Image: Topham Picturepoint/Topham Picturepoint/Press Association Images
ON THE 13TH day of July 1967, during the 13th stage of the Tour de France, a lone cyclist was photographed, dazed and confused, on the ascent of Mont Ventoux.
In 54C heat, his heart exploding from his chest, Tom Simpson was the ghost of a man even before his bike criss-crossed the road two kilometres from the top of the climb and collapsed.
Legend would have us believe that Simpson asked those who rushed to his side to “put me back on the bike”.
Whatever the truth, Simpson did get back up, struggled on for another half a kilometre before his bike went from under him again.
This time, there were no words. The star of British cycling was almost certainly dead before he hit the ground despite the close attentions of Tour doctor Pierre Dumas. By 5.40pm, his death was official.
Simpson’s story has a tragic ending but it’s middle chapters will be all too familiar to fans of modern cycling.
Talented and popular in equal measure, Simpson was both World Champion and winner of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 1965.
However, he also used performance enhancing drugs and his post-mortem found evidence of alcohol and amphetamines in his system on the day of his death.
His full, fascinating, tale is told in this brilliant documentary: The Story of Tom Simpson
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