Daily Cycling Facts 28.09.2014

Léon Devos

Today is the anniversary of the 1919 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the ninth ever held and the latest calendar date in the 120-year history of the race - as the first in the wake of the First World War, many of the riders who had been on the start lines before racing in Europe was halted by the conflict were no longer around. The parcours was 237km in length and winner Léon Devos also spelled De Vos, took 9h20'30" to complete it after battling through snow to get there.

Trixi Worrack
Born in Cottbus, East Germany on this day in 1981, Trixi Worrack became Junior World Individual Time Trial Champion in 1998, then came third in the same event and second in the Junior World Road Race Championship a year later.

In 2000, she signed her first professional contract with Red Bull Frankfurt and finished Stage 4 of the Women's Challenge in third place. She remained with the team the following year and won Stage 7 at the Women's Challenge, was third at La Flèche Wallonne and fourth in the National Elite ITT Championship. From 2003 to 2009 she rode for Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung; in 2003 she became National Road Race Champion and was second in the Holland Ladies' Tour, then in 2004 she won the Tour de l'Aude, the Krasna Lipa and the Giro della Toscana. In 2005 she won the Primavera Rosa (the women's version of Milan-San Remo); in 2006 he was second at the Holland Ladies' Tour for a third time, also coming second in the World Road Race Championship; in 2007 she was second at the Tour de l'Aude; in 2008 she became National Points Race Champion and in 2009 she won Stage 8 at the Giro Donne and the National ITT Championship.

Worrack at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt, 2012

Worrack joined German team Noris Cycling for 2010 and dominated the Czech Tour, winning all five stages and the General Classification; then in 2011 she raced for AA Drink-Leontien.nl and came fourth at the Trophée d'Or Féminin and won Stage 5 at the Giro della Toscana. She moved on to Specialized-Lululemon for 2012 and has been an instrumental rider in a spectacular first year for the team, starting off the season with a Stage 2 victory and second place overall at the Tour of Qatar, then came third at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and won Stage 3 at the Gracia Orlova and Stages 3 and 4 and second place overall at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt. She also rode with Lululemon's victorious squad at the World Team Time Trial Championship and took eighth place at the World ITT Championship. At the London Olympics, she was ninth in the ITT.

In 2013, Worrack became National Cyclo Cross Champion. On the road, still with Lululemon, she came second on Stage 2 and fifth overall at the Tour of Qatar and second at the Classica Cita di Padova during the Spring races, then came second in the time trial and first in the road race at the National Championships and was sixth overall at the Boels Rental Ladies Tour. Lululemon quite literally dominated the team trials in almost every race they entered throughout 2013, frequently beating even their nearest rivals Orica-AIS and Rabobank-Liv/Giant by large margins; Worrack was an integral part of the squad, riding with them in their successful time trials at the Open de Suede Vargarda, the Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour, the Boels Rental Ladies Tour and again at the World Team Time Trial Championships, where they beat Rabobank into second place by 1'11.09".


Anthony Ravard, born in Nantes, France on this day in 1983, won three stages at the Tour de Normandie in 2008, his first professional year. In 2011 he won Etoile de Bessèges and finished the World Road Race Championships in 13th place and in 2012 he was fourth at the GP Fina - Fayt-le-Franc.

Broadcaster and journalist Jon Snow is familiar to Britons as the presenter of ITN's flagship 10 o'clock News. He is less well-known as a cyclist, except to members of the Cyclists' Touring Club - having become president of the organisation in 2007. Snow was educated at the University of Liverpool but was rusticated (expelled) due to his part in an anti-apartheid protest. He once found himself seated next to a sleeping Idi Amin aboard a Ugandan presidential jet and seriously considered taking the revolver from Amin's belt and killing him with it; stopping only because of the risk to other passengers.

Frances Willard

Frances Willard, born in Churchville, New York on this day in 1839, was a suffragist, social activist and temperance campaigner who, in addition to her work towards getting women the right to vote, was involved in the fight for free school meals, benefits for the poor, workers' rights to join trade unions, municipal organisations devoted to public health and sanitation, state-funded education for the children of poor families and limitations on the hours employees could be made to work, as well as backing new laws against child abuse and rape. Like Susan B. Anthony, she was also a keen advocate of the bicycle which she saw as means of enabling women to travel when and where they wished. In 1895, she wrote A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, in which she describes her own cycling journeys and the stories of other women she met while completing them. Although it suffers a little from a typically Victorian tendency to ramble, the book is often funny, always interesting and still well worth a read today; best of all, it's out of copyright and can be read online and downloaded free.

Other cyclists born on this day: Jesús Hernández (Spain, 1981); Guus Bierings (Netherlands, 1956); Paweł Kaczorowski (Poland, 1949); Eddie Fiola (USA, 1964); Robert Thompson (Great Britain, 1882); Waldemar Bernatzky (Uruguay, 1920); Maurice Renaud (France, 1900, died 1968); Francesco Del Grosso (Italy, 1899, died 1938); Carlos Coloma (Spain, 1981); Piet Peters (Netherlands, 1921); Paul Réneau (Belize, 1960); Walter Martin (USA, 1881); Jean Brun (Switzerland, 1926, died 1993); Martin Willock (Canada, 1954); Gilbert de Rieck (Belgium, 1936).

Daily Cycling Facts 28.07.2014

Théodore Vienne

Théodore Vienne

Born in Roubaix on this day in 1864, Théodore Vienne was an amateur cyclist himelf, but he is primarily remembered as one of the men who established a race that has become perhaps the most famous in the world after the Tour de France - Paris-Roubaix, the Hell of the North. Having become fabulously wealthy through his textile factories, he became involved in sports promotion (and of events that are sometimes mistaken for sport, such as bull-fighting; he built Roubaix's torodrome and, on Bastille Day 1899, promoted a fight between a lion and a bull - which, pleasingly, descended into farce when the two animals refused to fight) after offering the grounds of one his factories to a bike race organised by the town's socialist-collectivist mayor Henri Carette, who saw sporting events as a way to improve the lives of the populace; it was such a success that Vienne recruited business associate and fellow amateur cyclist Maurice Perez and built a velodrome on a 46,000 square metre site. Among the many famous riders to compete there was "Major" Marshall Taylor, who made his first appearance before a wildly supportive French crowd at a time when he was banned from many velodromes at home in the USA because he was black.

