jersey of the [----] Giro dItalia a race he would probably have won but for a storming time trial ride close to the end by Primoz Roglic. The pink jersey or Maglia Rosa to give it its Italian title denotes the leader of the race. It first appeared in the [----] Giro and is pink because the pages of the sports newspaper that founded the race La Gazzetta dello Sport are pink. The first Maglia Rosa won by the Italian racer Francesco Camusso had a roll-neck collar and front pockets for food. The only marking on it was a grey shield in the middle of the chest which bore the"
X Link 2025-04-20T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Barry Hoban has left the building. If that sounds flippant its not meant to be. The fact is in British cycling in the lives of his family and everyone who knew him Barrys passing has left an Elvis-sized hole. Barry first came into my life when I was young child and I was immediately in awe of him. I still am but for different reasons. I came to know him because he married Tom Simpsons widow Helen and that came with a lot of responsibility. For a start Helen and Tom had two very young children Jane and Joanne and Barry was suddenly responsible for them their growing their maturing everything"
X Link 2025-04-21T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Barry Hoban - Our Obituary Yesterday Chris Sidwells wrote about Barry Hoban the man. Today he pays tribute to Barry Hoban the talented cyclist looking back on his racing career. Barry Hoban eyes on fire chiselled legs pounding the pedals every sinew straining. The arm in air the huge toothy grin another race won- that was Barry Hoban the cyclist on days like these he used to say: I was Electrique. There were plenty of them. Barry was born in Wakefield West Yorkshire on 5th February [----] and grew up in the connected coal mining village of Stanley. His first encounter with cycling was in the"
X Link 2025-04-22T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Chris' book tour starts next week With glowing reviews from our last book tour secure your tickets now to see Chris live in action - expect great stories from the legends of Flanders exclusive interviews and unseen photos of all your favourite Flandriens. Chris will stay after each talk for a chat ready to share even more stories and memories. Tuesday 13th May - The Cyclist Cafe York Wednesday 14th May - Manchester Velodrome Thursday 15th May - Alf Jones Cycles Wrexham Thursday 22nd May - Vive le Velo Hull Wednesday 28th May - Cotswold Cycles Moreton-in-Marsh Thursday 29th May - Giant Paddock"
X Link 2025-05-07T14:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"By now you all know Simon Yates won the [----] Giro dItalia with nobody more pleased for him than his identical twin brother Adam. But todays photo was taken when they were [--] and their bikes were their biggest distinguishing feature - one rode red the other blue. Can you tell who rode which Chris took the picture as part of the first big magazine feature ever written about the Yates twins. It was a My Favourite Ride' piece in Cycling Weekly and their mum and dad contributed. We thought it might be fun to publish an extract for you today. Mum first When they were really young and they wanted to"
X Link 2025-06-02T06:00Z [----] followers, 17.9K engagements
"Yesterday we mentioned the super-steep Alto de lAngliru climb in northern Spain todays photo is Chris Froome racing up Italys version Monte Zoncolan on stage [--] of the [----] Giro dItalia. Situated deep in the Carnic Alps in the north-eastern corner of Italy close to the Austrian border and not so far from Slovenia Monte Zoncolan is so extreme we think it could be the toughest climb in racing. Let us know if you agree or not of course. Its western ascent is so steep for so long that like El Angliru it was only accessible for racing after the development of compact chainsets. The low gears allow"
X Link 2025-06-04T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"The under-23 womens team we are deeply involved with Simpson-Nouvelles is competing today in Belgium in its first UCI [---] race of the year. Its called the GP Mazda-Schelkens after its sponsor but is also known as the Stan Ockers Classic. Ockers being the [----] mens road race world champion who died in a tragic racing accident in [----] and the man in todays photo. It was taken in Amsterdam the day before the start there of the [----] Tour de France the first time the Tour ever started outside of its home country. The first stage went from Amsterdam to Brasschaat in the Antwerpen province of"
X Link 2025-06-09T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Nicholas Frantz the second Luxembourg Tour de France winner after Francois Faber but the first of a new breed of champion cyclist. The son of a wealthy farmer Frantz didnt need to race on a bike to make money. It wasnt his way out of poverty as it was for many others of his era. He just loved it had amazing talent and an unbreakable body. In this photo Frantz is just starting to climb the Col du Tourmalet in the [----] Tour. Hes chasing Giovanni Gordini who we featured yesterday and would win the stage from Bayonne to Luchon by [--] minutes. That put him in the yellow jersey and Frantz"
X Link 2025-06-14T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Until his defeat in [----] Eddy Merckx had won every Tour hed competed in so five out of five for Belgium. Belgium was back winning in [----] this time through a completely different kind of rider. Lucien Van Impe star of todays photo had won the Tours king of the mountains title three times already by the end of [----] and would win three more but he had his eye on a bigger prize in [----]. It was a mountainous edition and Van Impes target going in was the yellow jersey in Paris. He won it too and won in the way only a true climber can win with one glorious attack in the mountains. It was on stage"
X Link 2025-06-20T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This week marks a new chapter for the Simpson Nouvelles U23 women's team as they have now relocated to Belgium - following the same path Tom Simpson took in pursuit of his professional dreams. The riders are based in a team house racing kermesses and taking on elite competition from across Europe. Theyre also joined by the teams latest signing double Junior World Champion Nicole Duncan as their summer campaign gets underway. In a nod to Tom Simpsons famous Ghent-based supporter's club the team is also relaunching its own. Joining the Simpson Nouvelles Supporters Club helps cover the many"
X Link 2025-06-20T12:24Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is the [----] Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt on his recce of the same race in [----] when Chris went with him. Backstedt was on his way back to form after time out due to severe shoulder injuries he sustained in a crash and needed to test his recovery. After refamiliarising himself with several cobbled sectors the Swedish rider chose one of the worst La Tranchee dArenberg for the test. He did a series of four repeats for the whole length of the sector all done on the cobbles in the direction of the race route with a slow ride back on the adjacent cinder path. The last run was the big"
X Link 2025-06-22T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Seamus (Shay) Elliott leading the first Irishman to win a stage and wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France the first to win a medal in the elite road race world championships (silver). The first Irishman to break into the pro peloton and make a living at what was then for all native English speakers an alien sport. He had to live in France to do it his chance coming after winning a place on a French training camp in [----] when he was the Irish amateur road race champion. He graduated to a place in the ACBB club in Paris and after winning several high profile French amateur races"
X Link 2025-06-23T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Wed like to think this is the Service de Course HQ and base of operations for the once great Peugeot-sponsored Parisian cycling club Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB). Unfortunately weve no idea if it is but its a great photo and provides an excuse to tell this story. Its about the Irish triple-crown (1987 Giro Tour and worlds) winner and it happened when he was [--]. After a steady start Roche quickly became the best amateur in Ireland and in [----] won the legendary Ras Tailteann a week-long stage race with a history dating back to [----]. Its a hard race and at [--] Stephen Roche is its"
X Link 2025-06-25T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Andr Darrigade of France winning stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France one of [--] Tour de France stages he won during his career. If anyone can be called the first of the great roadman sprinters its this man. At least we think so let us know if you disagree. Charles Plissier won [--] stages during his career including a record [--] in one Tour but without ever winning the race overall. However bunch sprints werent a thing in the late 1920s and early 30s when he raced. They became more common through the late 1940s and into the 50s and thats when Andr Darrigade became their master. Hes from Les"
X Link 2025-06-26T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Jacques Anquetil lost in thought. Maitre Jacques was the imperious king of late 1950s and early 1960s cycling although as Chris found out while researching the third in our illustrated book series Cycling Legends [--] Jacques Anquetil the man behind the mask that was how the public saw him. It wasnt how or who he was. Jacques was superstitious needy self-centred and just to add another layer to his personality puzzle enigmatic. He seemed to have many friends but in truth relied on just three the best team director he ever had Raphael Geminiani his most trusted team mate Jean Stablinski and his"
X Link 2025-06-28T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Greg LeMond at [--] and this is how he started out in cycling. Like most kids he had a bike growing up but was introduced to the idea of training on it during a freestyle skiing camp in [----]. Skiing was LeMonds sport at that time. It appealed to his love of adventure and a need to push his limits. His hero was Wayne Wong a pioneer of freestyle skiing and inductee of the Canadian Ski and the US Ski and Snowboard Halls of Fame. Wong led the ski camp and suggested LeMond took up cycling during the off-season because it was something Wong and a lot of top skiers did. So once the roads were"
