It’s the day before the start of the 1954 Tour de France and Amsterdam is in party mode. The Tour circus is in town. Funfairs have sprung up all over the city and thousands of people are on the streets. Squares are full of market stalls and organ music. Cars displaying the exotic names of French newspapers, television and radio stations are on the roads. The city’s youth are crowded around the advertising trucks of large French companies.
In the words of the Dutch daily Het Vrije Volk, today Amsterdam has ‘a somewhat Latin atmosphere’. Tonight the shops and bars and cafes will do a roaring trade as they stay open until the small hours.
‘We haven’t seen Amsterdam like this since the coronation days of 1948,’ the newspaper will report. ‘Even at midnight it wasn’t possible to get a seat on the cafe terraces of Leidseplein, Rembrandtplein and Damrak.’
Outside of Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium a large crowd has gathered. It is from here that tomorrow the Tour’s peloton will be sent on its way. Riders are arriving to complete the prerace formalities and locals want to catch sight of cycling’s biggest stars off the bike. They line the road outside the stadium, five or six deep, waiting to see who they can glimpse.
Denne historien er fra May 2023 - 138-utgaven av Cyclist UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 2023 - 138-utgaven av Cyclist UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Best of both worlds
The new Trek Madone blends the speed of the brand's quickest superbike with the lightness of its mountain-crushing Émonda to become the ultimate race bike
Eddy Merckx Pévèle Carbon
A versatile design that shows the pros and cons of flexible build options
Gravel ride: Girona Welcome to Cycling Central
Girona in Catalonia has become one of Europe's most popular cycling venues thanks to its weather, roads and culture. But it's still possible to leave the hordes behind by going off-tarmac
Revolutions and evolutions
The wheel may be a 5,000-year-old invention but designers are still finding ways to make it lighter, faster, safer and more stable.
Kitzbüheler Horn
The Austrian climb that dishes out pain
Cycling history in six items
In the first of a series on cyling's historical artefacts, Cyclist visits the KOERS Museum in Belgium to discover the pick of the exhibits.
Different times
What was the cycling world like 75 years ago? Now in his midnineties, Scottish former champion Ramsay Mackay remembers those times like they were yesterday
Big Ride: Alpe d'Huez - Climb and a half
No climb is as emblematic of the Tour de France as Alpe d'Huez. Ahead of its first appearance at the women's Tour, Cyclist takes a ride around it and up it. And then up it again
This Olympic Road Race might actually be worth watching
A punchy finale around Paris's Butte de Montmartre will bring the excitement usually missing from the Olympic Road Race, says Felix Lowe
Beryl Burton wins her first road Worlds
Beryl Burton claimed the first of two World Championships Road Race titles in 1960, becoming the first rider to win pursuit and road world titles in the same year
