Tom Simpson

For other people named Tom Simpson, see Tom Simpson (disambiguation).

Tom Simpson

Simpson in 1967
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Simpson
Nickname	Mr Tom
Born	(1937-11-30)30 November 1937 Haswell, County Durham, England
Died	13 July 1967(1967-07-13) (aged 29) Mont Ventoux, Provence, France
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	69 kg (150 lb; 10.9 st)
Team information
Discipline	Road and track
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Amateur team(s)
Harworth & District CC Scala Wheelers
Professional team(s)
1959–1962 1963–1967	St. Raphaël-Géminiani Peugeot-BP-Englebert
Major wins
Grand Tours Vuelta a España 2 individual stages (1967) Stage races Paris–Nice (1967) One-day races and Classics Tour of Flanders (1961) Bordeaux–Paris (1963) Milan – San Remo (1964) Giro di Lombardia (1965)
Medal record Competitor for Great Britain Road bicycle racing World Championships Gold 1965 San Sebastián Road race Olympic Games Bronze Melbourne 1956 Team pursuit

Tom "Tommy" Simpson (30 November 1937–13 July 1967) was a British professional cyclist, regarded as one the most successful British cyclists of all-time. Born in Haswell, County Durham, later moving to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. He began track cycling as a teenager and specialised in the pursuit discipline, winning a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Aged 21, he was signed by the French professional road racing team St. Raphaël-Géminiani – later known as Rapha, where he won the 1961 Tour of Flanders and became the first Briton to wear the yellow jersey, holding it on stage 12 of the 1962 Tour de France. He then moved to Peugeot-BP-Englebert, winning the Classic races: Bordeaux–Paris and Milan – San Remo. In 1965 he became the Briton's first world road race champion and then went on to win the Giro di Lombardia, contributing to him being named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He won two stages of the 1967 Vuelta a España, before claiming the general classification of the Paris–Nice in the same year.

In the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France, he collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux, aged 29. The post-mortem examination found that he had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and a stomach complaint. A memorial stands close to the spot where he died and has become a pilgrimage for many cyclists. Simpson was known to have taken sports enhancing drugs during his career, at a time when there was no doping control. Despite controversy, he is held in high regard by many cyclists, for his character and will to win.

Early life and amateur career

Childhood and club racing

Simpson was born on 30 November 1937 in Haswell, County Durham, the youngest of the six children of coal miner Tom Simpson senior and his wife Alice, née Cheetham. His father had been a semi-professional sprinter in athletics. The family lived in a small terraced house and there was not much money around, until, in 1943 his parents took charge of the working men's club and moved in above. In 1950 the Simpson family moved to Harworth on the Nottinghamshire-Yorkshire border where his Mother's sister lived; new coalfields were opening and further opportunities for him and his older brother, Harry, who by now were they only children left at home.

Aged 12, Simpson rode his first bike, which belonged to his brother-in-law, and would share it with Harry and two cousins, time trialling around Harworth. He then followed Harry, and joined Harworth and District Cycling Club. He needed to upgrade his bike, and got a weekend job delivering bread and groceries within the district of Bassetlaw by bike. He exchanged bikes with a customer, one more race-specific. He was often left behind in club races, and the members of the cycling club nicknamed him "Four-stone Coppi" after Italian rider Fausto Coppi. He began winning time trials at his club, but eventually grew unhappy, feeling the resentment from the senior members due to his boasting. He left Harworth and District and joined Rotherham's Scala Wheelers. In 1954, aged 16, he won the North Midlands junior hill climb championship in Derbyshire.

After Simpson left school, he found work as an apprentice draughtsman at an engineering company in Retford, around 10 miles (16 km) from his home in Harworth; he travelled by bike, using it as training. While in Retford he would race on a grass track, he took the brakes of his road bike and loaned track wheels from a fellow rider. He placed well over in the 0.5 mi (0.8 km) races on both grass and cement, but decided he would concentrate on road racing. His first race was as a junior at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham. In 1955 he won the national junior hill climb championship and placed third in the senior event with the same time. His first race as a senior was in the semi-professional Circuit des Gimpeurs in Derbyshire, coming second.