X Link 2025-06-29T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Back in the 1910s 20s and into the 1930s cycling was big in the US. Track cycling and in particular six-day racing. Indeed the Madison was invented there named after Madison Square Gardens home of the New York Six-Day for many years. But after the Second World War there was a decline. Racing went on in particular in enclaves where European immigrants lived. Very few American cyclists were known outside those areas and certainly not in Europe. Then almost out of the blue in [----] the woman in todays photo Audrey McElmury won the womens road race world title in Brno in what was then"
X Link 2025-07-02T07:44Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"🎧 New Feed Zone Episode OUT NOW Is it all over before a wheel has turned or will there be some twists and turns on the road from Lille to the Champs Elysees [--] years after the peloton first graced cyclings second-most famous cobbles Join the team and a very special guest to preview the 112th Tour de France. No matter what we think it will be a cracker 📷 ASO 🎙 @TheGaryFairley @ChrisSidwells & David Stanley 🎶The Cycling Legends Podcast - Available on all good podcast sites #Cycling #CyclingLegends #Podcast #CyclingPodcast #FeedZone"
X Link 2025-07-02T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Peter Kennaugh -who has been doing sterling work throughout ITVs final year of free-to-air Tour de France coverage - also holds the lap record on the Isle of Man TT circuit albeit on a human-powered bicycle rather than a motorbike. This famed route better known in cycling circles as the Mountain Circuit is celebrated for its role in the Manx International road race. Originally established for motorcycle competition in [----] the 37.5-mile course weaves through twisting bends and challenging climbs cresting at Snaefell the islands highest point at [---] metres. While the TTs reputation was forged"
X Link 2025-07-09T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"In April this year the world of cycling lost a giant and the Cycling Legends family lost an uncle a friend and an inspiration when legendary British racer Barry Hoban passed away at the age of [--]. Barry rode no fewer than [--] Tours de France between [----] and [----]. He would go on to win [--] stages along the way setting a British record that would stand until Mark Cavendish surpassed that total in [----] In [----] Chris Sidwells sat down with Barry to record a series of chats about his first experiences of riding cyclings iconic races. In this episode Barry talks to Chris about riding his first Tour"
X Link 2025-07-09T11:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Jacques Anquetil: the man behind the mask is the third edition in our Cycling Legends Collection an illustrated book series that reveals the untold stories and unseen photos from cyclings rich history. With foreword by Sir Paul Smith who as well as being an incredibly successful fashion designer is an avid cycling fan. Growing up during the era of Jacques Anquetils dominance he tells us how he would save up his pocket money to buy a copy of LEquipe but only if Jacques Anquetil was on the front cover. This book goes into who Jacques really was behind the image he portrayed to the media and"
X Link 2025-07-11T07:16Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"So much going on in this photo of the Italian star Fiorenzo Magni. First of all whats he holding between his teeth Magni crashed on stage [--] of the [----] Giro dItalia and broke his right collar bone. He continued racing pain was something Magni could handle what he couldnt handle though was being uncompetitive. He couldnt pull on his handlebars with his right arm so Magnis mechanic cut an inner tube of an old tyre tied one end to Magnis handlebars and when Magni needed extra leverage he put the other end between his teeth and pulled on that. The other big thing is his jersey or rather its"
X Link 2025-07-12T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Yesterday we wrote about the [----] Tour de France and the goings on between powerful riders agents that helped shape it. What we didnt intend to do was in any way denigrate its winner. This man Federico Bahamontes of Spain. He was a superb climber nicknamed the Eagle of Toledo because of the way he soared over mountains usually on his own. That ability brought him six king of the mountains titles in the Tour de France as well as overall victory in [----]. Bahamontes was born in Toledo in [----] part of a poor family that had been rich before the Spanish Civil War. Whether it was because of that we"
X Link 2025-07-14T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Yesterday we looked at the early life of one of the two great climbers who had the best nicknames in cycling the Eagle of Toledo Federico Bahamontes. Today well look at the later life of the other this man - Charly Gaul of Luxembourg who was the Angel of the Mountains. Charly Gaul was an amazing climber who won the [----] Tour de France and [----] Giro dItalia by wasting the field in each race on one big mountain day in. He was devastating but looked glorious angelic even as he flew up the biggest climbs. But although Gaul climbed like an angel he was far from angelic in real life. Hed been a"
X Link 2025-07-15T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"🎶New Episode of the Cycling Legends Podcast🎶 🎙@ChrisSidwells sits down with Richard Oakes. Richard Oakes was a successful junior racer before pursuing a high-flying business career. He returned to top-level competition in [----] in a personal quest to see how fast he could go. In the course of doing so he has won masters titles on the track at national and world level and in [----] at the age of [--] set a new Masters Hour World Record. In [----] he published The Equation co-written with our very own Chris Sidwells. Richard sat down with Chris recently to talk about the book which isnt so much a"
X Link 2025-07-15T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"In the winter of [----] the manager of the French Renault team Cyrille Guimard (left) and its star rider Bernard Hinault (centre) visited [--] year-old Greg LeMond (right) and his parents at their home in the US. They talked a lot especially about Gregs future got to know each other and posed for photos like this one. Heres Guimard talking about why he and Hinault made that long journey. Id heard about Greg for a while. People told me hed make a good pro so in [----] found out where his next race was and went to watch. It was the last stage of Ruban-Granitier in Brittany. LeMond got in the winning"
X Link 2025-07-16T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"🎧 New Feed Zone Episode OUT NOW Crosswinds crashes and chaos marked the opening few stages of this year's and there seems to have been no let-up in the crazy ever since. Walker from Yellowstone wins a stage and leads GC but will things be more Rip Wheeler than Beth Dutton in the second week Gary Chris David and John look back at a most atypical first week and ask for just how long will Irish eyes keep smiling as the battle for the Geansa Bu picks up and the Rs na Francach moves into the Pyrenees And in trying to improve his Tadejness has Jonas somehow lost a little of his essential Jonasness"
X Link 2025-07-16T11:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"For those new to Cycling Legends Media all the words you read on this page are by Chris Sidwells. Chris is a well known cycling author journalist historian and the nephew of the great Tommy Simpson. It was Tom who set Chris out on his writing journey over [--] years ago and Tom Simpson is the very first book in our Cycling Legends Collection. It tells the story of who Tom was his ability as a cyclist the way he raced how he won and lost. But its also so much more than that. Alongside years of conversations with Toms family Chris has met and spoken with many of Toms rivals teammates managers"
X Link 2025-07-17T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"To celebrate brave Ben Healys yellow jersey were looking back to another era of Irish grand tour greatness. The time when Irish riders won all three grand tours in a row. Stephen Roche kicked things off with his [----] Giro Tour double which became THE triple when he won the [----] world title. Then Sean Kelly won the [----] Vuelta a Espaa when it started in April. Lots has been written about Stephens golden year so well look at Seans Spanish exertions. The [----] Vuelta was less mountainous than previous years which helped Kelly. It also started in the Canary Islands in an effort to shake off the"
X Link 2025-07-17T12:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is Maurice Garin (right with Leon Georget left) winner of the first ever Tour de France in [----] and this is the colourful story of his early life. He was born in the Aosta valley in the Italian Alps so close to the French border his native language was French. After he won the Tour many articles said that Garin was swapped by his father for some cheese when he was young which is why he grew up in northern France. But while many children were traded for goods in the poorer areas of France even babies and many died Garins early story was much kinder although still tough and hard to"
X Link 2025-07-18T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This steely eyed young man was a demon on a bike. Hes called Fred Hamerlinck and in the 1920s and 30s when pro kermesse racing in Flanders was a very lucrative cycling world of its own he was king. So prolific that in [----] he won five kermesses in one week. Hamerlinck was third in the Tour of Flanders that year too and was so good so highly regarded that the Belgian cycling authorities talked him into riding the Tour de France in [----]. Hamerlinck won the first stage and he won again a few days later in Bordeaux but he didnt enjoy it. He didnt like racing in France he didnt like the heat of"
X Link 2025-07-23T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"🎶 New Cycling Legends Podcast out now Greg Lemonds first Tour de France victories are writ large in the history of the race; his duel to the (almost) bitter end with team mate Bernard Hinault in [----] and then snatching the Yellow Jersey from Laurent Fignon by a mere eight seconds [--] years later. Twelve months on from that momentous historic afternoon on the Champs Elysees Lemond won his third Tour de France and in doing so joined an exclusive club alongside Philippe Thys Louison Bobet Jacques Anquetil Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Gary Fairley looks back at an edition of cyclings greatest"
X Link 2025-07-23T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is a still from the film Stars and Water Carriers by Danish film director Jorgen Leth. It was shot during the [----] Giro dItalia and was the first of three films that are among the most celebrated in cycling. Leth needed someone inside the pro peloton to make the films happen and that man was fellow Dane and former World Hour Record holder Ole Ritter. This is what Ritter told Chris about Stars and Water Carriers and its Genesis in [----]. I met Jorgen when he was a young journalist in Denmark. He was writing poems and small things but he was very enthusiastic about cycling and said that if"