The velodrome was enormously successful but, being entrepreneurs, Vienne and Perez wanted more. They soon hit upon the idea of holding a road race from Paris - where all the big races of the day began - to Roubaix, but this came with a problem: Roubaix had grown dramatically from 8,500 inhabitants in 1800 to more than 125,000 by 1890, but it remained a provincial industrial town, little known throughout the rest of the country and very much lacking the glamour of the capital. They also felt that they lacked the experience to organise both the start and end of the race, but realised that their event would immediately become more famous if it could be associated with an established race; so they contacted Louis Minart, editor of Le Vélo, suggesting that his newspaper might like to become involved with the race and enjoy a sales boost like that experienced by Véloce Sport through its Bordeaux-Paris. Minart was immediately keen but explained that the decision to back the race rested with the paper's director Paul Rousseau; he was, apparently, not entirely convinced that Rousseau would be convinced because Vienne and Perez changed their sales pitch, emphasising an idea that their race could be run as a preparation for Bordeaux-Paris. "The distance between Paris and Roubaix is roughly 280km, so it would be child's play for the future participants of Bordeaux–Paris," they told him, also mentioning that they had already arranged a prize of 1,000 francs.

Arenberg didn't feature in Paris-Roubaix until 1968; however,
as roads were built like this in those days, Breyer probably
experienced many similar cobbles on his way to Roubaix

Rousseau was as favourable as Minart and sent his cycling editor Victor Breyer with a driver to reconnoitre a route; Breyer went as far as Amiens by car, then continued by bike. As has happened so many times in the race's future history, the weather turned unpleasant and he arrived at Roubaix  covered in mud and soaked through after a painful day on the treacherous cobbles that would later give the race its unique character. At first, he planned to send a telegram to Minart advising him that the roads to Roubaix were simply too hard, too dangerous for the race to go ahead; fortunately, once he'd had a bath, a hot meal and some good wine, he realised what a spectacle it could be (Breyer, incidentally, must have had a sadistic streak - it was he who, in 1910, persuaded Henri Desgrange to include the Tourmalet in the Tour de France) and the race went ahead on the 19th of April, 1896. More than half the riders that applied to take part didn't show up; among those that did were Desgrange, who failed to finish, and Maurice Garin - who did finish and would win the first ever Tour de France seven years later. The winner, Josef Fischer, remains the only German victor.

Vienne died on the 1st of March 1921. His race still takes place each year, whereas Bordeaux-Paris has not been held since 1988.

Julia Shaw
Julia Shaw, born in The Wirral, Great Britain on this day in 1965, took part in no sport after she left school and no longer had to do physical education lessons - in fact, it wasn't until she'd graduated from university and begun working that she began to take an interest, inspired by a triathlete colleague. She says that it was the friendliness of the other triathletes she met that kept her interested, but it would be another ten years before she began to take a serious interest in cycling. By that time, she was already in her thirties.

Fortunately, female athletes retain their ability to perform well in endurance sports for longer than their male counterparts, hence the relatively high numbers of riders in the late 30s in women's cycling when compared to the men's sport. Shaw was no different - she won the Best British All-Rounder competition in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010; only the legendary Beryl Burton has won it more times. She also won the Beryl Burton Champion of Champions Trophy for four consecutive years between 2007 and 2010, and she was National Time Trial Champion in 2005 (and third in 2009, then second in 2010 and 2011). Still racing at the age of 47, she came fifth behind Wendy Houvenaghel, Olga Zabelinskaia, Hanka Kupfernagel and Pia Sundstedt at the 2012 Celtic Chrono in Ireland.

Shaw was not considered for the 2006 Commonwealth Games but was selected for 2010 Games after her second place at the Time Trial Nationals, and won a bronze medal, finishing 10" behind Tara Whitten and 5" behind Linda Villumsen. Shaw's 2010 50-mile British TT record, 1h46'49", still stands; as does her 100-mile record of 3h45'22" from the same year. She also holds a degree and master's degree in physics and is involved in fibre optic research science.


Rik van Linden, born in Wilrijk on this day in 1949, won the Belgian Junior Road Race Championship in 1968, the Under-23 Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1969, Paris-Tours in 1971 and 1973 and Milano-Torino in 1977. He also rode well in stages races, including the Grand Tours - he won Stage 2 and second place in the Points competition at the 1972 Tour de France, Stages 7 and 17 at the 1973 Giro d'Italia, Stage 5 at the 1975 Giro, Stages 1b, 19, 21 and first place in the Points competition at the 1975 Tour, Stages 3 and 15 at the 1976 Giro, Stage 2 at the 1977 Giro and  Stages 1, 5 and 6 at the 1978 Giro.

Iker Flores

Born in Galdakao, Euskadi on this day in 1976, Iker Flores turned professional with Euskaltel-Euskadi in 1999, then won the Tour de l'Avenir in his second year with the team. Flores was a rider who spent his entire career on the verge of becoming great, coming 18th overall at the Vuelta a Espana in 2003 and finishing Stage 7 at the 2004 Tour de France in second place, but somehow never quite found the little extra he needed to break through. Finally, Euskaltel let him go; he spent his last professional season with ProContinental Fuerteventura-Canarias, then retired in 2007. Flores was Lanterne Rouge at the Tour in 2005 - as was his older brother brother Igor three years earlier.

Vasil Kiryienka, born in Rechytsa, Belarus (then USSR) on this day in 1981, was National Time Trial Champion in 2002, 2005 and 2006. He also won the Points competition at the Critérium International in 2011 and was second overall, then came sixth overall at the same event in 2012. At the end of that year he left Movistar and signed up to Team Sky, going on to win Stage 18 at the Vuelta a Espana; he is still with Sky as of 2014.

Chepe González, born in Sogamoso, Colombia on this day in 1968, won Stage 11 at the Tour de France in 1996, Stage 20 and the King of the Mountains at the Giro d'Italia in 1997 and Stage 5 and a second King of the Mountains at the Giro in 1999.

Walter Bénéteau, born in Les Essarts on this day in 1972, competed in and finished every Tour de France between 2000 and 2006. His best result was 42nd, in 2001.

Jeanne Deley, long-term partner of Tour de France director Henri Desgrange following his divorce, was born in Creusot on this day in 1878. Deley was a rather bohemian artist, known for the spirited parties she held at their villa and to which she invited cyclists, artists, actors, eccentrics and - most exotic of all - Americans; Desgrange seems not to have disapproved, an interesting contrast to the stern, pompous character he is usually portrayed as having been.

Cyclists born on this day: Maurice Moucheraud (France, 1933); Will Davis (France, 1877); Constantin Ciocan (Romania, 1943); Jan Bo Petersen (Denmark, 1970); Joe Waugh (Great Britain, 1952); František Kundert (Bohemia, now Czech Republic, 1891); Donald Eagle (New Zealand, 1936); Yvonne Schnorf (Switzerland, 1965); Viktor Manakov (USSR, 1960); Norbert Kostel (Austria, 1966); Baba Ganz (Switzerland, 1964); Adrian Prosser (Canada, 1956); Franco Gandini (Italy, 1936).

Daily Cycling Facts 28.10.2013

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, was at the top for two decades after finishing 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 did. 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 stated for a number of years that she would retire when aged 38. However, she began 2013 with no apparent sign of leaving the sport - though her season was cut short by a serious crash at March's Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo that left her with concussion sufficiently bad to keep her away from racing for the remainder of the year. Her absence at races was 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, "she tells it like it is with no sugar-coating."