Simpson then immersed himself into the world of cycling; he wrote to naturalised Austrian rider, George Berger, who then coached Simpson, helping with his riding position. In late-1955 Simpson was suspended from racing following a dispute between the two governing body of cycling in Britain, the National Cyclists' Union (NCU), and the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC), which ended with an agreement that if any rider committed any offence under the Road Traffic Act they would incur a suspension. Simpson was caught by police failing to stop at a 'halt' sign, and was subsequently banned for a period of six months. During his suspension he picked up the sport of motorcycle trials, and nearly quit cycling, but could not afford to purchase a new motorcycle necessary for progression.

Track years: Olympics, Commonwealths and worlds

In 1956 Simpson began track cycling at Manchester's Fallowfield Stadium, pictured in 1985.

Berger then told Simpson that if he wanted to be a successful road cyclist, he first needed to ride the track, in particular the 4000 m individual pursuit event. He travelled regularly to compete at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester, where in early-1956, he met world pursuit silver medallist, Cyril Cartwright, who believed Simpson had a chance of winning that year's national pursuit championship. Cartwright advised him on dieting, lent him a track bike and developed his technique; the 1948 Olympic silver medallist, Reg Harris, was brought in to train with Simpson. In the national championships at Fallowfield, Simpson won the silver in the individual pursuit; he beat reigning world champion Norman Sheil on the way to the final, where he was beaten by Mike Gambrill.

Simpson began working with his father as a draughtsman at the glass factory in Harworth. He was riding well, and although wasn't selected by Great Britain for the world championships, he was for the 1956 Olympic Games, as part of the Great Britain 4000 m team pursuit squad. In mid-September he travelled to Russia for two weeks, competing against the Russian and Italian teams, as preparation for the Olympics. The seven-strong squad began in Leningrad, then Moscow before finishing in Sofia, Bulgaria. He was nicked named the "Sparrow" by the Russian press, due to his frailness. The following month he was in Melbourne for the Olympics, and qualified for the team pursuit semi-finals against Italy; the Great Britain squad believed they had chance of beat them and the other semi-finalists, South Africa and France. They were beaten by Italy, taking the bronze medal; Simpson blamed himself for the loss, pushing too hard on one of his turns and not being able to recover for the next.

There was one name on everyone's lips on that day, 'Tom Simpson'. There was a buzz in the crowd as he began to climb, you could feel it, and I remember this lad with shock of hair thundering up the hill past me, carried on a solid wave of excitement. The overall feeling that day was that this was the future, this was the man to watch – Tom Simpson.

“

”

Spectator, Gordon Hill, recounts the 1957 BLRC national hill climb championships

Following the Olympics, Simpson trained throughout the winter into 1957. In May he rode the nationl 25-mile championships, and although he was the favourite, was beaten by Sheil in the final. A week later, while racing a points race at an international meeting at Fallowfield, Simpson crashed badly, almost breaking his leg; he stopped working for a month and then struggled to find fitness once healed. At the national pursuit championships, he was beaten in the quarter-finals. After this defeat, he went back to road racing and won the BLRC national hill climb championship in October. He then took a short break from racing. He returned in February 1958 and after a return to form raced in the Good Friday Meeting track event at Herne Hill Velodrome in London, which ended in disappointment. He won the Daily Herald Torphy at the White Monday Meeting at Fallowfield, before travelling to Sofia with Sheil, for two weeks racing. He then won the national pursuit championship at Herne Hill. In July he won a silver medal for England in the individual pursuit at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, losing to Sheil by one-hundredth of a second in the final.

In September 1958, Simpson competed at the world championships in Paris. In the opening elimination round of the individual pursuit against the reigning world champion, Italian Carlo Simonigh, his wheel got caught in the guttering tyre in the final part of the race, and after he bunny hopped his bike out, his tyre burst as he landed it on a crack in the concrete track. He knocked himself unconscious and dislocated his jaw. He had won the race as he crash after he crossed the finish line. Even though he was in pain, the team manager, Benny Foster, made him race in the quarter-final against New Zealand's Warwick Dalton, but only to make Dalton participate, as team-mate Sheil – who ended up winning gold – may meet him. Simpson felt that if he not crashed the world championship would of been his. He wanted to turn professional, but needed to prove himself first. He wanted to break the world amateur hour record, and spoke to Harris, who arranged for Simpson to race at the indoor Oerlikon velodrome in Zurich in November. He failed by 300 m, covering a distance of 43.995 km (27.3 mi); he blamed his failure on the low temperature caused by the ice rink in the center of the velodrome.

Move to Brittany

In April 1959, Simpson arrived at Gare de Saint-Brieuc in Brittany, pictured in 2011, with £100 and the hope of launching his continental professional career.

