Daily Cycling Facts 03.11.12

Brian Robinson

Today, British cyclists have made their mark forever on cycling's greatest race the Tour de France - Tom Simpson was the first to play the media and become a star, then became an even bigger star when he died on Mont Ventoux; Barry Hoban won eight stages; Robert Millar came fourth and won the King of the Mountains; David Millar earned time in all the different classification leaders' jerseys; Cav shattered Hoban's record with 23 stage wins, set a host of records, was declared the greatest sprinter the Tour had ever known and became a pin-up and then in 2012 Bradley Wiggins became the first British winner in the 109 year history of the race. Brian Robinson, born in Huddersfield on this day in 1930, wasn't the first Briton to enter the race (that had been Charles Holland and Bill Burls, who took part and failed to finish when Robinson was six years old in 1937) but he was the first to become a true Tour rider and the first to finish the race; in so doing blazing a trail that all those who came after him would follow.

Robinson was born into a cycling family, his father and older brother being members of the Huddersfield Road Club. He was permitted to join them for strictly non-competitive club rides from the age of thirteen and became a member when he reached the minimum age of fourteen; however, his father didn't allow him to begin racing for another four years. His father relented: Robinson's first attempt was a 25-mile individual time trial on a hilly parcours in March 1948 when he was seventeen and he completed in 1h14'50", a very respectable time for any rider making his debut, but he had already fallen for the glamour of European racing by this time and dreamed of a future in mass-start stage events - unfortunately, at that time the British League of Racing Cyclists (formed by Percy Stallard to establish and promote mass-start road racing in Britain) was still waging war with the National Cycling Union (which had banned mass-start road racing in Britain ever since the late 19th Century, fearing police would ban all bicycles from public roads). Robinson was an NCU member and was thus limited to the few NCU mass-start events that took place, all of them in very restricted circumstances such as on roads in public parks during the hours when the park was closed; he raced many times at Sutton Park in Birmingham where races had to stop before 09:30 when the public were allowed in.

Road racing was not banned on the Isle of Man, which as a self-governing nation had its own cycling union, and after taking third place in the Road Time Trials Council's National Hill Climb Championships and fifth in the NCU's mass-start closed circuit championships the previous year, Robinson went there in 1951 to come seventh at the prestigious Manx International. It wasn't banned in Ireland either; that same year he won Dublin-Galway-Dublin. In 1952 he entered the Route de France as part of a joint NCU/Army team whilst completing his mandatory national military service and did well, taking fifth place overall until the race reached the Pyrenees with three days to go - "I'd never seen mountains like that before" he said afterwards, having fallen into 40th place. That summer he and older brother Des were selected for the British team going to the Olympics; Brian finished in 27th place and Des in 26th. Jacques Anquetil, who would go on to become the first man to win the Tour five times and is still considered by many to be the greatest cyclist France has ever produced, was 12th; a month later at the World Championships Robinson raced against him again and they tied for eighth place. In 1954, having finished his national service, he signed to a team sponsored by Ellis Briggs as an independent; he was second overall in the Tour of Britain and won Stage 6 at the Tour d'Europe, a race held that year and again two years later before vanishing.

Later in 1954, Robinson was invited to join Hercules, a team that had originally been set up to break cycling records with riders including Eileen Sheridan but had later been approached by Derek Buttle who had been racing in France since 1952 with a plan to set up a road racing team. He accepted and, in 1955, he formed part of the first British team in the history of the Tour de France (Holland and Burl, back in 1937, had ridden for a British Empire team that included a Canadian rider). With many members of the team having little or no experience of racing in Europe and none at all of a Grand Tour, the race soon proved itself to be much, much harder than any of them had expected: only Robinson and Tony Hoar could finish, and Hoar was Lanterne Rouge. Robinson, meanwhile, proved himself - he was a respectable 29th, yet Hercules were not encouraged by his success to continue their racing program and the team dissolved at the end of the 1955 season. The following year, he demonstrated that he really was a rider able to take on the best Europe had to offer by performing well at the Vuelta a Espana (where he rode with a Swiss-British team led by le pédaleur de charme, 1951 Tour victor Hugo Koblet), then went to the Tour with a mixed-nationality team that included Charly Gaul, who had been third overall in 1955. Robinson finished Stage 1 in third place before taking 14th in the overall General Classification; Gaul, who won two editions of the Giro d'Italia and one of the Tour in spectacular style and who is still considered by many to have been the greatest climber cycling has ever seen, beat him by just one place.