In 2014, after one of the longest careers in the history of cycling, Teutenberg took up a managerial role with Specialized-Lululemon; although the team will no longer be with us in 2016, her experience, intelligence and character are too great a resource for women's cycling to lose - we won't have seen the last of her yet.

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).

Daily Cycling Facts 03.10.2013

Emma Pooley

Emma Pooley - the greatest British rider
of her generation?

Britain has, after decades in which it was thought to be among the third-rate cycling nations, produced a series of world-class riders including World Champions, Tour de France champions (four, not two; as explained below) and a man considered by many to be the greatest sprinter in the history of the sport - but it's not known for climbers, having produced only two world-class examples. One of those was Robert Millar, the other is Emma Pooley.

Born in London on this day in 1982, Emma Pooley grew up in Norwich, Norfolk, where she competed in cross-country running. In 2001 she gained a place at the University of Cambridge where she studyied engineering at Trinity Hall and won a Blue for cross-country and triathlon. She had no interest in cycling until an injury prevented her from running and she got a bike to maintain her fitness; almost immediately, she excelled at it and in 2005 she came fourth at the National Road Race Championship. Shortly afterwards she signed up to Fat Birds UK, managed by Stef Wyman - one of the most respected and foresighted directeurs sportif in women's cycling with an ability to spot new talent, help them develop and send them out to take on the world in a sport he loves.

Pooley left Fat Birds for Specialized Designs for Women in 2007 and remained with them for two years, during which time she began to enjoy her first notable successes - she won two criterium races early in the season, then took part in the Tour de France Féminin and came second on Stage 1, third on Stage 5 and was third overall behind Nicole Cooke and Priska Doppmann; later in the season she won Stage 1 at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt and was second on Stage 2 at the Tour de l'Ardèche. 2008 was her breakthrough year: she won four races early in the year before taking her first General Classification victory at the Tour de Bretagne (where she won Stages 3 and 4a), then won Stage 4 at the Tour de l'Ardèche. She also competed at the Olympics that year, where she was second in the Individual Time Trial, and at the National and World Championships - she was second in the Nationals Road Race (again losing out to Nicole Cooke) and eighth in the ITT at the Worlds.

In 2009, Pooley began a three-year stint with the Cervélo Test Team Women, then based in Germany - it would relocate to the Netherlands the following year, then to Great Britain in 2011. During her first year with them, when it became apparent that she is perhaps the finest climber in the contemporary women's peloton, she won the Tour de France Féminin (she was not, however, the first British rider to win a Tour de France - Nicole Cooke won in 2006 and 2007 - but they both beat Bradley Wiggins to the title of Tour Champion), the GP Ouest-France and became National ITT Champion. 2010 started in spectacular style with victories at La Flèche Wallonne (where she beat Cooke into second place), the GP Suisse and the GP Elsy Jacobs; later she won Stage 7, the Mountains classification and the General Classification at the Tour de l'Aude, came second on two stages and was fifth overall at the Giro Donne, won the National Road Race and ITT Championship titles, another GP Ouest-France and the World ITT Championship. In 2011, following an epic (but, perhaps, unwinnable) battle with Marianne Vos in the mountains, she was second in the General Classification at the Giro Donne, where she won Stage 8; she would win Stage 3 and overall at the Tour de l'Ardèche, adding these to several victories early in the season and a bronze medal from the World ITT Championships.

Pooley at the Olympics, 2012

The end of the 2011 season brought bad news when one of Garmin-Cervelo's main sponsors withdrew funding from the women's team, forcing manager Jonathan Vaughters to release all the riders with very little time left until the end of the transfer period. Fortunately, all of them were able to find new homes with Pooley - like most of the rest of the team - being rapidly snapped up by legendary Dutch team AA Drink-Leontien.nl, whom she repaid with victory at the Berner Rundfahrt and the Emakumeen Saria, then second place at the Giro Donne (there have been many riders able to perform well in a time trial, as Pooley can, but most climbers find the bike's tendency to skip around under their small frames alarming so that they slow down and heavier riders can catch them. Pooley can descend with the best of them, which is why she was the only rider able to keep within four minutes of winner Marianne Vos - third place Evelyn Stevens was more than six and half minutes down at the end of the race) and another General Classification at the Tour de l'Ardèche. Unfortunately, 2012 would also end on a sad note when Leontien.nl owner/managers Leontien van Moorsel and her husband Michael Zijlaard announced that following the withdrawal of sponsor AA Drink they would be dissolving the team, following several years at the top of women's cycling. This time, the riders received plenty of warning in advance, with Pooley going to Bigla. However, she was initially uncertain of her plans for the 2013 season, stating that racing left her with insufficient time to complete her PhD in geotechnical engineering; she considered taking a year out of competition (which, she said, she was also considering out of anger at the UCI's apparent lack of interest in developing women's cycling). Instead, she opted for a reduced calendar, but still managed six prestigious victories including the General Classification at the Tour Languedoc Roussillon. In September she was named as a prospective member of the British team going to the World Championships, but turned down the place in order to concentrate on her studies.

Millar became a household name in Britain in the 1980s. Pooley is virtually unknown outside the cycling world despite being more successful than he ever was, one of Britain's most successful athletes of all time and, as a highly intelligent woman, being as perfect a role model for girls and young women as could ever be wished for.

Alex Dowsett

Dowsett at the 2011 Tour of Britain

Born in Maldon, Great Britain on this day in 1988, Alex Dowsett was National Individual Time Trial Champion in 2011 and 2012. Earlier in his career he won numerous national titles as a Junior and Under-23 as well as the U-23 Chrono des Nations in 2010, then signed to Sky as a neo-pro for 2011 and won the London Nocturne and Stage 8a at the Tour of Britain.

He was tipped to do well at the Spring Classics the following season, but a crash at the Driedaagse van De Panne left him with a broken elbow and put him out of action for several months. He returned in June to take a silver medal at the National Road Race Championships, then won the National Individual Time Trial Championships in September before coming eighth at the World ITT Championships a little over two weeks later.

Dowsett announced late in 2012 that he would be leaving Sky to go to Movistar, stating that the main reason behind his decision to do so was that the Basque team would offer him a place at one of the Grand Tours. The team's management selected him for the Giro d'Italia, and he repaid them by helping the squad take second place in the Stage 2 team time trial where they finished second behind Sky; he then extracted revenge in Stage 8, the individual time trial, when he beat Sky's leader Bradley Wiggins into second place by ten seconds.

Later in the summer, Dowsett was second to Thomas Scully at the London Nocturne. He then won the National ITT Championship for the third time, beating Matthew Bottril by 20". Still not of the age at which most cyclists reach a performance peak, Dowsett seems to have a glittering career riding against the clock ahead of him - some fans have gone as far as to compare him to Monsieur Chrono himself, the great Jacques Anquetil.

