2 JULY 1903
PARIS DAY BY DAY
By Special Wire from Our Own Correspondent
Paris, Wednesday Night
Sixty cyclists left Villeneuve Saint Georges, a southern suburb, this afternoon, under a scorching sun, for a tremendous race, called the tour of France. The total course mapped out is 1,506 miles long. It is to be covered in six stages, and within 19 days. The energetic cyclists are tonight travelling due south, and will reach Lyon tomorrow. The next stage, which will provide a warm journey, will be to Marseille. Those of the racers who are not roasted by then will work up from Marseille to Toulouse, thence to Bordeaux and to Nantes, and, finally back to Paris, where the finish will take place on the Parc des Princes cycling track at Auteuil, on 19 July.
4 JULY 1903
CYCLING AND MOTORING
The great French road race, the ‘Tour de France’, began on 1 July, and will finish on 19 July. It is being run in stages, the finishing points of those sections being Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris, the total distance amounting to 1,500 miles. Sixty cyclists started on Wednesday for the first stage, among them being such well known roadmen as Maurice Garin, Pasquier, Auconturier, Muller and Joseph Fischer. Garin was the first man to reach Lyon, covering the 285 miles in 17 h 45 m 13 s. This gives an average speed of over 16 mph, a fine performance for an unpaced rider. The veteran Garin was expected to distinguish himself, but the surprise of the race was provided by a novice, Pagie, who was less than a minute behind the leader. The next stage to Marseille will be run tomorrow.
11 JULY 1903
CYCLING AND MOTORING
The ‘Tour de France’, of which the third stage from Marseille to Toulouse has just been concluded, has furnished the remarkable experience of a neck and neck finish between four men at the end of a journey of 284 miles. Garin took a wrong turning, which lost him, and those who were close upon him, about a quarter of an hour. He made a tremendous effort to overtake the leaders, with the result that Brange, Samson, Garin and Pothier finished in the order named, five lengths covering the four. The winner’s time was 18 h 27 m 26 s, or 14½ mph, a good speed, without pacing, against the ‘mistral’, which was blowing strongly.
23 JULY 1904
CYCLING AND MOTORING
Evidently long-distance road-racing in France has a great sporting future awaiting it. During the recent Tour de France, among the minor episodes, barely worth mentioning, were the strewing of the road with nails and foul riding among competitors, while more interesting events were an attack by roughs at St Etienne upon the leaders, and another at Nîmes, each incident being an attempt to favour local men, who were being beaten. In the latter case revolvers were drawn in defence of the riders. Bullet-proof suits for racing cyclists should soon be on the French market.
2 AUGUST 1909
GREAT CYCLE RACE
PARIS DAY BY DAY
By Special Wire from Our Own Correspondent
Paris, Sunday Night
The great cycle race called the Tour de France, which is probably the biggest event of the kind in the world, and which has survived the heat of earlier days, was concluded today. The distance covered by the competitors was 4,487 km in 14 stages. The final run was from Caen to Paris, the distance being 251 km, and although a comparatively new champion, Jean Alavoine, finished first in the last stage, François Faber is first in the general classification, and he wins a prize of 5,000 francs. The great tour around France began on 5 July, and no fewer than 250 entries had been received. It is needless to say, however, that scarcely more than fifty were qualified for the final run, but even this is a remarkable proportion.
28 JUNE 1961
SIMPSON OUT OF TOUR DE FRANCE
Tommy Simpson, one of Britain’s big hopes, is out of the Tour de France cycle race. The 23-year-old rider from Doncaster abandoned the race during the third stage of 122¾ miles from Roubaix, France, to Charleroi, Belgium, yesterday.
Simpson had been troubled by a knee injury, which he hoped would heal if he took things easily during the early stages of the Tour. But he was ten minutes behind the leaders by the halfway point and he arrived at Charleroi in an ambulance. He said: ‘I abandoned because I could not pedal any more.’ A doctor who examined Simpson’s knee told him an operation was almost certainly necessary, and that virtually spells the end of racing this season for the plucky Simpson, who suffered terribly before he quit.
