fbpx
Wikipedia

Tom Simpson

August 23, 2023

For other people named Tom Simpson, see Tom Simpson (disambiguation).

Thomas Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager before taking up track cycling, specialising in pursuit races. He won a bronze medal for track cycling at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Tom Simpson
Simpson c. 1966
Personal information
Full nameThomas Simpson
NicknameMajor Simpson
Born(1937-11-30)30 November 1937
Haswell, County Durham, England
Died13 July 1967(1967-07-13) (aged 29)
Mont Ventoux, Vaucluse, France
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight69 kg (152 lb; 10 st 12 lb)[1]
Team information
DisciplineRoad and track
RoleRider
Rider typeAll-rounder
Amateur teams
–Harworth & District CC
–Scala Wheelers
–Club Olympique Briochin
–Gentse Wielersport
–Saint-Raphaël VC 12e
Professional teams
1959Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop
1960–1961Rapha–Gitane–Dunlop
1962Gitane–Leroux–Dunlop–R. Geminiani
1963–1967Peugeot–BP–Englebert
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
2 individual stages (1967)

Stage races

Paris–Nice (1967)

One-day and classic races

World Road Race Championships (1965)
Tour of Flanders (1961)
Bordeaux–Paris (1963)
Milan–San Remo (1964)
Giro di Lombardia (1965)
Medal record

In 1959, at age 21, Simpson was signed by the French professional road-racing team Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop. He advanced to their first team (Rapha–Gitane–Dunlop) the following year, and won the 1961 Tour of Flanders. Simpson then joined Gitane–Leroux–Dunlop–R. Geminiani; in the 1962 Tour de France he became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey, finishing sixth overall.

In 1963 Simpson moved to Peugeot–BP–Englebert, winning Bordeaux–Paris that year and the 1964 Milan–San Remo. In 1965 he became Britain's first professional world road race champion and won the Giro di Lombardia; this made him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the first cyclist to win the award. Injuries hampered much of Simpson's 1966 season. He won two stages of the 1967 Vuelta a España before he won the general classification of Paris–Nice that year.

In the thirteenth stage of the 1967 Tour de France, Simpson collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux. He was 29 years old. The post-mortem examination found that he had mixed amphetamines and alcohol; this diuretic combination proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and a stomach complaint. A memorial near where he died has become a place of pilgrimage for many cyclists. Simpson was known to have taken performance-enhancing drugs during his career, when no doping controls existed. He is held in high esteem by many fans for his character and will to win.

Early life and amateur career

Childhood and club racing

 
 
Haswell
 
Harworth
class=notpageimage|
At age 12, Simpson moved from Haswell, County Durham, to Harworth on the Nottinghamshire–Yorkshire border.

Simpson was born on 30 November 1937 in Haswell, County Durham, the youngest of six children of coal miner Tom Simpson and his wife Alice (née Cheetham).[2][3] His father had been a semi-professional sprinter in athletics.[4] The family lived modestly in a small terraced house until 1943, when his parents took charge of the village's working men's club and lived above it.[4][5] In 1950 the Simpsons moved to Harworth on the Nottinghamshire–Yorkshire border, where young Simpson's maternal aunt lived; new coalfields were opening, with employment opportunities for him and older brother Harry, by now, the only children left at home.[4][6] Simpson rode his first bike, his brother-in-law's, at age 12, sharing it with Harry and two cousins for time trials around Harworth. Following Harry, Tom joined Harworth & District CC (Cycling Club) aged 13.[7][8] He delivered groceries in the Bassetlaw district by bicycle and traded with a customer for a better road bike.[7][9] He was often left behind in club races; members of his cycling club nicknamed him "four-stone Coppi", after Italian rider Fausto Coppi, due to his slim physique.[9]

Simpson began winning club time trials, but sensed resentment of his boasting from senior members.[10] He left Harworth & District and joined Rotherham's Scala Wheelers at the end of 1954.[11][12] Simpson's first road race was as a junior at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham.[13][14][15] After leaving school he was an apprentice draughtsman at an engineering company in Retford, using the 10 mi (16.1 km) commute by bike as training.[8][14] He placed well in half mile races on grass and cement, but decided to concentrate on road racing.[14][15] In May 1955 Simpson won the National Cyclists' Union South Yorkshire individual pursuit track event as a junior; the same year, he won the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC) junior hill climb championship and placed third in the senior event.[13]

Simpson immersed himself in the world of cycling, writing letters asking for advice. Naturalised Austrian rider George Berger responded, travelling from London to Harworth to help him with his riding position.[16] In late 1955, Simpson ran a red light in a race and was suspended from racing for six months by the BLRC. During his suspension he dabbled in motorcycle trials, nearly quitting cycling but unable to afford a new motorcycle necessary for progress in the sport.[17][18]

Track years

 
In 1956, aged 18, Simpson began track cycling at Manchester's Fallowfield Stadium (pictured in 1985).

Berger told Simpson that if he wanted to be a successful road cyclist, he needed experience in track cycling, particularly in the pursuit discipline.[19] Simpson competed regularly at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester, where in early 1956 he met amateur world pursuit silver medallist Cyril Cartwright, who helped him develop his technique.[20][21] At the national championships at Fallowfield the 18-year-old Simpson won a silver medal in the individual pursuit, defeating amateur world champion Norman Sheil before losing to Mike Gambrill.[13][22]

Simpson began working with his father as a draughtsman at the glass factory in Harworth.[23] He was riding well; although not selected by Great Britain for the amateur world championships, he made the 4,000-metre team pursuit squad for the 1956 Olympics.[24] In mid-September, Simpson competed for two weeks in Eastern Europe against Russian and Italian teams to prepare for the Olympics. The seven-rider contingent began with races in Leningrad, continuing to Moscow before finishing in Sofia. He was nicknamed "the Sparrow" by the Soviet press because of his slender build.[24] The following month he was in Melbourne for the Olympics, where the team qualified for the team-pursuit semi-finals against Italy; they were confident of defeating South Africa and France but lost to Italy, taking the bronze medal. Simpson blamed himself for the loss for pushing too hard on a turn and being unable to recover for the next.[25][26][27]

There was one name on everyone's lips on that day: "Tom Simpson". There was a buzz in the crowd as he began to climb, you could feel it, and I remember this lad with a shock of hair thundering up the hill past me, carried on a solid wave of excitement. The overall feeling that day was that this was the future, this was the man to watch – Tom Simpson.

Spectator Gordon Hill, remembering the 1957 BLRC national hill climb championships.[28]

After the Olympics, Simpson trained throughout his winter break into 1957.[29] In May, he rode in the national 25-mile championships; although he was the favourite, he lost to Sheil in the final. In a points race at an international event at Fallowfield a week later Simpson crashed badly, almost breaking his leg; he stopped working for a month and struggled to regain his form.[30] At the national pursuit championships, he was beaten in the quarter-finals.[31] After this defeat Simpson returned to road racing, winning the BLRC national hill climb championship in October before taking a short break from racing. In spring 1958 he traveled to Sofia with Sheil for two weeks' racing.[32][33] On his return he won the national individual pursuit championship at Herne Hill Velodrome. In July, Simpson won a silver medal for England in the individual pursuit at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, losing to Sheil by one-hundredth of a second in the final.[34] A medical exam taken with the Royal Air Force (RAF) revealed Simpson to be colour blind.[35]

In September 1958, Simpson competed at the amateur world championships in Paris. Against reigning champion Carlo Simonigh of Italy in the opening round of the individual pursuit, he crashed on the concrete track at the end of the race. Simpson was briefly knocked unconscious and sustained a dislocated jaw; however, he won the race since he crashed after the finish line. Although he was in pain, team manager Benny Foster forced Simpson to race in the quarter-final against New Zealand's Warwick Dalton, hoping to unsettle Dalton ahead of a possible meeting with Simpson's teammate Sheil.[13][36] Simpson wanted to turn professional, but needed to prove himself first,[37] setting his sights on the world amateur indoor hour record. Reg Harris arranged for an attempt at Zürich's Hallenstadion velodrome on Simpson's birthday in November. He failed by 320 metres, covering a distance of 43.995 km (27.337 mi) and blaming his failure on the low temperature generated by an ice rink in the centre of the velodrome.[13][38][39] The following week he travelled to Ghent, in the Flanders region of Belgium, to ride amateur track races. He stayed at the Café Den Engel, run by Albert Beurick, who organised for him to ride at Ghent's Kuipke velodrome in the Sportpaleis (English: Sport Palace).[40]

Simpson decided to move to the continent for a better chance at success,[41] and contacted French brothers Robert and Yvon Murphy, whom he met while racing. They agreed that he could stay with them in the Breton fishing port of Saint-Brieuc.[42] His final event in Britain was at Herne Hill, riding motor-paced races. Simpson won the event and was invited to Germany to train for the 1959 motor-paced world championships, but declined the opportunity in favour of a career on the road. Bicycle manufacturer Elswick Hopper invited him to join their British-based team, but Benny Foster advised him to continue with his plans to move to France.[43]

Move to Brittany

 
In April 1959, 21-year-old Simpson arrived at Gare de Saint-Brieuc in Brittany (pictured in 2011) with £100 and the hope of launching his continental professional career.[44]

In April 1959, Simpson left for France with £100 savings and two Carlton bikes, one road and one track, given in appreciation of his help promoting the company.[45][46][47] His last words to his mother before the move were, "I don't want to be sitting here in twenty years' time, wondering what would have happened if I hadn't gone to France".[45] The next day, his National Service papers were delivered;[48] although willing to serve before his move, he feared the call-up would put his potential career at risk. His mother returned them, with the hope they would understand this.[49][50]

He applied to local cycling clubs, and joined Club Olympique Briochin, racing with an independent (semi-professional) licence from the British Cycling Federation.[51][52] When settled with the Murphy family, 21-year-old Simpson met 19-year-old Helen Sherburn, an au pair from Sutton, Yorkshire.[53] Simpson began attracting attention, winning races and criteriums. He was invited to race in the eight-day stage race Route de France by the Saint-Raphaël VC 12e,[54] the amateur club below the professional team Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop.[55] Simpson won the final stage, breaking away from the peloton and holding on for victory.[56] After this win, he declined an offer to ride in the Tour de France for the professional team.[55] Simpson had contract offers from two professional teams, Mercier–BP–Hutchinson and Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop, which had a British cyclist, Brian Robinson; opting for the latter team, on 29 June he signed a contract for 80,000 francs (£80 a month).[57]

On Simpson's return to Harworth for Christmas, the RAF were notified and the press ran stories on his apparent draft avoidance.[58] He passed a medical in Sheffield, but history repeated itself and the papers arrived the day after his departure for his team's training camp in Narbonne in southern France. The French press, unlike the British, found the situation amusing.[59]

Professional career

1959: Foundations

In July, four months after leaving England, Simpson rode his first race as a professional, the Tour de l'Ouest in west France. He won the fourth stage and took the overall race leader's jersey. He won the next stage's individual time trial, increasing his lead. On the next stage he lost the lead with a punctured tyre, finishing the race in fourteenth place overall.[13][60]

 
Simpson's fourth place in the 1959 world road race championships at Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands (pictured in 2011) was the highest ever by a British rider.

In August Simpson competed at the world championships in the 5000 m individual pursuit at Amsterdam's large, open-air velodrome and the road race on the nearby Circuit Park Zandvoort motor-racing track. He placed fourth in the individual pursuit, losing by 0.3 seconds in the quarter-finals. He prepared for the 180 mi (290 km) road race, eight laps of the track. After 45 mi (72 km) a ten-rider breakaway formed; Simpson bridged the gap. As the peloton began to close in, he tried to attack. Although he was brought back each time, Simpson placed fourth in a sprint for the best finish to date by a British rider.[61][62][63] He was praised by the winner, André Darrigade of France, who thought that without Simpson's work on the front, the breakaway would have been caught. Darrigade helped him enter criteriums for extra money.[64] His fourth place earned Simpson his nickname, "Major Simpson", from French sports newspaper L'Équipe. They ran the headline: "Les carnets du Major Simpson" ("The notes of Major Simpson"), referencing the 1950s series of books, Les carnets du Major Thompson by Pierre Daninos.[65]

Simpson moved up to Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop's first team, Rapha–Gitane–Dunlop, for the end-of-season one-day classic races.[66] In his first appearance in the Giro di Lombardia, one of the five "monuments" of cycling, he retired with a tyre puncture while in the lead group of riders.[67] In Simpson's last race of the season, he finished fourth in the Trofeo Baracchi, a two-man team time trial with Gérard Saint, racing against his boyhood idol, Fausto Coppi; it was Coppi's final race before his death.[68] Simpson finished the season with twenty-eight wins.[63]

1960: Tour de France debut

His first major race of the 1960 season was the one-day "monument" Milan–San Remo in March,[69] in which the organisers introduced the Poggio climb (the final climb) to keep the race from finishing with a bunch sprint.[70] Simpson broke clear from a breakaway group over the first climb, the Turchino, leading the race for 45 km (28 mi) before being caught. He lost contact over the Poggio, finishing in 38th place.[71][72] In April he moved to the Porte de Clichy district of Paris, sharing a small apartment with his teammate Robinson.[73]

Days after his move, Simpson rode in Paris–Roubaix,[73] known as "The Hell of the North", the first cycling race to be shown live on Eurovision.[74] He launched an attack as an early breakaway, riding alone at the front for 40 km (24.9 mi), but was caught around a mile from the finish at Roubaix Velodrome, coming in ninth. Simpson rode a lap of honour after the race at the request of the emotional crowd. His televised effort gained him attention throughout Europe.[75][76][77] He then won the Mont Faron hill climb and the overall general classification of the Tour du Sud-Est, his first overall win in a professional stage race. He planned to ride in the Isle of Man International road race, excited to see to his home fans. There were rumours, which proved correct, that the Royal Military Police were waiting for him at the airport, so he decided not to travel.[78] This was the last he heard from the authorities regarding his call-up. The British Cycling Federation fined him £25 for his absence.[79]

 
Simpson crashed descending the Col d'Aubisque (pictured) during the tenth stage of the 1960 Tour de France, finishing the tour in 29th place overall.

In June, Simpson made his Grand Tour debut in the Tour de France aged 22. Rapha directeur sportif (team manager) Raymond Louviot opposed his participation, but since the race was contested by national teams Simpson accepted the invitation from the British squad.[80] During the first stage, he was part of a thirteen-rider breakaway which finished over two minutes in front of the field; he crashed on the cinder track at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, finishing thirteenth, but received the same time as the winner.[80][81] Later that day he finished ninth in the time trial, moving up to fifth place overall.[82] During the third stage Simpson was part of a breakaway with two French riders who repeatedly attacked him, forcing him to chase and use energy needed for the finish; he finished third, missing the thirty-second bonus for a first-place finish, which would have put him in the overall race leader's yellow jersey.[80][83] He dropped to ninth overall by the end of the first week.[82] During stage ten, Simpson crashed descending the Col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees but finished the stage in fourteenth place.[80] In the following stage he was dropped, exhausted, from a chasing group; failing to recover.[84] He finished the Tour in twenty-ninth place overall,[80][82] losing 2 st (13 kg; 28 lb) in weight over the three weeks.[85]

After the Tour, Simpson rode criteriums around Europe until crashing in central France; he returned home to Paris and checked himself into a hospital.[86] Following a week's bed-rest, he rode in the road world championships at the Sachsenring in East Germany. During the race Simpson stopped to adjust his shoes on the right side of the road and was hit from behind by a car, sustaining a cut to his head which required five stitches.[87] In the last of the classics, the Giro di Lombardia, he struggled,[88] finishing eighty-fourth.[89] Simpson had been in constant contact with Helen, who was now working in Stuttgart, Germany, meeting with her between races. They became engaged on Christmas Day, and originally planned to marry at the end of 1961,[88] but in fact wed on 3 January 1961 in Doncaster, Yorkshire.[90]

1961: Tour of Flanders and injury

Simpson's first major event of the 1961 season was the Paris–Nice stage race in March. In stage three he helped his team win the team time trial and took the general classification lead by three seconds; however, he lost it in the next stage. In the final stages of the race Simpson's attacks were thwarted, and he finished fifth overall.[91]

 
Simpson won the 1961 Tour of Flanders in a two-man sprint with Nino Defilippis in Wetteren, Belgium, becoming the first Briton to win a "monument" classic.

On 26 March, Simpson rode in the one-day Tour of Flanders. With Carpano's Nino Defilippis, he chased down an early breakaway. Simpson worked with the group; with about 8 km (5 mi) to go he attacked, followed by Defilippis. The finish, three circuits around the town of Wetteren, was flat; Defilippis, unlike Simpson, was a sprinter and was expected to win. One kilometre from the finish, Simpson launched a sprint; he eased off with 300 m to go, tricking Defilippis into thinking he was exhausted. As Defilippis passed, Simpson jumped again to take victory, becoming the first Briton to win a "monument" classic.[75][92] Defilippis protested that the finishing banner had been blown down, and he did not know where the finish was; however, the judges noted that the finish line was clearly marked on the road itself.[93] Defilippis' team asked Simpson to agree to a tie, saying no Italian had won a classic since 1953. He replied: "An Englishman had not won one since 1896!"[94]

A week later, Simpson rode in Paris–Roubaix in the hope of bettering his previous year's ninth place. As the race reached the paved section he went on a solo attack, at which point he was told that Mercier–BP–Hutchinson rider Raymond Poulidor was chasing him down. Simpson increased his speed, catching the publicity and press vehicles ahead (known as the caravane). A press car swerved to avoid a pothole; this forced him into a roadside ditch. Simpson fell, damaging his front wheel and injuring his knee. He found his team car and collected a replacement wheel, but by then the front of the race had passed. Back in the race he crashed twice more, finishing 88th.[75][95]

At Simpson's next race, the four-day Grand Prix d'Eibar, his first in Spain, his knee injury still bothered him. He won the second stage, but was forced to quit during the following stage.[96][97] His injury had not healed, even after treatment by various specialists, but for financial reasons he was forced to enter the Tour de France with the British team.[98][99] He abandoned on stage three, which started in Roubaix, struggling to pedal on the cobbles.[100][101] Three months after his fall at Paris–Roubaix he saw a doctor at St. Michael's Hospital in Paris. He gave Simpson injections in his knee, which reduced the inflammation.[102] Once healed, he competed in the road world championships in Berne, Switzerland. On the track he qualified for the individual pursuit with the fourth-fastest time, losing in the quarter-finals to Peter Post of the Netherlands. In the road race, Simpson was part of a seventeen-rider breakaway that finished together in a sprint; he crossed the line in ninth place.[103]

Helen became pregnant; Simpson's apartment in Paris was now unsuitable and a larger home in France was not in their means. In October, with help from his friend, Albert Beurick, they moved into a small cottage in Ghent.[104][105] Low on funds, Simpson earned money in one-day track races in Belgium.[106]

1962: Yellow jersey

Simpson's contract with Rapha-Gitane-Dunlop had ended with the 1961 season. Tour de France winner Jacques Anquetil signed with them for 1962, but Simpson wanted to lead a team, and signed with Gitane–Leroux–Dunlop–R. Geminiani for the 1962 season.[106][107] After training camp at Lodève in southern France, he rode in Paris–Nice.[108] He helped his team win the stage-3a team time trial and finished second overall, behind Flandria–Faema–Clément's Jef Planckaert.[108][109] He was unable to ride in Milan–San Remo when its organisers limited the race to Italian-based teams;[n 1] instead he rode in Gent–Wevelgem, finishing sixth,[108] then defended his Tour of Flanders title. At the end of the latter, Simpson was in a select group of riders at the head of the race. Although he led over each of the final climbs, at the finish he finished fifth and won the King of the Mountains prize.[111] A week later Simpson finished thirty-seventh in Paris–Roubaix, delayed by a crash.[112][113]

 
At the 1962 Tour de France Simpson claimed the yellow jersey at the end of stage 12 as general classification leader, losing it the next day.

