7 JULY 1964
PUNCTURE PUTS SIMPSON OUT OF RECKONING
J.B. Wadley
Toulouse, Monday
The happiest man in the track centre here after the 115-mile stage from Andorra, was Edouard Sels. In scoring his third stage win of this Tour, the Belgian took over the green jersey as leader on points classification. The unhappiest men were Tom Simpson and Raymond Poulidor, who can now be written off the list of direct challengers to Jacques Anquetil. But it was not through loss of form that this came about – each was a puncture victim.
Punctures come thick and fast in the Tour. The rapid changing of wheels by mechanics is a routine matter and such incidents are hardly ever reported. Those of Simpson and Poulidor today were exceptions to this rule.
After climbing the 8,000-foot Col de l’Envalira on leaving the Principality of Andorra, Simpson was ahead of Anquetil and a group of others when he punctured on the tricky descent. Whether delayed by the thick clouds at the summit is not at the moment known, but Simpson’s team car with a spare wheel was not in sight. Impatiently Simpson had to wait by the roadside while Anquetil and Company shot by. At last help came not in the shape of the team car but Simpon’s team colleague, Mastrotto, who jammed on his brakes, slipped his own wheel out and quickly transferred it to Simpson’s machine.
Meanwhile Anquetil, who had not been going too well on the Col de l’Envalira, was recovering and chasing strongly after a leading group comprising Bahamontes, Poulidor and Jimenez. In his pursuit of these three dangerous men Anquetil and a few others gradually drew away from the bunch of 30 with whom Simpson was now riding. With 15 miles to go Simpson’s group was two and a half minutes behind Anquetil, who had now caught the runaways.
The situation was now desperate for the Englishman. Then, in the front, it was Poulidor’s turn to puncture. Instead of the usual wheel change, the mechanics slipped him a complete bicycle and in a matter of seconds the Frenchman was back in the saddle, but the mechanics’ over-anxious shove sent him crashing on the road. By the time a broken wheel had been replaced, half a minute was lost. Poulidor chased madly but in vain.
Two and a half minutes after Sels won the stage (slightly ahead of the Anquetil group which also included race leader Groussard) the Simpson-Poulidor bunch of 30 arrived. Simpson was understandably furious on dismounting. ‘At Briançon I lost one and a half minutes through my team car not being there. Today I have lost two and a half more and any chance of getting near Anquetil. I’m fed up and have completely lost interest in the Tour,’ he said.
15 JULY 1964
ANQUETIL CLINCHES FIFTH VICTORY BY 55 SECONDS
J.B. Wadley
Paris, Tuesday
There never has been a finish to a Tour de France like the one Jacques Anquetil won here today – his fourth successive victory in the world’s greatest road race, and his fifth in all. It was only by summoning every bit of his remarkable ability and courage that he was able to resist the desperate challenge of Raymond Poulidor in the 17½-mile time trial between Versailles and the Parc des Princes.
Anquetil won the battle by 21 seconds and, with his 20 seconds time bonus added to the 14 seconds he had overnight, takes the Tour by 55 seconds, the smallest winning margin in the 61-year history of the race.
After the short morning stage of 74 miles from Orléans to Versailles had been won by the world champion Beheyt, the 81 riders had a break before the Versailles-Paris time trial began. Starting two and a half minutes in front was Poulidor and, so far as the 40,000 crowd waiting at the Parc des Princes stadium here and the estimated 1,000,000 lining the road from Versailles were concerned, they were the only two men in the race.
The art of taking time checks by radio has never been so effectively illustrated as today. All the expertise of three rival French radio stations was marshalled to this end. After one kilometre of the 27½-km course had been covered, Anquetil led Poulidor by two seconds. Kilometre by kilometre the news was flashed through and when the halfway point was reached with Anquetil’s lead increased to 12 seconds, it seemed that the Poulidor threat had been mastered.
Ears glued to transistors, the waiting crowds gasped as they learned that the margin had dropped to three seconds. Then began the descent to the Seine and a succession of fast roads. Advantage to Anquetil, who began to pull away again. Poulidor entered the Parc des Princes to an explosion of applause, sprinted the last lap and free-wheeled to a halt. He did not see Anquetil’s arrival through the track tunnel, but he knew all about it through the renewed shout from the 40,000-strong crowd. And he knew that it had come too early for him to have won the Tour.
No great performances, then, by the British riders; Tom Simpson finishing in 14th position. Two years ago he was sixth.
25 JUNE 1965
LE TOUR – FRANCE’S MIDSUMMER MADNESS
J.B. Wadley
For British motorists the worst part of the 1965 Tour de France is already over. The race started last Tuesday in Cologne, the riders have been pedalling through Liège, Lille, Rouen and Caen, and today’s 140-mile stage finishes at St Brieuc in Brittany. The often impenetrable barrier of the Tour route has therefore been rolled up behind them, and after tonight, from St Malo and all ports east, the GB driver can head south contentedly on his own tour de France.