Maria Luisa Calle, born in Medellín, Colombia on this day in 1964, was National Road Race Champion in 1999 and National Individual Time Trial Champion in 2002. In 2004 she was third in the Points race at the Olympics but was forced to give back her bronze medal when she tested positive for the banned amino acid heptaminol. However, Calle argued that she had not knowingly ingested the substance in question and appealed to the Court of Arbitration in Sport, where she claimed that it might have come from an anti-migraine remedy she had used shortly before the race. The remedy, Neo-Saldina, was found not to contain heptaminol, but it did contain isometheptene - which, laboratory tests had shown, could metabolise into heptaminol. Since she had been unaware of this and isometheptene was not banned under UCI or IOC rules, her result was reinstated and her medal given back. She won the ITT at the Nationals again in 2007 and at the PanAmerican Games in 2011, when she was 43 years old.

Arthur Decabooter, born in Oudenaarde, Belgium on this day in 1936, won the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1960, the Omloop Het Volk, E3 Harelbeke and GP Briek Schotte in 1961 and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 1964 - a palmares that puts him well into contention for that most arbitrary and prized of titles, "Flandrien." Decabooter could also do well in a longer stage race and won two stages plus the overall Points competition at the Vuelta a Espana in 1960. He died on the 26th of May, 2012.

Other cyclists born on this day: Ian Mc Leod (Great Britain, races with a South African licence, 1980); Hitoshi Sato (Japan, 1962); Yoshikazu Cho (Japan, 1953); Rafael Ladrón (Spain, 1952); Malcolm McCredie (Australia, 1942); Emili Pérez (Andorra, 1966); Hans Andresen (Denmark, 1927); Erling Kristiansen (Norway, 1923, died 2009); Liévin Lerno (Belgium, 1927); Claus Møller (Denmark, 1968); Severino Rigoni (Italy, 1914, died 1992); Lino Aquea (Chile, 1962).

Daily Cycling Facts 28.09.2013

Léon Devos

Today is the anniversary of the 1919 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the ninth ever held and the latest calendar date in the 120-year history of the race - as the first in the wake of the First World War, many of the riders who had been on the start lines before racing in Europe was halted by the conflict were no longer around. The parcours was 237km in length and winner Léon Devos also spelled De Vos, took 9h20'30" to complete it after battling through snow to get there.

Trixi Worrack
Born in Cottbus, East Germany on this day in 1981, Trixi Worrack became Junior World Individual Time Trial Champion in 1998, then came third in the same event and second in the Junior World Road Race Championship a year later.

In 2000, she signed her first professional contract with Red Bull Frankfurt and finished Stage 4 of the Women's Challenge in third place. She remained with the team the following year and won Stage 7 at the Women's Challenge, was third at La Flèche Wallonne and fourth in the National Elite ITT Championship. From 2003 to 2009 she rode for Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung; in 2003 she became National Road Race Champion and was second in the Holland Ladies' Tour, then in 2004 she won the Tour de l'Aude, the Krasna Lipa and the Giro della Toscana. In 2005 she won the Primavera Rosa (the women's version of Milan-San Remo); in 2006 he was second at the Holland Ladies' Tour for a third time, also coming second in the World Road Race Championship; in 2007 she was second at the Tour de l'Aude; in 2008 she became National Points Race Champion and in 2009 she won Stage 8 at the Giro Donne and the National ITT Championship.

Worrack at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt, 2012

Worrack joined German team Noris Cycling for 2010 and dominated the Czech Tour, winning all five stages and the General Classification; then in 2011 she raced for AA Drink-Leontien.nl and came fourth at the Trophée d'Or Féminin and won Stage 5 at the Giro della Toscana. She moved on to Specialized-Lululemon for 2012 and has been an instrumental rider in a spectacular first year for the team, starting off the season with a Stage 2 victory and second place overall at the Tour of Qatar, then came third at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and won Stage 3 at the Gracia Orlova and Stages 3 and 4 and second place overall at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt. She also rode with Lululemon's victorious squad at the World Team Time Trial Championship and took eighth place at the World ITT Championship. At the London Olympics, she was ninth in the ITT.

In 2013, Worrack became National Cyclo Cross Champion. On the road, still with Lululemon, she came second on Stage 2 and fifth overall at the Tour of Qatar and second at the Classica Cita di Padova during the Spring races, then came second in the time trial and first in the road race at the National Championships and was sixth overall at the Boels Rental Ladies Tour. Lululemon quite literally dominated the team trials in almost every race they entered throughout 2013, frequently beating even their nearest rivals Orica-AIS and Rabobank-Liv/Giant by large margins; Worrack was an integral part of the squad, riding with them in their successful time trials at the Open de Suede Vargarda, the Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour, the Boels Rental Ladies Tour and again at the World Team Time Trial Championships, where they beat Rabobank into second place by 1'11.09".


Anthony Ravard, born in Nantes, France on this day in 1983, won three stages at the Tour de Normandie in 2008, his first professional year. In 2011 he won Etoile de Bessèges and finished the World Road Race Championships in 13th place and in 2012 he was fourth at the GP Fina - Fayt-le-Franc.

Broadcaster and journalist Jon Snow is familiar to Britons as the presenter of ITN's flagship 10 o'clock News. He is less well-known as a cyclist, except to members of the Cyclists' Touring Club - having become president of the organisation in 2007. Snow was educated at the University of Liverpool but was rusticated (expelled) due to his part in an anti-apartheid protest. He once found himself seated next to a sleeping Idi Amin aboard a Ugandan presidential jet and seriously considered taking the revolver from Amin's belt and killing him with it; stopping only because of the risk to other passengers.

Frances Willard

Frances Willard, born in Churchville, New York on this day in 1839, was a suffragist, social activist and temperance campaigner who, in addition to her work towards getting women the right to vote, was involved in the fight for free school meals, benefits for the poor, workers' rights to join trade unions, municipal organisations devoted to public health and sanitation, state-funded education for the children of poor families and limitations on the hours employees could be made to work, as well as backing new laws against child abuse and rape. Like Susan B. Anthony, she was also a keen advocate of the bicycle which she saw as means of enabling women to travel when and where they wished. In 1895, she wrote A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, in which she describes her own cycling journeys and the stories of other women she met while completing them. Although it suffers a little from a typically Victorian tendency to ramble, the book is often funny, always interesting and still well worth a read today; best of all, it's out of copyright and can be read online and downloaded free.