Simpson was invited to a race in East Berlin, as part of British team, and on his return he was determined that he needed to move to the continent for success. He contact French brothers, Robert and Yvon Murphy, who he had met while racing in Manchester and the Isle of Man, and asked them if he could stay with them in the Breton fishing port of Saint-Brieuc, which they accepted. His final event in Britain was the Good Friday Meeting at Herne Hill, riding motor-paced races against the likes of reigning world champion Lothar Meister. Simpson won the event and was invited to Germany to train for the 1959 motor-paced world championships, but turn them down in order to chase his dreams of a career on the road. Bicycle manufacturer Elswick Hopper also offered him chance to join their team, however it was British-based and he was advised by their manager and former British team boss, Benny Foster, to continue with his plans to move to France.

In April 1959, Simpson set off to live in France, he took two Carlton bikes (road and track) and £100 which was given to him by Carlton as a thank you for his help promoting them. His last words to his mother were: "I don't want to be sitting here in 20 years' time, wondering what would have happened if I hadn't gone to France". The following day, his National Service papers were delivered – alougth keen before his move, he would go on to avoid conscription. Once settled with the Murphy family, he began winning local races before attracting attention in criteriums. He was then invited to race in the Route de France – an eight-day amateur stage race – by the St. Rapha/VC 12 club, who were behind the professional team St. Raphaël-Géminiani – abbreviated to Rapha. He went back winning local races before riding the Route de France, where he won the final stage, breaking away from the peloton and just managing to hold on for victory. Following this win, he was offered the chance to compete at the Tour de France as part of an international team, but turn it down. He was offered terms by two professional teams, Mercier-BP-Hutchinson and Rapha – which already had a British cyclist, Brian Robinson; he opted for the latter, and on 29 June, signed a contract which would see him earning 80,000 francs (£80) a month.

Professional career

1959–1960: Early years

His first event as a professional was a small stage race, the Tour de l'Ouest in which he won two stages and finished 18th – a major achievement for a new pro who would normally be expected to act as a domestique to the team's leader. He competed in the 1959 world championship in the Netherlands in the individual pursuit and professional road race, finishing fourth in both. He turned down selection to ride the 1959 Tour de France.

He did ride the following year, finishing 29th, and taking third place on stage three. 1960 also saw him compete in his first Classic: he had top ten finishes in La Flèche Wallonne and Paris–Roubaix – he led the latter for 40 km (24.9 mi) before running out of energy and being overtaken less than 10 km (6.2 mi) from the finish, ending up ninth.

1961: Tour of Flanders

In April, Simpson won his first Classic. After losing at Paris–Roubaix the previous year, he demonstrated his liking for cobbles by winning the Tour of Flanders after a two-man sprint at the finish. That year, he also finished fifth in the early season Paris–Nice stage race, and ninth in the world championship, but he abandoned the Tour de France on stage three, affected by a knee injury.

1962: Yellow jersey

In 1962, he became first Briton to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the 1962 Tour de France (after stage 12) and finished sixth overall (his highest placing and at time, the highest by a Briton), losing third spot after a crash. Earlier in the season, he again finished fifth in the Tour of Flanders and sixth in Gent–Wevelgem.

1963: Bordeaux–Paris

Bordeaux

Angoulême

Châtellerault

Orléans

Paris

Simpson won the 1963 Bordeaux–Paris race, which covered a distance of 560 km (350 mi), one of the longest one-day races.

Riding in the black-and-white of the Peugeot-BP-Englebert in 1963, Simpson won Bordeaux–Paris, was second in Paris–Brussels and Paris–Tours, third in the Tour of Flanders, eighth in Paris–Roubaix, and 10th in La Flèche Wallonne and the Giro di Lombardia.

1964: Milan – San Remo

He won Milan–San Remo in 1964, with an average speed of 43.4 km (27.0 mi). He placed fourth in the world championship and 10th in Paris–Roubaix. He also came close to a stage victory in the 1964 Tour de France, finishing second on stage nine, ending 14th overall.

