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 ...
(30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was a British professional
cyclist
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
, one of Britain's most successful of all time.
At the time of the
1967 Tour de France
The 1967 Tour de France was the 54th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 29 June and 23 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of . Thirteen national teams of ten riders competed, with three French ...
, he was the undisputed leader of the British team. In the 13th stage of that race, he collapsed and died during the ascent of
Mont Ventoux.
Simpson fell ill with
diarrhoea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...
during the Tour's tenth stage. He was under pressure from his personal manager to continue in the race, though members of his team encouraged him to quit. Near the summit of Mont Ventoux, Simpson fell off of his bike but was able to get back on it. After riding a short distance farther, he collapsed. He was pronounced dead after being airlifted to a hospital. The
post-mortem
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any d ...
examination found that Simpson had taken
amphetamine
Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...
and alcohol, a
diuretic
A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics in ...
combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux, and the stomach complaint.
Approximately 5,000 people came to Simpson's funeral service. A memorial stands close to the spot where he died and has become a
pilgrimage for many cyclists. At the Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club, there is a museum dedicated to Simpson's memory.
Background
Going into the 1967 Tour de France, Simpson was determined to make an impact. He was in his eighth year as a professional cyclist and wanted to earn as much money as possible before retiring. Simpson was optimistic that he could finish high in the
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi- stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...
, securing larger appearance fees from post-Tour
criterium
A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m.
Overview
Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...
s. His plan was to either finish in the top three or wear the leader's
yellow jersey
The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey (french: maillot jaune ).
History
Th ...
; he had targeted three key stages, one of which included the thirteenth over
Mont Ventoux, riding safe until the race reached the mountains.
The 1967 Tour was contested by national teams rather than trade teams. Simpson was the undisputed leader of the British team, one of the weakest in the race. Four team members had experience in top-level racing and six were riding the Tour for the first time.
This could have been seen as a handicap, but Simpson was not guaranteed the leadership of his trade team,
Peugeot-BP-Michelin, and would have to compete with Frenchman
Roger Pingeon
Roger Pingeon (; 28 August 1940 – 19 March 2017) was a professional road bicycle racer from France.
Biography
Growing up near the Jura Mountains, he was a cross-country skier as a teenager before taking up bicycle racing. He spent two ye ...
– the eventual winner of the 1967 Tour.
After the first week, Simpson lay in sixth place overall, leading the favourites.
As the race crossed the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
, Simpson fell ill, across the
Col du Galibier
The Col du Galibier (el. ) is a mountain pass in the southern region of the French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the eighth highest paved road in the Alps, and recurrently the highest point of the Tour de France.
It connects Saint- ...
, with
diarrhoea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...
and stomach pains. He was not able to eat and rode on reserves, finishing in 16th place and dropping to seventh overall, with his rivals ahead.
He placed in 39th position on stage 11 and 7th on 12.
In
Marseille, on the evening of 12 July 1967 on stage 12, his personal manager, Daniel Dousset, put Simpson under pressure to produce good results.
However, his friend and teammate on the British team,
Vin Denson
Vincent Denson (born 24 November 1935) is a former professional racing cyclist who rode the Tour de France, won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and won the Tour of Luxembourg in the 1960s.
He was a team-mate of Rik Van Looy and of Jacques Anque ...
, advised Simpson to limit his losses and settle with what he had; his Peugeot manager, Gaston Plaud, asked Simpson to quit the race even though he had no authority to do so.
Death
The thirteenth stage (13 July) of the 1967 Tour measured ; it started in Marseille, crossing Mont Ventoux (the "Giant of Provence") before finishing in
Carpentras
Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal Occitan: ''Carpentràs'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; la, Carpentoracte) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
...
.
At dawn, Tour doctor Pierre Dumas met journalist Pierre Chany near his hotel. Dumas noted the warm temperature: "If the boys stick their nose in a 'topette'
ag of drugstoday, we could have a death on our hands".
At the start line, a journalist noticed Simpson looked tired and asked him if the heat was the problem. Simpson replied, "No, it's not the heat, it's the Tour."