Other cyclists born on this day: Jesús Hernández (Spain, 1981); Guus Bierings (Netherlands, 1956); Paweł Kaczorowski (Poland, 1949); Eddie Fiola (USA, 1964); Robert Thompson (Great Britain, 1882); Waldemar Bernatzky (Uruguay, 1920); Maurice Renaud (France, 1900, died 1968); Francesco Del Grosso (Italy, 1899, died 1938); Carlos Coloma (Spain, 1981); Piet Peters (Netherlands, 1921); Paul Réneau (Belize, 1960); Walter Martin (USA, 1881); Jean Brun (Switzerland, 1926, died 1993); Martin Willock (Canada, 1954); Gilbert de Rieck (Belgium, 1936).

Daily Cycling Facts 24.09.2013

Victoria Pendleton

Victoria Pendleton

Born in Stotfold on this day in 1980, Victoria Louise Pendleton is a multiple World, European, National and Olympic Champion and one of the few female British cyclists to have become a household name at home and around the world. Her father, Max, was once National Grass-Track Champion, Victoria began her career in the same discipline, riding her first race - a 400m event - at Fordham near Cambridge when she was nine years old. Aged 16, she was spotted by a coach from British Cycling but chose instead to complete her education, not becoming a professional rider until she'd graduated in Sport Science at Northumbria University.

In 2003, Pendleton won the Scratch race at the Sydney round of the World Cup, also coming second in the Sprint; the latter being the event in which she would later specialise and which she won at the Manchester round a year later. In 2005 she won the Keirin at Los Angeles, then the Sprint at the World Championships and at Manchester, and in 2006 at the Commonwealth Games. 2007 would be her real break-through year, starting off victories in the Sprint, 500m TT and Keirin at Manchester, followed by the Sprint and Keirin (and Team Sprint, riding with Shanaze Reade - whose birthday falls one day before Pendleton's) at the World Championships, the Sprint and 500m at the Nationals and Keirin at Sydney. in 2008, again riding with Reade, she won the Team Sprints at Copenhagen and the Worlds, also winning the Individual Sprint at the Worlds and the Olympics; at the Nationals she won the Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin and at Manchester the Sprint, 500m and Keirin. 2009 was a quieter year with two victories - the Sprints at Copenhagen and the Worlds. She successfully defended the latter in 2010 and won the Keirin and Team Sprint (with Jess Varnish) at the Cali round of the World Cup, then rode with Varnish again to win the Team Sprint at the 2011 European Championships where she also won the Keirin.

Pendleton and Shanaze Reade

Since the 2008 Olympics, when Anna Meares got through to the finals due to the relegation of Guo Shang, she and Pendleton have been rivals. Lurid tales of sworn enmity and blistering hatred have been somwhat over-embellished by the media - presumably, these are the journalists who don't bother to actually watch women's racing and thus have to invent drama rather than reporting the real drama taking place on the track, but it's probably safe to say that they don't exchange Christmas cards. As a result, when they competed against one another in the Sprint in London at the 2012 Games, the race was immediately termed a grudge match, the decider and all sorts of other poetic things. It did not pass without incident: during the race, Pendleton veered very slightly out of her lane, crossing into Meares'. Meares reacted by pushing her away, using her elbow on Pendleton's leg. Some fans - mostly British, but a fair few from elsewhere including Australia - were initially angry at the judges' decision to relegate the British rider; however, once the slow-motion replay had been aired, all but the most die-hard Pendleton fans admitted that Meares had won fair and square. Pendleton had announced that, after many years of hinting that she would retire after the Games, this would be her last race; it was not the best note upon which to leave. However, having won the Keirin four days earlier and the Sprint at the Worlds in Melbourne in April, she undoubtedly left cycling at a highpoint in her career.

Whilst Pendleton is widely admired in the media - often as much for her looks as for her athletic achievements - her career has not been without controversy. Her decision to appear in glamourous photo shoots published by FHM and Esquire magazines, at a time when many female athletes are demanding to be taken seriously for their sport and not depicted as sex symbols, was widely criticised. Likewise, she has occasionally been accused of appearing on too many TV shows and advertisements; however, she has also been congratulated for raising the profile of women's cycling in this way.


Oenone Wood

Oenone Wood in 2007

Born in Newcastle, New South Wales on this day in 1980, Oenone Wood won the silver medal at both the National Road Race and Individual Time Trial Championships and was third overall at La Flèche Wallonne and the Trophée d'Or Féminin in 2003, then in 2004 she won both the National titles, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the Bay Classic, the Geelong Tour, Stage 1 at the Giro Donne and the World Cup. The following year, she turned professional with Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung.

In 2005, she won the World Cup, the National ITT Championships and Geelong for a second time, Stages 1, 3a and 6 at the Tour de l'Aude and Stages 1b, 2 and the General Classification at Le Tour du Grand Montréal; in 2006 - still with Nürnberger Versicherung - a third Geelong, the GP International Dottignies, Stage 8 at the Giro Donne and a silver medal for the Road Race and a gold for the ITT at the Commonwealth Games. She then moved to T-Mobile for 2007 and won Le Tour du Grand Montréal. Wood remained with the team, which began the year as Highroad and ended it as Columbia Women, through 2008; winning another National Road Race Championship and two stages as well as second place overall at the Tour of New Zealand. She retired at the end of the year, having achieved 81 podium finishes in her short professional career.



Michelle Ferris, born in Warrnambool, Australia on this day in 1976, won silver in the Women's Sprint at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000.

Erich Maechler, born in Hochdorf, Switzerland on this day in 1960, won Stage 21 at the Tour de France in 1986. The following year he won Milan-San Remo, then returned to the Tour and wore the maillot jaune for six days. Over the course of his career he also won stages at the Tour de Suisse, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Stef Clement, born in Tilburg, Netherlands on this day 1982, was National Individual Time Trial Champion in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Other cyclists born on this day: Neurouth (France, 1881, died 1914); Michel van Haecke (Belgium, 1971); Donald Allan (Australia, 1949); Jorge Mariné (Spain, 1941); Karsten Stenersen (Norway, 1971); Dirk Heirwegh (Belgium, 1955); Ivano Maffei (Italy, 1958); Marie Purvis (Great Britain, 1961); Morten Therkildsen (Denmark, 1983); Jacques Gestraut (France, 1939); Lorenzo Bosisio (Italy, 1944); Gunnar Sköld (Sweden, 1894, died 1971); Charles Hewett (USA, 1929).

Daily Cycling Facts 23.09.2013

Emma Johansson

Emma Johansson at the 2012 National Championships

Emma Karolina Johansson, born in Sollefteå, Sweden on this day in 1983,  began her athletic life as a cross-country skier, then won the Junior National Cross Country Mountain Bike Championships in 2000 before successfully defending it and adding the Junior National Individual Time Trial Championship a year later. She gained a place at a specialist cycling school in Skara, then moved to Spain in order to pursue her dream of becoming a professional. Unfortunately, she soon discovered that women's cycling was underdeveloped in Spain so, with help from her old cycling club Härnösand CK back home in Sweden, she moved to the Netherlands. In 2005 she won the Elite National ITT Championship, then turned professional with the Basque team Bizkaia-Panda Software-Durango in 2006. The following year, with Vlaanderen-Capri Sonne-T Interim, she won the National ITT Championship for a second time; in 2008 she won it again, took a silver medal at the Olympics, was third at the National Road Race Championship and won the Trophée d'Or Féminin.

