France Cycling Trivia

1. Heavy rain and icy roads on Stage 1 caused multiple crashes. Which cyclist skidded across the road on a steep wet descent and crashed into a shrub covered signpost?

From Quiz Tour de France: Cycling in the Time of Covid

Answer: Miguel Angel Lopez

Despite an unofficial agreement in the peloton to slow the tempo on the dangerous descent, Astana accelerated with Omar Fraile in the lead. It appeared that the rear wheel of Lopez locked when rounding a corner causing the skid. Apparently unharmed, he borrowed a teammate's bike and finished the remaining 50k in the peloton.

From Quiz La Grande Boucle

Answer: Maurice Garin (France)

The first Tour was six stages over 2,428 kms, averaging 400 kms per stage. The race was over 19 days with many rest days in-between stages. 60 riders started the race and only 21 riders completed the six stages. The last rider to complete the race finished nearly 65 hours behind the winner in total time classification. Maurice Garin (1871-1957) was born in Italy, but became a naturalised French citizen in 1901. His winning time in 1903 was nearly three hours ahead of the second placed rider. In 1904 he was also declared the winner, but was later disqualified. In the 1904 race Henri Cornet (1884-1941) was only 19 years of age when he completed the race. However, the first three riders were disqualified due to cheating and, although he finished three hours after the first placed rider, he was finally declared the winner in November 1904 when he was 20 years of age. Louis Trousselier (1881-1939) won the race in 1905 and René Pottier (1879-1907) won the race in 1906. In 1907 René committed suicide when he learned that his wife had found a lover while he was away competing.

From Quiz 2015 Tour de France: Return of the Titans

Answer: Rohan Dennis, BMC Racing Team

Dennis' finish time of 14:56:11 for the 13.8 km (8.6 mile) course set a high bench mark for the three time trial favorites - Tony Martin, Fabian Cancellara and Tom Dumoulin. The Australian's time was the fastest individual time trial at a Tour de France. Martin came in second, 5 seconds behind, followed by Cancellara, 6 seconds back and Demoulin 8 seconds back.

From Quiz Tour de France 2015: Part 1

Answer: Rohan Dennis

Rohan Dennis from Team BMC broke the record for the fastest ever Tour de France time trial (not including prologues). He completed the course at an average speed of 55.446 km/h (34.5 mph). Dennis had broken the World Hour Record in February 2015, holding the record until Alex Dowsett broke it again in May 2015.

From Quiz First Up - French Style

Answer: Maurice Garin

Organised by the French newspaper L'Auto as a way of drumming up support and increasing its circulation, the first Tour de France took place in 1903. The race was won by the Frenchman, Maurice Garin. Known as the "Chimney Sweep", a reference to his previous occupation, Garin was the pre-race favourite. He duly won the first of six stages and never relinquished the lead. He eventually finished in a time of 94h 33' 14", nearly three hours ahead of his nearest rival.

From Quiz 2014 Tour de France: Crashes of the Titans

Answer: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Cambridge, informally known as Kate, also presented Marcel Kittel, the stage winner, with the Yellow jersey.

From Quiz A Prayer for the Peloton

Answer: The Tashkent Terror

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the mercurial Abdoujaparov earned the nickname "The Tashkent Terror" from his fearless, pugnacious, if somewhat erratic, style of sprinting. One of only a handful of riders to have won the points classification at all three Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España), he claimed the green jersey of the Tour de France on three occasions in 1991, 1993 and 1994. He is probably best remembered for his spectacular crash inside the last 100 metres of the final stage of the 1991 Tour. He clipped a giant publicity can on the side of the road and somersaulted into the barriers. As the accident happened within the final kilometre of the race, he was given the same time as the rest of the peloton. However, in order to win the green jersey competition which he was leading, he had to finish the race unaided. This he did, riding over the finish line some fifteen minutes later surrounded by medical staff and was then taken straight to hospital.

From Quiz Team Sky at the 2012 Tour De France

Answer: Six

Out of the twenty stages - Team Sky won a total of six. Overall winner Bradley Wiggins won two Time Trials, Sprinter Mark Cavendish won three stages including the final stage into Paris which made him the first rider to win the final stage four years in a row and Chris Froome won one stage a mountain top finish.

From Quiz 2011 Tour de Crash

Answer: Lady in yellow

The "lady" actually turned out to be a 13-year-old boy. He was eventually forgiven for the mishap.

From Quiz 2010 Tour de France

Answer: Alberto Contador

Contador is from team Astona and represented the country of Spain. He was subsequently stripped of the win in February 2012 for failing a urine test during the race. The race was then awarded to the second place rider.