If anyone now doubted that British cyclists couldn't hold their own at the very top of their sport, they were about to have their illusions shattered because early in 1957, having become the first british rider to sign a contract with a top continental team, Saint Raphael-R. Geminiani, Robinson beat Louison Bobet by almost a minute to win the Nice criterium. A short while later he took second and third place stage finishes at Paris-Nice, then he came third at Milan-San Remo ("by far the greatest achievement by a British roadman in a single-day race since the halcyon 19th-century days of George Pilkington Mills and the Bordeaux–Paris," said Cycling magazine). He crashed out of the Tour that year, but in 1958 he was second behind Arigo Padovan on Stage 7 - until Padovan was relegated to second after judges declared him to have twice tried to force Robinson into the crowd during the final sprint and, for the first time and more than half a century after the Tour began, a British rider had won a stage. It has been said that Stage 7 was the least important stage of the 1958, and those who say so are correct: the Pyrenees and - more important still - the Alps, where the TV crews that were for the first time that year broadcasting live from the mountain stages captured for posterity the incredible climbing abilities that won Gaul his Tour, were still far away and the General Classification contenders were saving their legs for the time trial the next day (and riders needed to think even more carefully than usual about when and where they spent energy, because in 1958 there were no rest days). Yet as far as British cycling fans - and fans of British cycling; an ever-growing number of whom, thanks to Robinson and Simpson (who was offered a contract with Saint Raphael the following year on Robinson's recommendation) and all those who followed the trail they blazed, are not British - it is one of the most important stages in the history of stage racing.

In 1959 Robinson won Stage 20. It was, once again, not a very important stage - the final Alpine stage had been the day before and Federico Bahamontes, who was the only rider able to even get near to Gaul when conditions suited the Luxembourger, had as good as won overall already. The other big names, competing for second and third place in the General Classification, were not concerned when Robinson broke away; however, with only two stages to go plenty of domestiques and also-rans would have been looking to grab any limelight that was available. That Robinson won by 20'06" - second place was taken by Arigo Padovan of all people - is therefore an impressive result. He continued racing for another three years, winning a stage at the GP du Midi-Libre and the Tour de l'Aude in 1960 and the General Classification at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 1961. 1962 passed without victory, then he was third at a criterium in Chaumont; he retired from competition in 1933 but still rides today.

John Tomac

John Tomac

If anyone can be said to have lived their life in cycling, it's John Tomac. Born in Michigan on this day in 1967, Tomac began BMX racing when he was 7 and had won a National Championship by his mid-teens; then after moving to California in 1986 he took up mountain biking and won races in that discipline too. Before long, a combination of race results and personality had made him one of the most famous riders in the world - Mongoose, the bike company for whom he had ridden throughout his professional career, marketed a "John Tomac Edition" mountain bike in 1987 and he starred in one of the first mountain biking videos that same year.

Between 1988 and 1991, Tomac also competed in road racing, winning the National Criterium Championship in his first year as a professional before going on to compete in several prestigious European events including Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d'Italia without notable success, leading to a decision to concentrate on mountain biking after 1991. Towards the end of the decade he formed a partnership with Doug Bradbury, the founder of the Manitou MTB suspension company, and set up Tomac Cycles. He no longer owns the brand - which passed through the hands of the American Bicycle Group conglomerate before being bought by Joel Smith, a businessman who had made his name in mountain biking as brand manager with components manufacturer Answer - but still takes an active role in running it and is involved in the design of new bikes.


Jules Rossi, who was born in Acquanera di San Giustin, Italy on this day in 1914 and went to France to live with relatives when he was orphaned at the age of 6, became a professional rider with Alcyon-Dunlop in 1935. He remained with them for most of his career, which lasted for sixteen years; in 1937 he became the first Italian to win Paris-Roubaix (unless - as is possible - Maurice Garin was still Italian when he won), in 1938 he won Stage 6a at the Tour de France and then first place at Paris-Tours after maintaining an average speed sufficient to also win him the Ruban Jaune.

Bobbie Traksel, born in Tiel, Netherlands on this day in 1981, won the 2010 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne after battling through weather so bad that 169 of the riders to start the race abandoned.

Other riders born on this day: Arnaud Labbe (France, 1976); Udo Hempel (Germany, 1946); Maxime Bouet (France, 1986); Anneliese Heard (GB, 1981); Chris Jenner (New Zealand, 1974); Armin Meier (Switzerland, 1969); Oscar Zeissner (Germany, 1928); Javier Suárez (Colombia, 1943); Tacettin Öztürkmen (Turkey, 1913); Alan Bannister (Great Britain, 1922, died 2007); Georges Lutz (France, 1884, died 1915); Børge Mortensen (Denmark, 1921); Peder Pedersen (Denmark, 1945); Joann Burke (New Zealand, 1969); Clarence Kingsbury (Great Britain, 1882, died 1949); Galip Cav (Turkey, 1912); Mario Margalef (Uruguay, 1943).

Daily Cycling Facts 02.11.12

Cees Stam
Born in Koog aan de Zaan, Netherlands on this day in 1945, Cees Stam was Amateur National Stayers Champion from 1968 to 1970, then turned professional with the Ketting team and remained with them for most of his career. His Stayers success continued - he was Elite National Champion from 1971 to 1974 and again in 1978, European Champion in 1974 and 1975, World Champion in 1973, 1974 and 1977 and usually took second or third place whenever he didn't win, including at the German National Championships in 1975 where he won silver.

Stam set a new derny-paced Hour Record in 1974 when he covered 82.998km at Utrecht's Galgenwaard stadium, since demolished and replaced with a newer stadium; he was also a remarkably persistent six-day racer, entering almost fifty as a professional yet winning none of them. When he retired from competition, Stam became coach of the national stayers' team and ran a sports clothing business, then retired from it in 2008. He still works as a derny rider at track events to this day.