West of St Malo, however, he had still better look out. If he doesn’t he may suddenly find himself in a solid line of cars a mile from a town centre. He will wonder at first why the line does not move, until he realises the cars have no drivers. They are in the main street watching the fun. A U-turn? Not a hope. Cars are now jammed behind his, their occupants slamming the doors in their haste to get there too – old ladies who first cheered Lapize in the 1910 Tour, their grandchildren who are Poulidor fans today.
If our motorist hates sport, crowds and noise, he had better sleep in his car for a couple of hours. If not, he should take this unexpected chance of a look at the Tour de France, the great international cycling contest which for three weeks dominates the sporting press of Belgium and Italy as well as France.
One astonished British sports writer has said the Tour is like a Test match, the Cup Final and Wimbledon rolled into one. In fact, it is a little more. Except at some stage-finishes one doesn’t need a ticket: there are free grandstands both sides of the road, from sea level to 8,000 feet, for nearly 3,000 miles. Moreover, rain never stops play and somebody always wins, although last year the 51st Tour was nearly drawn when Anquetil beat Poulidor by 55 seconds.
That duel between the two Frenchmen was the bitterest the Tour has known. After Poulidor finally managed to ‘drop’ Anquetil on the Puy de Dôme mountain his overall time for the 2,500 miles then covered was only 14 seconds less than Anquetil’s. The showdown took place two days later on the last day of the race, on 14 July at that, on the 17-mile time trial between Versailles and Paris. Three-quarters of a million holidaymakers lined the roads and untold millions on the Continent followed this Bastille Day battle on radio and television.
Britain was not among the 12 countries taking the direct Eurovision service. Perhaps if Tom Simpson and not Poulidor had been Anquetil’s opponent it would have been different. Yet public interest in cycle racing is steadily increasing, and we have just completed our own ‘Little’ Tour of Britain, sponsored by the Milk Marketing Board, and which includes trophies and awards given by The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. It is little in the sense that it costs £40,000 to put on for 14 days against the £500,000 for the 21-day Tour de France. It is little in that fewer people go especially to see a stage of the Tour of Britain than will be found on one mountain summit of the Tour de France.
Along the 1,400-mile Tour of Britain route one will find a few thousand enthusiasts, who know every rider in the race and probably what kind of ten-speed gear he uses and the measurements of his bicycle frame. On the whole, though, the surprisingly big crowds watching the Tour of Britain are casual customers, holidaymakers at Paignton or Bridlington who are pleasantly surprised to find additional free entertainment with a cycle race finishing on the prom. They are thrilled at the sight of 30 riders in vivid jerseys charging for the line in a 35 mph sprint, the winner throwing his arm up in triumph. But ask a spectator if the yellow jersey was in the bunch and he would probably be as bewildered as if you took a Frenchman to Lord’s and asked him if he thought it would take spin.
The Tour of Britain is an important event in the international calendar and its claim to be the world’s greatest all-amateur stage race is a serious one. But it is run off under certain difficulties. Unlike French Chambers of Commerce, those in Britain do not compete to be villes étapes (towns where stages start and finish). Some county constabularies are hostile, others welcome the Tour, but obviously they cannot close their roads to other traffic. Severe time penalties are imposed on riders straying over the white line, slipping across on the red or failing to halt.
All this is bewildering to Continentals who are used to racing on closed roads, and to some extent explains why they do not always live up to their reputations when racing over here. Using all the road, with riders in staggered formations to combat crosswinds, switching suddenly from one side to the other to make a surprise attack – these are part and parcel of road sport. Halving the area of operations is like playing doubles on a singles court.
There is a much more solid reason, however, why Continental riders coming to Britain are not always impressive. It is simply that our riders are good. Tactics are less important in the long run than well-trained hearts, lungs and legs, and a determination to get there ahead of the other fellow.
About a quarter of Britain’s 10,000 racing cyclists are really serious, and perhaps 1,000 of these dream of ‘doing a Simpson’ and becoming a leading Continental professional. ‘Continental professional’ it has to be, because there is no such thing in England, although there are a hundred Independents (semi-professionals) with British Cycling Federation licences.
The pattern is therefore for the ambitious British rider to save £200, pack his bags and go to the Continent. But only a few reach the top. Brian Robinson, of Huddersfield, was the first: in 1958 he was the first Englishman to win a stage of the Tour de France. The handful of others who are capable of doing battle with Poulidor and Anquetil are Shay Elliott (Dublin), Barry Hoban (Wakefield), Alan Ramsbottom (Clayton-le-Moors), Vin Denson (Chester), and, of course, Tom Simpson (Doncaster) himself, who in 1962 was the first Englishman to wear the yellow jersey of leadership in the Tour de France.