Yesterday’s run over the cobbled roads of western Belgium proved disastrous for the British team, although Shay Elliott, of Dublin, and Brian Robinson again rode splendidly. Both were only five seconds behind stage winner Emile Daems, of Belgium. Two other Belgians, Aerenhouts and Van Aerde, were second and third. Robinson was the best placed British rider, finishing ninth, and Elliott, 27th, retained fourth place overall. Elliott is 5 m 27 s behind the race leader Jacques Anquetil, of France. The British team of 12 was cut to seven, as Ian Moore and George O’Brien both abandoned the race during today’s run and Peter Ryalls was eliminated for arriving outside the time limit.
17 JULY 1961
ANQUETIL AS GOOD AS HIS WORD
Jacques Anquetil, of the French national team, yesterday won the Tour de France for the second time and fulfilled a pledge given before the start in Rouen on 25 June that he would lead from start to finish. One of Anquetil’s team-mates, Robert Cazala, won the 167-mile, 21st and final stage from Tours to Paris. France also won the two other major awards, the team prize and the individual points classification, which went to André Darrigade.
The total distance ridden on the 48th Tour was 2,372½ miles. The winner’s average overall speed was 22.383 mph. The best British rider was Shay Elliott, of Dublin, who was 47th and a total of 1 h 51 m 5 s behind Anquetil.
25 JUNE 1962
LETTER FROM PARIS
Our Own Correspondent
Paris, Sunday
For the next three weeks France’s attention is being switched from Algeria, nuclear striking forces and other weighty matters of state to the 150 men pedalling their bicycles around the country in the 49th Tour de France.
With the resilience born of centuries of political crises and military adventures, France enters its summer carefree as a sandboy. In such a mood the Tour assumes major proportions. Only a presidential visit can bring out the same crowds in the cities, towns and villages along the route, despite the acknowledged fact that the now highly commercialised Tour is slipping in popular appeal.
The great names of the past – Italy’s Bartali and Fausto Coppi and France’s Bobet – are with us no longer. But there are new idols: Bahamontes, the Spanish eagle, Charly Gaul, the stout-hearted Luxemburger, Anquetil, Anglade and Darrigade, the French aces, and the Englishman Simpson. These will furnish our midsummer triumphs and disasters. So it will be, too, for Belgium, Italy, Spain, West Germany and Holland. This cycling Common Market was born long before tariffs were lifted at European frontiers.
27 JUNE 1962
SIMPSON CLIMBS TO FIFTH PLACE DESPITE PUNCTURE
Our Own Correspondent
Amiens, Tuesday
Last night, after the second day’s racing, André Darrigade (France) had the right to wear both coveted jerseys of the Tour de France: the yellow one signifying overall leadership on time and the green as the rider with the best points score for daily placings. Now he has only the green, the yellow being back on the substantial shoulders of Rudi Altig.
He won a 40-up sprint here this afternoon and the one-minute bonus awarded to stage winners was enough to put him back in the lead, which he lost yesterday to Darrigade. The Frenchman, this time, was ‘cooked’ after a hard day and was placed fifth.
Enormous crowds lined the streets at the start in Brussels and it was the same throughout the 130 miles to Amiens. This stretch of country is known in cycle racing circles as the ‘Hell of the North’ because of the rough cobbled roads, coal-dust-covered cycle paths and treacherous tramlines.
Although not as diabolical as usual it claimed among its victims Tom Simpson, who punctured before crossing the frontier and then found his front forks on the point of snapping. Had the rider fallen it would, of course, have been serious. Fortunately he stayed upright and it was merely a minor incident for the 1962 Tour de France, but a reminder all the same of the early Tours when a rider with similar trouble had to find the nearest forge and repair the damage himself. Simpson’s team car had him quickly on the spare machine and he was soon back with the main group. Simpson climbed another two places on general classification and is now lying fifth.
With a strong crosswind blowing this was not a day for sensational improvements and, although there were minor skirmishes through the 1914–18 theatre of war, there were no big pushes to report. At Amiens on the Somme, however, France lost the battle for the yellow jersey when Altig beat Darrigade.
2 JULY 1962
SIMPSON NOW LIES SECOND
Our Own Correspondent
La Rochelle, Sunday
Half a million Frenchmen lined the 26 miles between Lucon and La Rochelle today to applaud the riders on the first individual time trial of the 1962 Tour de France. They saw last year’s winner, Jacques Anquetil, storm back to form with a winning ride which confirms Tom Simpson’s opinion that the rider from Rouen will again prove the overall winner.