Miguel María Lasa Urquía

Born in Oiartzun, Euskadi on either this day, the 1st of November or the 4th of November (depending on the source) in 1947, Miguel Lasa turned professional with Fagor in 1967 and won the National Hill Climb and Individual Time Trial Championships; then two years later won the Hill Climb title again and finished two stages at the Tour de l'Avenir in third place. In 1970 he won the Sprints classification at the Vuelta a Espana and Stage 12 at the Giro d'Italia, where he finished in eighth place overall.

Lasa would win the Hill Climb Championship again in 1971 and 1972; however, excellent results in those two years - including four second place stage finishes at the Vuelta a Espana, victory at the Vuelta a Mallorca and three stage wins plus third place overall at the Tour of the Basque Country in 1971 and two stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana, one at the Giro d'Italia and overall victory at the Vuelta a Menorca in 1972 encouraged him to concentrate on stage racing. In 1973 he won the Vuelta a Mallorca for a second time, then in 1974 he won the Tour of the Basque Country and finished six stages at the Tour de France in the top ten before coming 17th overall. In 1975 he won Stages 2 and 7 at the Vuelta a Espana and was first in the Points competition, later coming ninth overall at the Giro d'Italia, and in 1976 he won Stage 5b - a 144km parcours in Belgium - at the Tour de France. The following year he was second overall at the Giro d'Italia and in 1978 he won Stage 9 at the Tour de France, then Stage 18a at the Vuelta a Espana in 1979 and Stage 17 at the Vuelta and Stage 18 at the Giro d'Italia in 1981, his final professional year.


Jana Belomoina, born in Ukraine on this day in 1992, took third place in the Elite National Hill Climb in March 2010 when she was only 17 years old.

Eberado Pavesi, who was born in Colturano, Italy on this day in 1883, became a professional cyclist in 1904. In 1907 he finished the Tour de France in sixth place, becoming the second Italian rider to have completed the race (Rudolfo Muller was fourth in 1903); in 1910 he won Stages 5 and 9 and was second overall at the Giro d'Italia, then in 1912 he formed a part of the Atala team that won (the General Classification was contested by teams for that one edition - had it have been contested by individuals, decided on points or time, Pavesi's team mate Carlo Galetti would have won) and in 1913 he won Stages 2 and 9 and was once again second overall. Following his retirement in 1919, Pavesi became a directeur sportif and worked with a young Gino Bartali who would go on to win the Tour and the Giro several times. Pavesi died on the 11th of November in 1974, aged 91.

Bruce Biddle, born in Warkworth, New Zealand on this day in 1949, was National Road Race Champion in 1969 and won the Road Race at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. At the 1972 Olympics he was fourth in the Road Race behind third place Jaime Huelado of Spain, who subsequently failed an anti-doping test and was disqualified; however, as Biddle had not also been subjected to a test he could not be upgraded to a medal-winning position. In 1976 he finished two stages at the Tour de Suisse in second place and one at Tirreno-Adriatico in third and in 1978 he was 34th overall at the Giro d'Italia.

Raymond Bilney, born in Australia on this day in 1945, took fourth place in the Road Race at the 1964 Olympics - his time of 4h39'51.74" was equal to that recorded by Walter Godefroot, Gösta Pettersson, Eddy Merckx and several other big-name riders of the era. In 1970 he was second in the Road Race at the Commonwealth Games, finishing one second behind Bruce Biddle of New Zealand (see above).

Christos Winter, born in Mount Gambier, Australia on this day in 1989, enjoyed a very short cycling career during which he became Junior National Duo Time Trial Champion (with Jack Bobridge) and rode with the winning Junior National Championships Team Pursuit squad, both in 2007. Aged 20, he took an internship at Channel 9 News and later became presenter of nationwide music show Hit List TV.

Other cyclists born on this day: John Devine (USA, 1985); Ricardo Guedes (Uruguay, 1972); Olga Gayeva (Belarus, 1982); Shue Ming-Fa (Taipei, 1950); Feng Chun-Kai (Taipei, 1988).

Daily Cycling Facts 01.11.12

Igor González de Galdeano
Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Euskadi on this day in 1973, Igor González de Galdeano signed his first professional contract with Equipo Euskadi in 1995. At that time, the team was in its second season and experiencing financial hardship due to sponsorship problems; the results he achieved during his three years with them helped to attract new backers, setting the team on the road to becoming the legendary Euskaltel-Euskadi that is still racing today and has become the default National Team of the cycling-mad Basque people.

Igor González de Galdeano at Paris-Nice in
2005, his final professional season

In 1999, his breakthrough year, he moved to Vitalico Seguros-Grupo Generali and won a stage before finishing fifth overall at Tirreno-Adriatico; he then took part in his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a Espana, where he won the Prologue and Stage 12 to finish second overall and third in the Points competition. In 2001 he went to ONCE-Eroski and rode his first Tour de France, finishing the Prologue and Stage 18 in second place before coming fifth overall. A Stage 9 win - setting an average speed of 55.17kph over the 179.2km parcours which was, at that time, a Grand Tour record - later in the year at the Vuelta proved he was a worthy opponent to Lance Armstrong, who had won the Tour for a third time a few months previously; in 2002 he confirmed it with another fifth place at the Tour after wearing the maillot jaune between Stages 4 and 10, a victory at the National Individual Time Trial Championship and a bronze medal at the World ITT Championship.