Johansson won the Ronde van Drenthe in 2009, which put her into the lead in the World Cup - she was only the second Swedish cyclist ever to have done so. She then had an excellent year at the Classics in 2010 with a victory at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, fourth in the Ronde van Vlaanderen and third in La Flèche Wallonne before going on to win a second Trophée d'Or Féminin. In 2011 she joined Hitec Products-UCK which - now known as Hitec Products-Mistral Home - and won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad again, regained the National Road Race title and then won the Thüringen-Rundfahrt der Frauen; in 2012 she won the Tour de Free State, the National ITT and Road Race Championships and Stage 9 and fifth place overall at the Giro Donne.

2013 brought a move to a new team, Orica-AIS, and Johansson became the second most successful female rider in the world when she proved herself able to rival Marianne Vos: in fact, for a brief time late in the year (and, to be fair, partly due to the way that the UCI work out rankings), she actually took over from Vos at the top of the UCI world rankings - the first time Vos hadn't occupied the top place for several years. Johansson had come second to Vos several times, but she had also scored some very impressive wins, including a few in which she beat the Dutch woman when she was favourite - her greatest triumphs were the Emakumeen Bira and the Thuringen Rundfahrt, in both of which she won two stages as well as the General Classification.

Shanaze Reade
Shanaze Danielle Reade was born in Crewe, Great Britain, on this day in 1988. When she was 10 years old, she became bored of shot put and 100m sprint running, the sports in which she'd previously competed, so she bought a second-hand BMX for £1 and started racing it. Twelve years later, she was a four-time World Champion.

She'd also picked up one unique honour: in 2006, she had become 19 & Over Elite Men British National Number One after racing in the Men's National Series through 2005 - not only is she a woman, she was also only 17 years old. Some of the men didn't like it, but most were happy to have such a talented rider competing alongside them: "some spit their dummies out but I just let them get on with it! It's really quite fun to watch when I kick their booties," she said.

Reade also won her first World Championship title in 2006, coming first in the Junior class; in 2007, 2008 and 2010 she was World Champion at Elite level and, in 2007 and 2008, also won the Elite Woman Supercross Championship. Famous in BMX for her explosive power, Reade started track racing in 2007 - her first race was the Team Sprint at the Manchester round of the World Cup, where she teamed up with Anna Blyth to take second place behind Willy Kanis and Yvonne Hijgenaar of the Netherlands, they beat Kristine Bayley and track racing superhero Anna Meares of Australia; however, the outcome might have been very different - the Dutch team made a false start, causing commissaires to restart the race, but Reade had not heard their signal and had already completed one lap at full sprint pace when she realised. Just over a month later she was selected at the last moment to replace Blyth and rode with Victoria Pendleton to win the Team Sprint at the World Championships - Hijgenaar and Kanis were second, Bayley and Meares third again.

Reade and Pendleton, 2008

In 2008, when BMX became an Olympic sport for the first time, Reade decided to take a break from track racing - she was the only female British rider to compete in the event. After crashing in the first qualifier, she set the fastest time in the second heat and went through to the quarter-finals where she crashed again but took enough points to race in the final. After spending much of the race holding onto Anne-Caroline Chausson's rear wheel, she crashed out of the race. She returned to the track the following year and was selected for the British squad at the World Championships, once again riding with Pendleton in the Team Sprint; this time, they lost out to the Australian team made up of Meares and Kaarle McCulloch and took silver. She competed in BMX again at the 2012 Olympics but, despite being favourite, finished in sixth place.


Born in Abergavenny on this day in 1972, Julian Winn is a Welsh cyclist who since 2005 has served as coach at Beicio Cymru, the Welsh cycling federation. Winn was second in the Manx International in 1997 and won a stage at the Prudential Tour (formerly the Milk Race, now the Tour of Britain) a year later; then turned professional with the Linda McCartney team in 1999 and found success at a number of races. In 2003 he signed to the Danish Fakta team and went to the Giro d'Italia where he finished two stages in the top 20 and came 83rd overall; the best result of his career came in 2002 when he won the British National Road Race Championships.

Martin Elmiger, born in Hagendorn, Switzerland on this day in 1978, was National Road Race Champion in 2001, 2005 and 2007. In 2007 he won the Tour Down Under.

Other cyclists born on this day: Geoff Smith (Australia, 1942); Michael Rich (West Germany, 1969); Behrouz Rahbar (Iran, 1945); Yoshio Shimura (Japan, 1940); Zsolt Vinczeffy (Hungary, 1974); Karen Strong-Hearth (Canada, 1953); Ambrogio Beretta (Italy, 1908, died 1988); Harry Lodge (Great Britain, 1967); Alois Holík (Czechoslovakia, 1947); Robert Varga (France, 1941); Henri Andrieux (France, 1931, died 2008).

Daily Cycling Facts 29.08.2013

Geneviève Jeanson

Geneviève Jeanson with André Aubut

Born in Lachine, Canada on this day in 1981, Geneviève Jeanson won the Junior World Road and Time Trial Championships in 1999 and went on to have one of the most controversial careers of any professional female cyclist.

In 2000, she faced allegations that she had asked for - and received - special treatment from the nation cycling federation in order to be able to take part in that year's Olympics, persuading them to give her a place if she could finish in the top eight of two out of five pre-decided races rather than, as was the case with other athletes, based on cumulative results gained during 1999 and up until the Games. However, since she had been a junior in 1999 and junior results didn't count, it's arguable if this could be termed unfair; she also exceeded the requirement by winning the Tour de Snowy and Waalse Pijl, then coming second at the Elite national Time Trial Championship (beating all the Olympics hopefuls in the event). She got her place at the Games and came 11th in the road race and 15th in the time trial, but not without further controversy: during the road race, Canadian team mate Lyne Bessett escaped the peloton in a breakaway. Many people believed that, with permission from her coach André Aubut, Jeanson had assisted rival teams in chasing and catching the break; though she would later claim that she had moved to the front of the pack to try to hold back the chase group and only gone with them to try to bring them back when they gained a slight gap.

