Smoking cyclists (Tour de France 1927)

The smoking cyclists of Tour de France 1927 is one of the most famous vintage cycling images from the heydays of road cycling races. It’s popular because  it conveys a certain aspect of the many differences between our time and the life hundred years ago. The dissonance between our 21st-centurian knowledge that smoking is very unhealthy and the jollly moment the photograph captured evokes a certain level of curiousity in us inadvertently.

This friction between Past and Present might be one of the most important reasons why vintage images are so popular nowadays. It’s a special form of nostalgia, the bittersweet longing for the past we never experienced ourselves, that can lead to unnecessary romanticization if the past. But hopefully it’s not the case when it comes to the topic  of smoking at a sport event.

But let’s  just see, who were those famous smoking cyclists on the picture from Tour de France 1927

Julien Vervaecke (1899-1940)

Belgian rider, professional cyclist between 1924 and 1936. He won Paris-Roubaix in 1930 and finished third in the GC of Tour de France 1927. (He also won two TDF stages in 1927 and 1929)

At the beginning of the World War 2, when a detachment of the retreating British army (apparenly some exiled Polish officers including) tried to ransack his restaurant for supplies, he refused it and was  shot possibly. His body was found weeks later, thus the exact date of his death is unknown.

Maurice Geldhof (1905-1970)

Belgian professional cyclist between 1927 and 1929. He won the 19th stage of Tour de Frace 1927.

Gustaaf Van Slembrouck (1902-1968)

Belgian rider, professional cyclinst between 1926 and 1934. He wore the yellow jersey for six days in 1926. Between 1926 and 1929 he won four TDF stages. He had top3 results at several important one-day races.