The Bol d'Or was a bicycle track race

Track cycling

Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles....

 that ran in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 between 1894 and 1950. It was a paced, 24 hour endurance event. It has been won by several notable cyclists including Constant Huret

Constant Huret

Constant Huret, nicknamed "le Boulanger" was a French long distance track racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1894 to 1902.-Major achievements:...

 (4 times), the Australian Hubert Opperman

Hubert Opperman

Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE , referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim....

 and three time hour record

Hour record

The hour record for bicycles is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle. There are several records. The most famous is for upright bicycles meeting the requirements of the Union Cycliste Internationale . It is one of the most prestigious in cycling...

 breaker Oscar Egg

Oscar Egg

Oscar Egg was a Swiss track and road bicycle racer. He captured the world hour record three times before the First World War...

. The person with the most wins is Léon Georget

Léon Georget

Leon Georget was a racing cyclist from Preuilly-sur-Claise, Indre-et-Loire, France. He was known as The Father of the Bol d'Or having won the race 9 times between 1903 and 1919 in Paris...

 (brother of Émile

Émile Georget

Émile Georget was a French road racing cyclist. Born in Bossay-sur-Claise, he was the younger brother of cyclist Léon Georget.He died at Châtellerault.- Tour de France :...

) with nine (including eight in a row).

The race was created on 23 and 24 June 1894 by a Monsieur Decam. It first ran at the Vélodrome Buffalo

Vélodrome Buffalo

The Vélodrome Buffalo and Stade Buffalo were cycling tracks in Paris. The first existed from 1893 until World War I, the second from 1922 until 1957....

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and was sponsored by Chocolate Meunier.

In the early years riders were paced by tandems or triplets. In 1899 electric tandems were tried and motor (derny) pacing was used in 1950. The 1900 event was one of the cycling events during the 1900 Summer Olympics

Cycling at the 1900 Summer Olympics

The 1900 Summer Olympics were held as part of the 1900 World's Fair, during which several cycling events were contested. Two of those cycling events are nowadays considered Olympic events by the International Olympic Committee. These two competitions were held between 9 September and 16 September...

, but it is not considered an Olympic event by the IOC because professional cyclists were allowed to enter.

The race gets its name from the prize awarded to the winner - a gilded

Gilding

The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...

 bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 bowl or cup.

Winners

Year	Rider	Country	Distance	Pacing	Velodrome
1894	Constant Huret Constant Huret Constant Huret, nicknamed "le Boulanger" was a French long distance track racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1894 to 1902.-Major achievements:...		736.946 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo Vélodrome Buffalo The Vélodrome Buffalo and Stade Buffalo were cycling tracks in Paris. The first existed from 1893 until World War I, the second from 1922 until 1957....
1895	Constant Huret		829.498 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1896	Gaston Rivierre		859.120 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1897	Lucien Stein		764.826 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1898	Constant Huret		852.468 km	triplet paced	Roubaix Roubaix Roubaix is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located between the cities of Lille and Tourcoing.The Gare de Roubaix railway station offers connections to Lille, Tourcoing, Antwerp, Ostend and Paris.-Culture:...  Vélodrome
1899	Albert Walters		1020.977 km	electric tandem paced	Parc des Princes Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium located in the southwest of Paris, France. The venue, with a seating capacity of 48,712 spectators, has been the home of French football club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. The current Parc des Princes was inaugurated on 4 June 1972, endowed...  Vélodrome
1900	Mathieu Cordang Mathieu Cordang Mathieu Cordang was a Dutch professional cyclist. Cordang's specialties were track racing and endurance racing.- Biography :...		956.775 km	triplet paced	Vélodrome de Vincennes Vélodrome de Vincennes The Vélodrome de Vincennes is a stadium in Vincennes, near Paris, France.Initially built as a velodrome in 1894, it became the main stadium for the 1900 Summer Olympics; Events that took place in the Velodrome at the 1900 Summer Olympics included cycling, cricket, rugby union, football and...
1902	Constant Huret		779.488 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1903	Léon Georget Léon Georget Leon Georget was a racing cyclist from Preuilly-sur-Claise, Indre-et-Loire, France. He was known as The Father of the Bol d'Or having won the race 9 times between 1903 and 1919 in Paris...		847.803 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1904	Lucien Petit-Breton Lucien Petit-Breton Lucien Georges Mazan was a French racing cyclist .He was born in Plessé, Loire-Atlantique , a part of Brittany, now part of Pays de la Loire. When he was six he moved with his parents to Buenos Aires where he took Argentine nationality...		852.000 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1905	Arthur Vanderstuyft		943.666 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome d'hiver Vélodrome d'hiver The Vélodrome d'Hiver , colloquially Vel' d'Hiv, was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As well as track cycling, it was used for ice hockey, wrestling, boxing, roller-skating, circuses, spectaculars, and demonstrations...
1906	René Pottier René Pottier René Pottier was a French racing cyclistPottier won Bordeaux–Paris in 1903 before turning professional. He came second in Paris–Roubaix 1905 and Bordeaux–Paris 1905, then third in 1906’s Paris–Roubaix, before winning the Tour de France in 1906.He was considered the finest climber of the Tour...		925.290 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1907	Léon Georget		904.420 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1908	Léon Georget		973.666 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome d'hiver
1909	Léon Georget		845.700 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1910	Léon Georget		923.300 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1911	Léon Georget		915.160 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1912	Léon Georget		951.750 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome d'hiver
1913	Léon Georget		909.984 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome d'hiver
1919	Léon Georget		924.680 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome d'hiver
1924	Oscar Egg Oscar Egg Oscar Egg was a Swiss track and road bicycle racer. He captured the world hour record three times before the First World War...		936.325 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1925	Honoré Barthélémy Honore Barthelemy Honoré Barthélémy was a French road bicycle racer who took part and finished fifth overall and won four stages in the 1919 Tour de France. He was born in Paris, France....		1035.114 km	tandem paced	Bordeaux Bordeaux Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...  Vélodrome
1927	Honoré Barthélémy		924.500 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1928	Hubert Opperman Hubert Opperman Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE , referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim....		950.060 km	tandem paced	Vélodrome Buffalo
1950	Fiorenzo Magni Fiorenzo Magni Fiorenzo Magni is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.He was born in Vaiano, province of Prato . He was the "third man" of the golden age of Italian cycling, at the time of the great rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali...		867.609 km	derny paced	Vélodrome d'hiver

External links

• Bol d'Or at memoire-du-cyclisme.net