Pan-American Record Ride
“Pan-American Highway”.
Ashleigh Myles set the record for the fastest female to ride the Pan-American Highway, solo and unsupported. In the process, she unknowingly set a record for South America.
Pan-American Highway, N-S (118days: 2hours: 30minutes)
South America, N-S (57days: 09hours: 37minutes)
The Pan-American Highway runs from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina. It’s approximately 22,500km with 190,000m elevation. Spanning two continents and 13 countries – it is the longest road in the world.
» Read moreTom Simpson
Making history: Tom Simpson became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France after stage 12 in 1962 from Pau to St Gaudens.
Tom Simpson became the first British rider to win Paris-Nice in 1967, and was the only Brit to have done so until Bradley Wiggins’s victory in his golden season in 2012.
It was later in the 1967 season that Tommy Simpson died. He collapsed on the ascent of Mont Ventoux during stage 13 of the Tour de France and could not be resuscitated.
Rik Van Looy
Rik II one of the greatest one-day cyclists who won two world championships as well as eight “monument” classics, passed away on 17 December 2024. He was 90.
In a career that spanned a successful decade from the late 1950 onwards, he was the unchallenged No. 1 star in Belgium before he had to give way to the rise of Eddy Merckx, arguably the greatest cyclist of all time.
“He was a super champion. He was very demanding on himself, as he was on his teammates,” Mr. Merckx told VRT network. “Van Looy never showed any kind of weakness. He never cracked.”
Among the monument classics, he won Paris-Roubaix three times, the Ronde of Flanders twice and Milan San Remo, the Tour of Lombardy and Liege-Bastogne-Liege once. Winning the grand slam is especially tough in cycling since each classic demands specific qualities, be it sprinting, climbing or dealing with cobblestones.
Only two other riders completed the feat, fellow Belgians Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck.
Mr. Van Looy’s world titles came in 1960 and 1961. And although he won 39 stages in Grand Tours, he never won the overall classification in either the Tour de France, the Giro of Italy or the Vuelta of Spain.
The federation said he won over 450 races in a career that began in 1953 and ended in 1970.
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