Coming into the Tour de France, Simpson was leader of his team;[114] it was the first time since 1929 that company teams were allowed to compete.[115] He finished ninth in the first stage,[114] in a group of twenty-two riders who finished over eight minutes ahead of the rest.[113] Simpson's team finished second to Flandria–Faema–Clément in the stage-2b team time trial; he was in seventh place in the general classification,[116] remaining in the top ten the rest of the first week.[116] During stage 8a he was in a thirty-rider group which gained about six minutes, moving him to second overall behind teammate André Darrigade.[117] At the end of the eleventh stage Simpson was third in the overall, over a minute behind race leader Willy Schroeders (Flandria–Faema–Clément) and fifty-one seconds behind Darrigade.[109][118] Stage twelve from Pau to Saint-Gaudens, the hardest stage of the 1962 Tour (known as the "Circle of Death"), was the Tour's first mountain stage.[119][120] Simpson saw an opportunity to lead the race. The team now solely concentrated on his interests, since Darrigade was a sprinter and would no longer be involved in the general classification.[121] As the peloton reached the Col du Tourmalet, Simpson attacked with a small group of select riders, finishing eighteenth place in a bunch sprint. As he finished ahead of all the other leaders in the general classification, he became the overall new leader of race, and the first British rider to wear the leader's yellow jersey.[113][122] Simpson lost the lead on the following stage, a short time trial ending with a steep uphill finish at Superbagnères. He finished thirty-first and dropped to sixth overall.[123][116] On stage nineteen he advanced recklessly descending the Col de Porte in the Alps, crashing on a bend and only saved from falling over the edge by a tree, leaving him with a broken left middle finger. He lost almost eleven minutes in the next stage's time trial, finishing the Tour at Paris' Parc des Princes stadium 17 minutes and 9 seconds behind in 6th place.[113][124]

After the Tour Simpson rode criteriums before the road world championships in Salò, Italy, where he retired after missing a large breakaway.[113] He began riding six-day track races into his winter break. In December he made an appearance at the Champions' Concert cycling awards held at Royal Albert Hall in London. Separately, he won the British Cycling Federation's Personality of the Year. Simpson and Helen were expecting their second child and upgraded to a larger house in Sint-Amandsberg, a sub-municipality of Ghent.[125]

1963: Bordeaux–Paris

Leroux withdrew its sponsorship of the Gitane team for the 1963 season. Simpson was contracted to their manager, Raymond Louviot; Louviot was rejoining Saint-Raphaël–Gitane–R. Geminiani and Simpson could follow, but he saw that as a step backwards. Peugeot–BP–Englebert bought the contract from Louviot, which ran until the end of the season.[126] Simpson's season opened with Paris–Nice; he fell out of contention after a series of tyre punctures in the opening stages, using the rest of the race as training. He withdrew from the race on the final stage to rest for his next race, Milan–San Remo; after breaking away by himself he stopped beside the road, which annoyed his fellow riders.[127] At Milan–San Remo, Simpson was in a four-rider breakaway; his tyre punctured, and although he got back to the front, he finished nineteenth.[128][129] He placed third in the Tour of Flanders in a three-rider sprint.[130] In Paris–Roubaix Simpson worked for teammate, and winner, Emile Daems, finishing ninth. In the one-day Paris–Brussels he was in a breakaway near the Belgian border; with 50 km (31.1 mi) remaining he was left with world road race champion Jean Stablinski of Saint-Raphaël–Gitane–R. Geminiani, who attacked on a cobbled climb in Alsemberg outside Brussels. Simpson's bike slipped a gear, and Stablinski stayed away for the victory. After his second-place finish, Simpson led the Super Prestige Pernod International season-long competition for world's best cyclist. The following week he raced in the Ardennes classics, placing thirty-third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, after he rode alone for about 100 km (62 mi) before being caught in the closing kilometres.[131][132]

 
 
 
Bordeaux
 
Angoulême
 
Châtellerault
 
Orléans
 
Paris
class=notpageimage|
In 1963, Simpson won the 557 km (346 mi) derny-paced Bordeaux–Paris race, one of the longest one-day races.

On 26 May, Simpson rode in the one-day, 557 km (346 mi) Bordeaux–Paris. Also known as the "Derby of the Road", it was the longest he had ever ridden.[133][134] The race began at 1:58 am; the initial 161 km (100 mi) were unpaced until the town of Châtellerault, where dernys (motorised bicycles) paced each rider to the finish. Simpson broke away in a group of three riders. Simpson's pacer, Fernand Wambst, increased his speed, and Simpson dropped the other two. He caught the lead group, thirteen minutes ahead, over a distance of 161 km (100 mi). Simpson attacked, and with 36 km (22.4 mi) remaining, opening a margin of two minutes. His lead steadily increased, and he finished in the Parc des Princes over five minutes ahead of teammate Piet Rentmeester.[113][135][136]

Simpson announced that he would not ride the Tour de France, concentrating on the world road championships instead. Before, he won the Isle of Man International in treacherous conditions where only sixteen out of seventy riders finished.[137] At the road world championships in Ronse, Belgium, the Belgians controlled the race until Simpson broke free, catching two riders ahead: Henry Anglade (France) and Shay Elliott (Ireland). Anglade was dropped, and Elliott refused to work with Simpson.[n 2] They were caught; the race finished in a bunch sprint,[140] with Simpson crossing the line in 29th.[141] Simpson's season ended with six-day races across Europe and an invitation only race on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, along with other European riders. He skipped his usual winter training schedule for his first skiing holiday at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains in the Alps, taking Helen and his two young daughters, Jane and Joanne.[142]

1964: Milan–San Remo

After a training camp near Nice in southern France Simpson rode in the one-day Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne in Belgium,[143] finishing second to Solo–Superia's Arthur Decabooter. The conditions were so cold, he only completed the race to keep warm.[144] Albert Beurick started Simpson's supporters club at the Café Den Engel, raising £250 for him in the first nine months. In Paris–Nice, his tyre punctured during stage four, losing five minutes and used the rest of the race for training.[145]

 
Profile of the 1964 Milan–San Remo, which Simpson won, riding his second season with Peugeot–BP–Englebert

On 19 March, two days later, Simpson rode in Milan–San Remo.[145] Before the race, French journalist René de Latour advised Simpson not to attack early: "If you feel good then keep it for the last hour of the race."[145] In the final 32 km (19.9 mi), Simpson escaped in group of four riders, which including the 1961 winner, Poulidor of Mercier–BP–Hutchinson. On final climb, the Poggio, Poulidor launched a series of attacks on the group; only Simpson managed to stay with him and they crossed the summit and descended into Milan. With 500 m to go, Simpson began his sprint; Poulidor could not respond, leaving Simpson to take the victory with a record average speed of 27.1 mph (43.6 km/h).[144][146][147]

Simpson spent the next two months training for the Tour de France at the end of June.[148] After the first week of the Tour, Simpson was in tenth place overall.[149] On the ninth stage, he was part of 22-rider breakaway which finished together at Monaco's Stade Louis II; he placed second to Anquetil, moving up to eighth overall.[150][151] The next day, he finished 20th in the 20.8 km (12.9 mi) time trial.[149] During the 16th stage, which crossed four cols, Simpson finished 33rd, 25 minutes and 10 seconds behind the stage winner, and dropped to 17th overall.[152][153] He finished the Tour in 14th place overall.[149] Simpson later discovered that he rode the Tour suffering from tapeworms.[152][154]

After the race, Simpson prepared for the world road championships with distance training and criteriums.[155] At the world championships on 3 September, the 290 km (180 mi) road race consisted of twenty-four laps of a varying circuit at Sallanches in the French Alps.[156][157] Simpson crashed on the third lap while descending in wet conditions, damaging a pedal.[158] He got back to the peloton, launching a solo attack on a descent; he then chased down the group of four leaders with two laps to go. On the last lap he was dropped by three riders, finishing six seconds behind.[147][159] On 17 October, Simpson rode in the Giro di Lombardia. Halfway through the race he was given the wrong musette (bag) by his team in the feed zone, and threw it away. With the head of the race reduced to five riders, Molteni's Gianni Motta attacked. Simpson was the only one who could follow, but he began to feel the effects of not eating. Motta gave him part of his food, which sustained him for a while. On the final climb Simpson led Motta, but was exhausted. Over the remaining 10 km (6.2 mi) of flat terrain, Motta dropped him; Simpson cracked, and was repeatedly overtaken,[144][147][160] finishing twenty-first.[89] He closed the year riding track races.[161]

1965: World championship and Lombardia

The Simpson family spent Christmas in England, before a trip to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, where Simpson injured himself skiing, suffering a broken foot and a sprained ankle. He recovered, riding six-day races. At the Antwerp six-day, he dropped out on the fourth day with a cold. His cold worsened and he missed most of March. He abandoned Milan–San Remo at the foot of the Poggio.[162][163] On 11 April, he finished seventh in Paris–Roubaix after crashing in the lead group.[164][165] The crash forced him to miss the Tour of Flanders as he struggled to walk on his injured foot. In Liège–Bastogne–Liège he attacked with Salvarani's Felice Gimondi, catching an early break. They worked together for 25 km (15.5 mi), until Gimondi gave up. Simpson rode alone before slipping on oil mixed with water; he stayed with the front group, finishing tenth.[166][167]

On 29 May, Simpson rode in the London–Holyhead race, the longest unpaced one-day race, with a distance of 265 mi (426 km);[147][168] he won in a bunch sprint, setting a record of ten hours and twenty-nine minutes.[169] He followed with an appearance at Bordeaux–Paris. François Mahé (Pelforth–Sauvage–Lejeune) went on a lone break, Simpson attacked in pursuit, followed by Jean Stablinski. Simpson's derny broke down, and he was delayed changing motorbikes. He caught Stablinski, and was joined by Anquetil. Outside Paris Mahé was caught and dropped, after 200 km (124 mi) on his own. Anquetil won the race by fifty-seven seconds ahead of Stablinski, who beat Simpson in a sprint.[167][170][171] Peugeot manager Gaston Plaud ordered Simpson to ride the Midi Libre stage race to earn a place in the Tour de France, and he finished third overall.[172] The 1965 Tour was considered open due to Anquetil's absence,[173] and Simpson was among the riders favoured by L'Équipe. During stage nine he injured his hand crashing on the descent of the Col d'Aubisque in the Pyrenees,[174] finishing tenth in the stage and seventh in general classification.[175] Simpson developed bronchitis after stage fifteen and cracked on the next stage, losing nearly nineteen minutes. His hand became infected, but he rode the next three stages before the Tour doctor stopped him from racing.[176] He was taken to hospital, where they operated on his hand and treated him for blood poisoning, bronchitis and a kidney infection.[176][85]

 
Simpson won the 1965 world road race championship, claiming the rainbow jersey and wearing it during the following season.

After ten days off his bike, Simpson was only contracted to three post-Tour criteriums. His training for the road world championships included kermesse circuit races in Flanders. Simpson's last race before the world championships was the Paris–Luxembourg stage race, riding as a super-domestique (lieutenant).[177] On 5 September, Simpson rode in the road race at the world championships in San Sebastián, Spain.[156] The race was a 267.4 km (166 mi) hilly circuit of fourteen laps. The British team had no support; Simpson and his friend Albert Beurick obtained food and drink by stealing from other teams.[178] During the first lap, a strong break was begun by British rider Barry Hoban. As his lead stretched to one minute, Simpson and teammates Vin Denson and Alan Ramsbottom bridged the gap, followed by Germany's Rudi Altig. Hoban kept the pace high enough to prevent any of the favourites from joining. Simpson and Altig broke clear with two-and-a-half laps remaining, staying together until the final kilometre, when Simpson launched his sprint; he held off Altig for victory by three bike lengths, becoming the first British professional world road race champion.[179][180]

On 16 October, Simpson rode in the Giro di Lombardia, which featured five mountain passes. He escaped with Motta, and dropped him before the finish in Como to win his third "monument" classic over three minutes ahead of the rest. Simpson was the second world champion to win in Italy; the first was Alfredo Binda in 1927.[181][182][183] Simpson was offered lucrative contracts by teams, including Flandria–Faema–Clément who were prepared to pay him the year's salary in advance. He could not escape his contract with Peugeot, which ran until the end of the 1967 season.[184] For the next three weeks he rode contract races, riding an estimated 12,000 mi (19,000 km). He rode 18 races, with each earning him £300–£350.[185]

Simpson ended the year second to Anquetil in the Super Prestige Pernod International, and won the Daily Express Sportsman of the Year, the Sports Journalists' Association Sportsman of the Year, presented by the Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.[186][187] In British cycling Simpson won the British Cycling Federation Personality of the Year and the Bidlake Memorial Prize.[188][189] He was given the freedom of Sint-Amandsberg; his family, including his parents, were driven in an open-top car along the crowd-lined route from the Café Den Engel to the Town Hall.[188]

1966: An injury-ridden season

As in the previous winter, Simpson went on a skiing holiday. On 25 January he fell, breaking his right tibia, and his leg was in a plaster cast until the end of February. He missed contract races, crucial training and most of the spring classics. Simpson began riding again in March, and in late April started, but did not finish, Liège–Bastogne–Liège.[190]

 
Simpson crashed descending the Col du Galibier (pictured) during stage sixteen of the 1966 Tour de France, injuring his arm and forcing him to abandon the Tour the next day.

Simpson's injury did not stop the press from naming him a favourite for the Tour de France.[190] He was subdued in the race until stage twelve, when he forced a breakaway with Altig (Molteni), finishing second.[191][192] Simpson again finished second in the next stage, jumping clear of the peloton in a three-rider group in the final kilometres. After the stage he was eighteenth overall, over seven minutes down.[193][192] Simpson moved up to 16th after finishing 5th in stage 14b – a short time trial.[191][192] As the race reached the Alps, he decided to make his move. During stage sixteen he attacked on the descent of the first of three cols, the Croix de Fer. He crashed but continued, attacking again. Simpson was joined by Ford France–Hutchinson's Julio Jiménez on the climb of the Télégraphe to the Galibier. Simpson was caught by a chase group descending the Galibier before he crashed again, knocked off his bike by a press motorcycle. The crash required five stitches in his arm.[115][192][194] The next day he struggled to hold the handlebars and could not use the brake lever with his injured arm, forcing him to abandon. His answer to journalists asking about his future was, "I don't know. I'm heartbroken. My season is ruined."[195]

After recovering from his injury Simpson rode 40 criteriums in 40 days, capitalising on his world championship and his attacks in the Tour.[196] He retired from the road world championships at the Nürburgring with cramp.[183] His road season ended with retirements from autumn classics Paris–Tours and the Giro di Lombardia. He rode six-day races, finishing fourteenth in the winter rankings.[197] The misfortune he endured during the season made him the first rider named as a victim of the "curse of the rainbow jersey".[198] For the winter Simpson took his family to the island of Corsica, planning the build of his retirement home.[199]

1967: Paris–Nice and Vuelta stages

Simpson's primary objective for 1967 was overall victory in the Tour de France; in preparation, he planned to ride stage races instead of one-day classics. Simpson felt his chances were good because this Tour was contested by national, rather than professional teams.[200][n 3] He would lead the British team, which – although one of the weakest – would support him totally,[202] unlike Peugeot.[203] During Simpson's previous three years with Peugeot, he was only guaranteed a place on their Tour team if he signed with them for the following year.[204] Free to join a new team for the 1968 season, he was offered at least ten contracts; Simpson had a verbal agreement with Italian team Salvarani, and would share its leadership with Felice Gimondi.[199][205] In an interview with Cycling (now Cycling Weekly) journalist, Ken Evans, in April, Simpson revealed his intention to attempt the hour record in the 1967 season. He also said he wanted retire from road racing aged 33, to ride on the track and spend more time with his family.[206]

 
Simpson contested leadership of Peugeot–BP–Michelin with 21-year-old Eddy Merckx (pictured) at the 1967 Paris–Nice, which Simpson won.

