News


Rare Hand Written Post Card! 

Henri Pelissier 

 

Henri Pélissier (22 January 1889 1 May 1935) was a French racing cyclist from Paris and winner of the 1923 Tour de France. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange and for protesting against the conditions endured by riders in the early years of the Tour. He was killed by his lover with the gun that his wife had used to commit suicide.

 

The Post Card from October 7, 1923 is personally signed on the back, following these words: 

I am happy to announce that I am 50km champion today at the Tours velodrome.

 

                                                                  (July 2024)


The Winner of the First Giro! 

Luigi Ganna 

 

Luigi Ganna (1 December 1883 – 2 October 1957) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He was the overall winner of the

first Giro d'Italia, held in 1909, as well as the first Italian winner of the classic Milan–San Remo earlier that year.

 

Further highlights in his career were his fifth place in the 1908 Tour de France and several podium places in Italian classic races. In 1908,

he set a new Italian hour record, which he held for six years.

 

This is en extremely rare beautifully signed photo of Ganna which I obtained from a good collector friend of Italy.

 

(April 2024)


The Greatest Swiss Sprinter of the Past 

Ernest (Ernst) Kaufmann 

 

Ernst Kaufmann (9 June 1895 – 20 December 1943) was a Swiss racing cyclist. He won the sprint event at the 1925 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the Grand Prix de Paris in 1923 and 1927. He was the Swiss National Road Race champion in 1917 and 1918, and was an 18-time national sprint champion. 

 

In 1932 Kaufmann retired from his active career as a racing cyclist. He designed bikes, worked as a representative for bicycle companies and also served as director of the cycling track in Zurich-Oerlikon for two years.

 

Shortly before Christmas 1943, Kaufmann succumbed to kidney disease.

 

(April 2024)

 

VERY RARE SIGNED PHOTO!

 

 


Tour de France Winner 2022/2023 

Jonas Vingegaard

 

Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France for a second straight year as cycling’s most storied race finished Sunday, July 23, on the famed Champs-Elysées. With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour.

(August 2023)

 

VERY RARE SIGNED PHOTO WITH THE YELLOW JERSEY!

 

 


The Eagle of Toledo dies at Age 95

Federico Bahamontes

 

Federico Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France, has died at the age of 95 on Tuesday August 8, 2023.

 

Bahamontes, who earned the nickname “The Eagle of Toledo” after numerous victories in mountain stages, won the Tour de France in 1959 and was also the first cyclist to complete a “career triple” by winning the “King of the Mountains” classification in all three Grand Tours.

 

Known as a fiery, eccentric character who was not always popular with rivals, Bahamontes once famously stopped at the top of the Col de Romeyere with broken spokes and had ice cream while waiting for his team car and the main group of riders.

 

He retired at 37 after a win in Montjuic.

 

(August 2023)

 

 

 


The Little Brother!

Serse Coppi

 

Serse Coppi (19 March 1923 – 29 June 1951) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist born in Castellania. He was the younger brother of Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi.

 

 

His greatest victory was 1949 Paris–Roubaix, when he was placed equal winner with André Mahé after controversy.

 

He died in 1951 after crashing in the final sprint of the Giro del Piemonte, when his wheel was caught in the tracks of the Turin tramway. He was 28.  He died in Fausto's arms before an operation could be performed.

 

(August 2023)

 

This is a very rare piece of a Cycling Memorabilia!


The Teacher and his Student

Leo Amberg was considered one of the strongest Swiss road drivers before the Second World War. 

 

His greatest successes were third place overall in the Tour de France in 1937 and at the UCI Road World Championships in 1938.

 

After ending his career as a professional racing driver in 1947, Leo Amberg opened a cycling shop. He is considered the discoverer of Hugo Koblet.

  

After completing his apprenticeship in 1943, Hugo Koblet sought contact with the famous Leo Amberg, who ran a bicycle shop near his home. Koblet joins Amberg as a bicycle mechanic, who quickly plays the role of a paternally well-disposed sports adviser for the young Hugo.

 

As a result, the pupil was to achieve the very great successes that the teacher was denied. 

 

Hugo Koblet won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a professional. 

 

(July 2023)

 


A Legendary Battle of the

Tour de France 1964

Raymond Poulidor’s best years collided with Jacques Anquetil’s best years, their duel reached its peak at the Tour de France in 1964. Poulidor was more agressive, attack-friendly rider, who was good in the mountains, while Anquetil dominated the time trials and was considered a more calculating, cold-headed racer. 

 

Their clash on the 20th stage, which finished on Puy de Dôme, of Tour de France 1964 became one of the most iconic moments in the history of road racing. They rode literally shoulder by shoulder together, as the famous image shows it. 