As the race reached the lower slopes of Ventoux, Simpson's team mechanic, Harry Hall, witnessed a still ill Simpson putting the lid back on his water bottle as he exited a building. Race ''
commissaire'' (official) Jacques Lohmuller later confirmed to Hall that he also saw the incident and that Simpson was putting
brandy in his bottle. As the race closed in on the summit of Ventoux, the
peloton
In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reducti ...
began to fracture, and for a while, Simpson managed to stay in the front group of elite riders. He then slipped back to a group of chasers around one minute behind before he began to lose control of his bike and zig-zag across the road. His team manager, Alec Taylor, feared for Simpson less for the way he was going up the mountain than for the way he would go down the other side.
One kilometre from the summit, Simpson fell off his bike. Taylor and Hall arrived in the team car to help him. Hall tried to persuade Simpson to stop when he fell, saying, "Come on Tom, that's it, that's your Tour finished." But Simpson said he wanted to go on. Taylor was informed and said, "If Tom, wants to go on, he goes." Noticing that his toe straps were still undone, Simpson said, "Me straps, Harry, me straps!" They got him on his bike and pushed him off. Simpson's last words, as remembered by Hall, were, "On, on, on." The words, "Put me back on my bike!" were invented by Sid Saltmarsh, covering the event for ''
The Sun'' and ''Cycling'' – now ''
Cycling Weekly
''Cycling Weekly'' is a British cycling magazine. It is published by Future and is devoted to the sport and pastime of cycling. It used to be affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic". '' – who was not there at the time but rather in a reception black-spot for live accounts on Radio Tour. Simpson managed to ride a further before he began to wobble. He was held upright by three spectators who then helped him to the ground on the side of the road. Simpson was unconscious with his hands locked to the handlebars. Hall shouted for the other mechanic, Ken Ryall, to prise them loose and the pair laid the lifeless Simpson beside the road. Hall and a nurse from the Tour's medical team took turns giving him
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before Dumas came with an oxygen mask.
Approximately forty minutes after his collapse, a police helicopter took Simpson to nearby Avignon Hospital,
where he was pronounced dead at 5:40 p.m.
Dumas refused to sign a burial certificate and a poisons expert from Marseille was commissioned to conduct an
autopsy
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...
.
Two empty tubes of
amphetamine
Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...
s and a half-full tube were found in the rear pocket of his racing jersey, one of which was labelled ''Tonedron''. The British team was called in for questioning and their baggage was searched. Two of the Belgian ''
soigneur
A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important in road bicycle racing, whic ...
s'' – who looked after riders on the British team including Simpson – locked themselves in their room, got drunk and did not come out.
On the next racing day, the other riders were reluctant to continue racing and asked the organisers for a postponement. French rider
Jean Stablinski
Jean Stablewski (21 May 1932 – 22 July 2007), known as Jean Stablinski, was a French professional cyclist from a family of Polish immigrants. He rode from 1952 to 1968, winning 105 races as a professional. He won the national road champion ...
suggested that the race continue, with a British rider, whose team would wear black armbands, allowed to win the stage.
Barry Hoban
Barry Hoban (born 5 February 1940) is a former English professional cyclist who rode during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He formerly held the record for the most stage wins in the Tour de France by a British rider, winning eight between 1967 a ...
won the stage.
This was later a subject of argument as it was widely believed that the race winner should have been Denson, Simpson's other teammate and close friend.
Post-mortem
Initial media reports suggested that Simpson's death was caused by
heat exhaustion Heat exhaustion is a severe form of heat illness. It is a medical emergency. Heat exhaustion is caused by the loss of water and electrolytes through sweating.
The United States Department of Labor makes the following recommendation, "Heat illness ...
, until, on 31 July 1967, British journalist
J. L. Manning of the ''
Daily Mail'' broke the news about a formal connection between drugs and Simpson's death: "Tommy Simpson rode to his death in the Tour de France so doped that he did not know he had reached the limit of his endurance. He died in the saddle, slowly
asphyxiated
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can ...
by intense effort in a heatwave after taking methylamphetamine drugs and alcoholic stimulants."