1965: World championship and Lombardia

In 1965 Simpson became first Briton to win the world road race championship, outsprinting Germany's Rudi Altig in San Sebastián, Spain after the two had broken away with 40 km (24.9 mi) to go. He also won the Italian Autumn Classic, the Giro di Lombardia (the second world champion jersey also to win in Italy – the other was Alfredo Binda in the 1920s), and picked up third in Flèche Wallonne and Bordeaux–Paris, sixth in Paris–Roubaix and 10th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He partnered Peter Post to victory in the six-day race at Brussels. He ended the year by winning the Sports Journalists' Association Sportsman of the Year Award (following Reg Harris – the only other cyclist to win), and he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, with Formula One World Champion Jim Clark coming second. Within British cycling, Simpson won the Bidlake Memorial Prize in 1965.

1966: Illness and injury

A stage victory in the Tour de France still eluded Simpson. He twice finished second, on stages 12 and 13, of the 1966 Tour de France, but abandoned on stage 17; he had attacked on the Col du Galibier but crashed on the descent and was unable to hold his handlebars. 1966, overall, was a write-off for Simpson, who missed much of the season due to a skiing injury the previous winter.

1967: Paris–Nice and Vuelta wins

He looked in form in early 1967. In April he won Paris–Nice (taking two second places and a third place on different days) and stage five of the Giro di Sardegna. He also rode in the 1967 Vuelta a España for the first time, collecting two stage victories and 33rd place overall.

Death

The limestone peaked Mont Ventoux, where Simpson's life ended, aged 29, on the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France.

Going into the 1967 Tour de France, Simpson was determined to make an impact, he had not won a major race since the Giro di Lombardia in 1965, was in his eighth year as a professional and needed to earn more money before retiring and was optimistic he could finish high in the general classification, securing a contract with an Italian trade team and larger appearance fees from post-Tour criteriums. The 1967 Tour was contested by national teams, rather than trade teams. Simpson was undisputed leader of the British team, one of the weakest in the race, which consisted of four with experience of top-level racing and six who were riding the Tour for the first time. This could been seen as a handicap, but Simpson wasn't guaranteed the leadership of the Peugeot team, and would have to compete with Frenchman Roger Pingeon – the winner of the 1967 Tour. His plan was to either finish in the top-three or wear the yellow jersey; he had targeted three key stages, one of which included the 13th over Mont Ventoux, riding safe until the race reached the mountains.

After the first week, Simpson lay in sixth place overall, leading the favourites. As the race passed through the Alps, he fell ill on stage ten through the Col du Galibier pass, with diarrhoea and stomach pains; he wasn't able to eat and rode on reserves, finishing in 16th place, dropping to seventh overall, with his rivals now ahead. On the evening of stage 12 his personal manager, Daniel Dousset, put Simpson under pressure to produce good results. His friend and team-mate on the British team, Vin Denson, advised Simpson to limit his losses and settle with what he had; his Peugeot manager, Gaston Plaud, was in Marseille and asked Simpson to quit the race, even though he had no jurisdiction.

Stage 13 measured 211.5 km (131.4 mi), started in Marseille, went over the 1,910 m (6,270 ft)-high Mont Ventoux, the "Giant of Provence", before finishing in Carpentras. At the start of the stage, the temperature was possibly as high as 45 °C (113 °F); the Tour doctor, Pierre Dumas, took a stroll at dawn. Near his hotel, the Noaille at Cannebière, he met other race followers at 6:30am. "If the riders take something [drugs] today, we'll have a death on our hands", he said. At the start line, a journalist noticed Simpson looked tired and ask him if the heat was the problem, Simpson replied "No, it's not the heat, it's the Tour." As the race reached lower slopes of Mont Ventoux, Simpson – still suffering with illness – was seen ingesting a number of pills with brandy. As the race closed in on the summit of Ventoux, the peloton began to fracture, and for a while, Simpson managed to stay in the front group of elite riders; he then starting slipped back to a group of chasers around one minute behind. He then began to lose control of his bike zig-zagging across the road. His team manager, Alec Taylor, feared for Simpson less for the way he was going up the mountain than for the way he would go down the other side.

Simpson collapsed one kilometre from the summit of Mont Ventoux. A memorial now stands marking the spot.

