Quick Reads

Everyone thought Thomas Wegmuller would win, but fate and a stray plastic bag had other plans. Relive the day Dirk De Mol turned a 220-kilometre breakaway into an unlikely victory on the road to Roubaix.

In 1972, Eddy Merckx pushed himself to the brink of agony in Mexico City. Locked in a battle against his own broken body, the "Cannibal" set an Hour Record so formidable it would take decades, and a change in the rules, to truly surpass.

In 1947 a plane crash-landed on the Col du Tourmalet moments before the riders arrived, creating one of the Tour de France’s forgotten dramas.

Paul Sherwen’s second life was as extraordinary as his first. Between mining in Uganda and commentating on the world’s biggest races, he never stopped moving.

Eileen Sheridan rode further and faster than anyone thought possible. From Land’s End to John O’Groats, she smashed records and changed women’s cycling forever.

In 1956, Ray Booty did for cycling what Roger Bannister had done for running. He became the first rider to break the four-hour barrier for 100 miles.