This year a number of British riders are off to the Continent, many with good chances of success. But how many Simpsons do we need before cycling breaks through seriously in Britain?
13 JULY 1965
WRIGHT WINS 20TH STAGE AS SIMPSON RETIRES
J.B. Wadley
Auxerre, Monday
Sooner or later two things had to happen to two of the three Englishmen in this Tour de France and they both happened today. Michael Wright won the stage from Lyon to Auxerre – the longest of the race – and Tom Simpson retired. The success story is the logical result of a gradual building up of form as the Tour reaches its closing stages. The retirement is the inevitable outcome of a rapid collapse by the injured Doncaster rider.
For several days I have been talking to Wright about that elusive win. He is a realist and decided that instead of waiting for a big bunch sprint and ‘only’ finishing second – as he has done once this year and twice in 1964 – he would take a chance with an earlier attack. That chance came today 12 miles from Auxerre. Like Darrigade before him, Wright was hoping for some kind of reinforcement from behind, because it takes an Anquetil to keep away on his own from a fast-moving bunch in the final 30 minutes of a stage.
Things worked splendidly. Only one rider, Grain (France), went with him and the pair gradually drew away. On the last 200 yards the pair were still together, but Grain had no answer to the final attack by Wright, who freewheeled over the line with hands high in the air. Wright was immediately surrounded by radio and TV reporters and happily chattered away in French with a strong Liège accent. When he was five he moved from Bishop’s Stortford to Liège with his widowed mother and hardly speaks a word of English.
Wright’s is the third stage success for an English rider, Brian Robinson winning at Brest in 1958 and Chalons in 1964. While Wright was riding his lap of honour laden with flowers, Simpson was climbing out of the race ambulance in which he had spent the last eight hours.
Lyon was only a few miles behind when Simpson lost contact with the bunch, following a skirmish that involved among others race leader Gimondi and challenger Poulidor. After a mile on his own he retired. Simpson was in tears as his machine was hoisted on to the dreaded ‘sag wagon’. In the ambulance he was given treatment for the damaged hand that had caused a sleepless night.
This injury only partly explains his collapse during the last week. I believe that a hard early-season programme followed by two marathon rides, London to Holyhead (270 miles) and Bordeaux to Paris (360 miles), just before the Tour left him with little or no reserve to face the Alpine stages last week.
30 JUNE 1966
TOUR RIDERS STAGE A PROTEST WALK
J.B. Wadley
Bayonne, Wednesday
A track finish that was almost a repeat performance of yesterday’s at Bordeaux ended the ninth stage of the Tour de France here today. This time Karstens (Holland) just edged Planckaert (Belgium) out of first place. Altig (West Germany) keeps the yellow jersey as race leader.
These are the facts that will go in the record book. But 29 June 1966 will be more vividly remembered as the day when 122 riders went on strike against overnight dope tests at Bordeaux – the first to be made in the professional Tour de France. Three miles after the start, after the field had dawdled along in the sun, they all got off their machines and walked slowly for 100 yards. Race director Jacques Goddet immediately called Antonin Magne, the president of the Team Managers’ Association, from his car to bring the protest marchers to reason.
When Magne, who won the Tour twice, did so the riders got back on to their saddles and pedalled away. Felix Lévitan, co-director of the Tour, said it may be a turning point in cycling history. Lévitan is the President of the Race Organisers’ Association, who some months ago announced they were considering the possibility of confining all the classic races, including the Tour de France, to amateur riders. This was merely taken to be a threat to certain professionals, their managers and the firms sponsoring them who have in recent years taken a dictatorial attitude to the organisers of the events from which they get their living.
Today’s strike is particularly serious because the organisers were conforming to French law: a bill was recently passed forbidding the use of certain products in sporting events. Contravention entails the risk of heavy fines and imprisonment. All the riders were warned before the start at Nancy that tests would be made. Last night two doctors, accompanied by a police official, visited team hotels and took samples from riders at random (not the first three in the stage as in the Tour of Britain). Those tested included Raymond Poulidor, one of the race favourites. The international commissaires are holding an inquiry into the affair and severe action is threatened if the ringleader can be identified.
When the big sprint was over at Bayonne I asked Tom Simpson his opinion of the incident. The world champion, who had fallen 40 miles from the finish and bruised his right thigh (the one broken last winter), was not a supporter of the protest. ‘I think it was stupid and I never took my feet out of the toe straps. It is French law and it is pointless protesting,’ he said.
8 JULY 1966
BRAVE BURST BY INJURED SIMPSON
J.B. Wadley
Briançon, France
While Jimenez (Spain), the stage winner, and the new race leader Janssen (Holland) were the centre of attraction at Briançon after splendid racing in the Alps, a tired and dejected Tom Simpson was taken to hospital and had five stitches put in his arm. He had fallen on the steep descent of the Col du Galibier and severely gashed an elbow and thigh. The accident delayed Simpson no more than 13 seconds, but he lost several minutes on the upward side of the Galibier in a gallant failure. It was his aggression that laid the foundation for a showdown in the mountains between Anquetil and Poulidor, who are now moving steadily towards the head of the general classification table.
