
What motivates Peter to train? Read this excerpt to learn his approach.
Dekker discusses his return to pro cycling as a member of the Garmin team after serving his doping suspension.
“Every day, including the stage to Plateau de Beille, he was just sitting at the back with his team,” recalls Bobby Julich, the American who was fourth in the Dublin prologue. “This is before race radios, and when you’re going back to talk to the team car there’s Marco sitting at the back, in last position.
There’s a photo of me washing his face at the finish,” says Shelley Verses, “but really I was trying to cover his face, to hide it.”
The trouble with Merckx is that there are so many deeds to choose from. The pick for many is 1969 and his Tour de France début, specifically the stage that tackled the “Circle of Death” in the Pyrenees—Col de Peyresourde, Col d’Aspin, Col du Tourmalet, and Col d’Aubisque. Merckx attacked over the top of the Tourmalet, then rode alone for 140 km—about 87 miles—to win in Mourenx. That performance prompted the Tour director, Jacques Goddet, to coin a new word, Merckxissimo.
The trio was over 15 minutes clear of the peloton; now there were only 35 km remaining, just 22 miles, and it was certain that one of them was going to win. Then one of the three, having spoken to his team car, stopped working. He moved to the back. When he moved forward to do his turn on the front, he soft-pedaled. The speed dropped dramatically.
The memory is as vivid as the stain that could be seen darkening the road. It was a damp patch, a small puddle emanating from a stricken rider’s head, expanding on the asphalt as riders sprinted past, rubbernecking at 45 mph to catch a glimpse of the figure on the road. He was lying on his side, curled up in the fetal position.
Cycling enthusiasts are invited to a talk and booksigning with award-winning sports journalist Richard Moore at Rapha Cycle Club New York City before the worldwide film premiere of Slaying the Badger, Moore’s retelling of the 1986 Tour de France rivalry between American Greg LeMond and Frenchman Bernard Hinault.
by Tim Lewis for VeloNews When I tell people I’ve written a book on the Rwandan cycling team, I’m often asked a question along the lines of: “Wow, is that a Cool Runnings thing?” I explain a little and they might say, “So, it’s a Kenyan runners thing then?” There are certainly elements of bothRead more »
The riders of the 1987 Tour scale the majestic Col du Galibier, which, at 2,645 meters (8,678 feet), is often the highest point of the race. Close to the top is a monument to Henri Desgrange, the Tour's founder, and ever year that the race visits the Galibier the "Souvenir Henri Desgrange" is awarded to the first rider to reach the summit.
We hope you have enjoyed our coverage of the 1986 Tour de France, which we feel will go down in history as the greatest ever Tour.
After Bernard Hinault was weighed so he could be given his weight in coffee by cycling trade sponsor Cafe de Colombia, it was on to stage 22, a 194km ceremonial march from Clermont- Ferrand to Nevers.
Today's stage 21 was a hilly one that finished atop the Puy de Dôme—the spectacular dome-shaped volcanic plug in the Massif Central. The Puy de Dôme is a climb of rich symbolism and incident, where Hinault had fancied claiming his first yellow jersey in 1978, where Eddy Merckx had been punched in the kidneys three years earlier. This year, the mountain's role is to perhaps allow a challenger to make one last, desperate bid for the yellow jersey.
Greg LeMond dropped an injured Bernard Hinault on today's mountain stage to become the first rider from the United States to wear the yellow jersey of the leader of the Tour de France.
Team 7-Eleven's sprinter Davis Phinney has dropped out of the Tour after crashing heavily on today's Stage 15. This leaves the team relying on Phinney's usual lead-out man Ron Kiefel to contest the sprints. Fortunately, Kiefel has shown that he has the legs for the Tour, narrowly missing a stage win to Peeters on stage 7.
Battered by wind and torrid heat, much of this stage from Carcassonne to Nimes was spent riding in echelons.
After two dramatic days in the Pyrenees that saw a big shake up in the overall standings, today's stage traveled 154 km across the south of France into the foothills of the Alps.
Did Hinault give LeMond permission to attack? “I’m not his father,” replied Hinault. “He can do what he likes. What’s important is to keep the jersey in the team.”
According to riders interviewed after today's Stage 10 from Nantes to Futuroscope, the stench was overpowering: a rotten, putrid smell, so bad that several riders looked around, their faces screwing up as though they were sucking on lemons. The peloton watched Greg LeMond, fourth in line, being led back to the pack by a string of his La Vie Claire teammates.
Was it his failure to mount disk wheels, the accumulated fatigue from riding 1,000km at the front of the bunch, or simply "un jour sans," as a French report has suggested?
American hopeful Greg LeMond is disheartened. When asked about the significance of losing 44 seconds to Hinault, LeMond acknowledges that Hinault expected this stage to determine La Vie Claire's team captain.
After a 100km breakaway in the company of Frenchman Joel Pelier, Dutchman Johan Van der Velde won the sprint at this seaside resort and as a plus took the yellow jersey.
"La Tournée des Accidents" or "The Tour of Crashes" headlined one regional newspaper after this long but flat transitional stage.
Saturday afternoon’s stage is a 56-km team time trial, an event La Vie Claire dominated in 1985, winning by over a minute. But now, in 1986 on the road from Meudon to Saint Quentin, something very, very odd happened.
Frenchman Thierry Marie (Systeme U) won today's opening stage of the Tour de France, a 4 kilometer individual time trial snaking through Boulogne-Billancourt.
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