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Paris–Brussels
The Brussels Cycling Classic (known until June 2013 as Paris–Brussels) is a semi classic European bicycle race, one of the oldest races on the international calendar. History Paris–Brussels was first run on 12 August 1893 as an amateur event over a distance of 397 km, Belgian Andre Henry took the inaugural victory from compatriot Charles Delbecque with France's Fernand Augenault coming in third. The race did not return to the racing calendar until 1906 when it was run as a two-day event on 3 and 4 June. The first stage of this 1906 event was run from the Paris suburb of Villiers-sur-Marne to Reims over 152 km and was won by France's Maurice Bardonneau. Albert Dupont took the more challenging second stage on the following day from Reims to Brussels over 239 km to take the overall race victory from compatriots Jules Patou and Guillaume Coeckelberg. The following year the race reverted to being a one-day race and quickly established itself as one of the Spring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octave Lapize
Octave Lapize (; 24 October 1887 – 14 July 1917) was a French professional road racing cyclist and track cyclist. Most famous for winning the 1910 Tour de France and a bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 kilometres, he was a three-time winner of one-day classics, Paris–Roubaix and Paris–Brussels. Career In his first Tour De France in 1909, he abandoned early due to wintery conditions during the month of July, but not before he managed a Stage 2 second place behind Tour winner Francois Faber. The following year he went head-to-head with Alcyon teammate Faber who led comfortably until colliding with a dog at the foot of the Pyrenees. Lapize finally won by just 4 points helped by a number of punctures to Faber's bike on the final stage from Caen to Paris. In a total of six starts in the Tour De France between 1909 and 1914, this victory was the only one he finished. While climbing the Col d'Aubsique (via the Col du Soulor and the Col de Tortes) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen (born 24 June 1972) is an Australian former professional road cyclist. McEwen is a three-time winner of the Tour de France points classification and, at the peak of his career, was considered the world's fastest sprinter. He last rode for on the UCI World Tour. A former Australian BMX champion, McEwen switched to road cycling in 1990 at 18 years of age. He raced as a professional from 1996 until 2012. McEwen retired from the World Tour after riding the 2012 Tour of California and is now a cycling broadcast commentator on the Tour Down Under and the Tour de France. Career McEwen was born in Brisbane. After four years of moving through the regional, state and national levels of cycling, he started at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra under road cycling coach Heiko Salzwedel. The first signs of his sprinting prowess on the international stage were at the Peace Race, winning three stages for the Australian national team. McEwen competed in the roa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rik Van Looy
Henri "Rik" Van Looy (born 20 December 1933 in Grobbendonk) is a Belgian former professional cycle sport, cyclist of the post-World War II, war period, nicknamed the ''King of the Classics'' or ''Emperor of Herentals'' (after the small Belgian city where he lived). He was twice World Cycling Championship, world professional road race champion, and was the first cyclist to win all five 'Monuments': the most prestigious one-day Classic cycle races, classics – a feat since achieved by just two others (both also Belgians: Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merckx). With 379 road victories he's second to Merckx only. He is ninth on the Grand Tour (cycling)#Grand Tour stage wins, all-time list of Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour stage winners with thirty-seven victories. Career Van Looy rose to prominence when he won the Belgian amateur road championship in 1952. He repeated the victory the following year, adding third place in the world title race the same year, before turning profe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felice Gimondi
Felice Gimondi (; 29 September 1942 – 16 August 2019) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the second cyclist (after Jacques Anquetil) to win all three ''Grand Tours'' of road cycling: Tour de France (1965, his first year as a pro), Giro d'Italia (1967, 1969 and 1976), and Vuelta a España (1968). He is one of only seven cyclists to have done so. Gimondi also won three of the five Cycling monuments, winning the Giro di Lombardia twice, and finished on the podium of a grand tour twelve times. He accomplished all of these major victories despite his career coinciding with that of Eddy Merckx. Biography Gimondi was born on 29 September 1942 in Sedrina in the Province of Bergamo. He was the son of a transport manager and a post mistress. In his youth, he frequently took his mother's post bicycle and later helped to deliver mail on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marc Demeyer
Marc Demeyer (19 April 1950 – 20 January 1982) was a professional road racing cyclist from Avelgem, Belgium. He died of a heart attack at the age of 31. Demeyer turned professional in 1972 for the Flandria team managed by Briek Schotte. He signed the contract while resting it on a car beside the start of Dwars door België, which he then won. Shortly afterwards he won the Grand Prix d'Isbergues. Demeyer was one of the so-called "Three Musketeers", riding with and for Freddy Maertens and Michel Pollentier He led out sprints for Maertens in particular but could win them for himself, including stages of the Tour de France. He rode the Tour six times, finishing 72nd in 1973, 41st in 1974, 42nd in 1975, 56th in 1976, 49th in 1978 and 57th in 1979. He won the intermediate sprints competition, known then as Points Chaud ('hot spot sprints') in the Tours of 1973 and 1975. He won two stages: the 19th in 1978 from Lausanne to Belfort, and the 14th in 1979 from Belfort to Evian-les-Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Brocco
