[CR]Re: Paris Roubaix, '76 teams (feldmans)

(Example: History)

In-Reply-To: <CATFOODjK0AyTs8w0Mn00003971@catfood.nt.phred.org>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 15:06:44 -0500
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Herb Langston" <langston@interaccess.com>
Subject: [CR]Re: Paris Roubaix, '76 teams (feldmans)

Tom wrote:
>One of my favorite videos is the tape of the '76 Paris Roubaix race, won by
>Marc DeMayer of Flandria in a tight sprint over DeVlaeminck and Moser.
>However, early in the tape the narrator indicates that there are 15 teams in
>the race. I can only identify 13. Further, there are three teams whose
>bicycles I cannot identify. Any help appreciated.

A Sunday in Hell- one of my favorite films. I'll watch it again and see if I can recognize the missing teams/bikes. A lot of the camerawork was from a helicopter, though.

I wish there was a web database of teams and bikes and riders for the major races of the past decades. I have a Benotto that was supposedly ridden in the 1979 Tour of Spain, and there is a name stamped onto the 3TTT stem, but I have no idea what team or rider it was (probably just an anonymous domestique).
>Any guesses anyone? Also, why did seemingly all the teams start the day
>with brand new white tape? Any reason other than aesthetics? Did they
>rewrap the bars for every race?

Yes, bars were rewrapped every day. Maybe because fresh cloth tape is stickier and easier to hold onto. Maybe it was an image thing, having the sponser's name associated with clean bikes (white cloth tape gets dirty really fast). By the time this film was shot, though, it was a racing tradition.

Herb Langston
Evanston, IL