Tom Simpson facts for kids
Simpson c. 1966
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| Personal information | |||
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| Full name | Thomas Simpson | ||
| Nickname | Major Simpson | ||
| Born | 30 November 1937 Haswell, County Durham, England |
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| Died | 13 July 1967 (aged 29) Mont Ventoux, Vaucluse, France |
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| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Weight | 69 kg (152 lb; 10 st 12 lb) | ||
| Team information | |||
| Discipline | Road and track | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | All-rounder | ||
| Major wins | |||
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Thomas Simpson (born 30 November 1937 – died 13 July 1967) was a famous English road racing cyclist. He sadly passed away while riding in the Tour de France in 1967, on a very tough mountain called Mont Ventoux.
Contents
Early Life and Cycling Start
Tom Simpson was the youngest of six children. He was born in Easington, County Durham, England. After World War II, his family moved to Harworth in Nottinghamshire, a mining village. This is where Tom grew up and became very interested in cycling.
He went to the local village school and later to Worksop Technical College. In 1954, he started working as an apprentice draughtsman at an engineering company.
Joining Cycling Clubs
Tom first joined the Harworth and District Cycling Club. Later, he joined the Scala Wheelers in Rotherham. By the time he was a teenager, he was already winning local time trial races. People then suggested he try track cycling, which is racing on a special indoor track. He often traveled to Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester to compete. He won medals in the national 4000-meter individual pursuit race.
Olympic and Commonwealth Success
When Tom was 19, he was part of the Great Britain team pursuit squad. This team won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Two years later, he won a silver medal in the individual pursuit at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.
In April 1959, Tom moved to France to live in a fishing town called Saint-Brieuc. He hoped to win enough amateur races there to get noticed by a professional cycling team. In Saint-Brieuc, he met Helen Sherburn, and they got married in January 1960.
Becoming a Professional Cyclist
Within just two months of moving to France, Tom had won five races! In July 1959, two professional teams wanted him to join. He chose the Rapha Geminiani team, which already had another British cyclist, Brian Robinson.
His first professional race was a small stage race called the Tour de l'Ouest (Tour of the West). He won two stages and finished 18th overall. This was a great achievement for a new professional rider, who would usually be expected to be a domestique (a helper for the team leader).
Early Professional Races
In 1959, Tom also competed in the World Championships in the Netherlands. He finished fourth in both the individual pursuit and the professional road race. He decided not to ride in the 1959 Tour de France because he felt he wasn't ready. However, he did ride in the 1960 Tour and finished 29th overall, even getting third place in one stage.
In 1960, he also raced in his first Classic races. These are very important one-day races. He finished in the top ten in races like La Flèche Wallonne and Paris-Roubaix. In Paris-Roubaix, he led the race for about 40 kilometers before getting tired and finishing 9th.
First Classic Wins
In April 1961, Tom won his first Classic race. He won the very tough Ronde van Vlaanderen after a close sprint to the finish with another rider. That year, he also finished 5th in the "Race to the Sun," the Paris-Nice stage race. He had to leave the Tour de France early because of a knee injury.
In 1962, Tom made history by becoming the first British rider to wear the maillot jaune (the yellow jersey of the Tour de France leader). He eventually finished 6th overall in the Tour. This was the highest finish for a British rider until 1984! He had been in third place until he had a crash.
He continued to show how good he was in the tough Belgian Classic races. He finished 5th in the Ronde van Vlaanderen and 6th in the Gent-Wevelgem.
Best Years and World Champion
The years 1963 and 1965 were probably Tom Simpson's best for Classic races. In 1963, riding for the Peugeot BP team, he won the very hard motor-paced race Bordeaux-Paris. He also came second in Paris-Brussels and Paris-Tours, and third in the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
In 1965, Tom Simpson became the first British rider to win the world professional road racing championship. This was a huge achievement!
In 1967, he won the early season Paris-Nice stage race and the Tour of Sardinia. He also rode in the Vuelta a España for the first time, winning two stages and finishing 33rd overall.
