In 1963, Tom Simpson took a rare British victory at Bordeaux-Paris, an epic one-day race of 560km where riders were paced by Derny motorbikes
Words GILES BELBIN Photography OFFSIDE
A moment in time
For seven years our July number has featured a lengthy preview of the Tour de France, often with a detailed study of the “stage” and the stars of the world’s greatest road race,’ runs the first line of the editor’s introduction to the July 1963 edition of Sporting Cyclist. ‘It may at first seem odd that we have chosen the 50th Tour to depart from this custom. Don’t blame me for that – it is all Tom Simpson’s fault. I had planned six pages or so for the Bordeaux-Paris race but following Tom’s sensational win four extra pages had to be found, and it was the Tour which suffered. I am sure readers will understand.’
The man who penned those words, Jock Wadley, had enjoyed a close-up view of Simpson’s winning ride. Wadley arrived in Bordeaux the day before the race and spent the afternoon and evening prior to the 2am start locating the race HQ – the Café de France – and talking to mechanics and soigneurs. By 11pm he was in the Peugeot team’s hotel, waiting for the riders to make their way to the dining room for their pre-race meal.
Shortly afterwards Simpson walked down the stairs. He had barely slept and had endured spells of dizziness during the day. Still, Simpson was unperturbed: ‘The last time I felt like that was just before the World Road Championship in 1960,’ he told Wadley. ‘I turned out to be in top form really that day [Simpson would actually abandon that race having been hit by a car], so perhaps this is no cause for alarm. Nerves, maybe.’
After a meal of vegetable soup, raw carrots, rare steak and rice, followed by yoghurt, Simpson went to his room, accompanied by Wadley, who watched him ‘packing his valise with things not wanted on the 350-mile voyage ahead’, and getting his kit ready as they engaged in small talk. Wadley heard him murmur words of gratitude to his absent wife, Helen, for packing him some spare laces despite having just given birth to their second daughter just days before. It all adds up to a remarkably intimate portrait of a rider preparing himself for one of the toughest tests on the cycling calendar.
Just 15 riders rolled out from Bordeaux in the early hours of 26th May 1963. The format of the race had cha