French authorities confirmed that Simpson had traces of amphetamine in his body, impairing his judgement and allowing him to push his body beyond its limit. The official cause of death was "heart failure caused by exhaustion." The live broadcast was the first showing a death caused by
doping. His death contributed to the introduction of mandatory testing for
performance-enhancing drugs in cycling, leading to tests in 1968 at the
Giro d'Italia,
Tour de France and
Summer Olympics.
Simpson was buried in
Harworth
Harworth is an area in the civil parish of Harworth Bircotes (with Bircotes) in the Bassetlaw district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is approximately north of Worksop. The population of the civil parish was 7,948 in the 2011 Census.
Hist ...
Cemetery in
Nottinghamshire, after a service at the All Saints Parish Church in the village. An estimated 5,000 mourners attended the ceremony,
including Peugeot teammate
Eddy Merckx, the only continental rider in attendance. The
epitaph on Simpson's gravestone reads, "His body ached, his legs grew tired, but still he would not give in," taken from a card left by his brother, Harry, following his death. In his adopted hometown of Ghent, a service was held at Sint-Amandsberg's Catholic Cathedral.
Memorials
A
granite memorial to Simpson stands on the spot where he collapsed and died on Ventoux, one kilometre east of the summit, with the words "Olympic medallist, world champion, British sporting ambassador." ''Cycling'' opened a subscription fund in the week following his death, raising around £1,500. It was unveiled in 1968 by Simpson's wife Helen, Hoban, and the British team manager Alec Taylor. It was inspired by the memorial to motorcycle racer
Jimmie Guthrie
James Guthrie (23 May 1897 – 8 August 1937) was a Scottish motorcycle racer.
A motorcycle garage proprietor and professional motorcycle racer from Hawick Roxburghshire, Jimmie Guthrie was known as the “''Flying Scotsman'',” with a hard-c ...
, who crashed and died at
The Cutting (now called "Guthrie's Memorial"), Isle of Man, in 1937.
Over the years, Simpson's memorial slowly fell into disrepair and a new plinth was constructed, secured into the mountainside with steel rods.
On the 30th anniversary of Simpson's death, his daughters Joanne and Jane added a plaque that reads, "There is no mountain too high." Concrete steps from the roadside to the memorial were opened on the 40th anniversary. The memorial has become a
pilgrimage to cyclists, who pass the memorial and frequently leave tributes such as drinking bottles and caps.
In nearby
Bédoin
Bédoin (; oc, Bedoin) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
Geography
Located at the base of Mont Ventoux, it is the starting point of one of the three routes to the summit of ...
, there is a
plaque
Plaque may refer to:
Commemorations or awards
* Commemorative plaque, a plate or tablet fixed to a wall to mark an event, person, etc.
* Memorial Plaque (medallion), issued to next-of-kin of dead British military personnel after World War I
* Pla ...
in the square, placed by journalists following the 1967 Tour.
The Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club has a small museum dedicated to Simpson, opened by Belgian cyclist
Lucien Van Impe in August 2001. The main display includes the bicycle he used to win the
1967 Paris–Nice and the jersey, gloves and shorts he wore on the day of his death.
In 1997, a replica of the memorial on Ventoux was erected outside the museum. In Ghent there is a
bust of Simpson at the entrance to the Kuipke velodrome. Every year since his death, the Tom Simpson Memorial Race has taken place in Harworth.
British rider
David Millar won stage 12 of the
2012 Tour de France
The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, i ...
on the 45th anniversary of Simpson's death and, having previously been banned from cycling for using performance-enhancing drugs himself, paid tribute to Simpson and reinforced the importance of learning from his – and Simpson's – mistakes.
Millar wrote the introduction for a reissue of Simpson's autobiography, ''Cycling is My Life'', published in 2009.
See also
*
List of cyclists with a cycling related death
*
List of doping cases in cycling
The following is an incomplete list of doping cases and recurring accusations of doping in professional cycling, where doping means "use of physiological substances or abnormal method to obtain an artificial increase of performance." It is neither ...
Notes and references
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Tom
Filmed deaths in sports
Sport deaths in France
Doping cases in cycling
Drug-related deaths in France
Deaths by person in France
1967 Tour de France
Doping at the Tour de France