González de Galdeano could not race at the Tour in 2003 after an anti-doping test revealed traces of salbutamol - this was not considered a positive result by the UCI and he was not banned from competition by them, but the French cycling federation banned him from racing in France for a six-month period that included the Tour. At the Vuelta that year he won Stage 1 and was fourth overall; however, in 2004 when ONCE had become Liberty Seguros, it became apparent that he had reached the end of his best years - he came 44th at the Tour and 96th at the Vuelta. 2005 was no better and he failed to finish the Tour before taking 89th at the Vuelta. A month and a half later, on this date - his 32nd birthday - he announced his immediate retirement. "I realised in the last Tour de France that I lost my motivation," he said.


Born in Bülach, Switzerland on this day in 1944, Louis Pfenninger won the Tour de Suisse in 1968 and 1972. In 1967 he was second overall at the Tour de Romandie and later becamee National Individual Time Trial Champion (1970) and National Road Race Champion (1971). As well as Romandie, he rode the Tour de France in 1967 and finished two stages in the top 20 before coming 70th overall.

Hendrik Redant, born in Ninove, Belgium on this day in 1962, was a professional rider between 1987 and 1997; during which time he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (1988 and 1990), the Colombian National Cross Country Mountain Bike Championship of 1990, Paris-Tours and the Japan Cup (1992) and the GP Briek Schotte (1994). He also took part in the Tour de France in 1990 (when he finished three stages in the top 20 and came 150th overall), 1991 (three stages in the top ten, 140th overall), 1992 (three top 20 stages, 122nd overall), 1994 (six stages top 20, 93rd overall) and 1995 when he didn't finish. Following his retirement from racing, Redant became a directeur sportif at Omega Pharma-Lotto and remained with them until 2010 when he moved on to the ill-fated Pegasus team based in Australia - the team folded due to financial difficulties before the start of the 2011 season

Raymond Mastrotto, born in Auch, France on this day in 1934, won the Under-23 Route de France in 1956 and 1957, then came sixth overall at the Tour de France in 1960. In 1961 he was second at the Critérium du Dauphiné and the following year he won it; he then went for several years without major victories until the Tour de France in 1967, where he won Stage 17 - which would prove to be the last win of his career because, in 1968 while out on a training ride, he was hit by a car and had to give up cycling. He died only 16 years later, aged 49, in 1984.

Astrid Danielsen, born in Trondheim on this day in 1968, was Norwegian Individual Time Trial Champion in 1987 and rode with the winning time trial team at the National Championships in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1999.

Elina Sofokleous, born on this day in 1978, was National Road Race and Individual Time Trial Champion of Cyprus in 2001 and National Cross Country Mountain Bike Champion from 2004 to 2007.

Henk Vogels Sr., born in Haarlem, Netherlands on this day in 1942, came second at the Australian National Road Race Championships in 1973. His son, Henk Vogels Jnr., was also a professional cyclist who rode between 1995 and 2008.

Jef Lowagie, who was born in Brussels on this day in 1903, was Amateur National Road Race Champion of Belgium in 1933.

Alexander González Peña, a road and track rider born in Cali, Colombia on this day in 1979, was National Pursuit Champion in 2003.

Paul Esposti, born in Cardiff on this day in 1972, is able to claim to have finished top ten in the National Championships of three different countries - once in his native Wales when he won the National Championships in 1995 (all Championships are for road racing unless otherwise stated), five times in the National Championships of the United Kingdom (of which Wales is a constituent nation; 7th in 1994, 8th in 1995, 9th in 1997, 4th at the National Circuit Race Championship of 1999, 10th in 2010) and, having taken dual USA/UK citizenship, 8th at the US Criterium Championships of 2008 and 5th at the US Road Race Championships in 2009.

Other cyclists born on this day: Tony Hurel (France, 1987); Bert Scheirlinckx (Belgium, 1974); Martin Polák (Czechoslovakia, 1978); Somchai Chantarasamrit (Thailand, 1944); Carmel Muscat (Malta, 1961); Antonio Montilla (Venezuela, 1935); Cárlos Koller (Chile, 1890); Rihards Veide (Latvia, 1991); Jo Deok-Haeng (South Korea, 1966); Ad Dekkers (Netherlands, 1953); Fabrizio Bontempi (Italy, 1966); Victor Morales (Ecuador, 1943); James Lauf (USA, 1927); Toussaint Fouda (Cameroon, 1958).

Daily Cycling Facts 31.10.12

Jeannie Longo

Jeannie Longo at the Women's Challenge, 2000

In 2012, when Jeannie Longo's husband Patrice Ciprelli confessed to buying EPO only a few months after she had found herself in trouble with the French federation following a missed anti-doping test, many predicted that her racing days were coming to a close. If that has been the case, and regardless of whether Longo is a doper or not (she certainly was in 1987 when she tested positive for ephidrine and received a one-month ban), it would have been the end of one of the most remarkable careers in the history of cycling - Longo, who had added the Elite National Individual Time Trial Championship to a list now numbering 59 National Championship titles in 2011, was 53 years old; she had won her first National Championship 32 years earlier and when she rode at the Olympics in 2008 many of her rivals had not yet been born when she took part in her first Games in 1984 - the first time that women's cycling was featured as an Olympic sport.