From Quiz Tour de Lance

Answer: Gunderson

His real father, or "DNA donor" as Lance calls him, abandoned his mother when Lance was still a toddler. His mother re-married to a man named Terry Armstrong who formally adopted Lance.

From Quiz Tour de Farce

Answer: They had skipped parts of the course by boarding a train.

Defending champion and original 1904 winner Maurice Garin was banned from racing for two years, others were handed a ban for life. The entire 1904 edition was marred by accusations of foul play, road blocks, slashed tires, and angry mobs (on two occasions the organisers had to fire revolver shots), convincing founder Henri Desgrange to shelve the idea of ever organising another Tour. Fortunately, he changed his mind.

From Quiz 2010 Tour de France

Answer: Rotterdam, Netherlands

This was the third consecutive Grand Tour to begin somewhere in the Netherlands. The 2009 Vuelta a España began in Assen. The 2010 Giro d'Italia began in Amsterdam. For an individual time trial to be classified as a prologue, the distance must be under 10km. Fabian Cancellara won the stage with a time of ten minutes flat. Fabian took both the yellow jersey, for overall leader, and the green jersey, for leading the points classification. Fabian rode for Team Saxo Bank. Tony Martin took the white jersey for best young rider.

From Quiz Fastest of the Fast

Answer: Erik Zabel

Erik Zabel won six consecutive Green Jersey competitions between 1996 and 2001. The 2001 competition was particularly hard fought, with Zabel snatching the jersey from the Australian, Stuart O'Grady, on the final stage on the Champs Elysee. The final points tally was 252 to 244. Born in East Berlin in 1970, Erik Zabel has over 200 professional victories to his name including three consecutive points classification Blue Jerseys in the Vuelta a Espana from 2002 to 2004. He is now retired, with the 2008 Paris Tours being his final road race which was particularly fitting as the 1994 version was the first major classic he won as a professional. Eddy Merckx, known as The Cannibal from his desire to win, is arguably the greatest rider the peloton has ever seen, counting five Tour de France, five Giro d'Italia and one Vuelta a Espana crowns among his victories. He won a total of three Green Jerseys in 1969, 1971 and 1972. In the 1969 Tour he became the only man to win the Yellow, Green and Polka Dot Jerseys in one year. Belgian Freddy Maertens won three Green Jerseys in 1976, 1978 and 1981. His 1976 campaign included a record equalling eight stage wins. Irishman Sean Kelly, a protege of Maertens, won four Green Jerseys between 1982 and 1989. He was the first rider to be ranked No. 1 in the world when the FICP introduced the World Rankings in 1984, a position he held for over six years.

From Quiz Tour de France History

Answer: 60

Géo Lefèvre was the man behind the idea of the Tour de France, although Henri Desgrange was the first organizer of the Tour. He worked for a magazine called L'Auto. The original idea was for the race to be five weeks long. That was changed after only fifteen riders entered; it was cut to three weeks. After the change 60 riders entered. The first Tour de France took place in 1903; it was only six stages long. A Frenchman, Maurice Garin, won the first ever Tour de France.

From Quiz British Cyclists: Tour De France

Answer: 1937

Two British riders rode the 1937 Tour - Bill Burl and Charles Holland. Together with Pierre Gachon (a French Canadian), they rode as the British Empire team. Gachon retired on stage 1, and Burl was disqualified after stage 2 for falling too far behind. Holland, however, battled alone for over 2000 miles until he succumbed to mechanical trouble and was forced to abandon. Nevertheless, his attitude and efforts won him many admirers in France.

From Quiz Tour de France Winners

Answer: Maurice Garin

Maurice Garin won the first Tour de France in 1903.

From Quiz Tour de France Firsts

Answer: François Faber

Despite the fact that Luxembourg is so small even for European standards, it had three winners in the 20th century for this event, more than the Anericans for example. Faber was the first of them at the tender age of 22. Nicolas Frantz was victorious in 1927 and 1928, and Charly Gaul (nicknamed Angel Of The High Mountains) won it in the 50s. Gustave Garrigou was a Frenchman.

From Quiz Tour de France: The Winners

Answer: Maurice Garin

Garin won the 1903 tour, and was the first of many Frenchmen to do so.

From Quiz Tour de France Jerseys

Answer: The leader of the overall race

The yellow jersey is awarded to the rider who, overall, is leading the race.