X Link 2025-07-29T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Todays photo is massive. This image represents a game changer for womens cycling. By cutting through the noise to the front page of The Wall Street Journal Pauline Ferrand-Prevots Tour de France victory at the weekend placed womens cycling firmly in the media spotlight. David Walters the manager of the womens under [--] team were involved with Simpson-Nouvelles has been involved with womens cycling for a long time heres what he says it means. "The way this race has caught the collective imagination not only with cycling fans but with wider media has turned a page for women's cycling. The way"
X Link 2025-08-07T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Miguel Indurain of Spain was one of the greatest time-triallists theres ever been. He could do everything else too which is why he was the first to win five consecutive Tours. But the time trial was his art form and his masterpiece was stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. It was [--] kilometres long and undulated up down and around the hills surrounding Luxembourg city. Indurains time was an incredible [--] hour [--] minutes [--] minutes ahead of 2ndplace Armand de-Las Cuevas of France and nearly [--] ahead of the Italian road race world champion Gianni Bugno. Indurain the Rocket LEquipes headline declared"
X Link 2025-08-10T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is Fausto Coppi (right) with Giulia and their child Faustino. Giulia was Coppis second wife but not before a scandal that rocked Italy and made the lives of two people who simply loved each other very difficult. Before Fausto Giulia was married to a doctor called Locatelli. He loved cycling and one day after a race they were both at Locatelli asked Giulia to approach Coppi for his autograph. She did but the champion made a great impression on her and she on him. Soon they were exchanging letters then phone conversations and secret meetings. Coppi was unhappy. He believed his first wife"
X Link 2025-08-17T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"George Pilkington Mills (2nd left in this image) was the supreme long-distance cyclist of his generation. He started at the age of [--] and early promise saw him recruited by the elite Anfield Cycling Club which contained most of the top long-distance racers in the UK. In [----] and still only [--] Mills set a new British 24-hour record of [---] miles riding a Penny-Farthing. The race he set the record in was called the Anfield 24-hour and Mills repeated his victory the following year. But an even more remarkable achievement came later in [----] when he rode a Penny-Farthing from Lands End to John"
X Link 2025-08-20T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Another exciting announcement for Simpson Retro Joining our retro bike display will be Jan Ullrich's Pinarello low-profile time trial bike in Deutsche Telekom colours. Ullrich won the [----] Tour de France and was runner-up five times between [----] and [----]. He won the Vuelta a Espaa in [----] as well as Olympic gold in the road race and silver in the time trial at Sydney [----]. You can see this bike in person at Simpson Retro in Harworth North Nottinghamshire part of the wider Tom Simpson Cycling Festival in September. The retro bike and car display will be on from 12pm on Saturday 13th September"
X Link 2025-08-21T12:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"On May 10th this year Vittoria Bussi of Italy set a new World Hour Record for women of [------] kilometres beating the old record which she also set by [---] metres. That record was in turn over [--] kilometre further than 5-time time trial world champion Ellen Van Dijks of the Netherlands world record set in [----]. Van Dijk is well known shes been part of the womens WorldTour for some time although in April this year she announced she will retire at the end of this road season but you may not have heard of Bussi. The reason shes a specialist. A specialist in the Hour Record she held it once before"
X Link 2025-08-22T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Were delighted to announce a new team car at Simpson Retro this year Steve Grimwood of Elmy Cycles is bringing his lovingly restored 1960s Alfa Romeo that serviced the Italian Salvarani team. Genuine team cars from the past have been part of Simpson Retro for several years now and most of our regulars like Bob Johnsons Bianchi-Campagnolo car and Richard Disbrows Peugeot-BP-Michelin cars will be with us again this year. The Salvarani Alfa known as alfabetti66 on Instagram where it has a large following will be a great addition because Salvarani is the team Tom had signed to join in [----]. Thats"
X Link 2025-08-25T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Dali Hemingway Picasso Er Elton John Things get surreal as the Vuelta a Espana heads to Salvador Dali country and little - if any - of it is related to the racing of bicycles. Doncaster celebrates a Grand Tour victory presumably while Visma Lease-a-Bike were too busy filling in the insurance paperwork after their entire fleet of race bikes evaporated so we wonder just how hard can it be to fit a decent bike lock. Almost as hard as fitting a GPS tracking device in Romandie it would appear. Photo: The Team Time Trial is one of the most spectacular sights in cycling as demonstrated by Team"
X Link 2025-08-27T17:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Hes not wearing it in this shot because it was taken the year before there was a rainbow jersey but the man on the left Alfredo Binda was the first to wear it. The occasion was another first the first mens professional road race world title in [----]. Binda won and repeated the victory in [----] and [----]. He also won six monuments and is a five-time Giro dItalia winner. The rainbow bands on the jerseys white background represent the colours of all the countries that competed in the [----] Olympic Games which is when the Olympic rings first appeared on a flag. The creator of the modern games Baron"
X Link 2025-08-31T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Tom Simpson led the Peugeot-BP-Michelin team from [----] until his death in [----]. It was a French cycling institution that had been in existence since the start of pro cycling and would continue in different iterations into the 2000s. In that time the team won almost everything but Tom Simposn added a rich slice to its history with [--] monuments Bordeaux-Paris his world title and Paris-Nice victories as well as two stages of the Vuelta a Espana all in Peugeot colours. The car is a Peugeot [---] adapted for bike race support with itss custom roof rack designed to carry as many spare bikes and wheels"
X Link 2025-09-04T12:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"The public either sponsors or cycling fans are incredibly important to elite sport; they are how and why it happens. Most pro cyclists understand that and show great patience. A few are exceptional one of those was Stephen Roche. Heres an example. At the height of his fame Roche was riding a stage race and after his team had dinner some businessmen who were staying at the same big hotel started chatting with him. They invited him to sit with them and the conversation went on and on. The guys were really enjoying it but time was slipping by. Eventually but well after his bedtime Roche managed"
X Link 2025-09-05T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Marcel Kint the serious looking rider with his arms folded on the right of this [----] photo was a Belgian cyclist known to fans as the Black Eagle. Like many of his compatriots he was a single day race specialist and although he won Paris-Roubaix and Ghent-Wevelgem he loved the hills. He won La Fleche Wallonne [--] years in succession and the [----] mens professional road race world championships on a very hilly circuit in Amstel Gold country. It climbed the infamous Cauberg [--] times Kint had a great career especially for a rider who gave [--] years in the middle of it to the Second World War. He was"
X Link 2025-09-15T06:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Its [----] and Stephen Roche of Ireland has just done what only Eddy Merckx had done before and only Tadej Pogacar since; hes won the mens pro road race world title after winning the Giro dItalia and Tour de France in the same year. This is how he did it. Eddy Merckx said the Villach circuit in Austria was for sprinters but it was raining and a lot more rolling than Eddy must have seen. Roche and the other Irish favourite Sean Kelly stayed close to the front but without committing to breakaways. With one lap to go [--] riders were in contention with Roche committed to helping Kelly who he thought"
X Link 2025-09-28T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This was peak Tom Simpson. Winning the Tour of Flanders at [--] in his first attempt was incredible. Following it with the Tour de France yellow jersey Bordeaux-Paris and Milan-San Remo was unprecedented. Hes still the only British male to have won more than one monument. In fact only one other British man has ever won one. This though was more. Wearing the [----] world champions rainbow jersey Tom is now on his way to winning Il Lombardia his third monument just a few weeks after the worlds and winning in spectacular manner. One other rider had ever achieved a rainbow Lombardia before Tom"
X Link 2025-09-29T08:10Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Phil Anderson of Australia was a fearsome natural talent. He could have excelled at any sport but he chose cycling and when he did he was winning from the beginning. He was the rider other Aussies measured themselves against. After he won the [----] Commonwealth Games Road Race gold in Canada at age [--] there was no point staying in Australia Phil needed a much bigger stage to play on. He found it in France where he joined the cycling wing of Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB) in [----] an amateur sports club in Paris. Its A-team cyclists were sponsored by Cycles Peugeot. Phil won [--] big"
X Link 2025-10-03T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Andy Hampsten (2nd right) became the first US rider to win a major European pro stage race when he won the Tour of Switzerland in [----] just weeks before Greg LeMond won the Tour de France. Hampsten made his own grand tour history in [----] when he won the Giro dItalia. Fantastic results especially when he came from somewhere far from US cycling hotspots. Yeah North Dakota. The only people with road bikes near me were a group of [--] or [--] hippies. Some of them had European 10-speeds and there was one bike shop wed hang around that Hampsten told Chris in an interview for the Cycling Legends Podcast."