The tension at La Rochelle’s small cement track was great as Simpson finished his ride in 56 m 23 s. If he could beat Darrigade by 2 m 47 s then he would be the first British rider ever to take over the yellow jersey as Tour leader. At the halfway mark the Englishman led Darrigade by 1 m 20 s. A strong second half with a sprint at the end would have brought success. But it was Darrigade who found that little extra in defence of his jersey. Although Simpson was the faster by 1 m 55 s, he failed by 51 seconds to take over from the Frenchman.
6 JULY 1962
SIMPSON HURT BUT TAKES YELLOW JERSEY
Our Own Correspondent
St Gaudens, Thursday
A great landmark in Britain’s progress in top Continental cycle racing was reached today when Tom Simpson, of Doncaster, took over the famous yellow jersey of leadership – the first Englishman ever to do so.
Simpson is the fifth rider to have held the maillot jaune in the 1962 race, but by common consent he is the most worthy. His predecessors have been temporary race leaders through winning big sprints and earning a limit of bonus time, or by successfully joining in surprise breakaways.
The Doncaster rider, however, came to the top in the tradition of such illustrious Tour names as Louison, Bobet and Fausto Coppi. He prepared the ground with splendid riding on the long Sunday session of mass-start and time-trial riding. Today he finished off the job in the mountains, arriving here so far ahead of the overnight leader, Schroeders, that the presentation ceremony was completed and he was already wearing the new jersey of leadership when the Belgian crossed the line.
Not for years have the Pyrenees sorted out the field as effectively as they did today on the 129-mile stage from Pau, which twisted and doubled to include the climbs of the 7,000-foot Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde passes. At the foot of the Tourmalet Simpson was brought down when a Belgian rider fell, damaging both wheels of his machine, which were quickly replaced by the team car. He hurt his shoulder and knee.
Simpson rode hard over the remaining climbs which both began in brilliant sunshine and ended in the clouds. He finished in the leading group with Dutch rider Geldermans, who is 30 seconds behind Simpson. Although well behind Simpson, Alan Ramsbottom came through his encounter with a major climb in good style. He finished nine minutes after Simpson, who had treatment for his damaged knees, which he does not think will affect his riding in future stages.
18 JULY 1962
ANQUETIL WINS DESPITE CRASH
SIMPSON FINISHES IN SIXTH PLACE
Our Own Correspondent
Paris, Sunday
Jacques Anquetil today won his third Tour de France, and Tom Simpson finished sixth. They held those positions, first and sixth, when the 94 riders started this morning on the final stage of 168 miles from Nevers to Paris. But whereas the last day is traditionally a ‘promenade’ with nothing much happening until the final miles into Paris, the 1962 race proved an exception.
After 100 miles there was a crash involving six riders, including three of the most notable men in the race: Charles Gaul (Luxembourg), Anquetil and Simpson. Fortunately none was badly hurt and they were quickly on their machines again, but it was an anxious moment for Anquetil and Simpson, who nearly had three weeks of great work wiped out.
The finishing sprint of the stage at the Parc des Princes is usually an exciting sight with riders jockeying for position on the steeply banked track. Today the stage finished in near chaos. Three riders came in with a one-minute lead over the main group with Beneditti (Italy) winning. The main pack of 80, however, slithered all over the rain-soaked track and Anquetil all but landed with his leader’s yellow jersey in a pool of water. Simpson cautiously rode the stipulated lap on the grass inside the track.
‘Now the hard work starts,’ said Simpson on dismounting as his manager handed him his programme of races for the rest of the month. After his feat in taking over the maillot jaune, Simpson is a man in demand in a series of remunerative road and track races.
24 JUNE 1963
RAMSBOTTOM SURGES IN TO GAIN THIRD PLACE
Special Correspondent
Epernay, Sunday
There may be only one Englishman in the Tour de France, Alan Ramsbottom, but he is a real rider. He had to be to finish third in the opening stage of the jubilee race which finished here this afternoon.
The first stage of any Tour de France is always hard and fast. Today was particularly tough. First, the wind was behind the 130 riders, giving them every incentive to attack. Second, the Belgians were out to provide race favourite Jacques Anquetil with a rough ride in the hope that he would lose valuable minutes in the opening stages.
