London: Tom Simpson is riding his bicycle on the rocky surface of Mount Ventoux. He has entered the 13th stage of Tour de France. He is exhausted due to stomach ache and high temperature is making things even worse for him. He has fallen down once but still insists on going on. This was the scene before Tom Simpson left this world on 13th of July 1967.
And this date marks 45 years of Tom Simpson’s death, a popular cyclist of his times. He had the honor of being the first British World Champion of men’s road race and he also named three monument classics to himself, namely Paris-Nice and two Vuelta a Espana stages.
Simpson shared the same popularity as Beatles, Mary Quant and Twiggy in 1960s. He was responsible for attracting huge crowd in races. And he also won the national Sports personality of the year in 1965, an award that was usually given to footballers back then.
But unfortunately he died during the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Mount Ventoux. The post mortem report declared the presence of amphetamine and alcohol in his body. And these two things combined with the scorching heat, stomach ache and a rigid climb proved to be fatal for him.
Simpson was very determined for the Tour de France. And though he had a weak team but their overall position was seventh. But when the 13th stage started at the Marseille, things weren’t going as planned. He had a stomach ache and was suffering badly. And he was not able to control the bicycle. He started to ride like an amateur, zigzagging through the route and even touching few edges. He fell once and his team members asked him to stop but he wanted to continue. And when he fell again his hands were locked in a handlebar.
He was given the first aid on the spot including mouth to mouth resuscitation, massage on his heart, oxygen and an injection. A police helicopter took him to the St-Marthe hospital at Avignon but he could not survive and was declared dead by the hospital authorities.
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