Tom Simpson dies in Tour de France

[SweetSweetPepperMunt]

But at this time, I think just a few people knew that drugs are so bad..

[dasjuhut]

speed + alcohol + bicycle racing...>no good combination

and that has nothing to do with doping any more, its about health and he probably knew its not the best for his health.

[martynhanson]

you can't judge anybody then by standards of today - that is crass. you have to judge by standards of that time.

[Holbeinisscheisse]

it's a sad thing that he doped. thats neither sportsmen nor gentlemens behaviour. on the other hand i admire him as a man that never gave up and stayed on the bike even though he is facing death. thats unbelievable and that makes him a hero, death of a person is always a tragedy.

[maxtor1981]

He was a drug addict and a shame to the sport.

[NAZIPENIS101]

He always pushed himself to the brink and often had bad luck.

In his great 1966 autobiography (written in 65 when he was world Champion)

He said "Most of all I would like to win the Tour De France, but I cannot afford to have any bad luck, such as in past attempts. If I fail it will not have been for lack of trying!"

R.I.P Tommy.

[LittleGodOfGods]

i was on alcohol and amphetamines too one day. it was great :-)

[velotwo1]

He died of dehydration, the average party goer is @ the same extreme;alcohol,drugs, even caffeine which are all diuretics...(water lose) except their not climbing Mt. Ventuex @ max effort in the heat! Learn from this...

[dantastic15]

Simpson was like the Armstrong, Pantani and Fignon of his ages! There is nothing wrong in dying for what you love, drugs or no drugs.

[xLoveHorsez]

Just visited the Mont Ventoux, Putted a flower at his statue.

R.I.P. Simpson.

[oldgitbeard]

i missed this and its not on the iplayer r.i.p tommy

[Eleasha1147]

I'm only 13yrs old but tom was an amazing and i admire him even if he did take drugs to die doing the sport he loved tht is priceless!! R.I.P Tom also he was born on my birthday too haha lol x

[Tomasch]

He was drunk!

[Quofool50]

43 years ago today!

Rest in peace mate!

[ibedamanyo]

It's cheating if you win the race by going in a helicopter

[bert0228]

respect !

[lamona]

tom rest in piece!

[wanmaker]

epic .he was a gent.what he did for british cycling was amazing a true hero.what a tryer gave the sport the best of him.

[beautifulmusical]

The important thing is to avoid alcohol and amphetamines!

[slomo8888]

and insulin and steroids and anabolica and human growth hormons and everything else...

[AmberChick1234]

Tom Simpson is also Cody & Alli Simpsons little brother! He is soo adoralble!

[clagfast]

slomo you are a little man,he was a man of his times,you cant judge him buy todays values.

[slomo8888]

He cheated and paid the price. That's all that has to be said.

[ItalianDogg]

He died because of amphetamines

[VikingInvaders]

Tom Simpson is not the only loser....

[unreceivedogmas]

Tom Simpson and others of that day were allowed only 2 bottles of water the whole day. It is a miracle more did not collapse that day. Not fair to judge Simpson by today's standards.

[unreceivedogmas]

I just did this climb on L'Etape du Tour 2009.

Two 20 oz bottles per hour is about right. km are irrelevant. what matters is the rate of dehydration per hr.

[soulaka]

i did the same thing.. now i can understand that someone could die on such a mountain it was way to hot

[unreceivedogmas]

I hate the heat, but to me it did not seem so hot that day for some reason, maybe I was so jacked up from the excitement. I was still very slow toward the top, maybe from the altitude, even though at 1910m it is not so high.

[hometrooths135]

i think sport in general would be far more entertaining if drugs were legal,think about it,performance would increase making better viewing and more worl records!MAKE DRUGS COMPULSORY!

[Rasmus95dk]

THAT IS THE MOUNTAIN OF DEATH!!

[martynhanson]

the saying 'put me on my bike' was invented by a British journalist, he actually said 'on, on, on'. You cannot judge Simpson on the attitude to drug taking that we now have. There simply wasn't the controls in place that we have today, so to call Simpson a drug cheat is not really accurate or fair. Dorando Pietri collapsed in the last few yards of the 1908 London Olympic marathon in a similar way - though he lived to tell the tale.

[Tommyfazz]

@martynhanson well said Marty!

[Psynyde]

@martynhanson He wasn't just a drug cheat. From the sound of it, he was a drug addict.

[sammict]

Taking amphinemines and Alchohol is like taking speedball. Uppers and Downers dont mix well.