X Link 2025-10-10T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Nicole Cooke (left) was the first British woman to win a real Tour de France when she won La Grand Boucle in [----]. Millie Robinson had won a race called the Tour de France in [----] but its stages were confined to Normandy so it was really a Tour of Normandy. Cooke won La Grande Boucle again in [----] but a knee injury caused her to miss the world championships. She also lost the lead in the womens UCI World Cup that shed held all year finishing a narrow second to Marianne Vos of the Netherlands. The [----] Olympic Games were held in Beijing China with the womens road race the first event of the"
X Link 2025-10-11T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is Sir Chris Hoy in [----] in the glorious theatre of the high Andes the Velodromo Alto Iparvi. Its an exciting place even without anything happening add in one of the greatest-ever power sprinters of all time going for an audacious world record attempt after a logistics nightmare and you have feature film stuff. Chris Hoys sprinting was a long burst of horsepower; his muscles could drink lactic acid. He was already world champion when in [----] he won the Olympic 1000-metre time trial. But then the IOC removed it one of the longest standing Olympic cycling events from the Games programme"
X Link 2025-10-25T06:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"They say the past is a foreign country and as you can see from this photo it really was. Its from the [----] Tour de France in the days when most of the time the riders were booked into hotels the race organisation provided although not always good ones but sometimes they had to make do with whatever was available. Including in this photo what looks like an army barracks. No information came with this photo except the year and the race but the riders are in race kit so this could be from stage [--] of the [----] Tour which was split into a road race in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon."
X Link 2025-10-26T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"In [----] the Dutch Olympic and world road race champion Hennie Kuiper was drafted into the TI-Raleigh team by its manager Peter Post to win the Tour de France. He had success taking stages and finishing second overall in [----] so it was a surprise when he switched to the French Peugeot-Esso team in [----]. This is what Kuiper says about that in our book Cycling Legends 02: TI-Raleigh. I liked being in the Raleigh team. The team spirit was fantastic. We were all for one and one for all totally committed to each other but I decided that to win the Tour de France I needed a different manager. Post"
X Link 2025-10-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Flanders has its Koppenbergs and Kwaremonts the Tour de France its Galibiers and Tourmalets the Giro its Stelvios the Vuelta its Anglirus. Iconic climbs places to be to ride to watch and remember. And when Europe was divided by an Iron Curtain the communist countries behind it had their own places made famous by cycling. One of them was this the Wall of Meerane. It was in East Germany in the west or the German Democratic Republic (DDR) was its proper name. A 300-metre [--] percent ramp of cobbles in the centre of Chemnitz or Karl-Marx-Stadt as it was and it became famous in cycling because of"
X Link 2025-10-31T07:00Z [----] followers, 29.3K engagements
"This is the track-stand from the days before it was a technique for staying on your bike at traffic lights but instead was a tactical tool used by sprint cyclists. In this case tandem sprinters of Italy Bruno Gonzato and Dino Verzini (leading) and France Daniel Morelon and Pierre Trentin. We were inspired to put this story together by a regular reader of our Photo of the Day slot Syd Wall who remembers a teenage trip to the [----] track world championships in Rome where he witnessed a track stand of [--] minutes during a round of the professional sprint series. Thats a long one but its not the"
X Link 2025-11-01T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Yesterday we featured a story about Fausto Coppi elevating cycling to an art. In contrast todays star had little consideration for aesthetics but boy was he effective. Bernard Hinaults second Tour de France victory in [----] saw him annihilate the field despite early setbacks. It started in Fleurance close to the Pyrenees. There was one flat stage then three in the mountains and Hinault won two of them. He took the yellow jersey on stage [--] and by stage [--] was [--] minute [--] seconds clear of his nearest rival Joop Zoetemelk. The gap flattered Zoetemelk because his team TI Raleigh was by far the best"
X Link 2025-11-05T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is Jacques Anquetil (left) catching and passing fellow Frenchman Raymond Poulidor on stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. It was a 68-kilometre time trial between Bourgoin and Lyon during which Anquetil took the yellow jersey and beat second place Italian Ercole Baldini by nearly [--] minutes and 3rd place Poulidor by over [--]. Cycling was war for Jacques Anquetil and rivalry was his fuel; especially rivalry with Raymond Poulidor. The reason for that rivalry was jealousy. Anquetil was the better rider he was the first man to win the Tour France five times the first after Fausto Coppi of Italy"
X Link 2025-11-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Jan Raas had presence. He was a powerful bike rider with a powerful personality. Strong fast durable Raas was the cobbled classics rider of his generation with victories in the Tour of Flanders (1979 and 1983) and Paris-Roubaix (1982). He was road race world champion in [----] and he won his Dutch home classic Amstel Gold Race five times. He won lots of other single-day races as well as stages in grand tours and he would work for others. There were no days off in stage races for Jan Raas. He was an incredibly loyal team-mate but not a man to disrespect as some Italian fans discovered to their"
X Link 2025-11-09T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Todays photo shows the aftermath of a less reported but very dramatic incident in Tour de France history. It shows the aftermath of an aircraft crash onto the route of stage [--] Luchon to Pau in the [----] Tour de France. The plane was chartered by the premier French sports newspaper LEquipe to carry one of their photographers to get dramatic aerial shots of the race. They turned out to be very dramatic indeed. The plane was circling the Pyrenees when it hit a patch of turbulence while swooping low over the Col du Tourmalet. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. The only way the"
X Link 2025-11-10T10:54Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is the Ginseng Kid; well thats what one British rider called him. For [--] years Henk Lubberding worked in the engine room of Dutch compatriot Peter Posts teams first with TI-Raleigh then Panasonic. Lubberding was the perfect team man and more. Post called him his Third knife because he would work his legs off for others but had the talent to win if called upon. He was also of his age. The Dutch really embraced the 1970s from their Prog Rock bands to liberal laws and attitudes. Henk Lubberding with his long hair love of tie-died T-shirts and flares fitted right in. It was the British 1976"
X Link 2025-11-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Henri Desgrange is the father of the Tour de France the man who made it happen and its first director. He looks stern and he was. A stickler for rules he ruled the Tour with an iron rod but had his moments of rebellion in youth. Like when he was sacked as a young lawyer for exposing his calves in a Paris park That was his first job a 20-something lawyer but at heart a 20-something cyclist. He trained every lunch time with a group of young guys in a local park. Thats where a client of his law firm saw him pedalling furiously along wearing three-quarter cycling trousers and no socks The client"
X Link 2025-11-14T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Trudging along a lonely mountain road eating an apple hours behind the best most of the spectators gone sometimes no idea where they would sleep that night- that was the lot of the touriste-routiers category riders in the early days of the Tour de France. They were individual entrants not part of any team and did the race at their own cost. Some were good and did well enough to get on teams which is probably what these two were hoping. They are Werner Eugen of Switzerland followed by Marcel Gendrin of France. Neither of them achieved that ambition. They were good enough to finish the 1929"
X Link 2025-11-20T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"The madness of Arenberg runs riot in this [----] photo of a crash on the wicked cobblestones of the Tranche (or Troue) dArenberg crux and often turning point of Paris-Roubaix. Its an incredible place to watch the race. The speed the noise the sheer jeopardy of racing there is incredible to witness and it is madness to be in. Ben Turner made his Roubaix debut in [----] finishing a very worthy 11th. Hes a talented experienced cyclo-cross rider with a junior world championship bronze medal. Hes got the strength and skills to have a big future in the cobbled classics but this is what he told our"