Only 92 miles, the roundabout route from Bourg-d’Oisans to here included two first category mountain climbs, the Col de la Croix and the 8,000-foot Col du Galibier. The first saw the field climbing steadily in one pack until half a mile from the summit when Galera and Jimenez and Bitossi (Italy) sprinted for the mountain prize points. The descent was a mass of loops and hairpins.
On the descent Simpson fell but on the ensuing ten-mile main-road stretch in the Arc Valley he went into a lone attack. At the foot of the giant Galibier climb Simpson had a one-minute lead over the strung-out main group. Jimenez went off in search of the impetuous Englishman. After three miles’ climbing, Simpson was caught but not dropped. The pair took a two-minute lead over the field. But the Spaniard soon sprinted away from Simpson and kept on his own until the finish.
Three miles from the summit, Simpson was caught and dropped by Anquetil and Poulidor, then by Huysmans and a dozen others, including Janssen. Those last two miles to the summit of the Galibier were the toughest of Simpson’s career; then came the heavy fall caused by a motorcyclist on the descent.
9 JULY 1966
DISTRESSED SIMPSON GIVES UP
J.B. Wadley
Turin, Friday
The Tour de France has arrived in Italy for a two-day visit and with a stage win by Franco Bitossi the home crowd is happy. So are the main visitors, the French, for Lucien Aimar has taken over the race lead from Jan Janssen, of Holland. But the British have nothing to celebrate. For, following Vin Denson’s overnight elimination, Tom Simpson retired less than an hour after this morning’s start from Briançon.
It was obvious from the outset that things would be difficult if not impossible for Simpson. On a flat course his injured arm would not have been so great a handicap, but this 17th stage of 100 miles began with the Col de Mont Genèvre immediately on leaving Briançon. The world champion was ‘off the back’ within a few miles.
At the summit of the 6,000-foot test Simpson came through with difficulty two minutes down on the main bunch, and the group which immediately followed him was composed entirely of motorcyclists, their press and radio reporter pillion passengers hovering around because ‘l’abandon de Simpson’ was almost certain to be the first news story of the day.
However, an even more dramatic incident came first. After only a few hundred yards of the descent Simpson was suddenly left on his own as he sped past a badly injured rider being tended by the roadside. It was the Italian Guido de Rosso who, at the back of the main group, had struck a rut on the road and was catapulted from his machine. He had severe head and shoulder injuries.
So de Rosso – who won the Tour de l’Avenir in 1961 – entered his native land in an ambulance and only a mile across the border another was stopped to pick up the distressed Simpson. ‘Downhill was the trouble,’ Simpson told me. ‘I just could not hold the brakes on for more than a few seconds, the pain shooting right up the arm to my shoulder. I was scared of falling off again and seriously injuring myself. I am bitterly disappointed. I know I could have been a nuisance to the leaders in the last week of the race.’
11 JULY 1967
GIMONDI THE FAVOURITE TAKES TENTH STAGE
SIMPSON FIGHTS ILLNESS
Briançon, Monday
Felice Gimondi, of Italy, today won the first Alpine stage of the Tour de France cycle race, the 151-mile tenth leg from Divonneles-Bains to here. But Roger Pingeon, of France, kept the yellow jersey as overall leader.
Britain’s Tom Simpson, fighting sickness, finished 16th in today’s lap, losing six minutes to Gimondi, but remains seventh overall. Exhausted Simpson twice had to stop, but he came down the 19-mile long hill to the finish in an eight-man group faster than many. One of his main rivals, Dutchman Jan Janssen, was in the group with him, but also in front was Lucien Aimar, of France, who was 1 m 46 s ahead.
Simpson said: ‘I had a tummy upset which gave me hell. But I’m hoping a good night’s rest will put me right.’
12 JULY 1967
SAMYN ‘SITS IN’ ON CHASE AND POUNCES FOR STAGE
J.B. Wadley
Digne, Tuesday
After being alone in the lead for 95 miles, Georges Chappe, of the French B team, was caught five miles from the finish by three riders. One of them was his team colleague, José Samyn, who had contributed nothing to the driving force responsible for Chappe’s downfall, but just ‘sat in’.
When the sprint came, the comparatively fresh Samyn beat Foucher (France) and Schutz (Luxembourg) to the line with poor Chappe trailing in fourth. The main pack arrived one and a half minutes later, all the chief candidates for overall victory being present, and Roger Pingeon will wear the yellow jersey for at least another day.
