Cycles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tour Down Under

The Tour Down Under (the only non-fictitious name of those listed) was won in its inaugural year (1999) by Australian Stuart O'Grady. In 2008 the Tour Down Under became the first non-European UCI Pro Tour Event. As Adelaide is quite flat, the race involves little climbing, and typically ends with a tight sprint finish.

Despite being a new race on the circuit, the Tour Down Under has already developed a number of traditions. There is a companion event, called the Be Active Tour, which allows recreational riders to cover the course ahead of the professionals. Australian fans have established the practice of choosing an unknown rider, who must be non-English speaking and one of the lowest-ranked members of his team, to be the hero of the year. In 2010, Arthur Vichot from the team Francaise des Jeux, got the superstar treatment, with his name painted on the road, and mobs outside his hotel room cheering and begging for autographs.

Answer: Milan and San Remo

The Milan - San Remo race was first held in 1907, when it was won by Lucien Petit-Breton. It is sometimes called "the sprinters' classic", as it often ends in a sprint finish. Because it is so early in the season, it is more a test of the sprinters' fitness than their speed, and the hills near the finish can prove a stringent test of fitness.

The great Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx won this 298-km race seven times in his career. More recently, the German Erik Zabel has won it four times, with a heartbreaking second place in 2004 when he raised his hands to celebrate victory just before the finish line, and was overtaken by the Spaniard Oscar Freire. Paris is in France, Munich in Germany, and Madrid in Spain.

Answer: Tour of Flanders

Most commonly known by its Dutch name (Ronde van Vlaanderen), the Tour of Flanders is the most important of the six races called the Flanders Classics. Tour des Flandres is its French name. The inaugural race, in 1913, was won by the Belgian Paul Deman.

In its early years, it was run on the same day as the more important (at the time) "spring classic" in Italy, which meant that the best French and Italian riders did not compete. Before World War II, there was only one non-Belgian winner. Now the Tour of Flanders is held in early April, a week before the Paris-Roubaix race.

The course has changed many times over the years: originally it started and finished in Ghent, before changing to finish in the village of Meerbecke, from 1977 to 1997 it started in Sint-Niklaas.

Answer: a cobblestone

The Paris-Roubaix is one of the three "cobbled classics", so called because of the large amount of the course which is over challenging cobbled streets. Dealing with the rough riding conditions, including the incidence of punctures and mechanical damage, is one of the main features of this race. It is in reference to this that the winner gets a sett, which is the proper name for the shaped stones used in the roads, which are often referred to as cobblestones.

The Paris-Rubaix race, third of the European Monuments, was first run in 1896, when it was won by the German Josef Fischer. This is considered one of the most difficult one-day races, and has been nicknamed "The Hell of the North", "A Sunday in Hell", "Queen of the Classics" and "The Easter Race".

Answer: Netherlands

Limburg (yes, where the cheese originated) is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands, in the southeastern part of the country. The Amstel Gold race (named after the brewery that currently sponsors it) was first run in 1966, under the auspices of two Dutch promoters, when it was won by the Frenchman Jean Stablinski. Between 1981 and 210, the race had 29 different winners in 30 years, an unusual pattern in road races, which tend to have riders who dominate a particular race at any given time.

Answer: Le Weekend Ardennais

Winning both Liege-Bastoigne-Liege and La Fleche Wallon in the same year is referred to as "the Ardennes double". This feat has only been accomplished a few times, with Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kubler doing it twice, in 1951 and 1952. On at least one occasion they were run on a single weekend, as "Le Weekend Ardennais".

The Liege-Bastoigne-Liege race is often called "La Doyenne" ("the oldest") because it was the first of the most highly rated events to be run. In 1892 and 1893, it was an amateur race, which became a professional race in 1894. All three of these races were won by the Belgian Leon Houa.

Answer: The Giro d'Italia

The first Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) was won by the Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna. It is usually considered as the second-most prestigious race on the circuit, after the Tour de France. As is the case in most multi-stage races, the leader in various of the competitive categories wears a distinctively-colored jersey. For the Giro, the overall leader wears a pink jersey, corresponding with the pink newsprint used in "Gazzetta dello Sport"; the leader in the mountains category gets to wear green, the points leader wears mauve, and the best young rider wears a white jersey.

In the 1940s, there was also a black jersey for the rider who was last in the overall division.

Answer: Champs Elysees

The finish of the Tour de France in recent years has involved circuits of the Champs Elysees, a stage which is usually little more than a celebration of the victory that has already been achieved, as the conditions are not amenable to the staging of a challenge sufficient to overcome the lead which has usually been established.

The overall leader of the Tour de France wears the famous yellow jersey, the stage points leader green, the 'King of the Mountains' leader white with red polka dots, and the young rider white. The most combative rider (the one who has 'made things happen', often by leading a breakaway) wears a number printed white-on-red instead of black-on-white next day. An award goes to the most aggressive rider throughout the Tour. In 1969, the great Eddy Merckx won the Tour, and also won the points competition, the combativity award, the King of the Mountain, and the combination classification (no longer awarded).

The first winner of the Tour de France was the French rider Maurice Garin in 1903. The American cyclist Lance Armstrong won the Tour for seven years in a row, from 1999 through 2005.

Answer: Vuelta a Espana

The Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain, the only real race listed) was started in 1935, an effort to increase circulation for the daily journal "Informaciones", since the sponsoring of a cycling tour had been so successful for the French "L'Auto" and Italian "La Gazzetta dello Sport".

The Spanish Civil War and World War II kept it from getting firmly established for a number of years. The first winner was Gustaaf Deloor, from Belgium. As is the case for the other two Grand Tour events, there are special jerseys to identify the leaders in certain categories of competition in the race.

The overall leader's jersey has changed color a number of times, from orange, through light orange, white, orange again, dark red, white with a red strip, yellow, red, gold, to the 2010 color of red.

Answer: Italy

The Giro di Lombardia (Tour of Lombardy) takes place in the northern Italian province of Lombardy. It was first run in 1905, under the title Milan-Milan, when it was won by the Italian Giovanni Gerbi. The race route has changed many times, with Milan, Sesto San Giovanni, Bergamo, Varese, Monza and Cuneo being among the sites involved as starting and/or finishing spots. In 2004, the race actually had an international start, in Mendrisio, Switzerland, before entering Italy for the majority of the race, which finished at Como.

The race traditionally includes a climb of Colle del Ghisallo from the north, leading to a shrine called the Madonna del Ghisallo where there is a museum of cycling, with a statue of a bicycle rider in the forecourt.