[livesforcycling45454]

that shows true dedication to your sport, when your last words were "Put me on my Bike" it takes a real cyclist to do that

[211123436]

It takes a real cyclist drugged up to his eyeballs to do that.

[Thoughtcontainer]

The death of Mr. Michael Jackson, for me, clearly is a similar case of doping, as like people have died before in sports, see this example.

It would be a nice change, if The Tour De France with Lance Armstrong can stay away from this culture. The race started yesterday.

[Gambitgirl1974]

i think lifetime bans for doping would straighten the sport right up. you get some appeals but if you lose after that BAM! you're done.

these 2 year suspensions aren't doing shit.

[davidoffon]

yeah, but if you pay the right money, you wont get caught in the first place, though you will finish there.

[dahgutone]

Yes he died in the Tour on his bike. They claimed that he had alcohol in his blood, which probably drove him past his physical limit.

[TxTarpon]

It is haunting watching that footage as he is going "paper boy". May he never be forgotten.

[magykkb]

He is a legend. H e is the best

[fryskhanne]

I agree, every time i'm at the mont ventoux i have one minute of standing still before his statue. And most of the time it makes me cry and i just can't help it.

[dahgutone]

Hmm... I don't care if he doped or not.. For someone who died doing the sport they love, thats priceless.

[weepaddy123]

yes he may have been stupid taking them but in thoughs days it wasnt the same every rider took them they i dont think evern did dope testing in thoughs days i mean cmon give simpson a break ! his team members also quote *simpson was capible of riding to deth with out drugs !!! end of the day for me tom simpson will always be a brith hero in the world of cyling

[patitospecial]

doping

[errbud]

Tragic event, yes he was stupid in some ways but he was only doing what mostly everyone else was at that time. It was'nt steriods as some idiots have commented, it was amphetamines also dehydration played a large part in his death as it was extremely hot that day. Clean athletes can die participating in sport as well.

[imsagar01]

yes true - to make matters worse regarding the hot day, officials only allowed two bottles of water to be handed out to the riders for the whole race which is a bit crazy since it was such a hot day.

[partylwc]

yeah i can down two bottles of water easy over 100 miles on a not hot day, on a hot day ill go thru 2 bottles of water in 40 miles easy.

[milkshakemuncher]

That is a bit tough, 2 bottles for one day, on a hot day, I drink 2 bottles every 10 miles (16km)

[kragapie]

thats way to much water.. just imagine you doing a 150 km ride.. youd be driking 18 bottles of water which is like 9 leters.. i do 150km on 2 bottles which makes 1leter.

[baustelac007]

roids roids roids roids roids and stupid motherfuckers who take them

[ftcycling]

no no no. bodybuilders are taking roids or a simple man who wants muscles. EPO is for those who want more stamina and for the tours where a temperature is falling and the oxygen is less

[mustardjunkie]

Amphetamines make it feel easier but back then they believed drinking less water made you lighter and faster too, so taking a diaretic like drug in conjuntion with dehydration lead to his demise...

[gantzmetallica]

doping ...

[thewsca]

Very sad.

[IamScarface]

They say he died of ambition. Very sad. Who ever heard of a cyclist dying going UPHILL?

[olssonII]

The sad with Tom Simpson dying on the Tour is that that death just took place in TV, live TV. A loong time before that people died as flies, and were common abusers of every kind of substance out there, it's fucking remarkable what people did, to be able to win cycling races.

[wtw88]

It's not sad that Simpson died on TV. It's sad that he died but it's good that he died on TV because some people - not everyone - will learn from it.

He was a bloody fool.

[olssonII]

Well, it is sad that it had to occur in live TV, to get some kind of reaction from any one.

[wtw88]

True.

[tilig93]

really sad!

[moxin99]

to many drugs in this sport also nowadays :(

[MorenoExtreme]

sad story

[squall1potter]

tom died

[Meligiedi]

really, he did? -_-

[WJCairns]

It is often forgotten that Tom tried to alert the outside world about the dangers of drug-taking - inter alia in his autobiography - but he was then forced to retract by the cycling promoters. Everybody in professional cycling at the time held their telescope to Nelson's bad eye about doping - and Tom's death was the result.

[ALLDALI]

I pass almost everyday before his home - Mariakerke near Ghent...I think about it evertime I pass his home (only 1km from my home)

[dansb123]

he pedaled when he was put back on his bike even though he was dying!

[jodok01]

Amphetamines and alcohol, what a true sportsmanlike conduct. Obsessed as he was, he keeled over his live.

What a pity, he was so good even without that crap! Obsessed and media-driven as modern TdF is, it will keel over its greed and lack of control. No industry around to support dirty idols...