Cycling - Road

History

Road cycling was the first competition sport to use a bicycle.  The first competition was held on 31 May 1868 at the Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris. British athlete James Moore won the race and is thus, the first ever cyclist to win a bicycle race.  In the following year, Moore wrote his name in history once more. He won the first race between cities. The British cyclist took 10 hours and 25 minutes to finish the 123 kilometres between Paris and Rouen.

The road version of cycling was part of the Olympic programme at the first edition of the Games in Athens 1896. This first event followed the same course as the traditional marathon of the first Games.  Cyclists started in Athens, cycled all the way to the town of Marathon and came back to the Greek capital.

Despite featuring at the Games in Athens 1896, road cycling was not part of the programme for the next three editions of the Olympics: Paris 1900, St. Louis 1904 and London 1908. It was included in the Olympic programme again at the 1912 Games in Stockholm. Since then, it has featured at every edition of the Olympic Games. However, women only started competing for medals at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, in the individual road event.

Bicycles used in the road events are generally made from a carbon frame and other light materials. They weigh less than 7 kilos. In addition, the handlebar is purposefully low, allowing cyclists to save energy, as well as more favourable aerodynamics.

Curiosities

Keep it in the family

Winning an Olympic medal is a feat achieved by very few. However, for the Pettersson family from Sweden, the podium was rather trivial at the Tokyo Games in 1964 and at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. In Japan, three of the Pettersson brothers went home with medals hanging from their necks. Gösta, Erik and Sture scooped up the bronze for Sweden in the road time trial.

Four years later in Mexico, they did even better. Sven Harmin, the other member of the 1964 medal winning team, was replaced by Tomas Pettersson. With the family complete, the Swedish improved their result from the previous edition of the Games and brought home the silver. To put the cherry on the cake, Gösta also scooped up the bronze in the road event.

The super Dutch

Dutch athlete Leontien van Moorsel is the biggest winner in the history of road cycling. In Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, she won three gold medals: in the endurance event and in the time trial in Sydney; and in the time trial in Athens. These results would already ensure her name in the history books, but she performed even better. She also won a gold medal (individual pursuit) and a silver (points race) in Sydney 2000, and a bronze (individual pursuit) in Athens 2004.

See also

Brazilian Cycling Federation (CBC)
www.cbc.esp.br

International Cycling Federation (UCI)
www.uci.ch