The Belgians were as good as their word. From the moment the flag was lowered at Nogent-sur-Marne, on the outskirts of Paris, they attacked, and so fierce was the pace that 16 km were covered in the first 20 minutes – a 30 mph send-off to the Tour.
If anybody wondered if Anquetil was serious in this Tour, from which he so nearly scratched, the answer came in the opening hour. During that time Anquetil crashed and fought back to the main group, with the aid of his team colleagues, and then went immediately to the front to lead a fierce chase after seven riders who had broken away. As these included the men he feared most, Van Looy and Poulidor, one can be certain that Anquetil has not entered this Tour just to satisfy his sponsors who urged him to ride. He means to win for the fourth time.
With the Van Looy-Poulidor attempt smashed, other breaks followed quickly on the switchback road towards the Champagne country. Sooner or later one of these moves had to succeed. It was about 40 miles from the finish when Bahamontes, from Spain, began what was to be the ‘paying’ break of the day. He was quickly joined by Pauewels and Sorgeloos (Belgium) and Ramsbottom (England).
One wondered whether Sorgeloos would ‘work’ and do his share of the pace-making since he is a member of the Van Looy team and might have been instructed to wait for his team leader to come from behind. But he battled hard and fast with the others and it was clear that, barring accidents, they were due to fill the first four places.
Despite an attempt by Bahamontes to get away on his own, the four were all together at Epernay, where the Belgians took the first two places, with Ramsbottom third. The Lancashire rider was surprised at his fine form.
‘When Sorgeloos went to follow Bahamontes I was on his wheel. I did not feel so good. But when we really got going I felt better and was strong at the end. I had studied the finishing section carefully and thought it was one long straight. Two hundred yards from the finish two sharp bends unsettled me and I did not risk a sprint on the final straight on the loose dirt road. I believe Brian Robinson was third in the opening stage of the 1956 Tour. He finished 14th on final classification. I shall be pleased if I do as well as Brian.’
26 JUNE 1963
ELLIOTT’S STAMINA EARNS HIM YELLOW JERSEY
BRILLIANT RIDE WINS THIRD STAGE
Special Correspondent
Roubaix, Tuesday
Shay Elliott, of Dublin, pedalled into another page of cycling history on the windswept track today when he not only won the tough 136-mile third stage from Jambes in Belgium, but took over the yellow jersey of leadership as well. He now has the distinction of having won stages in the three biggest marathon races in the world – the tours of France, Italy and Spain.
That Elliott was in form was evident in yesterday’s racing from Rheims to Jambes. Near the end he ‘countered’ an attack by Van Looy, but, on the instructions of his team manager, did not persist with the effort.
A bigger plan was in mind, one which involved Elliott’s team colleague and friend, Jean Stablinski, of France. It was put into operation today on the twisting, undulating course which finally got to Roubaix by way of the outskirts of Brussels and Tournai.
After 50 miles a group of 11 riders formed at the front which was not only to be the ‘break’ of the day, but may well prove to be one of the decisive moves of this Tour. Among the 11 were Elliott, Stablinski and Anglade, who finished second in the 1959 Tour.
Stablinski wanted to gain back the five minutes he somehow lost yesterday, Elliott to press on to try to win the stage. But they are both team-mates of Jacques Anquetil, the race favourite, and had no right to help the dangerous Anglade gain time. Fortunately for them Anglade and the other members of the breakaway group worked hard. They were soon well clear of the main pack and the lead mounted to nearly nine minutes. Twice Elliott punctured on the rough roads but each time he sprinted back strongly to the group.
Minds went back to last September when Stablinski and Elliott were together in the decisive stage in the world road championship. It was Elliott who made the ‘suicide’ move which enabled Stablinski to win. Today we wondered if the Frenchman would repay the move. He did not need to, the Irishman being strong enough to win under the power of his own pedalling. Four miles from the finish he attacked, his opponents had no fight left and the Dublin-born rider who now lives on the outskirts of Paris arrived at Roubaix as stage and race leader.
One of the countless spectators who were on the roadside today was Tom Simpson, yellow-jersey hero of the 1962 Tour. He held the lead only one day. Elliott may keep it longer, but he has no serious hope of winning the Tour. ‘I don’t climb well enough for that,’ he said.