Longo was born on this day in 1958 in Annecy in Haute-Savoie, home to several famous skiing resorts; it was in skiing that she first made her name as an athlete when she won a National Schools' Championship followed by three University Championships. Ciprelli, at that time her coach, thought she had the potential to achieve even more in cycling and encouraged her to give the sport a try; months later she won the National Road Race Championship, then successfully defended it a year later. The year after that, when she won both the National Road Race and Individual Time Trial titles, she was also second in the World Road Race Championship. She would keep the National Road Race title until 1989, the year she decided to announce her retirement; having later changed her mind she then won both back in 1992 after being refused a place on the team going to the Worlds the previous year due to her own refusal to use the pedal approved by the National Cycling Federation. In 1993 she rode with the winning squad in the Team Time Trial event at the Nationals and did so again in 1994 and in 1995, when she also won the Road Race and the Individual Time Trial at the Nationals and the World Championships. The following year she retained the World ITT title and won the Road Race at the Olympics; in 1997 she won the Worlds ITT title for a third consecutive year. In 1998 she won the National Road Race and Pursuit Championships, doing so again in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, then lost the Road Race but kept the ITT title in 2003, lost the ITT but won back the Road Race in 2004, lost both in 2005, won both back in 2006, lost them again in 2007 and won them back again in 2008, then won the ITT in 2009, the Road Race in 2010 and the ITT in 2011. On the track, she was National Champion in Pursuit from 1980 to 1989 and again in 1992, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2008, in Points in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 2002, 2006 and 2011 and World Champion in Pursuit in 1986 and 1989 and in Points in 1989.

Longo racing in 2009

Longo also enjoyed extraordinary success in other one-day races and stage races, especially at the Tour de France Féminin - she did not take part in the first edition in 1984, but she was second in 1985 and 1986 and won for the next three consecutive years, was second when the race returned in 1992 following a two-year hiatus, second again in 1993 and 1995 and then third in 1996. She also won the won the Coors Classic in 1986 and 1987, the Tour of Norway in 1987, the Vuelta a Colombia in 1988, the Tour de l'Aude in 1987, 1988 and 1993, the Women's Challenge in 1991 and 1999, Chrono des Herbiers in 1992, 1995, 2000, 2009 and 2010, the Emakumeen Bira in 1995, the Tour de Bretagne in 1993 and 1995, the Chrono Champenois in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999 and the Trophée des Grimpeurs in 2001, 2004 and 2007, 2008 and 2009.

As is frequently the case in women's cycling, probably because so many of the athletes begin cycling whilst at university, Longo has distinguished herself in academia as well as in sport; she holds two degrees in mathematics and a PhD in sports management and is a noted pianist. She is also known as something of an eccentric: this proved to be an important factor in the investigation into the missed doping tests when court heart that the home she shares with Ciprelli does not contain a computer and she has neither an email account nor a mobile phone, with the case eventually being dismissed when it was found that the French anti-doping agency, with which she keeps in contact via letter, had not informed her that she remained on a list of riders subjected to out-of-competition tests. Ciprelli confessed that the EPO was for his personal use and as a result faced prosecution for customs offences.

Vera Koedooder

Koedooder wearing the jersey of her
2012 team, Sengers Ladies CT

Born in Hoorn, Netherlands on this day in 1983, Divera Maria "Vera" Koedooder had already tried her hand at athletics, ice skating and roller blading before she took up cycling and became Junior World Points Race and Junior National Individual Time Trial Champion in 2000. She then kept both titles and added the Junior National Road Race Championship in 2001, before going on in 2002 to win the Under-23 Points Race at the European Championships.

That year, she proved herself able to perform well in road races at Elite level, winning a stage at the GP Boekel and four criteriums in the Netherlands and Belgium that same season. In 2003 she won the Flevotour; she won it again in 2005 and then picked up numerous victories in criteriums up to the present. From 2006, she began picking up more good track results including gold medals for the Pursuit (2006), Points (2008) and Omnium (2010) at the Nationals, also winning a number of World Cup events.


Lisandra Guerra, a Cuban track cyclist born on this day in 1987, won the 500m Time Trial and the Sprint at the Junior World Championships in 2005. She went on to specialise in the 500m TT, also winning it at the PanAmerican Championships the same year, at the Moscow round of the World Cup in 2006, at the Los Angeles, Aigle and Beijing rounds of the World Cup and at the PanAmerican Championships (where she also won the Sprint) in 2007, at the Los Angeles round of the World Cup and at the World Championships in 2008, at the Copenhagen round of the World Cup in 2009 and in the Beijing round of the World Cup and at the PanAmerican Championships in 2012.

Claudio Michelotto, born in Italy in this day in 1942, won Tirreno-Adriatico in 1968 and the Giro di Sardegna and Stage 21, the King of the Mountains and second place overall at the Giro d'Italia in 1969. He took part in the Tour de France in 1967 and came 61st, then failed to finish in 1970 and 1971.