 

Newerteless, Poulidor attacked a few times, but he could not drop his rival until they reached the Flammes Rouge. Inside the final kilometre Poulidor was finaly able to ride away from Anquetil and finished third behind Jiménez and Bahamontes. After the stage he was only 14″ behind Anquetil, but could never turn the race.

 

It was definitely the closest moment Poulidor ever had the possibility of winning the Tour de France. 

(June 2023)


The First Swiss Cycling Star

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jean Gougoltz (1875 - 1917)

 

Jean Gougoltz was an allrounder who competed in numerous races on the road and on the track internationally.

 

In 1900 he became Swiss champion in the sprint, in 1905 the professional stayer. In 1903 he also won the Paris eight-day race ahead of Lucien Petit-Breton, a race that involved driving eight hours a day for eight days.

 

Jean Gougoltz drove eight six-day races, in 1900 he finished third in New York together with the Frenchman César Simar. This made both the first Europeans to stand on the podium at a US six-day race. In 1901 Jean Gougoltz started at Paris-Roubaix, but was only 18th due to a starvation.

 


Tour de France 1913 and the Tourmalet incident

Eugène Christophe

 

Eugène Christophe (born Malakoff, Paris, France, 22 January 1885, died in Paris, 1 February 1970) was a French road bicycle racer and pioneer of cyclo-cross. He was a professional from 1904 until 1926. In 1919 he became the first rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France . 

 

Eugène Christophe rode 11 Tours de France and finished eight. He never won but he became famous for having to weld together his bicycle on the Tourmalet while leading the Tour de France in 1913. It was one of a series of events that coloured his racing career.

 

 

 

 


Magnificant Collection Pieces of GIRARDENGO and BOTTECHIA, some of the

Greatest Italian Cycling Champions


Swiss Giro Team 1954

Guerra - Ursus    

 

The following Swiss participants of the Giro 1954 signed this card:

  • Remo Pianezzi
  • Carlo Cerici (Winner Giro 1954)
  • Emilio Crocitorti
  • Hugo Koblet (Winner Giro 1950)
  • Marcel Huber
  • Martin Metzger
  • Fritz Schär

         

                                                                                        Hugo Koblet and Carlo Clerici

 


Tour de France Winner 2020

Tadej Pogajar
Tadej Pogajar

Tadej Pogacar

 

Tadej Pogačar born 21 September 1998) is a Slovenian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. In his debut Grand Tour, Pogačar won three stages of the 2019 Vuelta a España en route to a third place finish.

 

He rode in the 2020 Tour de France for the first time, becoming the overall winner and also securing the young rider and mountain classification.He is the first Slovenian winner and with the age of 21 he became the second youngest winner after Henri Cornet's win in 1904.

 


World Champion 1955

Stan Ockers
Stan Ockers

Constant ("Stan") Ockers

 

(3 February 1920 in Borgerhout – 1 October 1956 in Antwerp) was a Belgian professional racing cyclist.

 

He was runner-up in the Tour de France in 1950 and 1952, and the best sprinter in that race in 1955 and 1956. In 1955 he won the Classic "Ardennes double" by winning La Flèche Wallonne and the Liège–Bastogne–Liège in the same year.. He also won the World Cycling Championship that year.

 

Stan Ockers died after crashing during a track race in Antwerp in 1956. A year later a monument was built in Les Forges, Sprimont, in the south of Belgium.


Tour de Suisse Winner 1936, Nice Portrait

Henri Garnier
Henri Garnier

Henri Garnier

 

Henri Garnier (born September 19, 1908 in Feschaux, Belgium, † January 4, 2003 Falmagne, France) was a Belgian cyclist.

 

Henri Garnier was a professional racing driver from 1933 to 1937. In his first professional year he was second in the Tour of Belgium. In 1936 he was able to win a stage and the Tour de Suisse after having finished second in the previous year. In 1937 he again won a stage in the Swiss national tour. In the same year he ended his career at the age of 29. In 2003 Garnier died in his adopted home in France at the age of 94.

 


World Champion 2019

Mads Pedersen
Mads Pedersen

Mads Pedersen

 

(born 18 December 1995) is a Danish professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Trek–Segafredo. In September 2019, he won the men's road race at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England, and became the first Danish cyclist to win the men's World Championship road race title.

 

 


Tour de Suisse Winner 2019 with Fabian Cancellara

Egan Bernal
Egan Bernal

Egan Bernal Gómez (born 13 January 1997)

 

is a Colombian cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Ineos.He won the 2019 Tour de Suisse and Tour de France, becoming the first Latin American winner of these races.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour de France Winner 2019