In March he rode in the Paris–Nice. After stage two his teammate, Eddy Merckx, took the overall lead.[45] Simpson moved into the lead the next day as part of a breakaway, missed by Merckx, which finished nearly twenty minutes ahead. Merckx thought Simpson double-crossed him, but Simpson was a passive member of the break.[183][207] At the start of stage six, Simpson was in second place behind Bic–Hutchinson's Rolf Wolfshohl.[208] Merckx drew clear as the race approached Mont Faron, with Simpson following. They stayed together until the finish in Hyères, with Simpson allowing Merckx to take first place. Simpson finished over a minute ahead of Wolfshohl, putting him in the race leader's white jersey.[209] He held the lead in the next two stages to win the race.[210] Three days later Simpson and Merckx both raced in Milan–San Remo.[211] Simpson escaped early in a five-rider breakaway lasting about 220 km (137 mi), before Merckx won in a bunch sprint with assistance from Simpson,[212][213] who finished in seventieth place.[211] After 110 mi (177 km) of Paris–Roubaix, Simpson's bike was unridable and he retired from the race.[183]

In late April Simpson rode in his first Vuelta a España, using the eighteen-stage race to prepare for the Tour. During stage two a breakaway group gained over thirteen minutes, dashing his hopes for a high placing. Simpson nearly quit the race before the fifth stage, from Salamanca to Madrid, but rode it because it was easier to get home by air from Madrid. He won the stage, attacking from a breakaway,[214] and finished second in stage seven.[215] On the eleventh stage, concluding in Andorra, Simpson rode away from the peloton on his own. With 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining, he began to lose control of his bike and was halted by Peugeot manager Gaston Plaud until he had recovered, by which time the race had passed.[216] In an interview with L'Équipe's Philippe Brunel in February 2000,[217] Tour de France physician Pierre Dumas revealed that Simpson told him that he was taken to hospital during the Vuelta.[218] Simpson won stage sixteen, which ended in San Sebastián,[214] and finished the Vuelta thirty-third overall.[219]

Simpson was determined to make an impact in the Tour de France; in his eighth year as a professional cyclist, he hoped for larger appearance fees in post-Tour criteriums to help secure his financial future after retirement.[220][221] His plan was to finish in the top three, or to wear the yellow jersey at some point in the race. He targeted three key stages, one of which was the thirteenth, over Mont Ventoux, and planned to ride conservatively until the race reached the mountains.[222][223][224] In the prologue, Simpson finished thirteenth.[183] After the first week he was in sixth place overall, leading the favourites.[225] As the race crossed the Alps, Simpson fell ill, across the Col du Galibier, with diarrhoea and stomach pains.[226] Unable to eat, he finished stage ten in 16th place and dropped to seventh overall as his rivals passed him.[225][227] Teammate Vin Denson advised Simpson to limit his losses and accept what he had.[202] He placed in 39th position on stage 11 and 7th on stage 12.[228][229] In Marseille, on the evening before stage thirteen, Simpson's manager, Daniel Dousset, pressured him for good results.[230] Plaud begged Simpson to quit the race.[231]

Death

Main article: Death of Tom Simpson
 
Simpson collapsed one kilometre from the summit of the 1,912 m (6,273 ft)-high Mont Ventoux.

The thirteenth stage (13 July) of the 1967 Tour de France measured 211.5 km (131.4 mi); it started in Marseille, crossing Mont Ventoux (the "Giant of Provence") before finishing in Carpentras.[232] At dawn, Tour doctor Pierre Dumas met journalist Pierre Chany near his hotel. Dumas noted the warm temperature, "If the boys stick their nose in a 'topette' [bag of drugs] today, we could have a death on our hands."[233] At the start line, a journalist noticed Simpson looked tired and asked him if the heat was the problem. Simpson replied, "No, it's not the heat, it's the Tour."[234]

As the race reached the lower slopes of Ventoux, Simpson's team mechanic Harry Hall, witnessed Simpson, still ill, putting the lid back on his water bottle as he exited a building. Race commissaire (official) Jacques Lohmuller later confirmed to Hall that he also saw the incident and that Simpson was putting brandy in his bottle.[235][n 4] Near the summit of Ventoux, the peloton began to fracture. Simpson was in the front group before slipping back to a group of chasers about a minute behind. He then began losing control of his bike, zig-zagging across the road.[238][n 5] A kilometre from the summit, Simpson fell off his bike. Team manager Alec Taylor and Hall arrived in the team car to help him. Hall tried to persuade Simpson to stop, saying: "Come on Tom, that's it, that's your Tour finished", but Simpson said he wanted to continue. Taylor said, "If Tom wants to go on, he goes". Noticing his toe straps were still undone, Simpson said, "Me straps, Harry, me straps!" They got him on his bike and pushed him off. Simpson's last words, as remembered by Hall, were "On, on, on."[n 6] Hall estimated Simpson rode a further 500 yd (457 m) before he began to wobble,[n 7] and was held upright by spectators; he was unconscious, with his hands locked on the handlebars.[241] Hall and a nurse from the Tour's medical team took turns giving Simpson mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, before Dumas arrived with an oxygen mask.[242][243] Approximately forty minutes after his collapse, a police helicopter took Simpson to nearby Avignon hospital,[244][245] where he was pronounced dead at 5:40 p.m.[202][243] Two empty tubes and a half-full one of amphetamines, one of which was labelled "Tonedron", were found in the rear pocket of his jersey.[218] The official cause of death was "heart failure caused by exhaustion."[246]

Tommy Simpson rode to his death in the Tour de France so doped that he did not know he had reached the limit of his endurance. He died in the saddle, slowly asphyxiated by intense effort in a heatwave after taking methylamphetamine drugs and alcoholic stimulants.

Daily Mail reporter, J. L. Manning, broke the news that drugs were involved in Simpson's death, 31 July 1967.[247]

On the next racing day, the other riders were reluctant to continue racing and asked the organisers for a postponement. France's Stablinski suggested that the race continue, with a British rider, whose team would wear black armbands, allowed to win the stage.[248] Hoban won the stage, although many thought the stage winner should have been Denson, Simpson's close friend.[249] Media reports suggested that his death was caused by heat exhaustion,[250] until, on 31 July 1967 British journalist J. L. Manning of the Daily Mail broke the news about a formal connection between drugs and Simpson's death.[247] French authorities confirmed that Simpson had traces of amphetamine in his body, impairing his judgement and allowing him to push himself beyond his limits.[251] His death contributed to the introduction of mandatory testing for performance-enhancing drugs in cycling, leading to tests in 1968 at the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Summer Olympics.[252][253] Simpson was buried in Harworth Cemetery, after a service at the 12th-century village church attended by an estimated 5,000 mourners,[8][239] including Peugeot teammate Eddy Merckx, the only continental rider in attendance.[254] The epitaph on Simpson's gravestone in Harworth cemetery reads, "His body ached, his legs grew tired, but still he would not give in", taken from a card left by his brother, Harry, following his death.[255]

Doping

Unlike the majority of his contemporaries, Simpson was open about the use of drugs in professional cycling. In 1960, interviewed by Chris Brasher for The Observer newspaper, Simpson spoke about his understanding of how riders could beat him, saying: "I know from the way they ride the next day they are taking dope. I don't want to have to take it – I have too much respect for my body." Two years before his death, Simpson hinted in the newspaper, The People, at drug-taking in races, although he implied that he himself was not involved.[256] Asked about drugs by Eamonn Andrews on the BBC Home Service radio network, Simpson did not deny taking them; however, he said that a rider who frequently took drugs might get to the top but would not stay there.[257]

In his biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike, William Fotheringham quoted Alan Ramsbottom as saying, "Tom went on the [1967] Tour de France with one suitcase for his kit and another with his stuff, drugs and recovery things", which Fotheringham said was confirmed by Simpson's roommate Colin Lewis. Ramsbottom added, "Tom took a lot of chances. He took a lot of it [drugs]. I remember him taking a course of strychnine to build up to some big event. He showed me the box, and had to take one every few days."[n 8] although he implied that other competitors were involved. Lewis recalled Simpson acquiring a small box at their hotel. Simpson explained to him: "That's my year's supply of Micky Finns'. That lot cost me £800."[259]

Commentator and Simpson's close friend David Saunders stated in his 1971 book, Cycling in the Sixties, that although he did not condone Simpson's use of drugs, he thought it was not the reason for his death. He said: "I am quite convinced that Simpson killed himself because he just did not know when to stop. All his racing life he had punished his frail body, pushing it to the limits of endurance with his tremendous will-power and single-mindedness and, on Mont Ventoux, he pushed it too far, perhaps the drug easing the pain of it all." Saunders went on to say that Simpson was not alone in the taking of drugs in professional cycling and that the authorities ignored their use. His opinion was that Simpson did not take drugs to gain an unfair advantage, but because "he was not going to be beaten by a pill".[260]

Riding style and legacy

Simpson in his adolescence was described as fearsome in descent by fellow Scala Wheelers club member George Shaw, who explained that if Simpson dropped behind on a climb, he would come back on the descent.[261] Simpson's risk-taking on descents was evident throughout his career, crashing in four out of the seven Tours de France he competed in. Track rider Norman Sheil recalled: "When racing on a banked velodrome, Simpson would sometimes ride up the advertising boards at the top of the bankings, Wall of Death-style, to please the crowds."[262] Simpson's death was attributed to his unwillingness to admit defeat ascending Mont Ventoux.[202] He described a near-death experience during a race in 1964, the Trofeo Baracchi two-man time trial, to Vin Denson, who recalled: "He said he felt peace of mind and wasn't afraid to die. He said he would have been happy dying."[263]

Simpson looked for any advantage over his opponents. He made his own saddle, a design which is now standard. During his time with Peugeot, he rode bikes made by Italian manufacturer Masi that resembled Peugeots.[264] Simpson was obsessed with dieting since 1956, when he was mentored by Cyril Cartwright. Simpson understood the value of fruit and vegetables after reading Les Cures de jus by nutritionist Raymond Dextreit; during the winter, he would consume 10 lb (4.5 kg) of carrots a day. Other unusual food preferences included pigeons, duck and trout skin, raspberry leaves and garlic in large quantities.[265]

In the 1968 Tour de France, there was a special prize given in his honour, the Souvenir Tom Simpson, a sprint on stage 15 in the small town of Mirepoix, won by the soloing Roger Pingeon.[266] Winner of the race Jan Janssen said of him, "Occasionally Tommy could be annoying. When it was rolling along at 30kmh and - paf!… he’d attack. Oh leave us alone! There's still 150km to go pipe down. But often, he wanted war." Janssen went on to say, "Even in the feed zones. It's not the law, but it's not polite. Musettes (lunch bags) were up in the air there was panic and crashes. It was Simpson acting like a jerk. It didn't happen often. Occasionally I was angry at him. I’d say to him in his native English: You f*****g c**t... There were often many teams, five or six, in the same hotel together every evening. Each had their own table. And at a certain moment, Tommy walked into the restaurant like a gentleman, with a cane, bowler hat and in costume… He was like a Lord in England and the rest of us were in tracksuits. Everyone saw that, laughed, and the things he had done during the race were forgotten."[267]

 
The memorial to Simpson (pictured in 2009) on the spot where he died on Mont Ventoux has become a pilgrimage for many cyclists.

A granite memorial to Simpson, with the words "Olympic medallist, world champion, British sporting ambassador", stands on the spot where he collapsed and died on Ventoux, one kilometre east of the summit.[268][269] Cycling began a fund for a monument a week after Simpson's death, raising about £1,500. The memorial was unveiled in 1968. It has become a site of pilgrimage for cyclists, who frequently leave cycling-related objects, such as water bottles and caps, in tribute.[270][271] In nearby Bédoin, a plaque was installed in the town square by journalists following the 1967 Tour.[272] The Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club has a small museum dedicated to Simpson, opened by Belgian cyclist Lucien Van Impe in August 2001.[273][239] In 1997, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death, a small plaque was added to the Mont Ventoux memorial, with the words "There is no mountain too high. Your daughters Jane and Joanne, July 13, 1997", and a replica of the memorial was erected outside the museum.[274] In his adopted hometown of Ghent, there is a bust of Simpson at the entrance to the Kuipke velodrome.[275] Every year since his death, the Tom Simpson Memorial Race has taken place in Harworth.[276][277]

Ray Pascoe, a fan, made the 1995 film Something To Aim At, a project he began in the years following Simpson's death; the film includes interviews with those closest to Simpson.[278] The 2005 documentary Wheels Within Wheels follows actor Simon Dutton as he searches for people and places in Simpson's life. Dutton's four-year project chronicles the midlife crisis that sparked his quest to rediscover Simpson.[279] British rider David Millar won stage twelve of the 2012 Tour de France on the 45th anniversary of Simpson's death; previously banned from cycling for using performance-enhancing drugs, he paid tribute to Simpson and reinforced the importance of learning from his – and Simpson's – mistakes.[154] Millar wrote the introduction for a reissue of Simpson's autobiography, Cycling Is My Life, published in 2009.[154][280] In 2010, Simpson was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.[281] He inspired Simpson Magazine, which began in March 2013. According to the magazine's creators, “It was Simpson's spirit and style, his legendary tenacity and his ability to suffer that endeared him to cycling fans everywhere as much as the trophies he won.”[282]

Family and interests

Soon after moving to France in 1959, Simpson met Helen Sherburn.[53] They married in 1961,[90] before moving to Ghent, Belgium, the following year.[105] They had two daughters, Jane (born April 1962) and Joanne (born May 1963),[283] who were brought up, and live, in Belgium.[284] After his death, Helen Simpson married Barry Hoban in December 1969.[285] Simpson is the maternal uncle of retired Belgian-Australian cyclist Matthew Gilmore, whose father, Graeme, was also a cyclist.[27][286] The 2000 book Mr. Tom: The True Story of Tom Simpson, written by Simpson's nephew, Chris Sidwells, focuses on his career and family life.[287][288]

Simpson spoke fluent French, and was also competent in Flemish and Italian.[289] He was interested in vintage cars, and his driving and riding styles were similar; Helen remembered, "Driving through the West End of London at 60 mph (97 km/h), was nothing."[290] In January 1966, Simpson was a guest castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs; his favourite musical piece was "Ari's Theme" from Exodus by the London Festival Orchestra, his book choice was The Pickwick Papers and his luxury item was golf equipment.[291] Helen said that she chose his records for the show, since he was not interested in music.[283] Simpson's autobiography, Cycling Is My Life, was first published in 1966.[292]

Career achievements

Major results

Sources:[89][96][293][294][295]

1955
1st   BLRC National Junior Hill Climb Championship
1956
2nd Individual pursuit, Amateur National Track Championships
3rd   Team pursuit, Olympic Games
1957
1st   BLRC National Hill Climb Championship
1st   Individual pursuit, Amateur National Track Championships
1958
1st   Individual pursuit, Amateur National Track Championships
2nd   Individual pursuit, British Empire and Commonwealth Games
1959
1st Stage 8 Route de France
Tour de l'Ouest
1st Stages 4 & 5b (ITT)
2nd Overall Essor Breton
4th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
4th Trofeo Baracchi (with Gérard Saint)
1960
1st Overall Tour du Sud-Est
1st Stage 1b (TTT) Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Mont Faron hill climb
3rd Overall Genoa–Rome
1st Mountains classification
7th La Flèche Wallonne
9th Paris–Roubaix
1961
1st Tour of Flanders
1st Stage 2 Euskal Bizikleta
2nd Overall Menton–Rome
5th Overall Paris–Nice
1st Stage 3 (TTT)
9th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
1962
2nd Overall Paris–Nice
1st Stage 3a (TTT)
3rd Critérium des As
3rd Six Days of Madrid (with John Tresidder)
5th Tour of Flanders
1st Mountains classification
6th Overall Tour de France
Held   after Stage 12
6th Gent–Wevelgem
1963
1st Bordeaux–Paris
2nd Overall Tour du Var
1st Stage 1
1st Isle of Man International
1st Grand Prix du Parisien
2nd Critérium des As
2nd Gent–Wevelgem
2nd Paris–Brussels
2nd Overall Super Prestige Pernod International
2nd Paris–Tours
3rd Tour of Flanders
8th Paris–Roubaix
10th La Flèche Wallonne
10th Giro di Lombardia
1964
1st Milan–San Remo
1st Stage 5 Circuit de Provençal
2nd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
3rd Trofeo Baracchi (with Rudi Altig)
4th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
4th Mont Faron hill climb
10th Paris–Roubaix
1965
1st   Road race, UCI Road World Championships
1st Giro di Lombardia
1st London–Holyhead
1st Six Days of Brussels (with Peter Post)
2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Peter Post)
2nd Overall Super Prestige Pernod International
3rd Overall Midi Libre
3rd La Flèche Wallonne
1st Mountains classification
3rd Overall Circuit de Provençal
3rd Bordeaux–Paris
5th Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke
6th Paris–Roubaix
10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1966
1st Stage 2b (TTT) Four Days of Dunkirk
2nd Six Days of Münster (with Klaus Bugdahl)
2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
1967
1st   Overall Paris–Nice
Vuelta a España
1st Stages 5 & 16
1st Isle of Man International
1st Stage 5 Giro di Sardegna
3rd Six Days of Antwerp (with Leo Proost and Emile Severeyns)
4th Polymultipliée

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Sources:[96][296][297]

Grand Tour 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
  Vuelta a España — — — — — — — 33
  Giro d'Italia — — — — — — — —
  Tour de France 29 DNF 6 — 14 DNF DNF DNF

Monuments results timeline

Sources:[67][89][96][298]

Monument 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
Milan–San Remo — 38 25 — 19 1 DNF — 70
Tour of Flanders — — 1 5 3 — — — —
Paris–Roubaix — 9 88 37 8 10 6 — DNF
Liège–Bastogne–Liège — 11 — — 33 — 10 DNF —
Giro di Lombardia DNF 84 — — 10 21 1 — —
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Awards and honours

See also

Notes and references

Footnotes

  1. ^ The organisers of the 1962 Milan–San Remo only allowed Italian teams to participate as an attempt to get an Italian winner, as the last one was in 1953.[108][110]
  2. ^ Shay Elliott rode for Saint-Raphaël–Gitane–R. Geminiani, the rival team of Simpson's Peugeot team, and would not work with Simpson and risk him winning.[138] Two years later Simpson revealed in The People that he offered Elliott £1,100 for him to work with him.[139]
  3. ^ The national team format was used in the 1967 Tour de France after tour organiser, Félix Lévitan, believed the team sponsors were behind the riders' strike in the previous year's Tour.[201]
  4. ^ Alcohol was used as a stimulant and to dull pain.[236] At the time, the Tour de France organisers limited each rider to four bidons (bottles) of water, about two litres, two on the bike and two more given at feeding stations – the effects of dehydration being poorly understood. During races, riders raided roadside bars for drinks, and filled their bottles from fountains.[226][237]
  5. ^ Zig-zagging on an ascent is a way of lessening the gradient.
  6. ^ "Put me back on my bike!" was invented by Sid Saltmarsh, who was covering the Tour for The Sun and Cycling (now Cycling Weekly). Saltmarsh was not there at the time, and was in a dead reception zone for live accounts on Radio Tour.[239]
  7. ^ A Daily Mail reporter, J. L. Manning, went to the location of Simpson's death later and found two piles of stones 420 yd (384 m) apart, both with notes attached; the first read: "Tom Simpson fell", and the second: "Here Tom Simpson died tragically on the 13th stage of the Tour de France".[240]
  8. ^ Strychnine is one of the oldest drugs used in cycling.[236] In small quantities it tightens the muscles.[258]