One kilometre from the summit, Simpson fell off his bike. Taylor and the team mechanic, Harry Hall, came from team car. Hall tried to persuade Simpson to stop when he fell, saying "That's it for you, Tom." But Simpson said he wanted to go on. He said 'My straps, Harry, my straps!' Meaning that his toe-straps were still undone. They got him his bike and pushed him off. Simpson's last words, as remembered by Hall, and by Taylor, were 'On, on, on.' The words "Put me back on my bike!" were invented by Sid Saltmarsh, covering the event for The Sun and Cycling, who was not there at the time and in a reception black-spot for live accounts on Radio Tour. He managed to ride a further 500 yards (460 m) before he began to wobble and was held upright by three spectators, before helping him to the ground on side of the road. He was unconscious with his hands locked to the handlebars; Hall shouted for the other mechanic, Ken Ryall, to pry them loose and the pair laid the lifeless Simpson beside the road. Hall and a nurse from the Tour's medical team then took turns giving Simpson mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, before Dumas came with an oxygen mask.

Around 40 minutes after his collapse, a police helicopter took Simpson to a hospital in nearby Avignon, where he was pronounced dead, with official time of death at 5:40pm. Dumas refused to sign a burial certificate and a poisons expert from Marseille was commissioned to conduct an autopsy. Two empty tubes of amphetamines and a half-full tube were found in the rear pocket of his racing jersey, one of which was labelled 'Tonedron'. The British team had been called in for questioning and their baggage was searched. Two of the Belgian soigneurs who looked after riders in the team, specifically Simpson locked themselves in their room, got drunk and would not come out. On the next racing day the other riders were reluctant to continue racing so soon after Simpson's death and asked the organisers for a postponement. The French rider Jean Stablinski proposed instead that the race would go on but that one of the British riders, all wearing black armbands, would be allowed to win the stage. This honour went to Barry Hoban. This was later a subject of argument as it was widely believed that the race winner should have been Simpson's other team mate and close friend Vin Denson.

Aftermath

Tommy Simpson rode to his death in the Tour de France so doped that he did not know he had reached the limit of his endurance. He died in the saddle, slowly asphyxiated by intense effort in a heatwave after taking methylamphetamine drugs and alcoholic stimulants.

“

”

Daily Mail reporter, J. L. Manning, broke the news that drugs were in involved in Simpson's death, 31 July 1967

For a while, nothing happened. There was no inquest in either Britain or France. Then on 31 July 1967, British reporter, J. L. Manning of the Daily Mail, broke the news. Manning was a serious and well-respected journalist. His exposure, the first time a formal connection had been made between drugs and Simpson's death, set off a wave of similar reporting in Britain and elsewhere. French authorises confirmed that Simpson had traces of amphetamine in his body – impairing his judgement, which allowed him to push his body beyond its limit; the official cause of death was heart failure due to dehydration and heat exhaustion, with the addition of drugs a contributing factor.

Funeral

Simpson was buried in Harworth, after a service at the 12th-century church in the village, attended by an estimated 5,000 mourners, including Peugeot team-mate Eddy Merckx, standing outside in rain to hear the service by loudspeaker. The epitaph on Simpson's gravestone reads 'His body ached, his legs grew tired, but still he would not give in', taken from a card left for him by his brother, Harry, following his death.

Doping

Two years before his death, Simpson, writing in the British newspaper, The People, hinted at drug-taking in races, although he implied that it was other competitors who were involved. Asked about drugs by Eamonn Andrews on the BBC Home Service radio network, Simpson did not deny taking them but said that a rider who took drugs all the time might get to the top but he would not stay there.

William Fotheringham spoke to another British professional, Alan Ramsbottom, for his biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike. He quoted Ramsbottom as saying "Tom went on the Tour de France with one suitcase for his kit and another with his stuff, drugs and recovery things." Fotheringham said Lewis had the same memory. Ramsbottom added: "Tom took a lot of chances. He took a lot of it. I remember him taking a course of strychnine to build up to some big event. He showed me the box, and had to take one every few days."

On the subject of drugs, Simpson's friend and helper in Ghent, Albert Beurick, insisted: "I know he took them but he was a clever man. He didn't just take them, take them, take them. One day I remember he was going to take some to go training and he said "I don't need this... I'm getting as bad as [Jean] Stablinski."

Riding style and legacy

Simpson inspired the name of Simpson Magazine, which launched on 1 March 2013, the creators of the magazine said “It was Simpson’s spirit and style, his legendary tenacity and his ability to suffer that endeared him to cycling fans everywhere as much as the trophies he won”.

Memorials

The granite memorial to which stands on the spot Simpson died on Mont Ventoux has become a pilgrimage for many cyclists.