The Day Tom Simpson Died
At the start of the 1967 Tour de France, Tom Simpson felt he could do very well. After the first week, he was in sixth place overall. However, he started to feel unwell with a stomach bug, which made him lose important time in a stage that included the Col du Galibier mountain.
On 13 July, at the start of stage 13 in Marseille, he was still feeling unwell. The race was heading into Provence on a very hot day.
Climbing Mont Ventoux
On the main climb of the day, Mont Ventoux, Tom tried to break away early. But soon, other riders passed him. About two kilometers from the top of the mountain, Tom started to struggle and fell against the side of the road. His team helpers wanted him to stop the race, but Tom insisted on continuing.
He rode for another 500 meters or so before he started to fall again. He then fell unconscious into the arms of his helpers. Even with help and medical attention, including a helicopter ride to a nearby hospital, Tom Simpson sadly passed away. He became very unwell because of the extreme heat and not having enough water in his body.
The next day, the other cyclists were very sad and didn't want to race so soon after Tom's death. They asked the race organizers to postpone the stage. In the end, they agreed to ride, but with the condition that a British rider would be allowed to win the stage. This honor went to Barry Hoban. Barry later married Tom Simpson's widow.
Memorials and Legacy
British cyclists paid for a granite memorial stone for Tom Simpson near the spot where he died on Mont Ventoux. This place has become a special spot for many cyclists to visit.
Harry Hall, who was the team mechanic, said that Tom's last words were "Go on, go on!" The famous words "Put me back on my bike!" were actually made up by a journalist named Sid Saltmarsh, who was not there when Tom died.
Tom Simpson is buried in Harworth cemetery. A small museum about him was opened in August 2001 by former Tour de France rider Lucien Van Impe. A smaller version of the Mont Ventoux Simpson Memorial was placed outside that club in 1997, to remember the 30th anniversary of Tom's passing.
Tom Simpson's Achievements
Here are some of Tom Simpson's most important professional achievements:
- 1961: Won the Ronde van Vlaanderen
- 1962: Wore the Maillot jaune (yellow jersey) for a short time in the Tour de France
- 1963: Won Bordeaux-Paris
- 1964: Won Milan-Sanremo
- 1965: Became World road race champion
- 1965: Won Giro di Lombardia
- 1967: Won Paris-Nice
- 1967: Won two stages of the Vuelta a España
Besides these big wins, Tom often finished in the top ten of other important Classic races. He also won many other cycling events.
As an amateur, he won an Olympic Games team pursuit bronze medal in 1956. He also won a silver medal in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games individual pursuit. He won silver (1956) and gold (1958) medals in the British 4000m individual pursuit championship. In 1957, he was the British League of Racing Cyclists hill climb champion, and won a silver medal in the same event the next year.
| Preceded by Jan Janssen |
World Road Racing Champion 1965 |
Succeeded by Rudi Altig |
| Preceded by Mary Rand |
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1965 |
Succeeded by Bobby Moore |
Images for kids
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In 1956, aged 18, Simpson began track cycling at Manchester's Fallowfield Stadium (pictured in 1985).
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In April 1959, 21-year-old Simpson arrived at Gare de Saint-Brieuc in Brittany (pictured in 2011) with £100 and the hope of launching his continental professional career.
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Simpson's fourth place in the 1959 world road race championships at Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands (pictured in 2011) was the highest ever by a British rider.
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Simpson crashed descending the Col d'Aubisque (pictured) during the tenth stage of the 1960 Tour de France, finishing the tour in 29th place overall.
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Simpson won the 1961 Tour of Flanders in a two-man sprint with Nino Defilippis in Wetteren, Belgium, becoming the first Briton to win a "monument" classic.
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Simpson crashed descending the Col du Galibier (pictured) during stage sixteen of the 1966 Tour de France, injuring his arm and forcing him to abandon the Tour the next day.
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The memorial to Simpson (pictured in 2009) on the spot where he died on Mont Ventoux has become a pilgrimage for many cyclists.
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See also
In Spanish: Tom Simpson para niños
