cycling

cycling, use of a bicycle for sport, recreation, or transportation. The sport of cycling consists of professional and amateur races, which are held mostly in continental Europe, the United States, and Asia. The recreational use of the bicycle is widespread in Europe and the United States. Use of the bicycle as a mode of transportation is particularly important in non-Western nations and in flatter countries, some of which, like the Netherlands, have a widespread system of bicycle paths.

Early history of the sport

Cycling as a sport officially began on May 31, 1868, with a 1,200-metre (1,312-yard) race between the fountains and the entrance of Saint-Cloud Park (near Paris). The winner was James Moore, an 18-year-old expatriate Englishman from Paris. On November 7, 1869, the first city-to-city race was held between Paris and Rouen; again Moore was the winner, having covered the 135 km (84 miles) in 10 hours 25 minutes, including time spent walking his bicycle up the steeper hills. While road racing became common within a few years in continental Europe, in England the deteriorated conditions of the roads made them unsuitable, and therefore the sport there focused on the track or time trials.

In the United States the first recorded race was held on May 24, 1878, in Boston, two years after the start of professional baseball and 13 years before basketball was invented. Almost all of the early American racing was on tracks, in long races sometimes employing pacers who rode ahead of contestants at a fast speed and then dropped away. By the 1890s there were about 100 dirt, cement, or wooden tracks around the country, mainly in big cities. More than 600 professionals traveled on this national circuit, which ranged from Boston to San Francisco, with competitions in such cities as St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Los Angeles. The sport received an enormous publicity boost on June 30, 1899, when one of these riders, Charles M. Murphy, rode on a wooden track behind a Long Island Rail Road train and covered a mile in 57.8 seconds, earning the nickname of Mile-a-Minute Murphy.

A particularly grueling form of racing flourished in the United States in the 1890s: the six-day race, 142 hours (since the races usually started at midnight and ended, six days later, at 10 pm) of nonstop competition with prizes up to $10,000 and an international field of riders. This form of racing was transformed with the change from one-man teams to two-man teams in 1899, and six-day races retained their popularity well into the 1930s. While no longer held in the United States, these races continue to attract large crowds in Belgium, Italy, France, and Germany.

Modern sport racing

The development of racing as a popular sport in Europe began in the 1890s with the improvement in road conditions and the introduction of some of the one-day classics that continue to this day (for example, the Paris-Roubaix race). After France and Belgium, races were introduced in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. In 1903 the 21-day-long Tour de France was inaugurated and has continued every year since except during World Wars I and II. Ranking just behind this premier race are the grand three-week tours of Italy (the Giro d’Italia) and Spain (the Vuelta a España). Usually, the Giro is held in May and June, the Tour de France in July, the Vuelta in September, and the World Championships in October. Prizes in these races are substantial, amounting to $2.5 million in the Tour de France alone.

Britannica Quiz

Turn Up the Heat

European road racing was under the sponsorship of bicycle manufacturers until the late 1920s, when national and regional teams were introduced. Trade sponsors returned after World War II but with the waning of bicycle manufacturers, teams began turning to various sponsors, including automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, and banks. The professional road-racing season now begins in January with races in Australia and Malaysia, continues from February through October in Europe and the United States, and closes, again in Asia, in November and December. For most riders, the season includes about 120 days of competition spread over eight months.

With the waning of six-day races during the Depression in the United States, American interest in cycling began to fade until the 1980s. American riders dominated the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, and in 1986 Greg LeMond won the first of his three Tours de France, rekindling American interest. In England, racing declined in popularity after the turn of the 20th century, with the advent of the automobile; despite the occasional Briton who makes a career as a professional on the Continent and a sporadic series of races, such as the Milk Race and the Prutour, both now defunct, the sport remains marginal. Hindering the growth of the sport in England is the public clamour that arises whenever a road is closed for a bicycle race. In Asia and Australia, however, there is no such resistance, and the roads are usually lined with spectators for such races as the Tour Down Under in Australia, the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia, and the Japan Cup. These races attract many professional teams from Europe and the United States. Many other Asian countries have races also, mainly for amateur teams from the region.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

Road and track races for men were held at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896; women entered Olympic competition in road races in 1984 and track races in 1988. Mountain biking, a cross-country race over rough terrain, became an Olympic event for men and women at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. The Atlanta Games also marked the first Olympics at which professionals were allowed to enter the road race and time trial competitions.