Philip and I watched Hell on Wheels, a documentary on the 2003 Telekom team (Trailbait’s recommendation) this weekend it it made me wonder the following:
Which cyclist has ridden in the most tours and how many was it?
Have there been any black cyclists to ride the Tour?
I figured the wisdom that lurks on ST would know the answers.
FYI, it was a really good flim. Erik Zabel is an amazing guy, very humble. I was impressed.
16 - most times Tour finished by one rider (Joop Zoetemelk, 1970 and 1986)
.
Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor raced in Europe but I couldn’t find any record of him racing in le Tour.
http://www.majortaylor.com/
Found this kicking around on Google.
Joop Zoetemelk is correct for the most Tours de France (the technically correct plural version of multiple editions of the Tour de France). In addition to Zoetemelk’s record for having ridden the most tours, he also holds the record as the oldest wearer of the yellow jersey (at what age I do not recall…) and also the oldest Tour de France finisher at over 40 years of age. For this distinction Zoetemelk’s team had to petition the organizers of the Tour de France for a waiver of their regulation that no rider over 40 may compete in the Tour de France. Zoetemelk’s team was granted his entrance to the Tour de France when he was over 40 years of age.
No rider of African descent or of other black ethnicity has ever completed the Tour de France for some reason.
The American with the most consecutive Tour de France finishes without a single abandonment is Frankie Andreu, who trumps George Hincapie for the record because of an abandonment for Hincapie in 1996.
major taylor never raced the TDF, He was mainly a track racer if I remember correctly.
.
Major Taylor was a track rider, whose career predated the Tour de France.
No black cyclists have ever ridden in the Tour, but there have been several African cyclists to ride in it. Robbie Hunter is from South Africa, and Richard Virenque was born in Morocco, I believe.
Some more trivia for you:
Has any rider of black ethnicity even started the TdF? Note, this is not a racist slam or anything, I am purely curious…
Spot
No, pro skiers, Ice skaters, runners. Never any black folks tho. Also, I think major taylor was racing in the 1890s while the tdf didnt start till 1904? (03?).
Cool, thanks for the info!
Did Ekimov not finish his last tour at 41? To surpass Zoetemelk? Certainly didn’t wear yellow though, but he’s another geezer who’s been around forever.
There may have been one Black to start the Tour, but I do not remember what year or what their name may have been. If this vague notion is correct it was in the 20’s or 30’s.
One African to serve the Tour de France with distinction and dedecation is the gentleman who transmits splits to cyclists on the road using a hand-written black board. You see this man on the back of an official motorcycle holding the chalk board upon which he has written the time interval and race numbers of riders in breakaway groups.
I cannot recall the name of this man and a google search turned up nothing, but he is from an African nation and joined the Tour as a volunteer, riding on the back of the motorcycle for hours in all weather conditons and on dangerous mountain passes delivering vital information to riders. While his job is somewhat obsolete by the use of race radios, it still remains a part of the Tour de France and this African continues to perform the task despite the difficulty of writing on and holding a chalkboard on the back of a motorcycle all day sometimes over 30 mph.
Here is one of the risks:
No one is really sure of his age, but it was reported that J. Agohstino. of Portugal may have been over 40 when he rode his last TDF.
Steve SMp
Ekimov was 40 in his last tour…