The following year she won Stages 1, 3, 4 and 6 at the Redlands Classic and Stages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 at the Tour of the Gila, taking the General Classification at the former with an overall advantage of 9'23" and at the latter with 14'57" - huge and unexpected improvements that immediately raised suspicions. At the Montreal round of the World Cup the same year, she lapped all but a few of the other riders; then in 2002 she won a second Tour of the Gila, this time with an advantage of 11'42". Few people expressed any sort of surprise in 2003 when, after winning Redlands by 12'52" and either winning or reaching the podium in 24 races, she failed a haematocrit reading, a red blood cell count used to detect possible EPO use or blood transfusion (tests for EPO and homologous transfusions - ie, those using blood from a donor - had been developed in 2000 but were not yet widely used away from the top levels of European men's cycling; other than checking for traces of plastic from the IV bags within which blood is stored, there is still no test for autologous transfusions which use the subject's own blood). However, a high haematocrit reading proved nothing; therefore all the UCI could do was ban any rider who failed one for two weeks "for health reasons." Jeanson claimed that she used an oxygen tent as part of her training and that this had caused her high red cell population; when she passed a count two weeks later she was free to continue racing.

Jeanson in 2002

She was caught by an out-of-competition test in 2005 at the Tour de Toona, later explaining to journalists that the sample she provided had been declared positive for EPO and insisting that she was innocent. She still denied that she had ever doped by January the following year, then announced her retirement. Later that year, in November, the UCI revealed news that she had decided to accept their back-dated two-year ban, then a little under a month later she told journalists that she did not plan to return to cycling when the ban expired in July the following year. Finally, in September 2007, she confessed; admitting to Radio Canada that she had been using EPO for most of her career but placing the blame squarely on André Aubut whom, she claimed, had suggested she start using the drug shortly after he first began coaching her when she was 15. "I hated everything. I hated myself for doing it. I hated myself not being able to get out of it," she said in an interview. "It was miserable. It was not Geneviève that lied, it was someone else I did not know. It was something I was told to do and yes, I do regret it."

Aubut and a doctor who had worked with her Rona team were subsequently banned from working with athletes for life, but there are still questions: when Jeanson failed the haematocrit test in 2003, she was reportedly tested for EPO and blood transfusions but no indication of either was detected. Had she temporarily stopped using the drug in favour of autologous transfusions? If not - and she certainly didn't say she'd stopped using it at that point - how many other riders might also have been using it and escaped detection?


Frank Hoste, who was born in Ghent on this day in 1955, won Gent-Wevelgem, the Belgian National Road Race Championship and Stage 8 at the Tour de France in 1982; Stage 16a at the Giro d'Italia and Stages 1, 2 and 8 at the Tour de Suisse in 1983; Stages 1, 6, 21 and the Points competition at the Tour in 1984; Stage 6 at the Giro in 1985 and Stage 15 at the Tour in 1986.

Andrey Amador

Andrey Amador, born in San José, Costa Rica on this day in 1986, won the prologue and came fifth overall the Tour de l'Avenir in 2008. Four years later, he won Stage 14 at the 2012 Giro d'Italia; leaving little doubt that at the age of 26 he is a rider to watch in the coming years.

Ole Ritter, born in Slagelse in Denmark on this day in 1941, set a new Hour Record of 48.653km at Mexico City in 1968. It was the first time the record had been broken at altitude since 1898 and it would stand for four years until Eddy Merckx bettered it by 778m in 1972. Ritter rode the Giro d'Italia in 1967 and beat Merckx, Rudi Altig and Jacques "Monsieur Chrono" Anquetil in the Stage 11 individual time trial; he also won Stage 5 in 1969 and Stage 2 in 1973. He is the subject of two films, both made in 1974. The first, The Stars and the Water Carriers, follows the 1973 Giro d'Italia and also heavily features José Manuel Fuente and Merckx; the second, The Impossible Hour, follows on from The Stars and tells the story of his Hour Record attempt, taking him back to Mexico City where he managed to beat his 1968 record twice in a week (but not Merckx's record - the Belgian shows up a lot in this one too).

Valentin Uriona, born in Muxica in Spain on this day in 1940, won Stage 2 at the Milk Race (Tour of Britain) in 1961, Stage 9 at the same event a year later, Stage 7 at the Vuelta a Espana in 1963, overall at the 1964 Critérium du Dauphiné and Stage 4 at the Vuelta in 1966. He was killed in a crash at the National Championships the following year

Stijn Devolder at the 2012 Omloop Het
Nieuwsblad

Stijn Devolder, who was born Kortrijk on this day in 1979, is a Belgian cyclist who has enjoyed much success in one-day events, including his victories in the National Road Race Championship of 2007, the National Time Trial Championship of 2008 and both events in 2010 as well as at the Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2008 and 2009. A good climber and a great time trial rider, he has also gained impressive results in the shorter stage races, winning the Österreich-Rundfahrt in 2007, the Volta ao Algarve in 2008 and the Tour of Belgium in 2008 and 2010. Somewhat surprisingly, this ability has not translated into Grand Tour success and he hasn't won a stage either the Tour de France nor the Vuelta a Espana, the two that he has entered, though he was 11th overall at the Vuelta in 2006.

Henk Faanhof, born in Amsterdam on this day in 1922, was disqualified from the 1947 National Championships after officials saw him swap bikes with a team mate - a new UCI rule, unbeknownst to either rider, had recently banned bike exchanges during races. Two years later, Faanhof became Amateur Road Race Champion and the year after that he won two stages at the Ronde van Nederland; then in 1954 he won Stage 9 at the Tour de France.

Other cyclists born on this day: Jhon González (Colombia, 1971); Veaceslav Oriol (Moldova, 1968); Hector Zamarron (Mexico, 1980); Giuseppe Faraca (Italy, 1959); Hernán Medina Calderón (Colombia, 1937); Gil Suray (Belgium, 1984); Xaver Kurmann (Switzerland, 1948); Denis Špička (Czechoslovakia, 1988); Alessandra Grassi (Mexico, 1976); Michael Belcourt (Canada, 1964); Georgios Portelanos (Greece, 1966); Fausto Lurati (Switzerland, 1929); Carlos Torrent (Spain, 1974); Walter Gorini (Italy, 1944).

Daily Cycling Facts 28.07.2013

Théodore Vienne

Théodore Vienne

Born in Roubaix on this day in 1864, Théodore Vienne was an amateur cyclist himelf, but he is primarily remembered as one of the men who established a race that has become perhaps the most famous in the world after the Tour de France - Paris-Roubaix, the Hell of the North. Having become fabulously wealthy through his textile factories, he became involved in sports promotion (and of events that are sometimes mistaken for sport, such as bull-fighting; he built Roubaix's torodrome and, on Bastille Day 1899, promoted a fight between a lion and a bull - which, pleasingly, descended into farce when the two animals refused to fight) after offering the grounds of one his factories to a bike race organised by the town's socialist-collectivist mayor Henri Carette, who saw sporting events as a way to improve the lives of the populace; it was such a success that Vienne recruited business associate and fellow amateur cyclist Maurice Perez and built a velodrome on a 46,000 square metre site. Among the many famous riders to compete there was "Major" Marshall Taylor, who made his first appearance before a wildly supportive French crowd at a time when he was banned from many velodromes at home in the USA because he was black.