From Quiz Tour de France II

Answer: Frederico Bahamontes

Bahamontes won the Tour in 1959.

From Quiz Tour de France

Answer: Maurice Garin

Garin's lead on number two in this race was almost three hours.

From Quiz Tour de France: Cycling in the Time of Covid

Answer: Julian Alaphilippe

The three man break-a-way of Alaphilippe, Hershi and Yates held off the peloton and set themselves up for a sprint finish. With 13k to go, Alaphilippe made his move and was first across the line on the Promenade des Anglais. He dedicated his win to his father who had passed away in June.

From Quiz Tour de France: The Jersey Boys

Answer: Found to have caught a train during the race

Not only was Maurice Garin disqualified but also the next three runners-up were also disqualified for using trains during the race. The race was awarded to Henri Cornet, a 19 year old, who finished three hours behind Garin. Cornet rode the tour up until 1912 without success, he did however, win the Paris- Roubaix in 1906.

From Quiz La Grande Boucle

Answer: Jean Robic (France)

Jean Robic (1921-1980) was a French professional cyclist who won the 1947 Tour de France without wearing the yellow jersey until the last day when he won the 257km final stage. He won the Rome-Naples-Rome in 1950 and the World Cyclo-cross championship in 1950. Jan Jenssen was the first Dutch cyclist to win the Tour de France and in 1968 was the second winner to only gain the yellow jersey on the final day in the individual time trial. He also won the points classification in 1964, 1965 and 1967. He won the Vuelta a España in 1967 plus the points classification in 1967 and 1968. The yellow jersey was first introduced in 1919 to identify the leader. The first rider to wear the yellow jersey was Eugėne Christophe of France. Francis Pélissier was the first rider to quit the Tour while wearing the yellow jersey. He retired from the race due to sickness.

From Quiz Tour de France 2015: Part 1

Answer: Fabian Cancellara

Fabian Cancellara has been World Time Trial Champion on four occasions, as well as winning numerous classics. At the 2008 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the Time Trial, and the silver medal in the Road Race. Cancellara has also worn the yellow jersey on more occasions than any other cyclist who has never gone on to win the Tour de France.

From Quiz First Up - French Style

Answer: Eugene Christophe

As the Tour grew in popularity, it became difficult to distinguish the race leader throughout the various stages. The race organiser, Henri Desgrange, came up with the idea of having a coloured jersey worn by the leader to make it easier to spot him in the pack of riders. Although there have been suggestions that a coloured jersey might have been worn earlier, the official history of the Tour states that the "Maillot Jaune" was first awarded in the 1919 edition of the Tour. Frenchman Eugene Christophe had the honour of donning the very first yellow jersey on July 18 1919. Ironically Christophe never won the Tour overall, twice losing his lead due to mechanical issues. It is thought that the colour yellow was chosen as the race sponsor, the newspaper L'Auto, was printed on yellow paper.

From Quiz 2014 Tour de France: Crashes of the Titans

Answer: Mark Cavendish

German Marcel Kittel won the sprint and Mark Cavendish was transported to the hospital where it was found that he had a dislocated collarbone. Cavendish hoped the pain and swelling would diminish overnight and he would be able to continue racing. Unfortunately, both progressively increased during the night, and he was forced to abandon the Tour before second stage began in York.

From Quiz A Prayer for the Peloton

Answer: Fabio Casartelli

Fabio Casartelli won the gold medal in the road race at the 1992 summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. In 1995 he was riding the Tour de France for the Motorola team when, on stage fifteen, he crashed on the descent of the Col de Portet Aspet in the Pyrenees. His head hit one of the concrete pillars on the side of the road and, despite medical attention, he succumbed to his injuries. He was just 24 years of age. His team continued in the race and the following day the stage was neutralized. His team crossed the line side by side in front of the peloton. A monument to him has been erected near the site of the crash. In 1997 the white jersey competition for the best young rider under the age of 26 years was officially renamed the Souvenir Fabio Casartelli in his memory. In a twist of irony, the bike that Casartelli was riding on that tragic day can be found in the chapel of Madonna del Ghisallo (near Lake Como in Italy), the patron saint of cycling.

From Quiz Team Sky at the 2012 Tour De France

Answer: British, Australian, Norwegian, German, Austrian, Belarusian

The team consisted of Wiggins, Froome and Cavendish (British), Rogers and Porte (Australian), Boasson Hagen (Norwegian),Knees (German),Eisel (Austrian) and Siutsou (Belarusian). The team trained together in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, spending many days on the climb up to Mount Teide.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:52 AM

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