There were glum faces in the British camp at Briançon at the start of the 122-mile stage. Although Tom Simpson had passed a good night and got rid of his stomach trouble, Michael Wright, hurt in a crash on Sunday, was not there to answer the starter’s call. ‘Poor Michael couldn’t even ride a bicycle 100 yards from his hotel to the start,’ said team manager Alec Taylor, ‘let alone ride a 122-mile stage with two big mountain passes in it.’
When Tom Simpson was seen to be in the second group following Aimar’s attack on the Col d’Allos, it seemed that he might be in trouble. But he said at the finish that he knew there would be a general regroupment on the long descent and did not fight too hard to keep with the leaders.
Arthur Metcalfe was Simpson’s equal on both the climbs today and came back like a Tour veteran after a quick wheel change on the crazy Allos descent. Colin Lewis and Barry Hoban were riding steadily five minutes behind and bringing up the rear was Vin Denson, who now is the Tour’s ‘tail-light Charlie’. Today Denson climbed both cols ‘off the back’, and his chances of getting back with Lewis and Hoban on the final flat miles were spoiled by ear trouble, which delayed him a further five minutes.
13 JULY 1967
RIOTTE SLIPS GROUP TO TAKE MARSEILLE STAGE
SIMPSON SECOND IN PACK
J.B. Wadley
Marseille, Wednesday
The riders pottered along at touring pace under the scorching sun nearly an hour behind schedule despite having started today’s 129-mile stage from Digne to here 20 minutes before the advertised time. With 40 miles to go, a group of seven riders raised the temperature even higher by breaking away from the pack. Then Raymond Riotte (France) slipped away, while his team colleague Lematayer ‘looked after’ the other five.
Riotte topped the final climb of the day on his own and swooped down to Marseille to win the stage on the fine Municipal Stadium. Last week Riotte wore the yellow jersey for race leader for one day. Second place looked an easy number for his friend Lematayer, and that is how he finished, but only after Basso (Italy) had been relegated to last place of the next little group for too liberal use of his elbows. A minute and a half after Riotte, in came the long, colourful line of 100 riders on to the track, with the white-jerseyed Tom Simpson in second position.
That Simpson was ‘having a go’ in a massed sprint was an indication that he is now in much better health. A lap and a half later on the finishing line Simpson was still second, beaten only by Karstens (Holland) and satisfied with his form. The other members of the British team were all in the big bunch, and like everybody else very hot, tired and thirsty.
If the cycling racing specialist’s notebook contained nothing of importance for most of the day, that of the human interest writer was full enough. The route was loaded with colour and variety, taking the riders from snow-cooled Alpine freshness at Digne to the Mediterranean by way of the hot, sandy hills of Provence on winding roads, climbing and rambling among the views, olive groves, lavender fields and patches of golden corn.
The riders were performing all the antics Tour men have been up to on the heat-wave stages since 1903; hopping off their machines, splashing their faces in village fountains, filling bottles from the same source or raiding cafés for beer or mineral water. Some roadside picnickers had bottles snatched from under their noses. The photographers’ field day included a shot of Raymond Poulidor, usually the master but now – following his accident and considerable loss of time – the ‘domestique’, pacing his colleague Aimar back to the group after one of these incidents.
Nobody was surprised at the day’s leisurely pace. The riders are understandably tired after 13 days’ riding and they also had in mind that tomorrow’s stage includes the 5,750-foot climb of the Ventoux mountain. Even with air-conditioning, climbing this ‘giant of Provence’ on a bicycle is hard enough. In the prevailing heat, and in battle order, there are likely to be heavy casualties to report tomorrow night.
14 JULY 1967
BRITON DIES IN TOUR DE FRANCE
Our Correspondent
Carpentras, Thursday
Tommy Simpson, the British professional cyclist, collapsed while racing on the Ventoux mountain in today’s stage of the Tour de France. He died in hospital at Avignon where he was taken by a police helicopter.
Simpson, aged 29, had kept with members of the leading group of riders, including the race leader, Roger Pingeon, of France, until three miles from the summit of the 5,750-foot mountain, known as the ‘Giant of Provence’. The Englishman then dropped back and was seen to be pedalling with extreme difficulty. Eventually he fell by the roadside.
The British team car, driven by Ken Ryall, a cycle dealer from Twickenham, was immediately behind, and Harry Hall, a mechanic, went to help Simpson. Simpson said he wanted to continue, remounted and rode a further half-mile under the scorching sun – temperatures were in the nineties. He fell again and when the Tour doctor arrived within a minute or so Simpson was unconscious.
At the start of today’s stage, Simpson was seventh in the overall placings. Mr Alec Taylor, British team manager, said tonight that the British team would race tomorrow.
Tommy Simpson was the most successful road racing cyclist Britain had produced, winning the world professional road championship in 1965. His other victories included the ‘Bordeaux–Paris’, ‘Tour of Flanders’, ‘Milan–San Remo’ and the ‘Tour of Lombardy’ classic races.