Maurice Brocco (28 January 1883, in Fismes – 26 June 1965, in Mûrs-Erigné) was a French professional road bicycle racer between 1906 and 1927. He was born into a family of Swiss-Italian immigrants. In 1911 he won a stage in the Tour de France. He participated six times in the Tour de France, but finished the race only once. In his later career he was successful in six-day races. In the 1911 Tour de France, Brocco was disqualified because he helped François Faber, which was not allowed. Brocco appealed, he was allowed to start the next stage. Brocco won that stage, and his disqualification was completed after the stage. Racing career Brocco first became prominent as a rider in 1907 when he won the Paris-Dieppe race as an amateur. He turned professional the following year (1908) and rode the Tour de France for the first time, abandoning the race on the ninth stage. 1910 saw Brocco take his best win of his road racing career when he triumphed in Paris–Brussels. Brocco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Félix Sellier
Félix Sellier (Spy, 2 January 1893 – Gembloux, 16 April 1965) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Stage victory in 1921 Tour de France In the 1921 Tour de France, the cyclists were separated in two classes, the sponsored riders and the unsponsored riders. For the thirteenth stage, these classes started separated, partly because the Tour organisers wanted to punish the sponsored riders for not attacking the leader Léon Scieur, and partly because the leader in the second class was helped by cyclists in the first class. Sellier was one of the riders in the second class, and therefore could start two hours earlier than the favourites. Some of the second class cyclists including Sellier stayed ahead, and Sellier managed to win the stage. Sellier would finish 8th overall of the second class cyclists, and 16th in the overall combined classification. In the next year, Sellier started the Tour de France as sponsored cyclist. He again won a stage, but this time he had star ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucien Petit-Breton
Lucien Georges Mazan (18 October 1882 – 20 December 1917) was a French racing cyclist (pseudonym: Lucien Petit-Breton, ), known as the first two-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Plessé, Loire-Atlantique, a part of Brittany, now part of Pays de la Loire. When he was six he moved with his parents to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he took the nationality. His cycling career started when he won a bike in a lottery at the age of sixteen. As his father wanted him to do a 'real' job, he adapted the nickname Lucien Breton for races, to deceive his father. Later he changed it to Petit-Breton, because there already was another cyclist called Lucien Breton. Professional career His first notable victory was the track cycling championship of Argentina but in 1902 he was drafted in the French Army and he moved back to France. Two years later in 1904 he won the Bol d'Or track event at the second attempt, having finished second the previous year. In 1905 he broke the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddy Maertens
Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952) is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist who was twice world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of another Belgian rider, Eddy Merckx, and supporters and reporters were split over who was better.Van Walleghem, Rik; Zwart-Wit (B) 2012 Maertens' career swung between winning more than 50 races in a season to winning almost none and then back again. His life has been marked by debt and alcoholism. It took him more than two decades to pay a tax debt. At one point early in his career, between the 1976 Tour and 1977 Giro, Maertens won 28 out of 60 Grand Tour stages that he entered before abandoning the Giro due to injury on stage 8b. Eight Tour stage wins, thirteen Vuelta stage wins and seven Giro stage wins in less than one calendar year. Personal life Maertens was the son of what his wife, Carine, described as a hard-working middle-class couple:Maertens, Carine, in introduction to Van Walleghem, Rik; Zwart-Wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classic Cycle Races
The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most revered races are often described as the cycling monuments. For the 2005 to 2007 seasons, some classics formed part of the UCI ProTour run by the Union Cycliste Internationale. This event series also included various stage races including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Paris–Nice, and the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. The UCI ProTour replaced the UCI Road World Cup series (1989–2004) which contained only one-day races. Many of the classics, and all the Grand Tours, were not part of the UCI ProTour for the 2008 season because of disputes between the UCI and the ASO, which organizes the Tour de France and several other major races. Since 2009, many classic cycle races are part of the UCI World Tour. Probl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger De Vlaeminck
Roger De Vlaeminck (; born 24 August 1947) is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He was described by Rik Van Looy as "The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation". Nicknamed “The Gypsy” because he was born into a family of traveling clothiers, he is known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix race, but his performances in other “Monument” races gave him a record that few can match. His record in Paris–Roubaix earned him another nickname, “Monsieur Paris–Roubaix” (English: “Mr. Paris–Roubaix“). Early life and amateur career De Vlaeminck was born on 24 August 1947 in the East Flanders town of Eeklo, His first love was football. At the age of 16 he debuted for F.C. Eeklo. He could have made a career in the sport, however his elder brother Erik was having success as a pro cyclist and this persuaded Roger to try cycling. He raced as a junior in 1965, gaining one win, but 1966 saw 25 victories. Roger and Erik spen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Simpson
Thomas Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager before taking up track cycling, specialising in pursuit races. He won a bronze medal for track cycling at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1959, at age 21, Simpson was signed by the French professional road-racing team . He advanced to their first team () the following year, and won the 1961 Tour of Flanders. Simpson then joined ; in the 1962 Tour de France he became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey, finishing sixth overall. In 1963 Simpson moved to , winning Bordeaux–Paris that year and the 1964 Milan–San Remo. In 1965 he became Britain's first professional world road race champion and won the Giro di Lombardia; this made him the BBC Sports Personality ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