X Link 2025-11-22T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This [----] photo marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one in Tour de France history. We see a rider about to remount after shifting gear at the foot of a mountain but its one of the last times we will see photos like this from the Tour. Up to and including the [----] Tour although they were widely used by cyclists even in other races the Tour de France director Henri Desgrange banned the use of derailleur gears in his race. Tour de France bikes had [--] gear ratios facilitated by a [--] smaller and [--] larger sprocket either side of the rear hub. To shift gear riders had to stop and"
X Link 2025-11-24T09:35Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Cycling Legends Podcast Join Chris Sidwells and the team for regular features interviews lively discussions and all the latest in pro cycling. Free on all good podcasting sites With regular co-hosts Gary Fairley and David Stanley"
X Link 2025-11-24T17:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"From the 1960s and through the 70s there was a trend in the Tour de France to have split stages. Thats [--] stages in one day with [--] stage starts and [--] finishes. With towns and cities paying to host the Tour it became quite a lucrative practice for the organisers but the riders hated it. Things came to a head in [----]. Thered already been [--] split stage with stages 1a and 1b as road stages of [---] and [---] kilometres. But there was another this time totalling [---] kilometres in the day. It was too much and the riders went on strike. During stage 12a Tarbes to Valence dAgen the riders didnt race."
X Link 2025-11-25T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Lets talk about Christophe Bassons and the debt cycling owes him. The then very young French pro was with the Festina team in [----] the year the lid was lifted by French customs and police on the doping arms race going on inside mens pro cycling and particularly in the Tour de France. Other idealistic pros had spoken about out before Giles Delion for example. He was a good French rider who won Il Lombardia and the Tour de France white jersey in [----] but no one listened to him then. They listened to Bassons in [----] though. He didnt ride that Tour partly because he was a first-year pro but"
X Link 2025-11-26T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Theres something about this photo that speaks to us. The riders faces for a start. A mix of happy and/or confident smiles a couple look fed up and we arent sure what the dude 2nd right is pulling maybe the camera caught him at the wrong moment. Its the [----] Dutch Tour de France team but this isnt the Tour. Its the start of the Ronde van Wouw a post-Tour criterium. No Dutch riders finished the [----] Tour but it wasnt their fault. The Dutch team had a great Tour until the man on the far right; Wim Van Est ran off the road and plunged into a ravine on the descent of the Aubisque. He was leading"
X Link 2025-11-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"The Grand Dpart in a different country is a regular thing now but the Tour de France was [--] years old before it did it for the first time. The first ever Grand Dpart outside of France was in Amsterdam in [----]. It was a big celebration in the Netherlands. The Olympic Stadium hosted the start with activities buzzing in and around it for days before the Tour start. One of those activities was having top riders do a lap of the velodrome on veteran bikes like [----] Tour winner Hugo Koblet here in our photo. Its the rider on Hugos right his Swiss team-mate Ferdi Kubler we want to talk about but"
X Link 2025-11-28T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Its July 6th [----] - the 14th stage of the Tour de France and Jacques Anquetil believes hes about to die Jacques was complicated outwardly cool but full of conflict and mistaken beliefs. One such belief was astrology and in [----] an astrologer working for a Paris newspaper predicted that Jacques Anquetil would die in that years Tour de France on this stage. Anquetil read it tried put the prediction out of his mind but had a morbid belief he would die young anyway. To make things worse some uncharitable fans had waved copies of it in his face along the route. Stage [--] was the day after a rest"
X Link 2025-12-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"A road race world title and [--] Tour de France stage victories and a total of [--] wins in [----]. Thirteen stages and overall victory in the [----] Vuelta a Espaa with a 12-month total of [--] wins. These are the epic stats achieved by Freddy Maertens (leading in our pic) by the end of [----] and he was only [--]. There would be [--] victories the following year including [--] in the Tour and another green jersey. Then he stumbled. Only two victories in [----] and one in [----]. Hes burnt out we knew it would happen the doom merchants said. But Maertens proved them wrong. He came back in style taking a second road"
X Link 2025-12-04T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This man Michel Pollentier of Belgium won stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France at Alpe dHuez by [--] minute [--] seconds. He took over the race lead but within hours he was thrown off the race. Pollentier had to provide a urine sample at the doping control but there were no chaperones for riders then and after the victory ceremony he disappeared for a while. He eventually arrived at doping control only to be confronted by a very suspicious doctor and no wonder. Two Spanish riders had already been there but the first Antoine Guitierrez had taken so long to supply his sample the doctor asked him to"
X Link 2025-12-10T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Rik Van Looy (left) and Jacques Anquetil (right) ruled late 1950s and early 60s cycling. Rik was number [--] in the classics and Anquetil the grand Tour king. However there was a time at the height of his power that Van Looy believed he could win a grand tour. He had good reason he was twice 3rd in the Vuelta (1959 1960) and was king of the mountains and 4th overall in the [----] Giro dItalia. Anquetil certainly considered Van Looy a legitimate threat so he dealt with him the way that served him so well with treachery. Rik gave Chris Sidwells an example in a long interview in our book about"
X Link 2025-12-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Todays photo is of the Dutchman Peter Post (inside making a Madison change with team-mate Leo Duyndem) taken during his racing career. He was the best of his generation in the once very lucrative world of six-day track racing and a classics winner on the road. However he is most remembered today as the team manager who changed the way teams raced as well as for his uncompromising nature. Racing against Post was hard. He was hard on himself as well as on others but as a manager he sometimes went over the top. But for all those who ended up on the wrong side of him there are many who rate Peter"
X Link 2025-12-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Sir Paul Smith. He knows a thing or two about what looks good and he thinks the Cycling Legends illustrated book series looks very good indeed. Not only that but he also wrote the foreword to Cycling Legends 03: Jacques Anquetil. Sir Paul was a talented cyclist before he entered the fashion industry and Jacques was his teenage hero. He says he used to save his pocket money to buy copies of the French sports newspaper LEquipe from a newsagent in his native Nottingham. But only if it had a photo of Jacques Anquetil on the cover. Well there is an unexpected image of Anquetil on the front"
X Link 2025-12-14T12:45Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Today we take a brief look at the murky world of 1970s pro kermesse racing. Our guide is the late Barry Hoban an 8-time Tour de France stage winner (the photo is from Bordeaux 1969) who was based in Ghent during his long pro career and were using a passage from the autobiography we helped him write and we published Vas-y Barry. When I lived in Belgium there were pro teams that only did the kermesses. Between May and September there was a kermesse somewhere in Belgium nearly every day and some of them were big. A good living could be made by some so good there were strong riders who didnt want"
X Link 2025-12-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"There are so many firsts here. Its the first time the Tour de France has climbed the steep Col de Joux Plane in the High Alps. The lead rider Bernard Hinault is competing in his first Tour (1978 he won it) and somewhere in the crowd a 17-year-old future Tour winner Greg LeMond is watching the race live for the first time. LeMond was a prodigy in the US when in [----] he made his first racing trip to Europe. He quickly became regarded as one there too. The parents of one of his cycling friends Kent Gordis had a house in Switzerland and Gordiss mum piloted the two US juniors on a whirlwind racing"
