Daily Cycling Facts 17.12.11

Moreno Argentin
(image credit: James Herman,
CC BY 2.0)

Happy birthday to "Il Capo" Moreno Argentin, the retired Italian cyclist who was World Champion in 1986, National Champion in 1983 and 1989, won thirteen stages in the Giro d'Italia, two stages in the Tour de France and Liège–Bastogne–Liège four times, the La Flèche Wallonne three times and the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Giro di Lombardia once, along with a hist of track titles. He was born in 1960.

Santos González, born on this day in Crevillent, Spain, was National Time Trial Champion in 1999 and 2001. In 2000, he won Stage 21 at the Vuelta a Espana - unsurprisingly an individual time trial - and came 4th overall in the General Classification.

On this day in 1886, Thomas Stevens completed the last bicycle stage of his successful attempt to circumnavigate the globe as far as possible by bicycle. He then took a ship from China to first Japan and then to San Francisco, where he arrived in January 1887. He did the journey on a Columbia 50" penny-farthing made by the Pope Manufacturing Company who kept it as an exhibition piece up until 1940 when it was donated as scrap for the war effort.

Czech rider Pavel Padrnos, born in Petrovice on this day in 1970, won the Bayern Rudnfahrt in 1994 and the Peace Race in 1995.

On this day in 1903, bike shop owners/mechanics Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully completed what is thought to have been the first controlled and powered flight by a heavier-than-air craft, the Wright Flyer.

Other births: Fernando Camargo (Colombia, 1977); Blair Stockwell (New Zealand, 1949); Claude le Chatellier (France, 1946); Maureen Kaila (El Salvador, 1964); Nathael Sagard (Canada, 1967); Paulo Jamur (Brazil, 1964); Harry Wittmann (USA, 1885, died 1968); Tony Ledgard (Peru, 1971); Arnstein Raunehaug (Norway, 1960); Damdinsürengiin Orgodol (Mongolia, 1956).