References

  1. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 229.
  2. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. Newport, UK: ONS. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  3. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 15.
  4. ^ a b c Fotheringham 2007, p. 45.
  5. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 15–16.
  6. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 17.
  7. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 18.
  8. ^ a b c "In memory of Harworth's cycling legend, the unique Tom Simpson". Doncaster Free Press. London: Johnston Press. 3 August 2007. from the original on 4 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  9. ^ a b Simpson 2009, pp. 9–11.
  10. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 12–13.
  11. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 22–23.
  12. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 48.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "Remembering Tom Simpson". Cycling. London. 1 January 1977. pp. 20–21.
  14. ^ a b c Sidwells 2000, p. 24.
  15. ^ a b Simpson 2009, pp. 14–15.
  16. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 50–51.
  17. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 32–34.
  18. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 18–19.
  19. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 36.
  20. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 37–38.
  21. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 20–22.
  22. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 39–41.
  23. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 42–43.
  24. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, pp. 43–44.
  25. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 49–50.
  26. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 25–35.
  27. ^ a b . Sports-Reference.com. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  28. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 54–55.
  29. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 51–52.
  30. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 38.
  31. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 54.
  32. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 54–58.
  33. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 40.
  34. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 43.
  35. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 57–58.
  36. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 60–61.
  37. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 44–47.
  38. ^ Pierre 1967, p. 22.
  39. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 47–48.
  40. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 62–63.
  41. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 64.
  42. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 50–51.
  43. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 65–66.
  44. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 55.
  45. ^ a b c Fotheringham 2007, p. 58.
  46. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 54–58.
  47. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 67.
  48. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 59.
  49. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 85.
  50. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 84.
  51. ^ Pierre 1967, p. 25.
  52. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 17.
  53. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 69.
  54. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 68–71.
  55. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 62.
  56. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 70–71.
  57. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 61.
  58. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 84–85.
  59. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 78.
  60. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 77.
  61. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 78–80.
  62. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 73–75.
  63. ^ a b "The first big wins". Cycling. Remembering Tom Simpson. London: IPC Media. 8 January 1977. pp. 16–17.
  64. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 81.
  65. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 108.
  66. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 83.
  67. ^ a b [Volatone in Milan and win Van Looy] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). 19 October 1959. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2013.
  68. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 83–84.
  69. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 86.
  70. ^ Fotheringham 2003, p. 44.
  71. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 86–87.
  72. ^ . The Milan–San Remo Cycle Race. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013.
  73. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 87.
  74. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 99.
  75. ^ a b c Jones, Graham (April 2006). "The Flanders Lion Tamer". CyclingRevealed. from the original on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  76. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 88–91.
  77. ^ Saunders 1971, p. 123.
  78. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 91–93.
  79. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 85–85.
  80. ^ a b c d e "Tackling his first Tour". Cycling. Remembering Tom Simpson. London: IPC Media. 15 January 1977. pp. 18–19.
  81. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 94.
  82. ^ a b c "1960 Tour de France". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  83. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 94–95.
  84. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 95–96.
  85. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 190.
  86. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 129–130.
  87. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 98.
  88. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 100.
  89. ^ a b c d "Tom Simpson (Great Britain)". The-Sports.org. Québec, Canada: Info Média Conseil. from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  90. ^ a b Pierre 1967, p. 28.
  91. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 102–103.
  92. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 106–107.
  93. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 107.
  94. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 103–104.
  95. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 108–109.
  96. ^ a b c d [Awards of Tom Simpson (Gbr)]. Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  97. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 105–106.
  98. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 110–111.
  99. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 65.
  100. ^ Longchamp, Marcel (5 July 1961). . Cycling and Mopeds. London: Longacre Press. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2016 – via Tour-Racing.org.uk.
  101. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  102. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 106–107.
  103. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 111–113.
  104. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 113.
  105. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 117.
  106. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 114.
  107. ^ Simpson 2009, p. 110.
  108. ^ a b c d Sidwells 2000, p. 115.
  109. ^ a b . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  110. ^ . The Milan-San Remo Cycle Race. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  111. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 116–117.
  112. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 117.
  113. ^ a b c d e f "The Yellow Jersey". Cycling. Remembering Tom Simpson. London: IPC Media. 22 January 1977. pp. 22–23.
  114. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 122.
  115. ^ a b McGann & McGann 2006, p. 253.
  116. ^ a b c "1962 Tour de France". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  117. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  118. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  119. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  120. ^ McGann & McGann 2006, pp. 277–288.
  121. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 124.
  122. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 123–125.
  123. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 126.
  124. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 126–128.
  125. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 130–136.
  126. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 134.
  127. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 137–138.
  128. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 138.
  129. ^ "1963 Milano – San Remo". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 9 December 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  130. ^ "1963 Tour of Flanders". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 9 December 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  131. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 139–144.
  132. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  133. ^ "Bordeaux–Paris 1963". Cycling Archives. de Wielersite. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  134. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 145.
  135. ^ Wadley, J. B. (July 1963). "Tea-Time at the Parc". Sporting Cyclist. Charlie Buchan. from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  136. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 147–149.
  137. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 150–151.
  138. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 154.
  139. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 106.
  140. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 153–155.
  141. ^ "World Championships 1963". The-Sports.org. Québec, Canada: Info Média Conseil. from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  142. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 157–161.
  143. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 162.
  144. ^ a b c . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  145. ^ a b c Sidwells 2000, p. 163.
  146. ^ . The Milan-San Remo Cycle Race. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  147. ^ a b c d "World Champion". Cycling. Remembering Tom Simpson. London: IPC Media. 29 January 1977. pp. 8–9.
  148. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 167.
  149. ^ a b c "1964 Tour de France". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  150. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 169.
  151. ^ "1964 Tour de France". Cycling. London: Temple Press. July 1964. from the original on 6 June 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  152. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 171.
  153. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  154. ^ a b c "Tom Simpson: Forgotten by all but one". The Scotsman. Edinburgh: Johnston Press. 18 July 2009. from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  155. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 151.
  156. ^ a b "World Professional (Elite) Road Cycling Championship". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  157. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 173.
  158. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 136.
  159. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 172–175.
  160. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 177.
  161. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 179.
  162. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 183–184.
  163. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 158–160.
  164. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 185–186.
  165. ^ "Trionfo solitario di Rik Van Looy sul traguardo dell Parigi–Roubaix" [Rik Van Looy solitary triumph at the finish line of the Paris–Roubaix]. La Stampa (in Italian). 13 April 1965. p. 13. from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  166. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 187–188.
  167. ^ a b . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  168. ^ Saunders 1971, p. 66.
  169. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 163–165.
  170. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 191–192.
  171. ^ Jones, Graham (November 2010). "The Legend, the D.S., the Domestique and an Englishman". CyclingRevealed. from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  172. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 193.
  173. ^ McGann & McGann 2006, p. 6.
  174. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 195.
  175. ^ "1965 Tour de France". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  176. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, pp. 196.
  177. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 197–198.
  178. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 199–200.
  179. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 200–202.
  180. ^ "Simpson Champion". Cycling. London: Go Magazine. 11 September 1965. pp. 16–17. from the original on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  181. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 204–205.
  182. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 179–180.
  183. ^ a b c d e "That last tragic day on Mont Ventoux". Cycling. Remembering Tom Simpson. London: IPC Media. 5 February 1977. pp. 11–12.
  184. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 206.
  185. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 129.
  186. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 207–210.
  187. ^ Pierre 1967, p. 66.
  188. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 208.
  189. ^ "Recipients". The F. T. Bidlake Memorial Trust. from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  190. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, pp. 211–216.
  191. ^ a b "1966 Tour de France". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  192. ^ a b c d . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  193. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 220–221.
  194. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 222–225.
  195. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 175.
  196. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 226.
  197. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 227–228.
  198. ^ Wilcockson 2009, p. 159.
  199. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 228.
  200. ^ Simpson, Tom (8 April 1967). " 'We can win the Tour' ". Cycling (Interview). Interviewed by Ken Evans. London: Longacre Press. pp. 14–15.
  201. ^ McGann & McGann 2008, p. 24.
  202. ^ a b c d Gallagher, Brendan (13 July 2007). "Tom Simpson haunts Tour 40 years on". The Daily Telegraph. London. from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  203. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 238.
  204. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 176.
  205. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 130.
  206. ^ Simpson, Tom (1 April 1967). " 'I'll get the hour – before the others try' ". Cycling (Interview). Interviewed by Ken Evans. London: Longacre Press. pp. 4–5.
  207. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 230–231.
  208. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 231.
  209. ^ Sidwells, Chris (March 2012). . ChrisSidwells.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  210. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 232.
  211. ^ a b "1967 Milano — San Remo". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  212. ^ Fotheringham 2012, pp. 59–60.
  213. ^ Saunders 1971, p. 55.
  214. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, pp. 233–234.
  215. ^ "Clasificacions" [Classifications] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 4 May 1967. p. 9. from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  216. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 217–218.
  217. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 156.
  218. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 167.
  219. ^ "Clasificacions" [Classifications] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 15 May 1967. p. 9. from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  220. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 237–238.
  221. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 130–131.
  222. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 239.
  223. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 28–29.
  224. ^ McGann & McGann 2008, pp. 27–28.
  225. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 244.
  226. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 179.
  227. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  228. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  229. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  230. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 131.
  231. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 217.
  232. ^ "1967 Tour de France". BikeRaceInfo. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  233. ^ Woodland, Les (21 July 2007). "Simpson: martyr, example, warning". Cyclingnews.com. Bath, UK: Future plc. from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  234. ^ McGann & McGann 2008, p. 28.
  235. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 30–31.
  236. ^ a b McGann & McGann 2008, p. vi.
  237. ^ Woodland, Les (3 October 2007). "The chasse à la canette". Bath, UK: Future plc. from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  238. ^ McGann & McGann 2008, pp. 28–29.
  239. ^ a b c Woodland 2007, p. 334.
  240. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 222.
  241. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 33–36.
  242. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 36–37.
  243. ^ a b Sidwells 2000, p. 248.
  244. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 186.
  245. ^ Nicholson, Geoffrey (14 July 1967). "Simpson dies after collapse on Tour". The Guardian. London: GMG. from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  246. ^ Mehlman 2009, p. 125.
  247. ^ a b "Drugs killed Tour cyclist". The Age. Melbourne: David Syme. 1 August 1967. p. 24 – via Google News.
  248. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 90–91.
  249. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 6.
  250. ^ "U.K. Cyclist Dies Of Exhaustion". Montreal Gazette. 14 July 1967. p. 26 – via Google News.
  251. ^ Houlihan 2002, p. 65.
  252. ^ Mazanov 2013, p. 7.
  253. ^ McGann & McGann 2008, p. 32.
  254. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 194.
  255. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 83.
  256. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 148–149.
  257. ^ Woodland, Les (host) (4 July 1987). Death of a British Tommy. BBC Radio 4. from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  258. ^ Sherrington, C. S. (29 November 1907). "Strychnine and reflex inhibition of skeletal muscle". The Journal of Physiology. 36 (2–3): 185–204. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1907.sp001228. PMC 1533557. PMID 16992901.
  259. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 141–143.
  260. ^ Saunders 1971, pp. 74–75.
  261. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 48–50.
  262. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 192.
  263. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 191.
  264. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 24–25.
  265. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 77–79.
  266. ^ Wadley, J. B. (September 1968). . International Cycle Sport. No. 5. Silsden, UK: Kennedy Brothers Publishing. p. 3. ISSN 0020-6504. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020 – via InternationalCycleSport.com.
  267. ^ McGrath, Andy (September 1968). "Bird on the Wire, an extract from the Tom Simpson biography". Rouleur. Vol. 17, no. 5. London: Gruppo Media. p. 3. ISSN 1752-962X. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  268. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 208.
  269. ^ Williams & Le Nevez 2007, p. 83.
  270. ^ Dauncey & Hare 2003, p. 214.
  271. ^ Moore, Richard (26 July 2009). "British riders remember Tommy Simpson – a hero to some, to others the villain of the Ventoux". TheGuardian.com. London: GMG. from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  272. ^ Woodland 2007, p. 265.
  273. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 13.
  274. ^ Henderson 2011, p. 108.
  275. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 133.
  276. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 14.
  277. ^ "Cyclists flock to Harworth for Tommy Simpson races". Worksop Guardian. London: Johnston Press. 23 July 2013. from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  278. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 1–4.
  279. ^ . LeslieCharteris.com. 29 March 2007. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  280. ^ See, Jen (13 July 2012). . Bicycling. Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale, Inc. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  281. ^ . British Cycling. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  282. ^ MacMichael, Simon (27 February 2013). "New cycling magazine Simpson launches this week". road.cc. Bath, UK: Farrelly Atkinson. from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  283. ^ a b Fotheringham 2007, p. 79.
  284. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 134–135.
  285. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 85.
  286. ^ "Matt Gilmore retires". Cyclingnews.com. Bath, UK: Future plc. 22 April 2009. from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  287. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. iv.
  288. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 16.
  289. ^ Fotheringham 2007, p. 97.
  290. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 72–73.
  291. ^ Plomley, Roy (host) (31 January 1966). "Castaway: Tommy Simpson". Desert Island Discs. BBC. BBC Radio 4. from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  292. ^ Simpson 2009, p. iv.
  293. ^ "Tom Simpson". Cycling Archives. de Wielersite. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  294. ^ Sidwells 2000, pp. 249–256.
  295. ^ Fotheringham 2007, pp. 229–231.
  296. ^ McGann & McGann 2008, p. 27.
  297. ^ . The history of the Tour de France. Paris: ASO. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  298. ^ Sidwells 2000, p. 216.

Bibliography

  • Dauncey, Hugh; Hare, Geoff (2003). The Tour De France, 1903–2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values. London: Frank Cass & Co. ISBN 978-0-203-50241-9.
  • Fotheringham, William (2003). A Century of Cycling: The Classic Races and Legendary Champions. London: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 978-0-7603-1553-8.
  • Fotheringham, William (2007) [1st. pub. 2002]. Put Me Back on My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson. London: Yellow Jersey Press. ISBN 978-0-224-08018-7.
  • Fotheringham, William (2012). Merckx: Half Man, Half Bike. London: Yellow Jersey Press. ISBN 978-0-224-09195-4.
  • Henderson, Jon (2011). Best of British: Hendo's Sporting Heroes. London: Yellow Jersey Press. ISBN 978-1-4481-1341-5.
  • Houlihan, Barrie (2002). Dying to Win: Doping in Sport And the Development of Anti-doping Policy, Part 996 (2nd ed.). Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe. ISBN 978-92-871-4685-4.
  • Mazanov, Jason (2013). Towards a Social Science of Drugs in Sport. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-98454-2.
  • McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2006). The Story of the Tour De France, Volume 1: 1903–1964. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59858-180-5.
  • McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2008). The Story of the Tour De France, Volume 2: 1965–2007. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59858-608-4.
  • Mehlman, Maxwell J. (2009). The Price of Perfection: Individualism and Society in the Era of Biomedical Enhancement. Baltimore, MD: JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9538-8.
  • Pierre, Roger St. (1967). Tom Simpson: An 80 Page Picture Tribute to Britain's Greatest Ever Road Cycling Champion. London: Daily Mirror.
  • Saunders, David (1971). Cycling in the Sixties. London: Pelham Books. ISBN 978-0-7207-0456-3.
  • Sidwells, Chris (2000). Mr Tom: True Story of Tom Simpson. Norwich, UK: Mousehold Press. ISBN 978-1-874739-14-2.
  • Simpson, Tommy (2009) [1st. pub. Stanley Paul:1966]. Cycling is My Life. London: Yellow Jersey Press. ISBN 978-0-224-08308-9.
  • Wilcockson, John (2009). Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-7867-4805-1.
  • Williams, Nicola; Le Nevez, Catherine (2007) [1st. pub. 1999]. Provence and the Côte d'Azur (5th ed.). Melbourne: Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-74104-236-8.
  • Woodland, Les (2007) [1st. pub. 2003]. The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France. London: Yellow Jersey Press. ISBN 978-0-224-08016-3.