14 JULY 1967
TRAGEDY OVERSHADOWS ALL ON DAY OF SORROW
J.B. Wadley
Carpentras, Thursday
The tragic death of Tom Simpson, who collapsed while climbing the Ventoux mountain and died later in hospital in Avignon, cast a shadow over everything else in today’s 131-mile stage from Marseille to Avignon. The stage was won by Jan Janssen (Holland) who out-sprinted a small group which had been the strongest on the mountain test.
It was hot enough at Marseille at the start of the stage and, as the route struck north towards the Ventoux country and left the Mediterranean breeze behind, temperatures went even higher. In such conditions it was not surprising to find the field pottering along again, with water-bottle filling the chief occupation.
Then, after only ten miles, there was a serious accident when a dog dashed into the tightly-packed bunch, at that moment travelling downhill quite fast, bringing down a number of riders. Two of them had to be taken by police helicopter to hospital at Marseille where Mugnaini (Italy) was found to have a double fracture of the arm and severe shoulder injuries, and Peffgen (Germany) a broken collarbone.
The field of 100 kept together for the next 80 miles as the great hump of the Ventoux loomed out of the haze, and at the village of Bedoin came the sign that the summit of the ‘Giant of Provence’ was 23 km ahead.
It had been freely stated that Poulidor (France) would not bother if the Spanish rider, Jimenez, went off on one of his solo raids, but would protect Roger Pingeon as he did on the great Galibier climb on Monday. Poulidor, however, went into an early attack on the early slopes of the mountain with the obvious intention, once again, of forcing the Italians to chase, while Pingeon followed.
Poulidor was caught, but attacked again, taking Jimenez with him. There were then two groups behind, one containing race leader Pingeon and Gimondi, the second including Janssen (Holland), Aimar (France) and Simpson. After riding with this group for a mile or two, Simpson dropped off the back and eventually collapsed.
Jimenez topped the summit of the 5,750-foot Ventoux on his own but was caught by the stronger of the two chasing parties which had regrouped on the final 10-mile flat road to Carpentras where Jimenez won the sprint. Pouldior, spent from his early efforts, could not keep with this group and finished many minutes down, but had the satisfaction of knowing his action had helped Pingeon retain the yellow jersey.
14 JULY 1967
SIMPSON: JUST AT PINNACLE OF HIS CAREER
OBITUARY
David Saunders
Tom Simpson’s death at the age of 29 and at the height of his racing career has shocked the whole cycling world and has brought a terrible sadness to British fans everywhere. His name had become a legend among cyclists in this country, and the measure of his achievements are hard to evaluate in the cold light of day. Always a fighter, sometimes foolhardy and impetuous, he brought an entirely new look to the Continental idea of an Englishman. His cycling life was dogged with bad luck throughout. Even in his amateur days crashes upset his chances. A spill in the World Amateur Championships in 1958, when he dislocated his jaw, possibly prevented him from taking his first world title.
Simpson’s courage was beyond question at all times and he fought through for another seven years before his dream came true and he won the world professional road title at San Sebastian in 1965. Even then the fates were against him for, only three months later, he broke his leg in a ski-ing accident. His world title win made history, but that was just another chapter for this splendid rider. He had already made his mark in the pages of sport by being the first Englishman ever to hold the yellow jersey in a Tour de France, to win the Belgian Tour of Flanders, the Italian Milan–San Remo and Tour of Lombardy classics, and countless other events both home and abroad.
He began his cycling career at the age of 14 with the Harworth and District Cycling Club, in Nottinghamshire. Although born in Durham, he lived most of his life near here and was always determined to be a great rider. His first real chance came in 1956 when, at the age of 18, he rode for Britain in the Olympic Games in Melbourne. He gained a bronze medal in the team pursuit event, and back in Britain, went from strength to strength, eventually winning the British pursuit title in 1958, and then moving to France to seek fame and fortune the following year.
His first appearances abroad were sensational, and he won no less than 60 events that season, culminating in his turning professional and finishing fourth in the world road championships. After victory in the French Tour of the South-West in 1960, he rode his first major Tour without any great success.
Despite all the other major races and his countless victories, it was the Tour de France which was always the centre of attraction for him. I remember him telling me not long ago that it had always beaten him in the end, but one day he would win it. That day will never come now, but, knowing him personally, as a friend for many years, I think he would be happy at going the way he did. In his own humorous way he would surely have commented that he had abandoned for the third successive year.
He leaves a wife, Helen, and two small daughters. He will be sadly mourned in cycling circles the world over and it will be a long time before this country can produce an equal both in terms of ability and courage.
15 JULY 1967
FIELD LET HOBAN TAKE 14TH STAGE AS FINAL TRIBUTE
J.B. Wadley
Sète, Friday
Interviewed by a cycling magazine last winter about his plans for 1967, Barry Hoban – so often unlucky with punctures and crashes in the big classic races – said: ‘Next season I am going to win a really big race.’