Antonio Cruz, born in Long Beach, California on this day in 1971, was US National Criterium Champion in 1999. Late in 2012, as part of USADA's investigation into doping at the US Postal team that led to Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France victories, David Zabriskie claimed that Cruz had illegally doped with testosterone in 2004.

William Walker, who was born in Subiaco, Australia on this day in 1985, won the Youth category at the Tour Down Under in 2006.

Other cyclists born on this day: Wally Happy (Great Britain, 1932); Wojciech Pawłak (Poland, 1969); Marios Athanasiadis (Cyprus, 1986); Sakie Tsukuda (Japan, 1985); Daniel Petrov (Bulgaria, 1982); Sylvain Bolay (France, 1963); Carlos Reybaud (Argentina, 1949); Rowan Peacock (South Africa, 1939); Radoslav Konstantinov (Bulgaria, 1983); Mehrdad Afsharian Tarshiz (Iran, 1954).

Daily Cycling Facts 30.10.12

Manuel Quinziato, born in Bolzano, Italy on this day in 1979, became European Under-23 Time Trial Champion in 2001. In 2009, he was ninth at Paris-Roubaix and as of 2012 was a veteran on thirteen Grand Tours, his best result being 80th at the Tour de France in 2006.

Rompelberg's 1995 world record

Fred Rompelberg, born in Maastricht on this day in 1945, has attempted and set numerous cycling speed records - including 268.831kph drafting behind a dragster car at Bonneville Salt Flats on the 3rd of October in 1995, which remains the non-roller, flat terrain world record. Now aged 67 and in possession of a full UCI racing licence, he is officially the oldest professional racing cyclist in the world.

Ramona d'Viola, born in Chicago on this day in 1958, was selected for the US national team in 1985 and took 38th place at the Tour de France Féminin that year. She has also been active in sailing (including as a crew member in the America's Cup) and in paddleboarding, in 2004 captaining the first women's team to successfully cross the Florida Straits following an aborted attempt the previous year and is a veteran of the US Army Marines and an acclaimed photojournalist.

Wolfgang Wesemann, born in Elbeu on this day in 1949, was Amateur Road Race Champion of East Germany in 1972.

Christian Lademann, who was born in Blankenberg, East Germany on this day in 1975, won numerous road and track events in the late 1990s and first decade of the 21st Century including a stage at the Peace Race and several National and World titles. In 2009, when new testing procedures were applied to samples taken from athletes at races in the past, Lademann was shown to have been positive for EPO. He had by that time retired and did not request that the B-sample provided at the same time be tested.

Mieczysław Wilczewski, who was born in Lwow, Ukraine on this day in 1932 to Polish parents; he later became a resident of Poland and won the Tour of Poland in 1953. Years later he moved again to the USA, where he died in 1994.

Marco Arriagada, - born in Curicó, Chile on this day in 1975 and winner of the National Road Race Championship in 2001, 2006 and 2007, the National Time Trial Championship in 2003 and 2010, the Vuelta de Chile in 2004 and the Tour de San Luis in 2011 - tested positive for anabolic steroids at the Vuelta de Chile in 2011 and was banned from competition for four years.

Other cyclists born on this day: Martin Gilbert (Canada, 1982); Carl Lundquist (Sweden, 1891, died 1916); Michel Zucarelli (France, 1953); Charles Rabaey (Belgium, 1934); Jesús Vázquez (Mexico, 1969); Yukari Nakagome (Japan, 1965); Serafino Silva (Venezuela, 1953).

Daily Cycling Facts 29.10.12

Christopher Scott

Christopher Scott

Christopher Scott was born in Queensland on this day in 1968. His parents encouraged him to take part in sports when he was a child and he first chose soccer, joining his older brother's team after the coach of a team made up of players in his own age group refused to let him join because he was unable to kick the ball as accurately with both feet.

"I'd love to be able to get in touch with him now and show him what I have been able to achieve," Scott says. It is to be hoped that, wherever he is now, that coach did in fact later hear of what the lad he turned down achieved, because the fact that no other player on the team had been required to meet the same stipulation suggests that the real reason Scott was refused a place with them was because he has cerebral palsy - and what he achieved is truly remarkable, even by Paralympic standards: having competed in 7-a-side soccer at the 1988 Games he switched to athletics for the 1992 Games, then - having taken up cycling after breaking an ankle - won a gold medal for the 5,000m Time Trial and a silver for the 20km CP Div4 race in 1996 and a gold for the CP Div4 Time Trial and a bronze for the Road Race in 2000. In 2004 he was team captain but gave up his own chances of winning in order that Peter Homann, whom Scott judged to have a better chance of winning the gold in the Sprint, could go through; Homann won and Scott was later awarded a gold medal too for the part he played in the victory. "I already had my gold medal," Scott - who won two more for the road Time Trial and the Individual Pursuit at the Games that year - said, "It's what you do in a team. Peter deserved his chance on the podium."

In 2007, Scott underwent surgery on his spine and then, during recovery, was hit by a car. Nevertheless, he competed at the 2008 Paralympics and won bronze in the Kilo, silver in the Individual Time Trial and gold in the Pursuit before announcing his retirement.