Further reading

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Simpson.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Winner of Bordeaux–Paris
1963 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Winner of Paris–Nice
1967 		Succeeded by

August 23, 2023
simpson, other, people, named, disambiguation, thomas, simpson, november, 1937, july, 1967, britain, most, successful, professional, cyclists, born, haswell, county, durham, later, moved, harworth, nottinghamshire, simpson, began, road, cycling, teenager, befo. For other people named Tom Simpson see Tom Simpson disambiguation Thomas Simpson 30 November 1937 13 July 1967 was one of Britain s most successful professional cyclists He was born in Haswell County Durham and later moved to Harworth Nottinghamshire Simpson began road cycling as a teenager before taking up track cycling specialising in pursuit races He won a bronze medal for track cycling at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Tom SimpsonSimpson c 1966Personal informationFull nameThomas SimpsonNicknameMajor SimpsonBorn 1937 11 30 30 November 1937Haswell County Durham EnglandDied13 July 1967 1967 07 13 aged 29 Mont Ventoux Vaucluse FranceHeight1 81 m 5 ft 11 1 2 in 1 Weight69 kg 152 lb 10 st 12 lb 1 Team informationDisciplineRoad and trackRoleRiderRider typeAll rounderAmateur teams Harworth amp District CC Scala Wheelers Club Olympique Briochin Gentse Wielersport Saint Raphael VC 12eProfessional teams1959Saint Raphael R Geminiani Dunlop1960 1961Rapha Gitane Dunlop1962Gitane Leroux Dunlop R Geminiani1963 1967Peugeot BP EnglebertMajor winsGrand Tours Vuelta a Espana2 individual stages 1967 dd Stage races Paris Nice 1967 One day and classic races World Road Race Championships 1965 Tour of Flanders 1961 Bordeaux Paris 1963 Milan San Remo 1964 Giro di Lombardia 1965 Medal record Representing Great BritainMen s road bicycle racingWorld Championships1965 San Sebastian Road raceOlympic Games1956 Melbourne Team pursuitRepresenting EnglandBritish Empire and Commonwealth Games1958 Cardiff Individual pursuitIn 1959 at age 21 Simpson was signed by the French professional road racing team Saint Raphael R Geminiani Dunlop He advanced to their first team Rapha Gitane Dunlop the following year and won the 1961 Tour of Flanders Simpson then joined Gitane Leroux Dunlop R Geminiani in the 1962 Tour de France he became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey finishing sixth overall In 1963 Simpson moved to Peugeot BP Englebert winning Bordeaux Paris that year and the 1964 Milan San Remo In 1965 he became Britain s first professional world road race champion and won the Giro di Lombardia this made him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year the first cyclist to win the award Injuries hampered much of Simpson s 1966 season He won two stages of the 1967 Vuelta a Espana before he won the general classification of Paris Nice that year In the thirteenth stage of the 1967 Tour de France Simpson collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux He was 29 years old The post mortem examination found that he had mixed amphetamines and alcohol this diuretic combination proved fatal when combined with the heat the hard climb of the Ventoux and a stomach complaint A memorial near where he died has become a place of pilgrimage for many cyclists Simpson was known to have taken performance enhancing drugs during his career when no doping controls existed He is held in high esteem by many fans for his character and will to win Contents 1 Early life and amateur career 1 1 Childhood and club racing 1 2 Track years 1 3 Move to Brittany 2 Professional career 2 1 1959 Foundations 2 2 1960 Tour de France debut 2 3 1961 Tour of Flanders and injury 2 4 1962 Yellow jersey 2 5 1963 Bordeaux Paris 2 6 1964 Milan San Remo 2 7 1965 World championship and Lombardia 2 8 1966 An injury ridden season 2 9 1967 Paris Nice and Vuelta stages 3 Death 4 Doping 5 Riding style and legacy 6 Family and interests 7 Career achievements 7 1 Major results 7 2 Grand Tour general classification results timeline 7 3 Monuments results timeline 7 4 Awards and honours 8 See also 9 Notes and references 9 1 Footnotes 9 2 References 9 3 Bibliography 10 Further reading 11 External linksEarly life and amateur career EditChildhood and club racing Edit Haswell Harworthclass notpageimage At age 12 Simpson moved from Haswell County Durham to Harworth on the Nottinghamshire Yorkshire border Simpson was born on 30 November 1937 in Haswell County Durham the youngest of six children of coal miner Tom Simpson and his wife Alice nee Cheetham 2 3 His father had been a semi professional sprinter in athletics 4 The family lived modestly in a small terraced house until 1943 when his parents took charge of the village s working men s club and lived above it 4 5 In 1950 the Simpsons moved to Harworth on the Nottinghamshire Yorkshire border where young Simpson s maternal aunt lived new coalfields were opening with employment opportunities for him and older brother Harry by now the only children left at home 4 6 Simpson rode his first bike his brother in law s at age 12 sharing it with Harry and two cousins for time trials around Harworth Following Harry Tom joined Harworth amp District CC Cycling Club aged 13 7 8 He delivered groceries in the Bassetlaw district by bicycle and traded with a customer for a better road bike 7 9 He was often left behind in club races members of his cycling club nicknamed him four stone Coppi after Italian rider Fausto Coppi due to his slim physique 9 Simpson began winning club time trials but sensed resentment of his boasting from senior members 10 He left Harworth amp District and joined Rotherham s Scala Wheelers at the end of 1954 11 12 Simpson s first road race was as a junior at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham 13 14 15 After leaving school he was an apprentice draughtsman at an engineering company in Retford using the 10 mi 16 1 km commute by bike as training 8 14 He placed well in half mile races on grass and cement but decided to concentrate on road racing 14 15 In May 1955 Simpson won the National Cyclists Union South Yorkshire individual pursuit track event as a junior the same year he won the British League of Racing Cyclists BLRC junior hill climb championship and placed third in the senior event 13 Simpson immersed himself in the world of cycling writing letters asking for advice Naturalised Austrian rider George Berger responded travelling from London to Harworth to help him with his riding position 16 In late 1955 Simpson ran a red light in a race and was suspended from racing for six months by the BLRC During his suspension he dabbled in motorcycle trials nearly quitting cycling but unable to afford a new motorcycle necessary for progress in the sport 17 18 Track years Edit In 1956 aged 18 Simpson began track cycling at Manchester s Fallowfield Stadium pictured in 1985 Berger told Simpson that if he wanted to be a successful road cyclist he needed experience in track cycling particularly in the pursuit discipline 19 Simpson competed regularly at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester where in early 1956 he met amateur world pursuit silver medallist Cyril Cartwright who helped him develop his technique 20 21 At the national championships at Fallowfield the 18 year old Simpson won a silver medal in the individual pursuit defeating amateur world champion Norman Sheil before losing to Mike Gambrill 13 22 Simpson began working with his father as a draughtsman at the glass factory in Harworth 23 He was riding well although not selected by Great Britain for the amateur world championships he made the 4 000 metre team pursuit squad for the 1956 Olympics 24 In mid September Simpson competed for two weeks in Eastern Europe against Russian and Italian teams to prepare for the Olympics The seven rider contingent began with races in Leningrad continuing to Moscow before finishing in Sofia He was nicknamed the Sparrow by the Soviet press because of his slender build 24 The following month he was in Melbourne for the Olympics where the team qualified for the team pursuit semi finals against Italy they were confident of defeating South Africa and France but lost to Italy taking the bronze medal Simpson blamed himself for the loss for pushing too hard on a turn and being unable to recover for the next 25 26 27 There was one name on everyone s lips on that day Tom Simpson There was a buzz in the crowd as he began to climb you could feel it and I remember this lad with a shock of hair thundering up the hill past me carried on a solid wave of excitement The overall feeling that day was that this was the future this was the man to watch Tom Simpson Spectator Gordon Hill remembering the 1957 BLRC national hill climb championships 28 After the Olympics Simpson trained throughout his winter break into 1957 29 In May he rode in the national 25 mile championships although he was the favourite he lost to Sheil in the final In a points race at an international event at Fallowfield a week later Simpson crashed badly almost breaking his leg he stopped working for a month and struggled to regain his form 30 At the national pursuit championships he was beaten in the quarter finals 31 After this defeat Simpson returned to road racing winning the BLRC national hill climb championship in October before taking a short break from racing In spring 1958 he traveled to Sofia with Sheil for two weeks racing 32 33 On his return he won the national individual pursuit championship at Herne Hill Velodrome In July Simpson won a silver medal for England in the individual pursuit at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff losing to Sheil by one hundredth of a second in the final 34 A medical exam taken with the Royal Air Force RAF revealed Simpson to be colour blind 35 In September 1958 Simpson competed at the amateur world championships in Paris Against reigning champion Carlo Simonigh of Italy in the opening round of the individual pursuit he crashed on the concrete track at the end of the race Simpson was briefly knocked unconscious and sustained a dislocated jaw however he won the race since he crashed after the finish line Although he was in pain team manager Benny Foster forced Simpson to race in the quarter final against New Zealand s Warwick Dalton hoping to unsettle Dalton ahead of a possible meeting with Simpson s teammate Sheil 13 36 Simpson wanted to turn professional but needed to prove himself first 37 setting his sights on the world amateur indoor hour record Reg Harris arranged for an attempt at Zurich s Hallenstadion velodrome on Simpson s birthday in November He failed by 320 metres covering a distance of 43 995 km 27 337 mi and blaming his failure on the low temperature generated by an ice rink in the centre of the velodrome 13 38 39 The following week he travelled to Ghent in the Flanders region of Belgium to ride amateur track races He stayed at the Cafe Den Engel run by Albert Beurick who organised for him to ride at Ghent s Kuipke velodrome in the Sportpaleis English Sport Palace 40 Simpson decided to move to the continent for a better chance at success 41 and contacted French brothers Robert and Yvon Murphy whom he met while racing They agreed that he could stay with them in the Breton fishing port of Saint Brieuc 42 His final event in Britain was at Herne Hill riding motor paced races Simpson won the event and was invited to Germany to train for the 1959 motor paced world championships but declined the opportunity in favour of a career on the road Bicycle manufacturer Elswick Hopper invited him to join their British based team but Benny Foster advised him to continue with his plans to move to France 43 Move to Brittany Edit In April 1959 21 year old Simpson arrived at Gare de Saint Brieuc in Brittany pictured in 2011 with 100 and the hope of launching his continental professional career 44 In April 1959 Simpson left for France with 100 savings and two Carlton bikes one road and one track given in appreciation of his help promoting the company 45 46 47 His last words to his mother before the move were I don t want to be sitting here in twenty years time wondering what would have happened if I hadn t gone to France 45 The next day his National Service papers were delivered 48 although willing to serve before his move he feared the call up would put his potential career at risk His mother returned them with the hope they would understand this 49 50 He applied to local cycling clubs and joined Club Olympique Briochin racing with an independent semi professional licence from the British Cycling Federation 51 52 When settled with the Murphy family 21 year old Simpson met 19 year old Helen Sherburn an au pair from Sutton Yorkshire 53 Simpson began attracting attention winning races and criteriums He was invited to race in the eight day stage race Route de France by the Saint Raphael VC 12e 54 the amateur club below the professional team Saint Raphael R Geminiani Dunlop 55 Simpson won the final stage breaking away from the peloton and holding on for victory 56 After this win he declined an offer to ride in the Tour de France for the professional team 55 Simpson had contract offers from two professional teams Mercier BP Hutchinson and Saint Raphael R Geminiani Dunlop which had a British cyclist Brian Robinson opting for the latter team on 29 June he signed a contract for 80 000 francs 80 a month 57 On Simpson s return to Harworth for Christmas the RAF were notified and the press ran stories on his apparent draft avoidance 58 He passed a medical in Sheffield but history repeated itself and the papers arrived the day after his departure for his team s training camp in Narbonne in southern France The French press unlike the British found the situation amusing 59 Professional career Edit1959 Foundations Edit In July four months after leaving England Simpson rode his first race as a professional the Tour de l Ouest in west France He won the fourth stage and took the overall race leader s jersey He won the next stage s individual time trial increasing his lead On the next stage he lost the lead with a punctured tyre finishing the race in fourteenth place overall 13 60 Simpson s fourth place in the 1959 world road race championships at Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands pictured in 2011 was the highest ever by a British rider In August Simpson competed at the world championships in the 5000 m individual pursuit at Amsterdam s large open air velodrome and the road race on the nearby Circuit Park Zandvoort motor racing track He placed fourth in the individual pursuit losing by 0 3 seconds in the quarter finals He prepared for the 180 mi 290 km road race eight laps of the track After 45 mi 72 km a ten rider breakaway formed Simpson bridged the gap As the peloton began to close in he tried to attack Although he was brought back each time Simpson placed fourth in a sprint for the best finish to date by a British rider 61 62 63 He was praised by the winner Andre Darrigade of France who thought that without Simpson s work on the front the breakaway would have been caught Darrigade helped him enter criteriums for extra money 64 His fourth place earned Simpson his nickname Major Simpson from French sports newspaper L Equipe They ran the headline Les carnets du Major Simpson The notes of Major Simpson referencing the 1950s series of books Les carnets du Major Thompson by Pierre Daninos 65 Simpson moved up to Saint Raphael R Geminiani Dunlop s first team Rapha Gitane Dunlop for the end of season one day classic races 66 In his first appearance in the Giro di Lombardia one of the five monuments of cycling he retired with a tyre puncture while in the lead group of riders 67 In Simpson s last race of the season he finished fourth in the Trofeo Baracchi a two man team time trial with Gerard Saint racing against his boyhood idol Fausto Coppi it was Coppi s final race before his death 68 Simpson finished the season with twenty eight wins 63 1960 Tour de France debut Edit His first major race of the 1960 season was the one day monument Milan San Remo in March 69 in which the organisers introduced the Poggio climb the final climb to keep the race from finishing with a bunch sprint 70 Simpson broke clear from a breakaway group over the first climb the Turchino leading the race for 45 km 28 mi before being caught He lost contact over the Poggio finishing in 38th place 71 72 In April he moved to the Porte de Clichy district of Paris sharing a small apartment with his teammate Robinson 73 Days after his move Simpson rode in Paris Roubaix 73 known as The Hell of the North the first cycling race to be shown live on Eurovision 74 He launched an attack as an early breakaway riding alone at the front for 40 km 24 9 mi but was caught around a mile from the finish at Roubaix Velodrome coming in ninth Simpson rode a lap of honour after the race at the request of the emotional crowd His televised effort gained him attention throughout Europe 75 76 77 He then won the Mont Faron hill climb and the overall general classification of the Tour du Sud Est his first overall win in a professional stage race He planned to ride in the Isle of Man International road race excited to see to his home fans There were rumours which proved correct that the Royal Military Police were waiting for him at the airport so he decided not to travel 78 This was the last he heard from the authorities regarding his call up The British Cycling Federation fined him 25 for his absence 79 Simpson crashed descending the Col d Aubisque pictured during the tenth stage of the 1960 Tour de France finishing the tour in 29th place overall In June Simpson made his Grand Tour debut in the Tour de France aged 22 Rapha directeur sportif team manager Raymond Louviot opposed his participation but since the race was contested by national teams Simpson accepted the invitation from the British squad 80 During the first stage he was part of a thirteen rider breakaway which finished over two minutes in front of the field he crashed on the cinder track at Heysel Stadium in Brussels finishing thirteenth but received the same time as the winner 80 81 Later that day he finished ninth in the time trial moving up to fifth place overall 82 During the third stage Simpson was part of a breakaway with two French riders who repeatedly attacked him forcing him to chase and use energy needed for the finish he finished third missing the thirty second bonus for a first place finish which would have put him in the overall race leader s yellow jersey 80 83 He dropped to ninth overall by the end of the first week 82 During stage ten Simpson crashed descending the Col d Aubisque in the Pyrenees but finished the stage in fourteenth place 80 In the following stage he was dropped exhausted from a chasing group failing to recover 84 He finished the Tour in twenty ninth place overall 80 82 losing 2 st 13 kg 28 lb in weight over the three weeks 85 After the Tour Simpson rode criteriums around Europe until crashing in central France he returned home to Paris and checked himself into a hospital 86 Following a week s bed rest he rode in the road world championships at the Sachsenring in East Germany During the race Simpson stopped to adjust his shoes on the right side of the road and was hit from behind by a car sustaining a cut to his head which required five stitches 87 In the last of the classics the Giro di Lombardia he struggled 88 finishing eighty fourth 89 Simpson had been in constant contact with Helen who was now working in Stuttgart Germany meeting with her between races They became engaged on Christmas Day and originally planned to marry at the end of 1961 88 but in fact wed on 3 January 1961 in Doncaster Yorkshire 90 1961 Tour of Flanders and injury Edit Simpson s first major event of the 1961 season was the Paris Nice stage race in March In stage three he helped his team win the team time trial and took the general classification lead by three seconds however he lost it in the next stage In the final stages of the race Simpson s attacks were thwarted and he finished fifth overall 91 Simpson won the 1961 Tour of Flanders in a two man sprint with Nino Defilippis in Wetteren Belgium becoming the first Briton to win a monument classic On 26 March Simpson rode in the one day Tour of Flanders With Carpano