A Prayer for the Peloton Trivia Quiz

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 Espaņa), 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.

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.

Answer: Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux will always be associated with Tom Simpson, the British world champion who was attempting to win his first Tour de France title when he collapsed and died on its slopes during the 1967 race. The mountain has a fearsome reputation among the peloton.

In the 1955 Tour it nearly claimed its first life when the Frenchman, Jean Mallejac, collapsed and had to be revived by race doctors during the ascent. Mont Ventoux is thought to take its name from the French word for windy (venteaux). This is particularly apt as, for over 240 days a year, the wind blows in excess of 90 kilometres an hour.

The climb faced by riders is 21.1 kilometres at an average gradient of 7.6%. Three time Tour de France winner, Louison Bobet, summed up the challenge presented by Mont Ventoux when, after he had won atop the mountain in 1955, he said "A son at the summit of Mont Ventoux is not a sight to show his mother".

A memorial to Tom Simpson now stands near the summit of Mont Ventoux.

Answer: King of the Mountains

The mountains classification at the Tour is known the "King of the Mountains" and is awarded to the most consistent climber. During the race points are awarded according to position at the summit of each categorized climb. Since 1975, the leader of this competition has worn a white jersey with red spots - the famous polka dot jersey or "maillot pois".

On stage nine of the 2011 Tour, the Dutch rider Johnny Hoogerland was wearing the polka-dot jersey. He was riding in a breakaway group of five riders trying to defend his lead when the group was sideswiped by a car from France Televisions. It knocked the Spanish rider, Juan Antonio Flecha, from his bicycle and Hoogerland could not avoid hitting him. Hoogerland catapulted down a bank and became entangled in a barbed wire fence. Bleeding heavily from cuts on his buttocks and legs, Hoogerland remounted and finished the stage more than sixteen minutes after the stage winner. He required 33 stitches to his legs and body which put paid to his hopes of keeping the polka dot jersey.

Answer: Fausto Coppi

Angelo Fausto Coppi was the most dominant cyclist in the era either side of World War II. His record includes two Tour de France titles, five victories in the Giro d'Italia and a World Championship title in the road race. He was the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, a feat he first achieved in 1949. In 1951, five days before the start of the Tour de France, Coppi lost his brother, Serse, who died from a brain hemorrhage after crashing in the Tour of Piedmont. Although he was devastated by the loss, Coppi still rode the Tour and finished in 10th place.

In December 1959, Coppi travelled with an elite group of riders to Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) for a series of exhibition races where he contracted malaria. Upon his return to Italy, this was misdiagnosed by doctors as flu and, having survived the rigours of the peloton, he died from the disease on 2nd January 1960 at the age of 40.

Answer: Eugene Christophe

Eugene Christophe is the subject of one the iconic stories of the Tour de France. He rode eleven Tours and finished eight of them without ever winning the race. He was leading the race in 1913 when, on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet, he was clipped by a car and crashed, breaking the front forks of his bike. Outside assistance was not permitted so Christophe walked for two hours with his bike on his shoulder until he found a forge nearly thirteen kilometers away. He then spent four hours making a new fork for his bike and arrived at the finish some 3 hours and 50 minutes after the winner. To add insult to injury, he was given a ten minute penalty by the officials as he had allowed a young boy to work the bellows at the forge. In 2013, to celebrate the centenary of this incident, a statue of Christophe was unveiled near the site of the forge at Saint-Marie de Campan.

He must have had a feeling of deja-vu in 1919, when, leading the Tour by thirty minutes, he broke the front fork of his bike, lost two hours and the Tour.

Answer: Each crashed and had to abandon the race while wearing the leader's Maillot Jaune

It has been said that the Tour de France is not won by good luck but by the absence of bad luck. This absence was sorely lacking for van Est, Ocana and Simon as all of them crashed while wearing the leader's yellow jersey and were forced to abandon the race they were leading. Wim van Est became the first Dutch rider ever to wear the Maillot Jaune when he took it on the twelfth stage of the 1951 Tour. The following day he had a flat tyre while descending the Col d' Aubisque, crashed and plummeted some seventy metres down a ravine. Luckily he survived and was hauled back to the road by a chain of tyres made by spectators and his manager. Although he wanted to continue the race, he was instead taken to hospital.

In the 1971 Tour, the Spanish rider, Luis Ocana was wearing yellow when he crashed while descending the Col du Mente in the rain. He couldn't avoid Eddy Merckx who came down in front of him and Ocana was then hit by two following riders. He was airlifted to hospital and his Tour was over. In 1983, the Frenchman, Pascal Simon took the lead on stage ten. The following day he crashed and fractured his shoulder blade. However, he refused to give up and defended his lead for six days before he was finally forced to abandon on stage seventeen still wearing the Maillot Jaune.

Answer: Frederico Bahamontes

Born in Toledo, Spain, Frederico Bahamontes was one of the great characters of cycling and was certainly one of the sport's best climbers. He was given the nickname of the "Eagle of Toledo" for his ability to conquer the steepest slopes in seemingly effortless style. He won the Tour de France overall in 1959 and became the first rider to win the King of the Mountains competition in all three Grand Tours, finishing with six in the Tour, one in the Giro d' Italia and three in the Vuelta a Espana.

Blessed with a fiery temper, he is responsible of some of the legendary stories in cycling. Although he went up mountains with the greatest of ease, he detested going down them after he had fallen on a descent as an amateur and ended up in a cactus bush. He was quite often known to take his foot out of the pedals as he descended round bends. In 1954, while riding his first Tour de France, he attacked on the slopes of the Col de Romeyere and reached the summit alone. There he stopped, cadged an ice cream from a vendor and sat on a wall eating it as he waited for the rest of the peloton to arrive. It turned out that he had broken two spokes and was waiting for his team car to arrive with a new wheel.

Answer: Eddy Merckx

In 1975 Eddy Merckx was attempting to clinch an unprecedented sixth title when, on stage fourteen on the climb of the Puy de Dome, he was punched in the abdomen by a spectator, Nello Breton. He finished the stage in agony and hardly able to breathe. However, worse was to come. On stage seventeen, he collided with another rider, crashed and fractured his jaw. Although he could not eat solids, he continued the race as he felt that to abandon it would devalue the win by his rival, Bernard Thevenet. He still managed to finish second overall two minutes and forty-seven seconds behind Thevenet.

Eddy Merckx is arguably the greatest cyclist of all time with 525 professional wins to his credit. He was the first man to win the Triple Crown of cycling - the Tour de France, the Giro d' Italia and the World championship in one year.

Answer: He hit a dog

Frenchman Sandy Casar claimed his first ever stage victory on stage eighteen of the 2007 Tour. This was despite crashing when he hit a large black dog which ran across the road. With his racing shorts torn and blood coming from his lacerated buttocks, Casar remounted and rejoined the breakaway group of which he had been a part.

He then outsprinted his companions to take the win. Strangely enough, this was the second incident involving a loose dog in that year's race. On stage nine in the Alps, Germany's Marcus Burghardt came crashing down after a colliding with a Labrador.

In case anyone was wondering, both dogs were reported uninjured after their encounters.