A granite memorial to Simpson stands on the spot where he collapsed and died on Ventoux, one kilometre east of the summit, with the words 'Olympic medallist, world champion, British sporting ambassador'. The magazine Cycling – now Cycling Weekly – opened a subscription fund in the week following his death, raising around £1,500. It was unveiled in 1968 by Simpson's wife Helen, Hoban and the British team manager Alec Taylor. It was inspired by the memorial to motorcycle racer Jimmie Guthrie, who crash and died at Guthrie's Memorial, Isle of Man, in 1937. Over the years, it slowly fell into disrepair and a new plinth was constructed, secured into the mountainside with steel rods. On the 30th anniversary of Simpson's death, his daughters Joanne and Jane added a plaque that reads 'There is no mountain too high'. Concrete steps from the roadside to the memorial were opened on the 40th anniversary. The memorial has become a pilgrimage to cyclists who pass the memorial frequently leave tributes such as drinking bottles and caps. In nearby Bédoin, there is a plaque in the square, placed by journalists following the 1967 Tour.

At the Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club, there is a museum dedicated to Simpson, opened by riders Denson, Hoban, Arthur Metcalfe and Lucien Van Impe on 12 August 2001. The main display includes the bicycle he used to win the 1967 Paris–Nice and the jersey, gloves and shorts he wore on the day of his death. A memorial outside the club – a replica of the one at Ventoux – was erected in 1997 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death. In his adopted hometown of Ghent there is a bust of Simpson in the Sportpalis (Sport Palace).

British rider David Millar won stage 12 of the 2012 Tour de France, on the 45th anniversary, and, having previously been banned from cycling for using performance-enhancing drugs himself, paid tribute to Simpson as well as reinforcing the importance of learning from his own, and Simpson's, mistakes.

Personal life

Soon after moving to France in 1959, Simpson met Helen Sherburn, whom he married on 3 January 1960 and with whom he had two daughters Jane and Joanne. After his death Helen Simpson married another cyclist, Barry Hoban, in 1969. Simpson is the uncle of Belgian cyclist Matthew Gilmore, whose mother was Tom's sister.

Career achievements

Major results

Source:

1955

1st BLRC National Junior Hill Climb Championship

1956

3rd Team pursuit, Olympic Games

1957

1st BLRC National Hill Climb Championship

1958

1st Individual pursuit, Amateur National Track Championships

2nd Individual pursuit, British Empire and Commonwealth Games

1959

Tour de l'Ouest

1st Stages 4 & 5b (ITT)

4th Road race, Road World Championships

1960

1st Overall Tour du Sud-Est

1st Stage 1b (TTT) Four Days of Dunkirk

7th La Flèche Wallonne

9th Paris–Roubaix

1961

1st Tour of Flanders

1st Stage 2 Euskal Bizikleta

5th Overall Paris–Nice

9th Road race, Road World Championships

1962

2nd Overall Paris–Nice

1st Stage 3a (TTT)

3rd Critérium des As

3rd Six Days of Madrid (with John Tresidder)

6th Overall Tour de France

Held Yellow Jersey for Stage 12

5th Tour of Flanders

6th Gent–Wevelgem

1963

1st Bordeaux–Paris

1st Manx International

2nd Critérium des As

2nd Gent–Wevelgem

2nd Paris–Brussels

2nd Overall Super Prestige Pernod International

2nd Paris–Tours

3rd Tour of Flanders

8th Paris–Roubaix

10th La Flèche Wallonne

10th Giro di Lombardia

1964

1st Milan – San Remo

2nd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

3rd Trofeo Baracchi (with Rudi Altig)

4th Road race, Road World Championships

10th Paris–Roubaix

14th Overall Tour de France

1965

1st Road race, Road World Championships

1st Giro di Lombardia

1st London–Holyhead

1st Six Days of Brussels (with Peter Post)

2nd Six Days of Ghent (with Peter Post)

2nd Overall Super Prestige Pernod International

3rd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre

3rd La Flèche Wallonne

3rd Bordeaux–Paris

5th E3 Harelbeke

6th Paris–Roubaix

10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

1966

1st Stage 3 (TTT) Four Days of Dunkirk

2nd Six Days of Münster (with Klaus Bugdahl)

2nd Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau

1967

1st Overall Paris–Nice

1st Manx International

Vuelta a España

1st Stages 5 & 16

1st Stage 5 Giro di Sardegna

3rd Six Days of Antwerp (with Leo Proost and Emile Severeyns)

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Source:

Grand Tour	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967
Vuelta a España	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	33
Giro d'Italia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tour de France	29	WD	6	—	13	WD	WD	†