s Nino Defilippis he chased down an early breakaway Simpson worked with the group with about 8 km 5 mi to go he attacked followed by Defilippis The finish three circuits around the town of Wetteren was flat Defilippis unlike Simpson was a sprinter and was expected to win One kilometre from the finish Simpson launched a sprint he eased off with 300 m to go tricking Defilippis into thinking he was exhausted As Defilippis passed Simpson jumped again to take victory becoming the first Briton to win a monument classic 75 92 Defilippis protested that the finishing banner had been blown down and he did not know where the finish was however the judges noted that the finish line was clearly marked on the road itself 93 Defilippis team asked Simpson to agree to a tie saying no Italian had won a classic since 1953 He replied An Englishman had not won one since 1896 94 A week later Simpson rode in Paris Roubaix in the hope of bettering his previous year s ninth place As the race reached the paved section he went on a solo attack at which point he was told that Mercier BP Hutchinson rider Raymond Poulidor was chasing him down Simpson increased his speed catching the publicity and press vehicles ahead known as the caravane A press car swerved to avoid a pothole this forced him into a roadside ditch Simpson fell damaging his front wheel and injuring his knee He found his team car and collected a replacement wheel but by then the front of the race had passed Back in the race he crashed twice more finishing 88th 75 95 At Simpson s next race the four day Grand Prix d Eibar his first in Spain his knee injury still bothered him He won the second stage but was forced to quit during the following stage 96 97 His injury had not healed even after treatment by various specialists but for financial reasons he was forced to enter the Tour de France with the British team 98 99 He abandoned on stage three which started in Roubaix struggling to pedal on the cobbles 100 101 Three months after his fall at Paris Roubaix he saw a doctor at St Michael s Hospital in Paris He gave Simpson injections in his knee which reduced the inflammation 102 Once healed he competed in the road world championships in Berne Switzerland On the track he qualified for the individual pursuit with the fourth fastest time losing in the quarter finals to Peter Post of the Netherlands In the road race Simpson was part of a seventeen rider breakaway that finished together in a sprint he crossed the line in ninth place 103 Helen became pregnant Simpson s apartment in Paris was now unsuitable and a larger home in France was not in their means In October with help from his friend Albert Beurick they moved into a small cottage in Ghent 104 105 Low on funds Simpson earned money in one day track races in Belgium 106 1962 Yellow jersey Edit Simpson s contract with Rapha Gitane Dunlop had ended with the 1961 season Tour de France winner Jacques Anquetil signed with them for 1962 but Simpson wanted to lead a team and signed with Gitane Leroux Dunlop R Geminiani for the 1962 season 106 107 After training camp at Lodeve in southern France he rode in Paris Nice 108 He helped his team win the stage 3a team time trial and finished second overall behind Flandria Faema Clement s Jef Planckaert 108 109 He was unable to ride in Milan San Remo when its organisers limited the race to Italian based teams n 1 instead he rode in Gent Wevelgem finishing sixth 108 then defended his Tour of Flanders title At the end of the latter Simpson was in a select group of riders at the head of the race Although he led over each of the final climbs at the finish he finished fifth and won the King of the Mountains prize 111 A week later Simpson finished thirty seventh in Paris Roubaix delayed by a crash 112 113 At the 1962 Tour de France Simpson claimed the yellow jersey at the end of stage 12 as general classification leader losing it the next day Coming into the Tour de France Simpson was leader of his team 114 it was the first time since 1929 that company teams were allowed to compete 115 He finished ninth in the first stage 114 in a group of twenty two riders who finished over eight minutes ahead of the rest 113 Simpson s team finished second to Flandria Faema Clement in the stage 2b team time trial he was in seventh place in the general classification 116 remaining in the top ten the rest of the first week 116 During stage 8a he was in a thirty rider group which gained about six minutes moving him to second overall behind teammate Andre Darrigade 117 At the end of the eleventh stage Simpson was third in the overall over a minute behind race leader Willy Schroeders Flandria Faema Clement and fifty one seconds behind Darrigade 109 118 Stage twelve from Pau to Saint Gaudens the hardest stage of the 1962 Tour known as the Circle of Death was the Tour s first mountain stage 119 120 Simpson saw an opportunity to lead the race The team now solely concentrated on his interests since Darrigade was a sprinter and would no longer be involved in the general classification 121 As the peloton reached the Col du Tourmalet Simpson attacked with a small group of select riders finishing eighteenth place in a bunch sprint As he finished ahead of all the other leaders in the general classification he became the overall new leader of race and the first British rider to wear the leader s yellow jersey 113 122 Simpson lost the lead on the following stage a short time trial ending with a steep uphill finish at Superbagneres He finished thirty first and dropped to sixth overall 123 116 On stage nineteen he advanced recklessly descending the Col de Porte in the Alps crashing on a bend and only saved from falling over the edge by a tree leaving him with a broken left middle finger He lost almost eleven minutes in the next stage s time trial finishing the Tour at Paris Parc des Princes stadium 17 minutes and 9 seconds behind in 6th place 113 124 After the Tour Simpson rode criteriums before the road world championships in Salo Italy where he retired after missing a large breakaway 113 He began riding six day track races into his winter break In December he made an appearance at the Champions Concert cycling awards held at Royal Albert Hall in London Separately he won the British Cycling Federation s Personality of the Year Simpson and Helen were expecting their second child and upgraded to a larger house in Sint Amandsberg a sub municipality of Ghent 125 1963 Bordeaux Paris Edit Leroux withdrew its sponsorship of the Gitane team for the 1963 season Simpson was contracted to their manager Raymond Louviot Louviot was rejoining Saint Raphael Gitane R Geminiani and Simpson could follow but he saw that as a step backwards Peugeot BP Englebert bought the contract from Louviot which ran until the end of the season 126 Simpson s season opened with Paris Nice he fell out of contention after a series of tyre punctures in the opening stages using the rest of the race as training He withdrew from the race on the final stage to rest for his next race Milan San Remo after breaking away by himself he stopped beside the road which annoyed his fellow riders 127 At Milan San Remo Simpson was in a four rider breakaway his tyre punctured and although he got back to the front he finished nineteenth 128 129 He placed third in the Tour of Flanders in a three rider sprint 130 In Paris Roubaix Simpson worked for teammate and winner Emile Daems finishing ninth In the one day Paris Brussels he was in a breakaway near the Belgian border with 50 km 31 1 mi remaining he was left with world road race champion Jean Stablinski of Saint Raphael Gitane R Geminiani who attacked on a cobbled climb in Alsemberg outside Brussels Simpson s bike slipped a gear and Stablinski stayed away for the victory After his second place finish Simpson led the Super Prestige Pernod International season long competition for world s best cyclist The following week he raced in the Ardennes classics placing thirty third in Liege Bastogne Liege after he rode alone for about 100 km 62 mi before being caught in the closing kilometres 131 132 Bordeaux Angouleme Chatellerault Orleans Parisclass notpageimage In 1963 Simpson won the 557 km 346 mi derny paced Bordeaux Paris race one of the longest one day races On 26 May Simpson rode in the one day 557 km 346 mi Bordeaux Paris Also known as the Derby of the Road it was the longest he had ever ridden 133 134 The race began at 1 58 am the initial 161 km 100 mi were unpaced until the town of Chatellerault where dernys motorised bicycles paced each rider to the finish Simpson broke away in a group of three riders Simpson s pacer Fernand Wambst increased his speed and Simpson dropped the other two He caught the lead group thirteen minutes ahead over a distance of 161 km 100 mi Simpson attacked and with 36 km 22 4 mi remaining opening a margin of two minutes His lead steadily increased and he finished in the Parc des Princes over five minutes ahead of teammate Piet Rentmeester 113 135 136 Simpson announced that he would not ride the Tour de France concentrating on the world road championships instead Before he won the Isle of Man International in treacherous conditions where only sixteen out of seventy riders finished 137 At the road world championships in Ronse Belgium the Belgians controlled the race until Simpson broke free catching two riders ahead Henry Anglade France and Shay Elliott Ireland Anglade was dropped and Elliott refused to work with Simpson n 2 They were caught the race finished in a bunch sprint 140 with Simpson crossing the line in 29th 141 Simpson s season ended with six day races across Europe and an invitation only race on the Pacific island of New Caledonia along with other European riders He skipped his usual winter training schedule for his first skiing holiday at Saint Gervais les Bains in the Alps taking Helen and his two young daughters Jane and Joanne 142 1964 Milan San Remo Edit After a training camp near Nice in southern France Simpson rode in the one day Kuurne Brussels Kuurne in Belgium 143 finishing second to Solo Superia s Arthur Decabooter The conditions were so cold he only completed the race to keep warm 144 Albert Beurick started Simpson s supporters club at the Cafe Den Engel raising 250 for him in the first nine months In Paris Nice his tyre punctured during stage four losing five minutes and used the rest of the race for training 145 Profile of the 1964 Milan San Remo which Simpson won riding his second season with Peugeot BP EnglebertOn 19 March two days later Simpson rode in Milan San Remo 145 Before the race French journalist Rene de Latour advised Simpson not to attack early If you feel good then keep it for the last hour of the race 145 In the final 32 km 19 9 mi Simpson escaped in group of four riders which including the 1961 winner Poulidor of Mercier BP Hutchinson On final climb the Poggio Poulidor launched a series of attacks on the group only Simpson managed to stay with him and they crossed the summit and descended into Milan With 500 m to go Simpson began his sprint Poulidor could not respond leaving Simpson to take the victory with a record average speed of 27 1 mph 43 6 km h 144 146 147 Simpson spent the next two months training for the Tour de France at the end of June 148 After the first week of the Tour Simpson was in tenth place overall 149 On the ninth stage he was part of 22 rider breakaway which finished together at Monaco s Stade Louis II he placed second to Anquetil moving up to eighth overall 150 151 The next day he finished 20th in the 20 8 km 12 9 mi time trial 149 During the 16th stage which crossed four cols Simpson finished 33rd 25 minutes and 10 seconds behind the stage winner and dropped to 17th overall 152 153 He finished the Tour in 14th place overall 149 Simpson later discovered that he rode the Tour suffering from tapeworms 152 154 After the race Simpson prepared for the world road championships with distance training and criteriums 155 At the world championships on 3 September the 290 km 180 mi road race consisted of twenty four laps of a varying circuit at Sallanches in the French Alps 156 157 Simpson crashed on the third lap while descending in wet conditions damaging a pedal 158 He got back to the peloton launching a solo attack on a descent he then chased down the group of four leaders with two laps to go On the last lap he was dropped by three riders finishing six seconds behind 147 159 On 17 October Simpson rode in the Giro di Lombardia Halfway through the race he was given the wrong musette bag by his team in the feed zone and threw it away With the head of the race reduced to five riders Molteni s Gianni Motta attacked Simpson was the only one who could follow but he began to feel the effects of not eating Motta gave him part of his food which sustained him for a while On the final climb Simpson led Motta but was exhausted Over the remaining 10 km 6 2 mi of flat terrain Motta dropped him Simpson cracked and was repeatedly overtaken 144 147 160 finishing twenty first 89 He closed the year riding track races 161 1965 World championship and Lombardia Edit The Simpson family spent Christmas in England before a trip to Saint Gervais les Bains where Simpson injured himself skiing suffering a broken foot and a sprained ankle He recovered riding six day races At the Antwerp six day he dropped out on the fourth day with a cold His cold worsened and he missed most of March He abandoned Milan San Remo at the foot of the Poggio 162 163 On 11 April he finished seventh in Paris Roubaix after crashing in the lead group 164 165 The crash forced him to miss the Tour of Flanders as he struggled to walk on his injured foot In Liege Bastogne Liege he attacked with Salvarani s Felice Gimondi catching an early break They worked together for 25 km 15 5 mi until Gimondi gave up Simpson rode alone before slipping on oil mixed with water he stayed with the front group finishing tenth 166 167 On 29 May Simpson rode in the London Holyhead race the longest unpaced one day race with a distance of 265 mi 426 km 147 168 he won in a bunch sprint setting a record of ten hours and twenty nine minutes 169 He followed with an appearance at Bordeaux Paris Francois Mahe Pelforth Sauvage Lejeune went on a lone break Simpson attacked in pursuit followed by Jean Stablinski Simpson s derny broke down and he was delayed changing motorbikes He caught Stablinski and was joined by Anquetil Outside Paris Mahe was caught and dropped after 200 km 124 mi on his own Anquetil won the race by fifty seven seconds ahead of Stablinski who beat Simpson in a sprint 167 170 171 Peugeot manager Gaston Plaud ordered Simpson to ride the Midi Libre stage race to earn a place in the Tour de France and he finished third overall 172 The 1965 Tour was considered open due to Anquetil s absence 173 and Simpson was among the riders favoured by L Equipe During stage nine he injured his hand crashing on the descent of the Col d Aubisque in the Pyrenees 174 finishing tenth in the stage and seventh in general classification 175 Simpson developed bronchitis after stage fifteen and cracked on the next stage losing nearly nineteen minutes His hand became infected but he rode the next three stages before the Tour doctor stopped him from racing 176 He was taken to hospital where they operated on his hand and treated him for blood poisoning bronchitis and a kidney infection 176 85 Simpson won the 1965 world road race championship claiming the rainbow jersey and wearing it during the following season After ten days off his bike Simpson was only contracted to three post Tour criteriums His training for the road world championships included kermesse circuit races in Flanders Simpson s last race before the world championships was the Paris Luxembourg stage race riding as a super domestique lieutenant 177 On 5 September Simpson rode in the road race at the world championships in San Sebastian Spain 156 The race was a 267 4 km 166 mi hilly circuit of fourteen laps The British team had no support Simpson and his friend Albert Beurick obtained food and drink by stealing from other teams 178 During the first lap a strong break was begun by British rider Barry Hoban As his lead stretched to one minute Simpson and teammates Vin Denson and Alan Ramsbottom bridged the gap followed by Germany s Rudi Altig Hoban kept the pace high enough to prevent any of the favourites from joining Simpson and Altig broke clear with two and a half laps remaining staying together until the final kilometre when Simpson launched his sprint he held off Altig for victory by three bike lengths becoming the first British professional world road race champion 179 180 On 16 October Simpson rode in the Giro di Lombardia which featured five mountain passes He escaped with Motta and dropped him before the finish in Como to win his third monument classic over three minutes ahead of the rest Simpson was the second world champion to win in Italy the first was Alfredo Binda in 1927 181 182 183 Simpson was offered lucrative contracts by teams including Flandria Faema Clement who were prepared to pay him the year s salary in advance He could not escape his contract with Peugeot which ran until the end of the 1967 season 184 For the next three weeks he rode contract races riding an estimated 12 000 mi 19 000 km He rode 18 races with each earning him 300 350 185 Simpson ended the year second to Anquetil in the Super Prestige Pernod International and won the Daily Express Sportsman of the Year the Sports Journalists Association Sportsman of the Year presented by the Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 186 187 In British cycling Simpson won the British Cycling Federation Personality of the Year and the Bidlake Memorial Prize 188 189 He was given the freedom of Sint Amandsberg his family including his parents were driven in an open top car along the crowd lined route from the Cafe Den Engel to the Town Hall 188 1966 An injury ridden season Edit As in the previous winter Simpson went on a skiing holiday On 25 January he fell breaking his right tibia and his leg was in a plaster cast until the end of February He missed contract races crucial training and most of the spring classics Simpson began riding again in March and in late April started but did not finish Liege Bastogne Liege 190 Simpson crashed descending the Col du Galibier pictured during stage sixteen of the 1966 Tour de France injuring his arm and forcing him to abandon the Tour the next day Simpson s injury did not stop the press from naming him a favourite for the Tour de France 190 He was subdued in the race until stage twelve when he forced a breakaway with Altig Molteni finishing second 191 192 Simpson again finished second in the next stage jumping clear of the peloton in a three rider group in the final kilometres After the stage he was eighteenth overall over seven minutes down 193 192 Simpson moved up to 16th after finishing 5th in stage 14b a short time trial 191 192 As the race reached the Alps he decided to make his move During stage sixteen he attacked on the descent of the first of three cols the Croix de Fer He crashed but continued attacking again Simpson was joined by Ford France Hutchinson s Julio Jimenez on the climb of the Telegraphe to the Galibier Simpson was caught by a chase group descending the Galibier before he crashed again knocked off his bike by a press motorcycle The crash required five stitches in his arm 115 192 194 The next day he struggled to hold the handlebars and could not use the brake lever with his injured arm forcing him to abandon His answer to journalists asking about his future was I don t know I m heartbroken My season is ruined 195 After recovering from his injury Simpson rode 40 criteriums in 40 days capitalising on his world championship and his attacks in the Tour 196 He retired from the road world championships at the Nurburgring with cramp 183 His road season ended with retirements from autumn classics Paris Tours and the Giro di Lombardia He rode six day races finishing fourteenth in the winter rankings 197 The misfortune he endured during the season made him the first rider named as a victim of the curse of the rainbow jersey 198 For the winter Simpson took his family to the island of Corsica planning the build of his retirement home 199 1967 Paris Nice and Vuelta stages Edit Simpson s primary objective for 1967 was overall victory