X Link 2025-12-24T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"How did an Australian swimmer influence the training of this French 1950s Tour de France winner The swimmer was 4-time Olympic gold medallist (as well as [--] silvers) Dawn Fraser. The cyclist was Louison Bobet pictured here in the Olympic stadium Amsterdam at the start of the [----] Tour. It his second of three Tour wins in a row (1953 [----] and 1956). The link was explained to Chris Sidwells by Louisons brother Jean. I read about Dawn Fraser and about how she was using interval training as part of her preparation. I was racing when I read that and Id not heard of any cyclists in the early 1950s"
X Link 2025-12-29T12:11Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Charles Crupelandt the only winner of Paris-Roubaix from Roubaix and on the evidence of this photo owner of the hairiest legs ever seen on a professional cyclist. He was a great rider though. The subject of a painting in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice a war hero and a frustrated talent. Crupelandt had [--] Roubaix victories (1912 and 1914) he won Paris-Tours in [----] when he was also French champion and took [--] stages in the Tour de France before his career was interrupted by the First World War then derailed by the French Cycling Federation. Its a sad story. Tour de France"
X Link 2026-01-01T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Henri Plissier on the final drag into Brianon at the end of stage [--] a 275-kilometre trek through the Alps from Nice. He won the stage and in doing so took the lead of the [----] Tour de France which he eventually won. Henri was the eldest of three Plissier brothers who were all successful pros but Henri was the best; and the most divisive. He always had war going on with someone mostly race organisers but sponsors and the press regularly came under fire from him. He really didnt like the Tour de France director Henri Desgrange who often wrote bad things about him in his newspaper"
X Link 2026-01-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"In [----] Brian Robinson won a Tour de France stage by the 4th largest victory margin ever (20 minutes [--] seconds) on a Raphael Geminiani bike. It wasnt this one but this was a bike Brian owned. In [----] he got hold of a Geminiani frame and the correct parts and had them lovingly restored to look like the one he raced on. Its immaculate too just as it would have looked way back then. Between [----] and [----] Brian raced for one of the biggest and best teams in the sport. From [----] until [----] it was called St Raphael-Geminiani but became Rapha-Gitane (1960 and 1961) then St Raphael-Helyett in 1962."
X Link 2026-01-06T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Look at this its Eddy Merckx (right) and fellow Belgian Herman Van Springel in their successful breakaway towards the end of Paris-Roubaix in [----]. Now look closely at Van Springels wheels- the rims are made from wood. Wood was used for wheel rims before steel and racing cyclists preferred them until the first aluminium alloys of the 1930s because wood rims were lighter than steel. But wood had one advantage over aluminium even in [----] it was stronger more resilient and could absorb shocks better. So why had Van Springel procured a pair of wood rims to help him in this race It was the first"
X Link 2026-01-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Sean Kelly was [--] when he won Milan-San Remo in [----]. It was his 9th monument hed won the last of the previous season Il Lombardia and he looked back to full strength after breaking his collarbone in March [--]. It looked like he would go on forever but this was his last big win. Moreno Argentin of Italy was the race favourite; hed won seven classics and a world title in short order but had never won Milan-San Remo. With three stage wins in Tirreno-Adriatico right before Argentins form was everything it should be and his Ariostea team was committed to helping him. They set the pace from the"
X Link 2026-01-09T07:00Z [----] followers, 15.9K engagements
"Todays photo is from a time that seems like a dream now. A time when briefly cycling became mainstream in the UK. British cyclists dominated the Olympics and our sports awards. Mark Cavendish (now Sir Mark) had raced in the mens elite road race rainbow jersey and Team Sky delivered the Tour de France through another cycling knight Bradley Wiggins - the mainstream media loved him. Brad became Wiggo acted the rock star and played the part. As we know now this wasnt something he was comfortable with but it worked. He looked it played a guitar and knew his music but the music part was real. This"
X Link 2026-01-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Alpe dHuez was the first summit finish in Tour de France history. It was [----] Fausto Coppi won but getting a Tour finish up and down a mountain proved difficult. Also the high mountains werent as accessible as they are now so there werent many spectators. The Tour didnt return until [----] when the world was different Alpe dHuez was developed and the stage a real spectacle. It was won by a Dutchman Hennie Kuiper riding for TI-Raleigh and Dutch riders won [--] of the next [--] Alpe dHuez stages. It became known as Dutch Mountain. Peter Winnen the man in todays photo added [--] pages of his countrys rich"
X Link 2026-01-12T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This is former pro Matt Brammeier Irish road race champion and a valued member of World Tour teams like HTC-Columbia and Quick-Step with his close friend Mark Cavendish. He currently overseas British Cyclings elite road race programme and ran the under [--] academies when BC last had one which is ironic because Brammeier and Cavendish were part of its first intake. It was led by Rod Ellingworth himself a former pro and a mastermind coach. Ellingworth was behind a lot of British Cycling success over the years but he was a tough taskmaster. Hed make us do circuits of a punishment lap if he caught"
X Link 2026-01-13T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Stephen Roche proved he could win the Tour de France with his performance in [----] and he did it with help from a rider of a different age. Raphael Geminiani directed Roches La Redoute team in [----]. A former contender Geminiani steered Jacques Anquetil to victories in the 1960s but he was bang up to date with developments. Roche moved to 3rd overall through the Alps but although he was ahead of the rest he lost time to Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault. But then Hinault crashed badly on stage [--] and Roche started closing. He was a danger again. After riding well to Luz Ardiden on the first stage"
X Link 2026-01-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Looking for some entertainment in these dark winter evenings Then take a look at our Illustrated Book Collection packed full of stories about cyclings rich past from British cycling legend Tom Simpson to the heroes of Flanders. All are written by Chris Sidwells a cycling journalist and author of over [--] years who also happens to be Tom Simpson's nephew Our recent reviews: 'These books are very well written with excellent content and photographs with some great anecdotes. Hard to put down once you start reading. I would recommend them to any cycling fan.' 'I read all four books over Christmas"
X Link 2026-01-15T12:20Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is El Jardinero the Little Gardener (leading). His real name is Luis Herrera and he comes from Fusagasug in Colombia a hot steamy town [----] metres up in the Andes with an average annual temperature of [--] degrees. He was an incredible climber king of the mountains in all [--] grand tours and winner of the [----] Vuelta a Espaa. Luiss mum bought him his first bike. He used it to get to school but was soon following local racers riding to the Alto de Rosas pass which leads to Bogot. They would ride the climb turn around at the top freewheel down and do it again. Luis started copying them"
X Link 2026-01-21T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Tickets for the Tom Simpson Cycling Festival go on sale on Sunday 1st February at 6pm GMT. This is for both Simpson Sportive and Simpson Retro. To keep things simple this year weve created a new Tom Simpson Cycling Festival Facebook page so you can find all our updates in one place: Please give the page a follow to stay up to date with the latest news. A quick reminder of the two main events: Simpson Sportive (Sunday 6th September): Open to all bikes regardless of their age Simpson Retro (Friday 11th - Sunday 13th September): For bikes or trikes built before [----] (or at least look to be)."