Maurice Blomme, born in Oostnieuwkerke, Belgium in this day in 1926, came third in the Junior National Championships of 1946, then won the National Military Road Race Championship and was second in the Pursuit at the Amateur National Track Championships a year later. In 1949 he turned professional with Bianchi-Ursus and Bertin-Wolber, taking third place at the GP des Nations that year; then in 1950 he achieved first (Stage 12), second and third stage finishes at his debut Tour de France, but did not finish the race. He won the GP des Nations that year and was second at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the next, was second at Gent-Wevelgem (also on Stage 1 at the Tour and overall at the GP des Nations) in 1952 and won the Omloop het van Westen in 1955; continuing to win criteriums through to the end of his professional career in 1959.

Born in Oudenaarde, Belgium on this day in 1946, André Dierickx turned professional with Goldor-Gerka in 1968 and won the Under-23 Ronde van Vlaanderen, then in 1970 came third at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Amstel Gold Race. 1971 was his breakthrough year with two stage wins at the Critérium du Dauphiné and General Classification victories at the Tours of Luxembourg and Picardie; then in 1972 he was second at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix as well as riding in - but failing to finish - his first Tour de France. In 1973 he won La Flèche Wallonne and in 1974 finished the Tour, taking seventh place on Stage 14 and 55th overall; in 1975 he won La Flèche Wallonne again and was third at Paris-Roubaix. He was second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1977 and won the Ronde van België in 1978, then went back to the Tour de France in 1979 and finished Stage 9 in fourth place before abandoning after Stage 15, then finished off his career by winning the GP Briek Schotte in 1981. Dierickx also excelled in the one-day, "round the houses" criteriums that both fuel and are fueled by  Flanders' love for cycling, winning around 80 during his career and reaching the podium on many more occasions.

Jan Pieterse, born in Oude-Tonge on this day in 1942, rode with the victorious Dutch 100km Team Time Trial squad at the 1964 Olympics. He had won the Österreich-Rundfahrt the previous year, but never enjoyed the same success on the road - and consequently, the fame - as his Olympic team mates Evert Dolman, Bart Zoet and Gerben Karstens.

Other cyclists born on this day: Joop Harmans (Netherlands, 1921); Craig Schommer (USA, 1966); Ángel Noé Alayón (Colombia, 1964); Carlos Pérez (Argentina, 1970); Jože Smole (Yugoslavia, 1965); Antonín Kříž (Czechoslovakia, 1943).

Daily Cycling Facts 28.10.12

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg in 2008

Cycling, it is said, is uniquely cruel among sports - most riders are expected to give up any chance they might have ever had of winning races (for the majority of riders, that's no chance at all) and can expect little public recognition for their efforts, though any team leader who wants to ensure the continued support of their domestiques will make certain he or she shows some appreciation. Those that do make it can, in most cases, expect no more than a handful of years at the top; and they have to fight off challenges and challengers each and every day that they're there. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, born in Düsseldorf on this day in 1974, has been doing precisely that for two decades since she came second in the German Road Race Championships of 1993 when she was 19 years old. By that point, she'd already been racing for thirteen years; having started because she didn't want to miss out on anything her two older brothers Lars and Sven. In her very first race, she attacked so hard right from the start that she only got 500m up the road before crashing hard enough to completely destroy the bike. The following day she borrowed a heavy, low-geared town bike and entered another race, this time beating all but two of the boys taking part. What really gave Ina an edge, however, was not the power that, years later, would take her to victories in the biggest and most prestigious races in cycling but that she rapidly learned to reign it in and make efficient use of it; before long, she was beating her brothers and their older, more experienced rivals and winning races.

"Teut" in 2012

That wasn't her first taste of glory: two years earlier she had won the Junior World Points and Road Race Championships. Teutenberg's strongest point has always been her phenomenally strong sprint, which earned her the bronze medal at the Elite National Road Race Championship in 1995; in 1996 the Thüringen-Rundfahrt and the Flevotour; in 1998 stages at the Women's Challenge and Holland Ladies' Tour and in 1999 two more stages at the Women's Challenge - all before she'd even signed her first professional contract, which came in 2000 when she joined the Red Bull Frankfurt team. That year she won another two stages at the Women's Challenge and one at the Holland Ladies' Tour; then over the course of the following years she won more stages at all of the premier women's cycling events including more at the Women's Challenge and Holland Ladies' Tour, the Tour de Toona, the Tour de l'Aude, the Tour of New Zealand, the Giro Donne, the Trophée d'Or Féminin, the Gracia Orlova, the Route de France and the Giro della Toscana. Gradually and while sprinting remained her preferred way to win, she had developed from a specialist into a very talented all rounder and, from 2008, she began winning General Classifications and prestigious one-day races. The first was the RaboSter Zeeuwsche Eilanden; she won it again in 2009 and also won the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Redlands, the Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo and the National Road Race Championship, then in 2010 she won Redlands, Dwingeloo, the Tour of Chongming Island (and the World Cup round held there), the Liberty Classic and the Points competition at the Tour de l'Aude. In 2011 she won the stage race and the World Cup round at Chongming Island again before winning another National Road Race Championship (she was also third at the Worlds), and in 2012 she won the Energiwacht Tour and finished the Road Race at the Olympics in fourth place.