in the Tour de France in preparation he planned to ride stage races instead of one day classics Simpson felt his chances were good because this Tour was contested by national rather than professional teams 200 n 3 He would lead the British team which although one of the weakest would support him totally 202 unlike Peugeot 203 During Simpson s previous three years with Peugeot he was only guaranteed a place on their Tour team if he signed with them for the following year 204 Free to join a new team for the 1968 season he was offered at least ten contracts Simpson had a verbal agreement with Italian team Salvarani and would share its leadership with Felice Gimondi 199 205 In an interview with Cycling now Cycling Weekly journalist Ken Evans in April Simpson revealed his intention to attempt the hour record in the 1967 season He also said he wanted retire from road racing aged 33 to ride on the track and spend more time with his family 206 Simpson contested leadership of Peugeot BP Michelin with 21 year old Eddy Merckx pictured at the 1967 Paris Nice which Simpson won In March he rode in the Paris Nice After stage two his teammate Eddy Merckx took the overall lead 45 Simpson moved into the lead the next day as part of a breakaway missed by Merckx which finished nearly twenty minutes ahead Merckx thought Simpson double crossed him but Simpson was a passive member of the break 183 207 At the start of stage six Simpson was in second place behind Bic Hutchinson s Rolf Wolfshohl 208 Merckx drew clear as the race approached Mont Faron with Simpson following They stayed together until the finish in Hyeres with Simpson allowing Merckx to take first place Simpson finished over a minute ahead of Wolfshohl putting him in the race leader s white jersey 209 He held the lead in the next two stages to win the race 210 Three days later Simpson and Merckx both raced in Milan San Remo 211 Simpson escaped early in a five rider breakaway lasting about 220 km 137 mi before Merckx won in a bunch sprint with assistance from Simpson 212 213 who finished in seventieth place 211 After 110 mi 177 km of Paris Roubaix Simpson s bike was unridable and he retired from the race 183 In late April Simpson rode in his first Vuelta a Espana using the eighteen stage race to prepare for the Tour During stage two a breakaway group gained over thirteen minutes dashing his hopes for a high placing Simpson nearly quit the race before the fifth stage from Salamanca to Madrid but rode it because it was easier to get home by air from Madrid He won the stage attacking from a breakaway 214 and finished second in stage seven 215 On the eleventh stage concluding in Andorra Simpson rode away from the peloton on his own With 30 km 18 6 mi remaining he began to lose control of his bike and was halted by Peugeot manager Gaston Plaud until he had recovered by which time the race had passed 216 In an interview with L Equipe s Philippe Brunel in February 2000 217 Tour de France physician Pierre Dumas revealed that Simpson told him that he was taken to hospital during the Vuelta 218 Simpson won stage sixteen which ended in San Sebastian 214 and finished the Vuelta thirty third overall 219 Simpson was determined to make an impact in the Tour de France in his eighth year as a professional cyclist he hoped for larger appearance fees in post Tour criteriums to help secure his financial future after retirement 220 221 His plan was to finish in the top three or to wear the yellow jersey at some point in the race He targeted three key stages one of which was the thirteenth over Mont Ventoux and planned to ride conservatively until the race reached the mountains 222 223 224 In the prologue Simpson finished thirteenth 183 After the first week he was in sixth place overall leading the favourites 225 As the race crossed the Alps Simpson fell ill across the Col du Galibier with diarrhoea and stomach pains 226 Unable to eat he finished stage ten in 16th place and dropped to seventh overall as his rivals passed him 225 227 Teammate Vin Denson advised Simpson to limit his losses and accept what he had 202 He placed in 39th position on stage 11 and 7th on stage 12 228 229 In Marseille on the evening before stage thirteen Simpson s manager Daniel Dousset pressured him for good results 230 Plaud begged Simpson to quit the race 231 Death EditMain article Death of Tom Simpson Simpson collapsed one kilometre from the summit of the 1 912 m 6 273 ft high Mont Ventoux The thirteenth stage 13 July of the 1967 Tour de France measured 211 5 km 131 4 mi it started in Marseille crossing Mont Ventoux the Giant of Provence before finishing in Carpentras 232 At dawn Tour doctor Pierre Dumas met journalist Pierre Chany near his hotel Dumas noted the warm temperature If the boys stick their nose in a topette bag of drugs today we could have a death on our hands 233 At the start line a journalist noticed Simpson looked tired and asked him if the heat was the problem Simpson replied No it s not the heat it s the Tour 234 As the race reached the lower slopes of Ventoux Simpson s team mechanic Harry Hall witnessed Simpson still ill putting the lid back on his water bottle as he exited a building Race commissaire official Jacques Lohmuller later confirmed to Hall that he also saw the incident and that Simpson was putting brandy in his bottle 235 n 4 Near the summit of Ventoux the peloton began to fracture Simpson was in the front group before slipping back to a group of chasers about a minute behind He then began losing control of his bike zig zagging across the road 238 n 5 A kilometre from the summit Simpson fell off his bike Team manager Alec Taylor and Hall arrived in the team car to help him Hall tried to persuade Simpson to stop saying Come on Tom that s it that s your Tour finished but Simpson said he wanted to continue Taylor said If Tom wants to go on he goes Noticing his toe straps were still undone Simpson said Me straps Harry me straps They got him on his bike and pushed him off Simpson s last words as remembered by Hall were On on on n 6 Hall estimated Simpson rode a further 500 yd 457 m before he began to wobble n 7 and was held upright by spectators he was unconscious with his hands locked on the handlebars 241 Hall and a nurse from the Tour s medical team took turns giving Simpson mouth to mouth resuscitation before Dumas arrived with an oxygen mask 242 243 Approximately forty minutes after his collapse a police helicopter took Simpson to nearby Avignon hospital 244 245 where he was pronounced dead at 5 40 p m 202 243 Two empty tubes and a half full one of amphetamines one of which was labelled Tonedron were found in the rear pocket of his jersey 218 The official cause of death was heart failure caused by exhaustion 246 Tommy Simpson rode to his death in the Tour de France so doped that he did not know he had reached the limit of his endurance He died in the saddle slowly asphyxiated by intense effort in a heatwave after taking methylamphetamine drugs and alcoholic stimulants Daily Mail reporter J L Manning broke the news that drugs were involved in Simpson s death 31 July 1967 247 On the next racing day the other riders were reluctant to continue racing and asked the organisers for a postponement France s Stablinski suggested that the race continue with a British rider whose team would wear black armbands allowed to win the stage 248 Hoban won the stage although many thought the stage winner should have been Denson Simpson s close friend 249 Media reports suggested that his death was caused by heat exhaustion 250 until on 31 July 1967 British journalist J L Manning of the Daily Mail broke the news about a formal connection between drugs and Simpson s death 247 French authorities confirmed that Simpson had traces of amphetamine in his body impairing his judgement and allowing him to push himself beyond his limits 251 His death contributed to the introduction of mandatory testing for performance enhancing drugs in cycling leading to tests in 1968 at the Giro d Italia Tour de France and Summer Olympics 252 253 Simpson was buried in Harworth Cemetery after a service at the 12th century village church attended by an estimated 5 000 mourners 8 239 including Peugeot teammate Eddy Merckx the only continental rider in attendance 254 The epitaph on Simpson s gravestone in Harworth cemetery reads His body ached his legs grew tired but still he would not give in taken from a card left by his brother Harry following his death 255 Doping EditUnlike the majority of his contemporaries Simpson was open about the use of drugs in professional cycling In 1960 interviewed by Chris Brasher for The Observer newspaper Simpson spoke about his understanding of how riders could beat him saying I know from the way they ride the next day they are taking dope I don t want to have to take it I have too much respect for my body Two years before his death Simpson hinted in the newspaper The People at drug taking in races although he implied that he himself was not involved 256 Asked about drugs by Eamonn Andrews on the BBC Home Service radio network Simpson did not deny taking them however he said that a rider who frequently took drugs might get to the top but would not stay there 257 In his biography of Simpson Put Me Back on My Bike William Fotheringham quoted Alan Ramsbottom as saying Tom went on the 1967 Tour de France with one suitcase for his kit and another with his stuff drugs and recovery things which Fotheringham said was confirmed by Simpson s roommate Colin Lewis Ramsbottom added Tom took a lot of chances He took a lot of it drugs I remember him taking a course of strychnine to build up to some big event He showed me the box and had to take one every few days n 8 although he implied that other competitors were involved Lewis recalled Simpson acquiring a small box at their hotel Simpson explained to him That s my year s supply of Micky Finns That lot cost me 800 259 Commentator and Simpson s close friend David Saunders stated in his 1971 book Cycling in the Sixties that although he did not condone Simpson s use of drugs he thought it was not the reason for his death He said I am quite convinced that Simpson killed himself because he just did not know when to stop All his racing life he had punished his frail body pushing it to the limits of endurance with his tremendous will power and single mindedness and on Mont Ventoux he pushed it too far perhaps the drug easing the pain of it all Saunders went on to say that Simpson was not alone in the taking of drugs in professional cycling and that the authorities ignored their use His opinion was that Simpson did not take drugs to gain an unfair advantage but because he was not going to be beaten by a pill 260 Riding style and legacy EditSimpson in his adolescence was described as fearsome in descent by fellow Scala Wheelers club member George Shaw who explained that if Simpson dropped behind on a climb he would come back on the descent 261 Simpson s risk taking on descents was evident throughout his career crashing in four out of the seven Tours de France he competed in Track rider Norman Sheil recalled When racing on a banked velodrome Simpson would sometimes ride up the advertising boards at the top of the bankings Wall of Death style to please the crowds 262 Simpson s death was attributed to his unwillingness to admit defeat ascending Mont Ventoux 202 He described a near death experience during a race in 1964 the Trofeo Baracchi two man time trial to Vin Denson who recalled He said he felt peace of mind and wasn t afraid to die He said he would have been happy dying 263 Simpson looked for any advantage over his opponents He made his own saddle a design which is now standard During his time with Peugeot he rode bikes made by Italian manufacturer Masi that resembled Peugeots 264 Simpson was obsessed with dieting since 1956 when he was mentored by Cyril Cartwright Simpson understood the value of fruit and vegetables after reading Les Cures de jus by nutritionist Raymond Dextreit during the winter he would consume 10 lb 4 5 kg of carrots a day Other unusual food preferences included pigeons duck and trout skin raspberry leaves and garlic in large quantities 265 In the 1968 Tour de France there was a special prize given in his honour the Souvenir Tom Simpson a sprint on stage 15 in the small town of Mirepoix won by the soloing Roger Pingeon 266 Winner of the race Jan Janssen said of him Occasionally Tommy could be annoying When it was rolling along at 30kmh and paf he d attack Oh leave us alone There s still 150km to go pipe down But often he wanted war Janssen went on to say Even in the feed zones It s not the law but it s not polite Musettes lunch bags were up in the air there was panic and crashes It was Simpson acting like a jerk It didn t happen often Occasionally I was angry at him I d say to him in his native English You f g c t There were often many teams five or six in the same hotel together every evening Each had their own table And at a certain moment Tommy walked into the restaurant like a gentleman with a cane bowler hat and in costume He was like a Lord in England and the rest of us were in tracksuits Everyone saw that laughed and the things he had done during the race were forgotten 267 The memorial to Simpson pictured in 2009 on the spot where he died on Mont Ventoux has become a pilgrimage for many cyclists A granite memorial to Simpson with the words Olympic medallist world champion British sporting ambassador stands on the spot where he collapsed and died on Ventoux one kilometre east of the summit 268 269 Cycling began a fund for a monument a week after Simpson s death raising about 1 500 The memorial was unveiled in 1968 It has become a site of pilgrimage for cyclists who frequently leave cycling related objects such as water bottles and caps in tribute 270 271 In nearby Bedoin a plaque was installed in the town square by journalists following the 1967 Tour 272 The Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club has a small museum dedicated to Simpson opened by Belgian cyclist Lucien Van Impe in August 2001 273 239 In 1997 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death a small plaque was added to the Mont Ventoux memorial with the words There is no mountain too high Your daughters Jane and Joanne July 13 1997 and a replica of the memorial was erected outside the museum 274 In his adopted hometown of Ghent there is a bust of Simpson at the entrance to the Kuipke velodrome 275 Every year since his death the Tom Simpson Memorial Race has taken place in Harworth 276 277 Ray Pascoe a fan made the 1995 film Something To Aim At a project he began in the years following Simpson s death the film includes interviews with those closest to Simpson 278 The 2005 documentary Wheels Within Wheels follows actor Simon Dutton as he searches for people and places in Simpson s life Dutton s four year project chronicles the midlife crisis that sparked his quest to rediscover Simpson 279 British rider David Millar won stage twelve of the 2012 Tour de France on the 45th anniversary of Simpson s death previously banned from cycling for using performance enhancing drugs he paid tribute to Simpson and reinforced the importance of learning from his and Simpson s mistakes 154 Millar wrote the introduction for a reissue of Simpson s autobiography Cycling Is My Life published in 2009 154 280 In 2010 Simpson was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame 281 He inspired Simpson Magazine which began in March 2013 According to the magazine s creators It was Simpson s spirit and style his legendary tenacity and his ability to suffer that endeared him to cycling fans everywhere as much as the trophies he won 282 Family and interests EditSoon after moving to France in 1959 Simpson met Helen Sherburn 53 They married in 1961 90 before moving to Ghent Belgium the following year 105 They had two daughters Jane born April 1962 and Joanne born May 1963 283 who were brought up and live in Belgium 284 After his death Helen Simpson married Barry Hoban in December 1969 285 Simpson is the maternal uncle of retired Belgian Australian cyclist Matthew Gilmore whose father Graeme was also a cyclist 27 286 The 2000 book Mr Tom The True Story of Tom Simpson written by Simpson s nephew Chris Sidwells focuses on his career and family life 287 288 Simpson spoke fluent French and was also competent in Flemish and Italian 289 He was interested in vintage cars and his driving and riding styles were similar Helen remembered Driving through the West End of London at 60 mph 97 km h was nothing 290 In January 1966 Simpson was a guest castaway on BBC Radio 4 s Desert Island Discs his favourite musical piece was Ari s Theme from Exodus by the London Festival Orchestra his book choice was The Pickwick Papers and his luxury item was golf equipment 291 Helen said that she chose his records for the show since he was not interested in music 283 Simpson s autobiography Cycling Is My Life was first published in 1966 292 Career achievements EditMajor results Edit Sources 89 96 293 294 295 1955 1st BLRC National Junior Hill Climb Championship 1956 2nd Individual pursuit Amateur National Track Championships 3rd Team pursuit Olympic Games 1957 1st BLRC National Hill Climb Championship 1st Individual pursuit Amateur National Track Championships 1958 1st Individual pursuit Amateur National Track Championships 2nd Individual pursuit British Empire and Commonwealth Games 1959 1st Stage 8 Route de France Tour de l Ouest1st Stages 4 amp 5b ITT dd 2nd Overall Essor Breton 4th Road race UCI Road World Championships 4th Trofeo Baracchi with Gerard Saint 1960 1st Overall Tour du Sud Est 1st Stage 1b TTT Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Mont Faron hill climb 3rd Overall Genoa Rome1st Mountains classification dd 7th La Fleche Wallonne 9th Paris Roubaix 1961 1st Tour of Flanders 1st Stage 2 Euskal Bizikleta 2nd Overall Menton Rome 5th Overall Paris Nice1st Stage 3 TTT dd 9th Road race UCI Road World Championships 1962 2nd Overall Paris Nice1st Stage 3a TTT dd 3rd Criterium des As 3rd Six Days of Madrid with John Tresidder 5th Tour of Flanders1st Mountains classification dd 6th Overall Tour de FranceHeld after Stage 12 dd 6th Gent Wevelgem 1963 1st Bordeaux Paris 2nd Overall Tour du Var1st Stage 1 dd 1st Isle of Man International 1st Grand Prix du Parisien 2nd Criterium des As 2nd Gent Wevelgem 2nd Paris Brussels 2nd Overall Super Prestige Pernod International 2nd Paris Tours 3rd Tour of Flanders 8th Paris Roubaix 10th La Fleche Wallonne 10th Giro di Lombardia 1964 1st Milan San Remo 1st Stage 5 Circuit de Provencal 2nd Kuurne Brussels Kuurne 3rd Trofeo Baracchi with Rudi Altig 4th Road race UCI Road World Championships 4th Mont Faron hill climb 10th Paris Roubaix 1965 1st Road race UCI Road World Championships 1st Giro di Lombardia 1st London Holyhead 1st Six Days of Brussels with Peter Post 2nd Six Days of Ghent with Peter Post 2nd Overall Super Prestige Pernod International 3rd Overall Midi Libre 3rd La Fleche Wallonne1st Mountains classification dd 3rd Overall Circuit de Provencal 3rd Bordeaux Paris 5th Harelbeke Antwerp Harelbeke 6th Paris Roubaix 10th Liege Bastogne Liege 1966 1st Stage 2b TTT Four Days of Dunkirk 2nd Six Days of Munster with Klaus Bugdahl 2nd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 1967 1st Overall Paris Nice Vuelta a Espana1st Stages 5 amp 16 dd 1st Isle of Man International 1st Stage 5 Giro di Sardegna 3rd Six Days of Antwerp with Leo Proost and Emile Severeyns 4th Polymultipliee Grand Tour general classification results timeline Edit Sources 96 296 297 Grand Tour 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 Vuelta a Espana 33 Giro d Italia Tour de France 29 DNF 6 14 DNF DNF DNFMonuments results timeline Edit Sources 67 89 96 298 Monument 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967Milan San Remo 38 25 19 1 DNF 70Tour of Flanders 1 5 3 Paris Roubaix 9 88 37 8 10 6 DNFLiege Bastogne Liege 11 33 10 DNF Giro di Lombardia DNF 84 10 21 1 Legend Did not competeDNF Did not finishAwards and honours Edit British Cycling Federation Personality of the Year 1962 1965 BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1965 Bidlake Memorial Prize 1965 Daily Express Sportsman of the Year 1965 Freedom of Sint Amandsberg 1965 Sports Journalists Association Sportsman of the Year 1965 British Cycling Hall