The velodrome was enormously successful but, being entrepreneurs, Vienne and Perez wanted more. They soon hit upon the idea of holding a road race from Paris - where all the big races of the day began - to Roubaix, but this came with a problem: Roubaix had grown dramatically from 8,500 inhabitants in 1800 to more than 125,000 by 1890, but it remained a provincial industrial town, little known throughout the rest of the country and very much lacking the glamour of the capital. They also felt that they lacked the experience to organise both the start and end of the race, but realised that their event would immediately become more famous if it could be associated with an established race; so they contacted Louis Minart, editor of Le Vélo, suggesting that his newspaper might like to become involved with the race and enjoy a sales boost like that experienced by Véloce Sport through its Bordeaux-Paris. Minart was immediately keen but explained that the decision to back the race rested with the paper's director Paul Rousseau; he was, apparently, not entirely convinced that Rousseau would be convinced because Vienne and Perez changed their sales pitch, emphasising an idea that their race could be run as a preparation for Bordeaux-Paris. "The distance between Paris and Roubaix is roughly 280km, so it would be child's play for the future participants of Bordeaux–Paris," they told him, also mentioning that they had already arranged a prize of 1,000 francs.

Arenberg didn't feature in Paris-Roubaix until 1968; however,
as roads were built like this in those days, Breyer probably
experienced many similar cobbles on his way to Roubaix

Rousseau was as favourable as Minart and sent his cycling editor Victor Breyer with a driver to reconnoitre a route; Breyer went as far as Amiens by car, then continued by bike. As has happened so many times in the race's future history, the weather turned unpleasant and he arrived at Roubaix  covered in mud and soaked through after a painful day on the treacherous cobbles that would later give the race its unique character. At first, he planned to send a telegram to Minart advising him that the roads to Roubaix were simply too hard, too dangerous for the race to go ahead; fortunately, once he'd had a bath, a hot meal and some good wine, he realised what a spectacle it could be (Breyer, incidentally, must have had a sadistic streak - it was he who, in 1910, persuaded Henri Desgrange to include the Tourmalet in the Tour de France) and the race went ahead on the 19th of April, 1896. More than half the riders that applied to take part didn't show up; among those that did were Desgrange, who failed to finish, and Maurice Garin - who did finish and would win the first ever Tour de France seven years later. The winner, Josef Fischer, remains the only German victor.

Vienne died on the 1st of March 1921. His race still takes place each year, whereas Bordeaux-Paris has not been held since 1988.

Julia Shaw
Julia Shaw, born in The Wirral, Great Britain on this day in 1965, took part in no sport after she left school and no longer had to do physical education lessons - in fact, it wasn't until she'd graduated from university and begun working that she began to take an interest, inspired by a triathlete colleague. She says that it was the friendliness of the other triathletes she met that kept her interested, but it would be another ten years before she began to take a serious interest in cycling. By that time, she was already in her thirties.

Fortunately, female athletes retain their ability to perform well in endurance sports for longer than their male counterparts, hence the relatively high numbers of riders in the late 30s in women's cycling when compared to the men's sport. Shaw was no different - she won the Best British All-Rounder competition in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010; only the legendary Beryl Burton has won it more times. She also won the Beryl Burton Champion of Champions Trophy for four consecutive years between 2007 and 2010, and she was National Time Trial Champion in 2005 (and third in 2009, then second in 2010 and 2011). Still racing at the age of 47, she came fifth behind Wendy Houvenaghel, Olga Zabelinskaia, Hanka Kupfernagel and Pia Sundstedt at the 2012 Celtic Chrono in Ireland.

Shaw was not considered for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but was selected for the 2010 Games after her second place at the Time Trial Nationals and won a bronze medal, finishing 10" behind Tara Whitten and 5" behind Linda Villumsen. Shaw's 2010 50-mile British TT record, 1h46'49", still stands; as does her 100-mile record of 3h45'22" from the same year. She also holds a degree and master's degree in physics and is involved in fibre optic research science.


Rik van Linden, born in Wilrijk on this day in 1949, won the Belgian Junior Road Race Championship in 1968, the Under-23 Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1969, Paris-Tours in 1971 and 1973 and Milano-Torino in 1977. He also rode well in stages races, including the Grand Tours - he won Stage 2 and second place in the Points competition at the 1972 Tour de France, Stages 7 and 17 at the 1973 Giro d'Italia, Stage 5 at the 1975 Giro, Stages 1b, 19, 21 and first place in the Points competition at the 1975 Tour, Stages 3 and 15 at the 1976 Giro, Stage 2 at the 1977 Giro and  Stages 1, 5 and 6 at the 1978 Giro.

Iker Flores

Born in Galdakao, Euskadi on this day in 1976, Iker Flores turned professional with Euskaltel-Euskadi in 1999, then won the Tour de l'Avenir in his second year with the team. Flores was a rider who spent his entire career on the verge of becoming great, coming 18th overall at the Vuelta a Espana in 2003 and finishing Stage 7 at the 2004 Tour de France in second place, but somehow never quite found the little extra he needed to break through. Finally, Euskaltel let him go; he spent his last professional season with ProContinental Fuerteventura-Canarias, then retired in 2007. Flores was Lanterne Rouge at the Tour in 2005 - as was his older brother brother Igor three years earlier.

Vasil Kiryienka, born in Rechytsa, Belarus (then USSR) on this day in 1981, was National Time Trial Champion in 2002, 2005 and 2006. He also won the Points competition at the Critérium International in 2011 and was second overall, then came sixth overall at the same event in 2012.

Chepe González, born in Sogamoso, Colombia on this day in 1968, won Stage 11 at the Tour de France in 1996, Stage 20 and the King of the Mountains at the Giro d'Italia in 1997 and Stage 5 and a second King of the Mountains at the Giro in 1999.

Walter Bénéteau, born in Les Essarts on this day in 1972, competed in and finished every Tour de France between 2000 and 2006. His best result was 42nd, in 2001.

Jeanne Deley, long-term partner of Tour de France director Henri Desgrange following his divorce, was born in Creusot on this day in 1878. Deley was a rather bohemian artist, known for the spirited parties she held at their villa and to which she invited cyclists, artists, actors, eccentrics and - most exotic of all - Americans; Desgrange seems not to have disapproved, an interesting contrast to the stern, pompous character he is usually portrayed as having been.

Cyclists born on this day: Maurice Moucheraud (France, 1933); Will Davis (France, 1877); Constantin Ciocan (Romania, 1943); Jan Bo Petersen (Denmark, 1970); Joe Waugh (Great Britain, 1952); František Kundert (Bohemia, now Czech Republic, 1891); Donald Eagle (New Zealand, 1936); Yvonne Schnorf (Switzerland, 1965); Viktor Manakov (USSR, 1960); Norbert Kostel (Austria, 1966); Baba Ganz (Switzerland, 1964); Adrian Prosser (Canada, 1956); Franco Gandini (Italy, 1936).