X Link 2026-01-21T12:20Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Benoni Beheyt of Belgium crossing the finish line in second place on stage [--] of the [----] Tour de France. Beheyt was world champion a title he won in Ronse Belgium in one of the most controversial finishes of any title race. It gave Beheyt the rainbow jersey but it created a very powerful enemy. That enemy was double world champion and one of only [--] men all Belgians to win all [--] monuments Rik Van Looy. This is Rik putting his side of the story to Chris Sidwells. Chris had asked Beheyt but he wouldnt talk. Let us explain the [----] pro worlds ended in a group sprint. Beheyt won from Van Looy but"
X Link 2026-01-23T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Todays story is about when these team-mates almost came to blows. It happened in [----] but not during the Tour de France which Greg LeMond (left) won and Bernard Hinault finished second. The bond between them frayed there it almost snapped later in a US stage race called the Coors Classic. The Coors Classic ran for [--] years and was part of a LeMond-inspired US cycling boom. Hinault would retire at the end of [----] so with LeMond becoming the first US winner of the Tour de France that year it would be good PR for several reasons if he won the Coors. Their French team was sponsored by a US firm"
X Link 2025-12-28T08:45Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"British cycling legend Hugh Porter (right) is [--] today. Not only was Hugh the professional pursuit world champion [--] times the record until Filippo Ganna beat it in [----] he was a good road racer who became the voice of cycling for the BBC. Porter commentated on the biggest races and his insight and command of English helped viewers understand what was happening in a sport they might not have watched before. Todays story though is about Hughs initiation into six-day racing a side of cycling that was big business and highly competitive when he raced. Best let him tell it I won my first world"
X Link 2026-01-27T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"A new Feed Zone episode is out The world is all over the place and cycling is not immune from the madness. Jay Vine finds a new way to crash in Australia Lucinda Brand is suddenly rubbish* in Belgium and British Cycling finds a way to slight the nations best cyclocross racer. Again. (*Yes were kidding - shes still ace.) 📸 Victor Harbour South Australia [--] January 1999: Stuart OGrady takes stage [--] on the inaugural Santos Tour Down Under and with it the leaders Ochre Jersey which he will wear for the remainder of the race. (Credit: unknown) 🎶 Cycling Legends Podcast - available on all good"
X Link 2026-01-27T12:22Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Although he rode miles in the service of others as one of the most valued team riders of his generation Sean Yates had many personal high points in his long racing career including this the Tour de France yellow jersey in [----]. Yellow jerseys were like London busses for British cycling back then you wait ages then [--] come along at once. Tom Simpson was the first to wear it in [----] then no one did until Chris Boardman won the prologue of the [----] Tour. He wore it for [--] days then no British for [--] then Yates took over for a day. Talking about that years ago before he was involved with several"
X Link 2026-01-28T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Heres an experience many new pros have been through I turned pro in [----] and my first big race was Milan-San Remo. Its a long one so I thought; right Roger De Vlaeminck won this last year so Ill follow him and Ill be okay and I did. If De Vlaeminck took a drink I took a drink. If he went to the front I went to the front. If he stopped for a pee I stopped for a pee. Then on the Capo Berta De Vlaeminck accelerated and I blew to pieces. Like we say an experience many new pros went through but how many would share it in an interview The man in our photo today did. Hes Beat Breu of Switzerland and"
X Link 2026-01-29T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"The first two weeks of April [----] were peak Sean Kelly. It started on April 1st when he was the strongest in the Tour of Flanders but made a tactical error. It left him fuming. He said lots after the finish but what he really meant was: I will get my revenge in Paris-Roubaix. And he did. But between Flanders and Roubaix Kelly did something no contender for either race would do now. He flew with his Skil team to Spain and the following day started the Tour of the Basque Country. He won it he won [--] stages too. On Friday April 6th he flew to Paris ready for Paris-Roubaix on the 8th. Conditions"
X Link 2026-01-30T07:00Z [----] followers, 13.5K engagements
"The moment of truth in Paris-Roubaix [----] as Thomas Wegmuller of Switzerland (leading) and the Belgian Dirk De Mol ride clear of the rest on the Carrefour de lArbre cobbles. De Mol had been in one move or another since the 40-kilometre mark so the finish would see him in the wind for [---] of the [---] kilometres. Everyone thought Wegmuller would win but he didnt. The finish was different. The famous Roubaix Velodrome was being refurbished so the race finished nearer the centre of town on the avenue des Nations-Unies. Its fair to say Wegmuller was the strongest he was a second-year pro and had"
X Link 2026-01-31T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"Weve posted Allan Peiper (centre) a few times but if you keep following us youll soon find out why. Allan packs a lot into life. He left Australia in [----] with a one-way ticket to Belgium intending to become a professional cyclist. And he was almost from the off. Truth is he had to be from the off he had no other way of supporting himself. Luckily at that time almost every day in Flanders there was a kermesse race somewhere and cash prizes could be won. Allan became a professional junior. Every day there was a kermesse within riding distance of his Ghent base living in a unit inside a"
X Link 2026-02-01T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"E is for echelon: A word used in non-cycling English to describe a military formation but more of that later. In cycling its used to describe a formation adopted by groups of riders in races to combat crosswinds. This group is the Saxo Bank team taken during the team time trial stage of the [----] Eneco Tour around Sittard in the Netherlands. The formation is led here by the multi-grand tour winner Alberto Contador of Spain. A cycling echelon works the same way as a pace-line or chain gang in the UK except the leading rider or pacesetter takes up a position on the road towards the side the wind"
X Link 2026-02-02T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Do you remember this guy. If you have been following cycling since [----] you will when you read on Hes Giuseppe Guerini an Italian with the German T-Mobile team and a few seconds ago he prized himself clear of the Lance Armstrong-led front group on Alpe dHuez in the [----] Tour. Its stage [--] the halfway point of the race and Armstrong has the yellow jersey. Guerini can climb but hes no threat overall which is why Amstrong has dropped back from the lead in this photo. It serves his purpose if Guerini takes the stage and the bonus seconds that come with victory. There wasnt far to go when the"
X Link 2026-02-03T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"We have had a fantastic response to the Simpson Retro tickets going on sale on Sunday. Tickets for Friday and Saturday especially have sold very quickly. They are already in short supply All available tickets are on sale - once these are gone they are gone. So make sure to get your tickets soon if you are planning to attend Simpson Retro this year. Take a look at our website using the link below to see everything we have planned this year. Some of the highlights include: Friday Night - The live Cycling Legends Podcast is returning. We are thrilled to host the legendary Allan Peiper for an"
X Link 2026-02-03T18:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Patrick Sercu (left) and Eddy Merckx were the best mens Madison team ever. They rode [--] six-day races together and won [--] of them. This is Patrick talking to Chris Sidwells about their meeting and early days together. We had very different backgrounds. The first time I visited Eddys home I thought how well-off his family was compared to us. We still became friends although at first it was only because it was good for us. Eddy was already a brilliant road racer and was a track sprinter but literally by accident. I crashed in a road race in [----] and my injuries prevented me from racing for a"
X Link 2026-02-04T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"See Tom Simpsons bike in this one Its autumn [----] hes just won the professional road race world title and the race is Paris-Tours but hes riding what looks like a single-speed. It wasnt not quite but it was a mad idea cooked up by the race organisers to stop sprinters winning a race that was regarded as a classic. Sprinters got a bad rap in those days. They were somehow seen as malingering chancers who let others do the work then snatched victory at the end. Of course thats too simplistic sprinting is an art requiring strength speed and bravery. Thank goodness attitudes have changed."