of Fame 2010See also Edit Biography portal Sports portal Olympics portalList of British cyclists List of British cyclists who have led the Tour de France general classification List of Desert Island Discs episodes 1961 70 List of doping cases in cycling List of Olympic medalists in cycling men List of cyclists with a cycling related death Yellow jersey statisticsNotes and references EditFootnotes Edit The organisers of the 1962 Milan San Remo only allowed Italian teams to participate as an attempt to get an Italian winner as the last one was in 1953 108 110 Shay Elliott rode for Saint Raphael Gitane R Geminiani the rival team of Simpson s Peugeot team and would not work with Simpson and risk him winning 138 Two years later Simpson revealed in The People that he offered Elliott 1 100 for him to work with him 139 The national team format was used in the 1967 Tour de France after tour organiser Felix Levitan believed the team sponsors were behind the riders strike in the previous year s Tour 201 Alcohol was used as a stimulant and to dull pain 236 At the time the Tour de France organisers limited each rider to four bidons bottles of water about two litres two on the bike and two more given at feeding stations the effects of dehydration being poorly understood During races riders raided roadside bars for drinks and filled their bottles from fountains 226 237 Zig zagging on an ascent is a way of lessening the gradient Put me back on my bike was invented by Sid Saltmarsh who was covering the Tour for The Sun and Cycling now Cycling Weekly Saltmarsh was not there at the time and was in a dead reception zone for live accounts on Radio Tour 239 A Daily Mail reporter J L Manning went to the location of Simpson s death later and found two piles of stones 420 yd 384 m apart both with notes attached the first read Tom Simpson fell and the second Here Tom Simpson died tragically on the 13th stage of the Tour de France 240 Strychnine is one of the oldest drugs used in cycling 236 In small quantities it tightens the muscles 258 References Edit a b Fotheringham 2007 p 229 Index entry FreeBMD Newport UK ONS Retrieved 13 May 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 15 a b c Fotheringham 2007 p 45 Sidwells 2000 pp 15 16 Sidwells 2000 p 17 a b Sidwells 2000 p 18 a b c In memory of Harworth s cycling legend the unique Tom Simpson Doncaster Free Press London Johnston Press 3 August 2007 Archived from the original on 4 June 2015 Retrieved 2 June 2015 a b Simpson 2009 pp 9 11 Simpson 2009 pp 12 13 Sidwells 2000 pp 22 23 Fotheringham 2007 p 48 a b c d e f Remembering Tom Simpson Cycling London 1 January 1977 pp 20 21 a b c Sidwells 2000 p 24 a b Simpson 2009 pp 14 15 Fotheringham 2007 pp 50 51 Sidwells 2000 pp 32 34 Simpson 2009 pp 18 19 Sidwells 2000 p 36 Sidwells 2000 pp 37 38 Simpson 2009 pp 20 22 Sidwells 2000 pp 39 41 Sidwells 2000 pp 42 43 a b Sidwells 2000 pp 43 44 Sidwells 2000 pp 49 50 Simpson 2009 pp 25 35 a b Tom Simpson Sports Reference com Philadelphia Pennsylvania Sports Reference Archived from the original on 4 February 2013 Retrieved 21 May 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 54 55 Sidwells 2000 pp 51 52 Simpson 2009 p 38 Sidwells 2000 p 54 Sidwells 2000 pp 54 58 Simpson 2009 p 40 Simpson 2009 p 43 Simpson 2009 pp 57 58 Sidwells 2000 pp 60 61 Simpson 2009 pp 44 47 Pierre 1967 p 22 Simpson 2009 pp 47 48 Sidwells 2000 pp 62 63 Sidwells 2000 p 64 Simpson 2009 pp 50 51 Sidwells 2000 pp 65 66 Simpson 2009 p 55 a b c Fotheringham 2007 p 58 Simpson 2009 pp 54 58 Sidwells 2000 p 67 Fotheringham 2007 p 59 Simpson 2009 p 85 Sidwells 2000 p 84 Pierre 1967 p 25 Fotheringham 2007 p 17 a b Sidwells 2000 p 69 Sidwells 2000 p 68 71 a b Fotheringham 2007 p 62 Sidwells 2000 pp 70 71 Fotheringham 2007 p 61 Sidwells 2000 pp 84 85 Simpson 2009 p 78 Sidwells 2000 p 77 Sidwells 2000 pp 78 80 Simpson 2009 pp 73 75 a b The first big wins Cycling Remembering Tom Simpson London IPC Media 8 January 1977 pp 16 17 Sidwells 2000 p 81 Fotheringham 2007 p 108 Sidwells 2000 p 83 a b Volatone a Milano e vittoria di Van Looy Volatone in Milan and win Van Looy PDF l Unita in Italian 19 October 1959 p 6 Archived from the original PDF on 2 December 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 83 84 Sidwells 2000 p 86 Fotheringham 2003 p 44 Sidwells 2000 pp 86 87 The 1960 Milan San Remo result The Milan San Remo Cycle Race Archived from the original on 7 December 2013 a b Sidwells 2000 p 87 Fotheringham 2007 p 99 a b c Jones Graham April 2006 The Flanders Lion Tamer CyclingRevealed Archived from the original on 30 May 2013 Retrieved 28 February 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 88 91 Saunders 1971 p 123 Sidwells 2000 pp 91 93 Simpson 2009 pp 85 85 a b c d e Tackling his first Tour Cycling Remembering Tom Simpson London IPC Media 15 January 1977 pp 18 19 Sidwells 2000 p 94 a b c 1960 Tour de France BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 3 June 2013 Retrieved 3 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 94 95 Sidwells 2000 pp 95 96 a b Fotheringham 2007 p 190 Fotheringham 2007 pp 129 130 Sidwells 2000 p 98 a b Sidwells 2000 p 100 a b c d Tom Simpson Great Britain The Sports org Quebec Canada Info Media Conseil Archived from the original on 15 February 2015 Retrieved 6 May 2015 a b Pierre 1967 p 28 Sidwells 2000 pp 102 103 Sidwells 2000 pp 106 107 Sidwells 2000 p 107 Simpson 2009 pp 103 104 Sidwells 2000 pp 108 109 a b c d Palmares de Tom Simpson Gbr Awards of Tom Simpson Gbr Memoire du cyclisme in French Archived from the original on 21 May 2015 Retrieved 8 May 2013 Simpson 2009 pp 105 106 Sidwells 2000 pp 110 111 Fotheringham 2007 p 65 Longchamp Marcel 5 July 1961 Simpson Disaster Cycling and Mopeds London Longacre Press Archived from the original on 10 June 2015 Retrieved 29 October 2016 via Tour Racing org uk Stage 3 Roubaix gt Charlero The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 9 June 2015 Simpson 2009 pp 106 107 Sidwells 2000 pp 111 113 Sidwells 2000 pp 113 a b Fotheringham 2007 p 117 a b Sidwells 2000 p 114 Simpson 2009 p 110 a b c d Sidwells 2000 p 115 a b The 1962 starters The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 5 July 2013 Retrieved 7 July 2013 Past winners The Milan San Remo Cycle Race Archived from the original on 18 August 2013 Retrieved 29 October 2016 Sidwells 2000 pp 116 117 Sidwells 2000 p 117 a b c d e f The Yellow Jersey Cycling Remembering Tom Simpson London IPC Media 22 January 1977 pp 22 23 a b Sidwells 2000 p 122 a b McGann amp McGann 2006 p 253 a b c 1962 Tour de France BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 11 November 2016 Retrieved 1 March 2013 Stage 8 01 Saint Nazaire gt Lucon The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 3 June 2013 Stage 11 Bayonne gt Pau The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 29 May 2015 Stage 12 Pau gt Saint Gaudens The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 3 June 2013 McGann amp McGann 2006 pp 277 288 Sidwells 2000 p 124 Sidwells 2000 pp 123 125 Sidwells 2000 p 126 Sidwells 2000 pp 126 128 Sidwells 2000 pp 130 136 Sidwells 2000 p 134 Sidwells 2000 pp 137 138 Sidwells 2000 p 138 1963 Milano San Remo BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 9 December 2013 Retrieved 4 June 2013 1963 Tour of Flanders BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 9 December 2013 Retrieved 4 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 139 144 The 1963 starters The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 5 July 2013 Retrieved 7 July 2013 Bordeaux Paris 1963 Cycling Archives de Wielersite Retrieved 5 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 145 Wadley J B July 1963 Tea Time at the Parc Sporting Cyclist Charlie Buchan Archived from the original on 6 October 2011 Retrieved 28 February 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 147 149 Sidwells 2000 pp 150 151 Sidwells 2000 p 154 Fotheringham 2007 p 106 Sidwells 2000 pp 153 155 World Championships 1963 The Sports org Quebec Canada Info Media Conseil Archived from the original on 15 February 2015 Retrieved 5 May 2015 Sidwells 2000 pp 157 161 Sidwells 2000 p 162 a b c The 1964 starters The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 5 July 2013 Retrieved 7 July 2013 a b c Sidwells 2000 p 163 The 1964 Milan San Remo The Milan San Remo Cycle Race Archived from the original on 21 September 2013 Retrieved 29 October 2016 a b c d World Champion Cycling Remembering Tom Simpson London IPC Media 29 January 1977 pp 8 9 Sidwells 2000 p 167 a b c 1964 Tour de France BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 3 June 2013 Retrieved 3 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 169 1964 Tour de France Cycling London Temple Press July 1964 Archived from the original on 6 June 2013 Retrieved 1 March 2013 a b Sidwells 2000 p 171 Stage 16 Luchon gt Pau The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 7 June 2013 a b c Tom Simpson Forgotten by all but one The Scotsman Edinburgh Johnston Press 18 July 2009 Archived from the original on 2 December 2013 Retrieved 21 May 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 151 a b World Professional Elite Road Cycling Championship BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 21 September 2013 Retrieved 7 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 173 Fotheringham 2007 p 136 Sidwells 2000 pp 172 175 Sidwells 2000 p 177 Sidwells 2000 p 179 Sidwells 2000 pp 183 184 Simpson 2009 pp 158 160 Sidwells 2000 pp 185 186 Trionfo solitario di Rik Van Looy sul traguardo dell Parigi Roubaix Rik Van Looy solitary triumph at the finish line of the Paris Roubaix La Stampa in Italian 13 April 1965 p 13 Archived from the original on 28 May 2015 Retrieved 3 July 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 187 188 a b The 1965 starters The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 5 July 2013 Retrieved 7 July 2013 Saunders 1971 p 66 Simpson 2009 pp 163 165 Sidwells 2000 pp 191 192 Jones Graham November 2010 The Legend the D S the Domestique and an Englishman CyclingRevealed Archived from the original on 21 September 2013 Retrieved 5 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 193 McGann amp McGann 2006 p 6 Sidwells 2000 p 195 1965 Tour de France BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 3 June 2013 Retrieved 13 June 2013 a b Sidwells 2000 pp 196 Sidwells 2000 pp 197 198 Sidwells 2000 pp 199 200 Sidwells 2000 pp 200 202 Simpson Champion Cycling London Go Magazine 11 September 1965 pp 16 17 Archived from the original on 29 May 2015 Retrieved 6 May 2015 Sidwells 2000 pp 204 205 Simpson 2009 pp 179 180 a b c d e That last tragic day on Mont Ventoux Cycling Remembering Tom Simpson London IPC Media 5 February 1977 pp 11 12 Sidwells 2000 p 206 Fotheringham 2007 p 129 Sidwells 2000 pp 207 210 Pierre 1967 p 66 a b Sidwells 2000 p 208 Recipients The F T Bidlake Memorial Trust Archived from the original on 24 July 2013 Retrieved 20 April 2013 a b Sidwells 2000 pp 211 216 a b 1966 Tour de France BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 1 September 2017 Retrieved 1 March 2013 a b c d The 1966 starters The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 4 July 2013 Retrieved 4 July 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 220 221 Sidwells 2000 pp 222 225 Fotheringham 2007 p 175 Sidwells 2000 p 226 Sidwells 2000 pp 227 228 Wilcockson 2009 p 159 a b Sidwells 2000 p 228 Simpson Tom 8 April 1967 We can win the Tour Cycling Interview Interviewed by Ken Evans London Longacre Press pp 14 15 McGann amp McGann 2008 p 24 a b c d Gallagher Brendan 13 July 2007 Tom Simpson haunts Tour 40 years on The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on 11 November 2012 Retrieved 30 April 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 238 Sidwells 2000 p 176 Fotheringham 2007 p 130 Simpson Tom 1 April 1967 I ll get the hour before the others try Cycling Interview Interviewed by Ken Evans London Longacre Press pp 4 5 Sidwells 2000 pp 230 231 Sidwells 2000 p 231 Sidwells Chris March 2012 Paris Nice 1967 Part 4 ChrisSidwells com Archived from the original on 29 October 2013 Retrieved 29 October 2016 Sidwells 2000 p 232 a b 1967 Milano San Remo BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 10 June 2015 Retrieved 3 June 2015 Fotheringham 2012 pp 59 60 Saunders 1971 p 55 a b Sidwells 2000 pp 233 234 Clasificacions Classifications PDF Mundo Deportivo in Spanish 4 May 1967 p 9 Archived from the original on 30 October 2016 Retrieved 30 October 2016 Fotheringham 2007 pp 217 218 Fotheringham 2007 p 156 a b Fotheringham 2007 p 167 Clasificacions Classifications PDF Mundo Deportivo in Spanish 15 May 1967 p 9 Archived from the original on 30 October 2016 Retrieved 30 October 2016 Sidwells 2000 pp 237 238 Fotheringham 2007 pp 130 131 Sidwells 2000 p 239 Fotheringham 2007 pp 28 29 McGann amp McGann 2008 pp 27 28 a b Sidwells 2000 p 244 a b Fotheringham 2007 p 179 Stage 10 Divonne gt Briancon The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 28 May 2015 Stage 11 Briancon gt Digne The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 28 May 2015 Stage 12 Digne gt Marseille The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 19 August 2010 Retrieved 28 May 2015 Fotheringham 2007 p 131 Fotheringham 2007 p 217 1967 Tour de France BikeRaceInfo Cherokee Village AR McGann Publishing Archived from the original on 3 June 2013 Retrieved 27 April 2013 Woodland Les 21 July 2007 Simpson martyr example warning Cyclingnews com Bath UK Future plc Archived from the original on 21 May 2013 Retrieved 27 April 2013 McGann amp McGann 2008 p 28 Fotheringham 2007 pp 30 31 a b McGann amp McGann 2008 p vi Woodland Les 3 October 2007 The chasse a la canette Bath UK Future plc Archived from the original on 19 June 2013 Retrieved 27 April 2013 McGann amp McGann 2008 pp 28 29 a b c Woodland 2007 p 334 Fotheringham 2007 p 222 Fotheringham 2007 pp 33 36 Fotheringham 2007 pp 36 37 a b Sidwells 2000 p 248 Fotheringham 2007 p 186 Nicholson Geoffrey 14 July 1967 Simpson dies after collapse on Tour The Guardian London GMG Archived from the original on 7 December 2013 Retrieved 30 April 2013 Mehlman 2009 p 125 a b Drugs killed Tour cyclist The Age Melbourne David Syme 1 August 1967 p 24 via Google News Fotheringham 2007 pp 90 91 Fotheringham 2007 p 6 U K Cyclist Dies Of Exhaustion Montreal Gazette 14 July 1967 p 26 via Google News Houlihan 2002 p 65 Mazanov 2013 p 7 McGann amp McGann 2008 p 32 Fotheringham 2007 p 194 Fotheringham 2007 p 83 Fotheringham 2007 pp 148 149 Woodland Les host 4 July 1987 Death of a British Tommy BBC Radio 4 Archived from the original on 11 June 2015 Retrieved 3 June 2015 Sherrington C S 29 November 1907 Strychnine and reflex inhibition of skeletal muscle The Journal of Physiology 36 2 3 185 204 doi 10 1113 jphysiol 1907 sp001228 PMC 1533557 PMID 16992901 Fotheringham 2007 pp 141 143 Saunders 1971 pp 74 75 Fotheringham 2007 pp 48 50 Fotheringham 2007 p 192 Fotheringham 2007 p 191 Fotheringham 2007 pp 24 25 Fotheringham 2007 pp 77 79 Wadley J B September 1968 The 3000 miles race won in the last twenty minutes International Cycle Sport No 5 Silsden UK Kennedy Brothers Publishing p 3 ISSN 0020 6504 Archived from the original on 7 April 2020 Retrieved 7 April 2020 via InternationalCycleSport com McGrath Andy September 1968 Bird on the Wire an extract from the Tom Simpson biography Rouleur Vol 17 no 5 London Gruppo Media p 3 ISSN 1752 962X Retrieved 8 April 2020 Fotheringham 2007 p 208 Williams amp Le Nevez 2007 p 83 Dauncey amp Hare 2003 p 214 Moore Richard 26 July 2009 British riders remember Tommy Simpson a hero to some to others the villain of the Ventoux TheGuardian com London GMG Archived from the original on 2 November 2013 Retrieved 22 February 2013 Woodland 2007 p 265 Fotheringham 2007 p 13 Henderson 2011 p 108 Fotheringham 2007 p 133 Fotheringham 2007 p 14 Cyclists flock to Harworth for Tommy Simpson races Worksop Guardian London Johnston Press 23 July 2013 Archived from the original on 2 November 2013 Retrieved 10 July 2013 Fotheringham 2007 pp 1 4 The Saint on Wheels LeslieCharteris com 29 March 2007 Archived from the original on 10 June 2015 Retrieved 29 October 2016 See Jen 13 July 2012 David Millar s Uphill Win Bicycling Emmaus Pennsylvania Rodale Inc Archived from the original on 29 May 2015 Retrieved 29 May 2015 British Cycling Hall of Fame 2010 Inductees British Cycling Archived from the original on 9 May 2013 Retrieved 29 October 2016 MacMichael Simon 27 February 2013 New cycling magazine Simpson launches this week road cc Bath UK Farrelly Atkinson Archived from the original on 4 December 2013 Retrieved 19 May 2013 a b Fotheringham 2007 p 79 Fotheringham 2007 pp 134 135 Fotheringham 2007 p 85 Matt Gilmore retires Cyclingnews com Bath UK Future plc 22 April 2009 Archived from the original on 10 June 2015 Retrieved 9 June 2015 Sidwells 2000 p iv Fotheringham 2007 p 16 Fotheringham 2007 p 97 Fotheringham 2007 pp 72 73 Plomley Roy host 31 January 1966 Castaway Tommy Simpson Desert Island Discs BBC BBC Radio 4 Archived from the original on 3 December 2018 Retrieved 6 May 2015 Simpson 2009 p iv Tom Simpson Cycling Archives de Wielersite Retrieved 19 April 2013 Sidwells 2000 pp 249 256 Fotheringham 2007 pp 229 231 McGann amp McGann 2008 p 27 Tom Simpson The history of the Tour de France Paris ASO Archived from the original on 18 August 2010 Retrieved 12 June 2013 Sidwells 2000 p 216 Bibliography Edit Dauncey Hugh Hare Geoff 2003 The Tour De France 1903 2003 A Century of Sporting Structures Meanings and Values London Frank Cass amp Co ISBN 978 0 203 50241 9 Fotheringham William 2003 A Century of Cycling The Classic Races and Legendary Champions London Mitchell Beazley ISBN 978 0 7603 1553 8 Fotheringham William 2007 1st pub 2002 Put Me Back on My Bike In Search of Tom Simpson London Yellow Jersey Press ISBN 978 0 224 08018 7 Fotheringham William 2012 Merckx Half Man Half Bike London Yellow Jersey Press ISBN 978 0 224 09195 4 Henderson Jon 2011 Best of British Hendo s Sporting Heroes London Yellow Jersey Press ISBN 978 1 4481 1341 5 Houlihan Barrie 2002 Dying to Win Doping in Sport And the Development of Anti doping Policy Part 996 2nd ed Strasbourg France Council of Europe ISBN 978 92 871 4685 4 Mazanov Jason 2013 Towards a Social Science of Drugs in Sport London Routledge ISBN 978 1 317 98454 2 McGann Bill McGann Carol 2006 The Story of the Tour De France Volume 1 1903 1964 Indianapolis IN Dog Ear Publishing ISBN 978 1 59858 180 5 McGann Bill McGann Carol 2008 The Story of the Tour De France Volume 2 1965 2007 Indianapolis IN Dog Ear Publishing ISBN 978 1 59858 608 4 Mehlman Maxwell J 2009 The Price of Perfection Individualism and Society in the Era of Biomedical Enhancement Baltimore MD JHU Press ISBN 978 0 8018 9538 8 Pierre Roger St 1967 Tom Simpson An 80 Page Picture Tribute to Britain s Greatest Ever Road Cycling Champion London Daily Mirror Saunders David 1971 Cycling in the Sixties London Pelham Books ISBN 978 0 7207 0456 3 Sidwells Chris 2000 Mr Tom True Story of Tom Simpson Norwich UK Mousehold Press ISBN 978 1 874739 14 2 Simpson Tommy 2009 1st pub Stanley Paul 1966 Cycling is My Life London Yellow Jersey Press ISBN 978 0 224 08308 9 Wilcockson John 2009 Lance The Making of the World s Greatest Champion Cambridge MA Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 7867 4805 1 Williams Nicola Le Nevez Catherine 2007 1st pub 1999 Provence and the Cote d Azur 5th ed Melbourne Lonely Planet ISBN 978 1 74104 236 8 Woodland Les 2007 1st pub 2003 The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France London Yellow Jersey Press ISBN 978 0 224 08016 3 Further reading EditMcGrath Andy 2017 Tom Simpson Bird on the Wire London Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978 1 4729 4920 2 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Simpson Tom Simpson at Cycling Archives Tom Simpson at ProCyclingStats Tom Simpson at CycleBase Tom Simpson at Olympics com Tom Simpson at Olympedia Tom Simpson at the British Olympic Association Tom Simpson at Find a GraveSporting positionsPreceded byJo de Roo Winner of Bordeaux Paris1963 Succeeded byMichel NedelecPreceded byJacques Anquetil Winner of Paris Nice1967 Succeeded byRolf Wolfshohl Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tom Simpson amp oldid 1166399072, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.