This was peak Tom Simpson. Winning the Tour of Flanders at 23 in his first attempt was incredible. Following it with the Tour de France yellow jersey, Bordeaux-Paris and Milan-San Remo was unprecedented. He’s still the only British male to have won more than one monument. In fact, only one other British man has ever won one. This though was more.
Wearing the 1965 world champion’s rainbow jersey, Tom is now on his way to winning Il Lombardia, his third monument, just a few weeks after the worlds, and winning in spectacular manner. One other rider had ever achieved a rainbow Lombardia before Tom, Alfredo Binda in 1927, the next would Eddy Merckx in 1971. That’s class.
Here’s Barry Hoban’s account of the victory as it was told to him by Tom after the race. It’s taken from our book about Tom; Cycling Legends 01: Tom Simpson.
“For the last part of the race Tom was away with the Italian star Gianni Motta. He’d been in the same position with Motta in Lombardia the year before, but now he had the rainbow jersey.
“In 1964, when they got to one of the final few climbs, the Muro di Soramo, Tom asked Motta to slow down, but he didn’t. He shifted up a gear and went harder, so Tom asked him again, and Motta shifted up again. That’s when he dropped Tom.
“Twelve months later Tom was world champion and in the form of his life, and when the road got steeper Motta asked Tom to slow down. Tom just looked at him, shifted up a gear and pressed harder. Motta was suffering now, but he clawed back to Tom’s side and gasped “Piano, piano,” slow down, slow down. Tom wouldn’t, he was on a mission. He shifted up another gear and went for it.
“He dropped Motta, and rode on alone to Como, winning by 3 minutes and 11 seconds.” ‘Simpson won in the manner of Coppi’, was the headline next day in the Italian sports press.”
Read more in our illustrated book, Cycling Legends 01: Tom Simpson here. The first in the collection.
