Vintage Cycling Photographs

[Irondan]

1926: The epic battle started at 2 AM. Riders went out in a downpour and even had to dismount on Tourmalet because of all the mud. By 10 PM, only 30 riders had crossed the finish line, and 15 were still missing the next morning.

 

[Irondan]

1937: Gino “the Pious” Bartali on the Galibier pass. He went on to win the Tour in 1938, but is best known for helping partisans in Nazi-occupied Italy and ultimately saving the lives of 800 Jews.

 

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1947: The Tour de France resumed two years after the World War II. In the photo above, you can see the riders leaving the town of Caen. Damage to the buildings is still visible.

 

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1903: Tour de France winner Maurice Garin

 

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Alfonsina Morini at her cycling shop on Via Varesina in Milan. Morini is the only woman to have competed in the Giro d’Italia, she took part in the 1924 race.

 

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Stelvio Pass, Giro 1965

 

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The first world championship cycling race in Berlin, 1889.

 

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Men ride penny-farthings down the steps of the United States capitol building, 1895.

 

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Photograph showing seven Frenchmen on a seven-seater bicycle. (1895)

 

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Men calling themselves the Stearns Sextuplets race a six-man bicycle against the Empire State Express, a steam locomotive pulling four cars. (1896)

 

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ca. 1881

 

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There were various forms of ‘pedamotive carriage’ or velocipede during the 19th century. It was an early form of bicycle which was propelled forward by the rider pedalling cranks fixed to the front wheel(s). Interest in velocipedes dropped after the introduction of the bicycle in the form we know it today, which was both cheaper and less cumbersome. (1850)

 

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Carlo Galetti at Paris-Roubaix 1913

 

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Tour de France, circa 1935 La Lanterne Rouge!

 

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Tour de France 1931.

 

[Irondan]

Tour de France 1913. 19-07-1913, 11^Tappa. Grenoble - Ginevra. Col du Galibier. François Faber (1887-1915) e Gustave Garrigou (1884-1963) Pursuing the unmistakable Marcel Buysse (1889-1939)

 

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Fausto Coppi Climbing the Col Aubisque, 1949 Tour de France

 

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Climbing Tourmalet on gravel in the 1935 Tour de France. Talk about suffering!

 

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Tour de France 1925. 09-07-1925, 13^Tappa. Nizza - Briançon. Col d'Izoard. Ottavio Bottecchia (1894-1927)

 

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Tour de France 1913

 

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Bobby Walthour, with pacer Hoffman, about 1903-04

 

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Cyclists ride in the first running of the Tour de France, in 1903.

 

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Start of a bicycle race in 1901.

 

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Felix Sellier is angry after being hit by a car. Tour de France, early 1920s.

 

[Irondan]

The finish of the first Tour. At the right: the first winner, Maurice Garin. 1903