Today Hoban kept his word by taking the 125-mile stage from Carpentras to Sète, but it is a race in which he would rather have finished last. He arrived at the Mediterranean port five and a half minutes ahead of the main pack – which had not made the slightest effort to chase after him following his slight acceleration 30 miles from home.
Almost unanimously, a hundred riders had decided before the stage started that they would like one of the British team to win, as homage to their friend and rival, Tom Simpson, who died yesterday. A few Belgian riders, I am told, wanted to take up the chase, but the ‘doyen’ of the field, ex-world road champion, Jean Stablinski (France), went to the front to take command and there was no further dissent. Barry Hoban pedalled into Sète the unhappiest winner the Tour de France has known and, in tears, he nearly broke down when surrounded by photographers, reporters and radio commentators.
The gesture of the other riders was deeply touching, and if the manner in which Hoban won was far from the way that Tom Simpson scored his great victories, there was nothing prearranged about the sprint for second place. The hundred riders charged for the line in the kind of massed ‘gallop’ Tom Simpson loved so much. Guido Reybroeck (Belgium) won from his compatriot Van den Berghe, the latter being the man who beat Simpson into second place in a stage finishing here at Sète last year.
This morning Hoban and the three other British riders left in the Tour, Arthur Metcalfe, Colin Lewis and Vin Denson, were the first to be called to the line, where in obvious distress, and wearing black armbands, they and their colleagues heard Jacques Goddet, the race director, speak movingly of Tom Simpson, the champion and the man.
A minute’s silence was then observed, before the flag was dropped to start the saddest 14 July in the history of the Tour. The field’s sympathy was soon apparent when Lewis was manoeuvred into position so that he could win a special ‘prime’ of 500 francs (£35).
24 JULY 1967
PINGEON STORMS HOME IN TOUR DE FRANCE
J.B. Wadley
Paris, Sunday
Roger Pingeon, the man who last year could not make up his mind whether to be a racing cyclist or a plumber, was in no doubt today. He had just ridden his final lap of honour as winner of the Tour de France and should be £20,000 richer for it by the start of the next racing season.
At Fontainebleau this morning, Pingeon put on his 16th yellow jersey in 17 days. The odd day was when Riotte, his team colleague, took it over at Strasbourg. He lined up this morning with the field of 87 for the 65-mile stage to Versailles, finishing three hours later in the big bunch sprint, elbow-to-elbow with his only real rival in the race, Julio Jimenez, of Spain.
Before the laps of honour the three British riders finishing the race, Barry Hoban, Colin Lewis and Arthur Metcalfe, with team manager, Alec Taylor, stood on the podium while the great stadium was silent for a minute in memory of Tom Simpson, the British rider who died during the race. Hoban’s ride during the final stages brought the British team’s total prize money to almost £1,000. The British cyclists left in the Tour after Simpson’s death decided that a share of their prize money would be sent to Mrs Simpson.
The return to national teams in the Tour was a great success from the public’s point of view and an announcement will shortly be made as to whether the same system will be used next year. One thing, however, is certain. The 1968 Tour de France will not finish at the Parc des Princes. Work will begin tomorrow on demolishing the back straight of the cycle track to make way for a motorway.
4 AUGUST 1967
DRUGS ‘CONTRIBUTED’ TO SIMPSON’S DEATH
Alexander MacMillan
Avignon, Thursday
Tom Simpson, the British cyclist, was not killed by the drugs he had taken, but they contributed to his death, it was officially announced in Avignon tonight. M Palavesin, an Avignon magistrate, issued a communiqué giving the cause of his death during the Tour de France as ‘cardiac collapse, attributable to an exhaustion syndrome’.
The report said that contributory factors were ‘unfavourable atmospheric conditions (heat, lack of oxygen, atmospheric humidity); intense physical overstrain; and the use of medicines of the type found on the victim which are dangerous’. Traces of amphetamine and methyl-amphetamine were found in Simpson’s bloodstream, urine and intestines. These drugs were also found in the pharmaceutical products Simpson had in his pocket when he collapsed on Mont Ventoux. The dosage taken by Simpson was insufficient in itself to kill him, the report said. But as a result of them he ‘exceeded the limit of his physical capacity’, and brought on other conditions which caused his collapse.
It is not yet known whether a judicial inquiry, with a view to a possible prosecution, is to be held by the examining magistrate. The organisers of the Tour de France have not disclosed whether the conditions of next year’s race will be altered as a result of the findings on Simpson.
22 JULY 1968
JAN JANSSEN CLINCHES IT – BY 38 SECONDS
J.B. Wadley
Paris, Sunday
Next year a Hollywood company is to make a $1 million film with a Tour de France background. Whatever scenario is planned might well be replaced by today’s cliff-hanger finish in which Jan Janssen, of Holland, snatched victory in the final half-hour of the 35-mile time trial.
