Tom Simpson: 44 years ago
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- Gegevens
- Categorie: News
- Gepubliceerd op donderdag 14 juli 2011 14:00
It's 44 years ago today that the British cyclist Tom Simpson died on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage from Marseille to Carpentras. "It is unbearably hot that day, 40°C in the sun. The full peloton, led by Poulidor and Jimenez, rides out of Bédoin to begin the climb to Mont Ventoux." The rest is history.
Tom Simpson went down in history as "the first doping death of the Tour", but we sell him terribly short with this title. In 1961 he won his first big competition, the Tour of Flanders, in 1962 he became the first Briton to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, in 1963 he won Bordeaux-Paris, in 1964 Milan-San Remo, and in 1965 he won the Tour of Lombardy and became world champion in Lasarte. In 1967 he won Paris-Nice.
Read more on the Tom Simpson page (in Dutch) and listen to the radio documentary broadcast by the VPRO on 22 May 2001 (in Dutch).