Teutenberg has stated for a number of years that she would retire when aged 38. Her absence at races will be sorely felt even by those who see her as a dangerous rival because Ina has become one of women's cycling's unofficial spokespeople, a rider who reveals what the entire peloton is thinking and - in the word of one of her comrades at Specialized-Lululemon, the team for which she raced in 2012 - "she tells it like it is with no sugar-coating." Hopefully, once she's had a rest she'll take up some managerial role with the team: her experience, intelligence and character are too great a resource for women's cycling to lose.

Graham Jones

Graham Jones

Born in Cheadle, Great Britain on this day in 1957, Graham Jones was a highly talented footballer as a boy and earned a place on Manchester United's development team before seeing the light and giving up football in favour of cycling. For the first couple of years he was hopeless, but he fell in love with the sport and, when he was sixteen, won a race at Macclesfield. In 1975, his final year racing as a junior, he beat Elite National Pursuit Champion Malcolm Fraser; then in 1976 he spent five months racing in the Netherlands before moving to Belgium the following year and being selected to race in the Peace Race and at the Etoile des Espoirs, where he showed that he was able to compete with riders such as Bernard Hinault, then in 1978 he followed what would become the most beaten of paths for British riders hoping to make it big in European cycling by moving to France and joining the Athletic Club de Boulogne Billencourt. In 1978 he won fifteen races including the Amateur and Under-23 versions of the GP des Nations an the GP de France, which earned him the Palme d'Or Merlin Plage season-long competition as the most successful amateur in French cycling and an offer of a professional contract with Peugeot-Esso-Michelin, which he joined for the 1979 season.

As is usually the case when a rider first makes the jump into professional cycling, the increased level of competition took Jones by surprise and he achieved only three notable results, all second places, that year - however, one was at the GP St-Raphael and one at the Critérium International: impressive, prestigious finishes against a very strong field. The following year, 1980, he rode his first Tour de France and finished Stage 7a in second place before coming 49th in the final General Classification; in 1981 he was second at the Clasica San Sebastian and Tour Méditerranéen and third at the National Road Race Championhips before returning to the Tour and finishing in 20th place overall. He had hoped to impress in the Critérium International that year too and looked set to do so when he dropped no less a rider than Le Patron himself, Hinault; but his chances were ruined when a press motorbike caused him to crash.

In 1982, Jones took second place behind Alfons de Wolf (and in front of Sean Kelly and Roger de Vlaeminck, whom he caught and dropped) at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the greatest moment of his career. Yet the season would be disastrous overall - while Jones was being called one of the classiest riders Britain had ever produced, his successes had come at a price - still only 24 years old, he had been overworked and when he broke a femur in an accident in Cheshire it took him ar longer to recover than expected. In 1983 his best stage finish at the Tour was 15th for Stage 8 but he finished the majority of the rest much further down, dropping 49 places from his promising 1981 result to 69th overall. In 1984 he failed to finish, then 1985 turned out to be his third consecutive year without any victories at all; fans realised that an enormous talent - one that, had it have been better managed, might have become one of Britain's greatest ever cyclists, perhaps even won a Monument and reached the podium at the Tour de France - had been squandered.

Jones continued racing through 1986 and 1987. In 1986, he finished third and then second on two stages at the Milk Race, then won Stage 1 at the Mercian Two-Day; in 1987 his ANC-Halfords team went to the Tour de France - his best performance was 60th place on Stage 1 and he abandoned a few days later.


Robinson Merchán, born in Elvira, Venezuela on this day in 1974, won the Road Race at the PanAmerican Games in 1991.

Cora Westland, born in Bussum, Netherlands on this day in 1962, rode with Leontien van Moorsel, Astrid Schop and Monique Knol to win the World 50km Team Time Trial Championship in 1990.

Born in Odder, Denmark on this day in 1946, Niels Fredborg won numerous Amateur National and World titles on the track in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. In 1972 he won the Kilo at the Olympics - the only medal won by a Danish athlete at the Games that year.

Eugeniusz Michalak, who was born in Warsaw on this day in 1908, was National Cyclo Cross Champion in 1929, 1930 and 1933, National Tandem Champion (with Artur Pusz) in 1931 and rode with the winning team at the National Team Time Trial Championship of 1937.

Ludo Delcroix, who was born in Kalmthout, Belgium on this day in 1950, won Stage 5 at the Tour de Romandie in 1977 and Stage 9 at the Tour de France in 1979.

François Simon, born in Troyes on this day in 1968, won Stage 15 at the Giro d'Italia in 1992 and became National Road Race Champion in 1999. In 2001 he wore the yellow jersey for three days and finished sixth overall at the Tour de France, the best performance by a French rider that year.

Károly Nemes-Nótás, born in Budapest on this day in 1911, won the Tour of Hungary in 1935.

Other cyclists born on this day: Fan Yue-Tao (Taipei, 1949); Marco Cattaneo (Italy, 1957); Luiz Carlos Flores (Brazil, 1950); Lieke Klaus (Netherlands, 1989); Stephen Goodall (Australia, 1956); Adam Duvendeck (USA, 1981); Chesen Frey (United States Virgin Islands, 1973).