The Dutchman’s task was against 17 seconds on the overnight leader Herman van Springel (Belgium A) in today’s racing. In the morning 85-mile event they finished together in the main group so the afternoon time trial decided the issue. After 17½ miles Van Springel, who was struggling, and Janssen arrived here at the Piste Municipale to a tremendous welcome, not only the winner of the stage but the Tour de France as well.
The 38 seconds which separated him from Van Springel is the lowest winning margin in the 55 Tours de France. This race has been called the Good Health Tour because of the strict daily dope tests. The cleaning up of the Tour has given an entirely new slant on things, particularly for British riders. Despite having the ‘lantern rouge’ in John Clarey and the team also last, our riders had a good Tour on the whole with about £2,500 in prize money to prove it. About £750 of this went to Barry Hoban in one great day last week when he won his second Tour stage – and only a flat tyre prevented Michael Wright winning at Auxerre on Saturday.
I believe in two or three years Britain will have a first-class Tour de France team capable not only of winning stages, but of playing a leading role in the battle for the yellow jersey.
16 JULY 1969
MERCKX PULVERISES HIS RIVALS ON BIG CLIMBS
J.B. Wadley
Moureax Ville Nouvelle
Like a world champion boxer picking his punches in an exhibition bout with the local fighter, Eddy Merckx yesterday hit his rivals where and when he liked. The chosen spot was halfway through the 134-mile stage from Luchon, which embraced four major climbs in the Pyrenees.
After taking a lead of five seconds at the top of the Col du Tourmalet, Merckx just rode away on his own to finish the stage nearly eight minutes ahead of the next group of riders. Merckx accordingly almost doubled his overall lead on Roger Pingeon, while Raymond Poulidor goes up to third place.
When the first two climbs (the Peyresourde and Aspin) had passed, with Galera of Spain topping each ahead of a group of 30, it seemed that Merckx at last might be riding a defensive race. Then came the savage, 6,500-foot Col du Tourmalet. A mile from the top of the ten-mile climb, only Merckx and nine others remained at the front. Here, Merckx accelerated, and together with team colleague, Van den Bossche, rode through a huge cheering crowd with a five-second lead. Then, in the manner he has made his own, Merckx followed up this ‘feint’ with the real thing, a spectacular and daring descent on the crazily dropping road.
By the time the groups behind had sorted themselves, Merckx was away on another ‘solo’. Immediately the Tourmalet descent was over, another great col reared up, the Aubisque. At the top, Merckx had no less than seven minutes in hand. Downhill again at a tremendous speed and the lead remained at seven minutes.
This would have frightened every rider in the world except Merckx, who put his head down and pedalled on. He had finished half a dozen radio and TV interviews by the time Dancelli led in the little group with whom he had parted company on the Tourmalet. Felice Gimondi came in four minutes later. Finally, half an hour after Merckx, the main bunch arrived. The last man in on this scorching day in the Pyrenees was Derek Harrison. He crashed near the bottom of the Aubisque, damaged his bicycle, and had to wait ten minutes for a service car.
21 JULY 1969
MAGNIFICENT MERCKX SWEEPS THE BOARD
J.B. Wadley in Paris
There were no surprises on the final day of an outstanding Tour de France. Eddy Merckx, who has stood out like a giant on all terrains, won the final 23-mile hilly time trial into Paris yesterday afternoon with another great display of unpaced riding. In doing so, he helped himself to a further minute’s lead over the two Frenchmen, Roger Pingeon and Raymond Poulidor, who finished second and third on overall classification.
Usually, at the end of the Tour de France, the photographers line up the race leader in his yellow jersey, the points winner in green and the winner of the Grand Prix de la Montagne. This year, the amazing Merckx deprived them of the traditional shot by taking all three competitions. And Merckx and his nine Faema colleagues – eight Belgians and an Italian – also won the team contest.
Their total winnings, with bonuses, will probably be around £40,000. British promoters of road and track events who would like to have Merckx on their programme next season should start saving up immediately. He has already signed 60 contracts for such personal appearances at an average of £600. Some promoters, it is being said, are willing to pay £1,000 for a single race.
Cheers rang out as the various teams rode their laps of honour at the Stade Municipale in Paris. There was tremendous applause every time Merckx appeared – 50,000 Belgians were on the time-trial course or in the stadium.
In contrast to the moving scene in the same stadium a year ago, when he won the Tour in the last ten miles, Jan Janssen, of Holland, was given a roasting by the Belgians. Janssen said in a recent television interview that Merckx’s month’s suspension, for an alleged doping offence in the Tour of Italy, should not have been lifted to allow him to ride in the Tour de France.
The three British riders, Barry Hoban, Michael Wright and Derek Harrison, were warmly applauded for their fine ride. So was Joaquim Agostinho, the Portuguese rider, who took two stages and might one day win the Tour – if Merckx stays at home.