X Link 2026-02-05T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"This year we have three brand new routes for Simpson Sportive exploring more of those lovely quiet roads in North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. All routes start and finish at Harworth & Bircotes Town Hall North Nottinghamshire and are mostly flat with just a few punchy climbs to keep things interesting. Choose from three distances - 63km 100km and 161km (100 miles). Simpson Sportive kicks off the eight-day Tom Simpson Cycling Festival on Sunday 6th September; it is open to anyone on any bike. Check out the routes and find out more on our website -"
X Link 2026-02-06T12:34Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Now bear with us on this one Chris is having a bit of a nostalgic wallow today. Not about the two riders in the photo but the yellow top Greg LeMond is wearing. His team-mate the great Bernard Hinault is wearing standard La Vie Claire kit but Greg has gone of a little extra flare with his hooded Assos top. Oh come on If you were into cycling in the 1980s you either had one or wanted one. Those Assos hoodies were the business. Wed not long come out of wool remember where thickness and layers ruled in winter. These tops were thin but warm made from a textile mix that kept its shape due to the"
X Link 2026-02-07T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"We posted recently about Paris-Tours and its 1960s and 70s director the Tour de France director Felix Lvitan. Lvitan treated races as his own as evidenced by his decision to ban derailleurs for Paris-Tours in [----] and [--] shows. It didnt matter what the UCI said if rules didnt suit Lvitan he imposed his own as this extract from the late Barry Hobans autobiography Vas-y Barry shows. (Barry is captured today winning a [----] Tour de France stage in Versailles.) Lvitan used to wind me up hed just overrule judges like the time I won an intermediate sprint in the [----] Tour. There was an overall prize"
X Link 2026-02-08T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Cycling Legends 03: Jacques Anquetil The third book in our illustrated book collection lifts the lid on the man as well as the sporting icon that was Jacques Anquetil. Using first-hand accounts from many who knew him best we reveal the truth about the man who made his own rules. Uncompromising yet fragile brave yet needy logical but superstitious Jacques Anquetil was complicated. The personification of 1960s style and culture his friends were film and music stars but he was a country boy who loved to be alone in nature. Looking for some entertainment in these cold evenings Rated 4.87/5 'Worth"
X Link 2026-02-08T15:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Heres your cycling Wheres Wally courtesy of the [----] Tour de France. Well nearly Wheres Wally competitor number [--] Georges Fleury of the Globe team is a good resemblance but not quite the right mix of stripes. Seriously though we picked this photo because its so representative of the early 20th century a time or rapid change and contrast between old and more modern times. The relatively new sport invention in fact of cycle racing mixed with the old horse and carriage. The still primitive mostly gravel road mixed with cobbled firm support for tramlines the tram having been introduced in Europe"
X Link 2026-02-09T09:01Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Sean Kelly along with Bernard Hinault (left) and Phil Anderson (right) and Kelly is making history in the [----] Tour de France. After [--] years as a professional hes graduated from team helper who could win to leader of a team built around him. That team was Sem-France Loire-Campagnolo and it was created by Kellys mentor the Frenchman Jean De Gribaldy. It was De Gribaldy who travelled to Ireland to sign the then amateur to the Flandria team in [----] and De Gribaldy who guided his progress to become what he knew Kelly would be a great champion. Kelly was ready and confident enough to"
X Link 2026-02-10T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"We are delighted to announce Allan Peiper as our guest of honour at the live podcast and dinner event that kicks off the Simpson Retro [----] weekend which this year will be held from Friday 11th September to Sunday 13th September with event HQ at Harworth & Bircotes Town Hall. You can get your tickets here but be quick there are not many left For me Chris Sidwells it will be a welcome reunion. Right at the start of my writing career I had Allan in my sights as an interview subject. Hed always stood out not just because of his prodigious talent but because of his struggle to get there"
X Link 2026-02-10T17:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"In [----] Tadej Pogaar will try something only [--] other men have ever achieved and [--] of them feature in todays photo. Felice Gimondi (centre) and Eddy Merckx (right) won the Tour de France Giro dItalia and Paris-Roubaix so did Fausto Coppi and Bernard Hinault. They are the [--]. Its a rare achievement because Paris-Roubaix is a total outlier compared to the others [--]. Its not just they are stage races or even grand tours and Paris-Roubaix a single-day they are different down to their DNA with Roubaix demanding a very particular talent. Only the very best have enough to win them all. Gimondi did it"
X Link 2026-02-11T07:00Z [----] followers, [----] engagements
"🎶 Cycling Legends Podcast - Feedzone 26-3 Crashes retiring team mates and departing coaches: is something rotten in the state of Denmarks GC heros team Just what does it take to impress Roger De Vlaeminck Not an eighth world cyclocross title it appears. Have cycling fans gone mad (again) Chris David and Gary ponder all this and more in the latest Feed Zone. 📸 He is perhaps regarded more highly as a coach/DS but with no fewer than [--] Tour de France winners under his tutelage Cyrille Guimard was no slouch on the bike winning [--] Tour de France and [--] Vuleta a Espana stages between [----] and 1974."
X Link 2026-02-13T13:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"This is Sjef Jansen a Dutchman at the end of the [----] Tour de France. He looks very happy and the [----] Tour was a happy one. Europe had just emerged from the Second World War the Tour was too much to organise at first but everyone was glad when it returned. Europe suffered in the war and the Netherlands suffered as much as any other country maybe more. There was a great feeling of relief in the country when it was over. Heres one early post-war baby the [----] world champion and classics winner Hennie Kuiper talking about his childhood. I was born in [----] and remember growing up at a beautiful"
X Link 2026-02-06T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Invitation to The Equation Live event in London You may have seen the book we co-produced and Chris co-wrote with multi masters world champion and creative entrepreneur Richard Oakes - 'The Equation'. Richard will be presenting an Equation Live event along with Chris at The Clubhouse 1a Putney Embankment London SW15 1LB at 7pm Thursday 26th February. Theyd love you to join them. Event Overview An evening with Richard Oakes presents The Equation Live using cycling to explore modern life purpose and progress with his book co-creator Chris Sidwells of Cycling Legends Media and U23 riders from"
X Link 2026-02-12T13:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Andr Leducq a French double Tour de France winner taking part in the [----] Paris-Roubaix which he also won. Hes one of several riders from the [----] to 1950s who became sports writers when they stopped racing. Writing was a gift Leducq always had which made him a godsend for harassed editors because he could write his own race reports. Weve used some of Leducqs words in todays post. This is him describing his mental checklist at the start of Paris-Roubaix: I inflated my tyres to the right pressure. Then I carefully checked my pockets to see I hadnt forgotten anything: a small Allen key a spare"
X Link 2026-02-13T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Cycling Legends 04: Flandriens The latest book in our illustrated book collection explores what it means to be a true Flandrien. Covering stories from the likes of Briek Schotte Rik Van Looy the De Vlaeminck's Tom Boonen and other legends of Flanders. Using personal interviews by Chris Sidwells with insights and stories you won't find anywhere else. With beautiful photos on high quality paper this book makes for great reading. Get your copy here - 'Excellent accounts lavishly illustrated with wonderful photographs which benefit greatly from being displayed in the large format pages that the"
X Link 2026-02-14T12:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Eddy Merckx is [--] still the GOAT of mens cycling with the record for both grand tour and monument victories. Hes done everything won everything and is the number [--] but even he had to learn. When Eddy Merckx was young he had a coach the man in our photo today Felicien Vervaecke. When the teenage Eddy met him Vervaecke owned a bike shop in the northern Brussels suburb of Laeken. It was called Au Roi de la Montagne and Vervaecke was the Tour de France king of the mountains in [----] and [----]. He also finished on the Tour de France podium [--] times with 3rd in [----] and [----] then 2nd overall in 1938."
X Link 2026-02-15T07:00Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"Cycling Legends 04: Flandriens The latest book in our illustrated book collection explores what it means to be a true Flandrien. Covering stories from the likes of Briek Schotte Rik Van Looy the De Vlaeminck's Tom Boonen and other legends of Flanders. Using personal interviews by Chris Sidwells with insights and stories you won't find anywhere else. With beautiful photos on high quality paper this book makes for great reading. Get your copy here - 'Excellent accounts lavishly illustrated with wonderful photographs which benefit greatly from being displayed in the large format pages that the"
X Link 2026-02-14T12:30Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
"🎶 Cycling Legends Podcast - Feedzone 26-3 Crashes retiring team mates and departing coaches: is something rotten in the state of Denmarks GC heros team Just what does it take to impress Roger De Vlaeminck Not an eighth world cyclocross title it appears. Have cycling fans gone mad (again) Chris David and Gary ponder all this and more in the latest Feed Zone. 📸 He is perhaps regarded more highly as a coach/DS but with no fewer than [--] Tour de France winners under his tutelage Cyrille Guimard was no slouch on the bike winning [--] Tour de France and [--] Vuleta a Espana stages between [----] and 1974."
X Link 2026-02-13T13:07Z [----] followers, [---] engagements
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