Daily Cycling Facts 16.11.11

Dave Rayner, 1967-1994

Today is the anniversary of the death of professional cyclist Dave Rayner, three time winner of the Under-22 Category at the Milk Race (Tour of Britain), who died a day after becoming involved in an incident outside a Bradford nightclub when he was just 27 years old. One year later, a memorial fund was created in his name to provide financial assistance to promising British riders, allowing them to compete in European races - the first rider to benefit was David Millar.

It's also the anniversary of the death of "Big" Piet Moeskops, aged 71 in 1964 - three days after his birthday.

It's 119 years since the birth of French cyclist Jules Banino. Some sources state that Banino was born in 1872 and was the oldest ever rider to ride in Tour de France when he did so for the second time in 1924 aged 51. However, if the birthdate listed by Cycling Archives (16.11.1892) and some other sources is correct, he would have been 32 - in which case, the oldest Tourist honour remains in the possession of Henri Paret who was 50 when he competed in 1904, as is indeed stated by other sources. Either way (and perhaps the root of the confusion), Paret is the oldest rider to have completed a Tour, finishing in 1904 with a total time of 128h 24' 34" (32h 18' 39" behind Henri Cornet who, coincidentally, is the youngest ever winner), as Banino did not finish either of his Tours in 1921 or 1924. Sources in support of Banino include Les Woodland, and that's good enough for us.

More birthdays: Stefan Kueng (18), Alessandro Mazzi (24), Ginji Kurokawa (22), Raul Granjel (24), Anibal Andres Borrajo (29), Carlos Mario Oquendo Zabala (24), Rasim Reis (19), Kevin Neirynck (29), Aksana Papko (23), Bas Van Der Kooij (16), Pavel Korolev (23), Ramiro Marino (23), Hannes Genze (30), Esther Olthuis (33)