WD = Withdrew
— = Did not compete
† = Died on stage 13

Monuments results timeline

Source:

Monument	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967
Milan – San Remo	38	25	—	19	1	—	—	70
Tour of Flanders	—	1	5	3	—	—	—	—
Paris–Roubaix	9	88	37	10	6	—	—	—
Liège–Bastogne–Liège	11	—	—	33	—	10	—	—
Giro di Lombardia	84	—	—	10	21	1	—	—

DNF = Did not finish
— = Did not compete

Awards and honours

• BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1965
• Sports Journalists' Association's Sportsman of the Year: 1965
• Daily Express Sportsman of the Year: 1965
• Bidlake Memorial Prize: 1965
• British Cycling Hall of Fame: 2010

See also

• Doping at the Tour de France
• List of British cyclists
• List of drug-related deaths
• List of doping cases in cycling
• List of Olympic medalists in cycling (men)
• List of professional cyclists who died during a race

References

• Cazeneuve, Thierry; Chany, Pierre (2011). La fabuleuse histoire du Tour de France. Paris: La Martinière. ISBN 978-2-7324-4792-6. Retrieved 13 February 2013. 
• Dimeo, Paul (9 Jul 2007). A History of Drug Use in Sport: 1876 – 1976: Beyond Good and Evil. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-00370-1. Retrieved 9 February 2013. 
• Fotheringham, William (27 Jun 2006) [1st. pub. 2005]. Roule Britannia: A History of Britons in the Tour De France. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-224-07426-1. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Fotheringham, William (26 Jun 2007) [1st. pub. 2002]. Put Me Back On My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-224-08018-7. Retrieved 9 February 2013. 
• Hilton, Tim (2005) [1st. pub. 2004:HarperCollins]. One More Kilometre and We're in the Showers. London: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-00-653228-6. Retrieved 30 April 2013. 
• Houlihan, Barrie (2002). Dying to Win: Doping in Sport And the Development of Anti-doping Policy, Part 996 (2nd ed.). Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe. ISBN 978-92-871-4685-4. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Howard, Alastair (27 July 2010). "Death on the Mountain: The Story of Tom Simpson". The Call Of The Wild. London: BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rgb. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
• McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (31 Jul 2008). The Story of the Tour De France: 1965-2007. Indianapolis, U.S.: Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59858-608-4. Retrieved 25 April 2013. 
• Nelsson, Richard (2012). The Tour De France ... to the Bitter End. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-85265-336-4. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Pascoe, Ray (1997). Tom Simpson: Something to Aim At (DVD). Ottershaw, Surrey, UK: Bromley Video. Retrieved 11 May 2013. 
• Rosen, Daniel M. (30 Jun 2008). Dope: A History of Performance Enhancement in Sports from the Nineteenth Century to Today. Santa Barbara, California, U.S.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-34521-0. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Sidwells, Chris (2000). Mr Tom: True Story of Tom Simpson. Norwich, UK: Mousehold Press. ISBN 978-1-874739-14-2. Retrieved 9 February 2013. 
• Simpson, Tommy (14 Jul 2009) [1st. pub. Stanley Paul & Co:1966]. Cycling is My Life. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-224-08308-9. Retrieved 9 February 2013. 
• Thompson, Christopher S. (2008). The Tour de France: A Cultural History (2nd ed.). Berkeley, California, U.S.: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-93486-3. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Watts, Simon (18 July 2011). "The death of Tom Simpson". Witness. London: BBC. BBC World Service. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00hts7t. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
• Williams, Nicola; Le Nevez, Catherine (2007) [1st. pub. 1999]. Provence and the Côte d'Azur (5th ed.). Melbourne: Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-74104-236-8. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Woodland, Les (26 June 2007) [1st. pub. 2003]. The Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-224-08016-3. Retrieved 26 April 2013. 
• Woodland, Les (1980). Dope: The Use of Drugs in Sport. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-589-50231-7. Retrieved 25 April 2013. 

External links

• Tom Simpson profile at Cycling Archives
• Tom Simpson at Find a Grave

Sporting positions
Preceded by Joseph Groussard	Winner of Milan – San Remo 1964	Succeeded by Arie den Hartog
Preceded by Jan Janssen	World Road Race Champion 1965	Succeeded by Rudi Altig
Awards
Preceded by Mary Rand	BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1965	Succeeded by Bobby Moore