Tom Simpson, On-on-on T-Shirt, Peugeot White

Ref: TS15W90

Price: £21.95 / €27.44 (Including  at 20%)

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Tom died a tragic early death at the age of 29, just over a kilometre from the top of the barren moonscape of Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France. He was riding for the GB team. Before you judge him or simply say 'he took drugs, he died', we just ask you find out about him and the context of European cycling at the time.

Tom Simpsons cycling career was simply breathtaking. In 1960, his first season as a pro, he came within one stage placing of winning the yellow jersey in his first Tour de France. In the 1962 Tour he wore the yellow jersey and finished sixth overall. He took Paris-Nice in 1967. But remember the long events such as the 3 week Tour were not his forte. His great events were the one-day classics or week-long races. He could ride these in his all or nothing, aggressive, swashbucking style. He was always great to watch, spectators loved him. He won the Tour of Flanders (1961), Bordeaux-Paris (1963), Milan-San Remo (1964) and the Tour of Lombardy (1965). He was World Champion of the Road in 1965, his greatest achievement. It would be 32 years before another Brit would wear the yellow maillot jaune of the Tour again. It would be 45 years before another Brit, Mark Cavendish, would win Milan-San Remo again.

As Wiilliam Fotheringham says 'While his results speak for themselves, at the same time his public profile across Europe was unmatched, making him the only British cyclist to have truly achieved star status'.Simpson was also the first Briton to make serious money out of road cycling (rumoured to be £40-50k per year nd to make mainstream British sports fans and press truly aware of road racing and the Tour de France'. It should be remembered that Simpson was a pioneer for British cycling, one of the first to live and race in Europe with the Rapha Geminiani Team. He moved to the continent and lived in Brittany, Paris and Ghent. He assisted and encouraged other British cyclists such as Hoban and Denson, and their families , to join him in there. Simpson became fluent in Flemish and French and could get by in Spanish and Italian. Not bad for the working class son of a miner.

He had great charisma and style. We love the story when soon after turning professional, he was sent by his mentor Brian Robinson, to buy a car, something reasonable from the Peugeot dealer round the corner. Tom came back with an Aston Martin.

Was Simpson the only rider using drugs on the European scene ? Jacques Anquetil was open about the stimulants he took. Fausto Coppi when asked if he took drugs when racing, replied 'Only when necessary, practically all the time'. Remember also the effort required when stages of races such as the Tour were much longer than the present. In the 1967 Tour de France one stage was 225miles, it took eleven hours to ride.

37 years after Tom Simpsons death, then World Champion and the young talent that was David Millar had his life turned upside down by a doping scandal and a criminal investigation. He speaks with wisdom about Simpson, " He tried too hard, pushed his body beyond what it could do with the help of amphetamines, and he collapsed and died before crossing the summit. He doped and he died. It's not a nice place to die, and it wasn't a nice way to die, and we have no right to forget that. His memory should live on, through his palmares and the memories of his friends and family and the books written about him. But above all, his memory should live on by the mistakes he made and the price he paid. He died from doping in a time when there was no doping control. His death was a wake-up call that forty years later we are only starting to hear".

We miss Tom's charisma, humour, great style and the fact that he always rode to win, as he did that day on the Ventoux. We loved the way his face would light up with that huge smile as it did when he crossed the line and became World Champion in San Sebastian. Here at the Urban Hunter Den we have always kept his picture on our wall, right next to his ome time team mate, Eddy Merckx.

We also correct the last words that Tom spoke....'Put me back on the bike' was made up by a red top journalist looking for a suitable headline. His last words to Harry Hall were On,,,On...On. That sums up the man he was.We thought it only right to show Tom in his Peugeot checkerboard kit, the legendary team, where he was the master to the young Merckx.

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