Lombardy Lombardia
—  Region of Italy  —
Flag
Country	Italy
Capital	Milan
Government
• President	Roberto Formigoni (PdL)
Area
• Total	23,844 km2 (9,206 sq mi)
Population (25 March 2011)
• Total	9,939,193
• Density	420/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Demonym	Lombard
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
GDP/ Nominal	€ 318.4[1] billion (2009)
GDP per capita	€ 33,500[2] (2008)
NUTS Region	ITC
Website	www.regione.lombardia.it

Lombardy (Italian: Lombardia Italian pronunciation: [lombarˈdiːa], Western Lombard: Lumbardìa, Eastern Lombard: Lombardia) is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe.^[3] Major tourist destinations in the region include the historic, cultural and artistic cities of Milan (which is Italy's second top tourist destination),^[4] Brescia, Mantua, Pavia, Como, Cremona, Bergamo, Sondrio, Lecco, Lodi, Varese, Monza, and the lakes of Garda, Como, Maggiore, and Iseo.

The official language, as in the rest of Italy, is Italian. The traditional local languages are the various dialects of Lombard (Western Lombard and Eastern Lombard), as well as some dialects of Emilian, spoken in some parts of the provinces of Mantua, Pavia, and Cremona. According to Istat, almost 27% of Lombards are bilingual with Lombard and Italian languages; 9.1% are monolingual in Lombard and 57.6% are monolingual in Italian.^[5]

Geography[link]

Satellite image of Lombardy

Lombardy is bordered by Switzerland (north: Canton Ticino and Canton Graubünden) and by the Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna (south), Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and the Veneto (east), and Piedmont (west). Three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region: mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta (high plains) and Bassa (low plains).

The most important mountainous area is an Alpine zone including the Lepontine and Rhaetian Alps, (Piz Bernina – La Spedla, 4,020 m), the Bergamo Alps, the Ortler Alps and the Adamello massif; it is followed by an Alpine foothills zone Prealpi, which include the main peaks are the Grigna Group (2,410 m), Resegone (1,875 m) and Presolana (2,521 m). The great Lombard lakes, all of glacial origin lie in this zone. From west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano (only a small part is Italian), Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. South of the Alps lie the hills characterized by a succession of low heights of morainic origin, formed during the last Ice Age and small barely fertile plateaux, with typical heaths and conifer woods. A minor mountainous area lies south of the Po, in the Appennines range.

Panorama view: Bergamasque Alps

The plains of Lombardy, formed from alluvial deposits, can be divided into the Alta – an upper, permeable ground zone in the north and a lower zone characterized – the Bassa – by the so-called line of fontanili (the spring waters rising on impermeable ground). Anomalous compared with the three distinctions already made is the small region of the Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. A large number of rivers, all direct or indirect tributaries of the Po, cross the plains of Lombardy. Major rivers, flowing NW to SE, are the Ticino, the outlet of Lake Maggiore, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, outlet of Lake Como, the Mincio, outlet of Lake Garda, and the Oglio, the Lake Iseo outflow. There is a wide network of canals for irrigation purposes. In the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The rare elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow and hornbeam woods and heaths are covered now by several protected areas. In the area of the great Alpine foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias, etc. The mountains area is characterized by the typical vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels (up to approximately 1,100 m) oak woods or broadleafed trees grow; on the mountain slopes (up to 2,000–2,200 m) beech trees grow at the lowest limits, with conifer woods higher up. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone (beyond 2,200 m).

Panorama view: Lake Maggiore

The climate of this region is continental, though with variations depending on altitude or the presence of inland waters. The continental nature of the climate is more accentuated on the plains, with high annual temperature changes (at Milan an average January temperature is 1.5 °C (35 °F) and 24 °C (75 °F) in July), and thick fog between October and February. The Alpine foothills lakes exercise a mitigating influence, permitting the cultivation of typically Mediterranean produce (olives, citrus fruit). In the Alpine zone, the valley floor is relatively mild in contrast with the colder higher areas (Bormio, 1,225 m, −1.4 °C (29 °F) average in January, 17.3 °C (63 °F) in July). Precipitations are more frequent in the Prealpine zone (up to 1,500–2,000 mm annually) than on the plains and Alpine zones (600 mm to 850 mm annually). The numerous species of endemic flora (the Lombard native species), typical mainly of the Lake Como area, include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers and the cottony bellflowers. Lombardy counts many protected areas: the most important are the Stelvio National Park (the largest Italian natural park), with typically alpine wildlife: red deer, roe-deer, ibex, chamois, foxes, ermine and also golden eagles; and the Ticino Valley Natural Park, instituted in 1974 on the Lombard side of the Ticino River to protect and conserve one of the last major examples of fluvial forest in Northern Italy.

History[link]

Early history[link]

Roman ruins of the
Imperial palace of Mediolanum

The area of current Lombardy was settled at least since the 2nd millennium BC, as shown by the archaeological findings of ceramics, arrows, axes and carved stones. In the following centuries it was inhabited by different peoples amongst whom the Etruscans, who founded the city of Mantua and spread the use of writing; later, starting from the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by Celtic – Gallic tribes. These people settled in several cities (including Milan) and extended their rule to the Adriatic Sea. Their development was halted by the Roman expansion in the Po Valley from the 3rd century BC onwards: after centuries of struggle, in 194 BC the entire area of what is now Lombardy became a Roman province with the name of Gallia Cisalpina ("Gaul on the nearer side of the Alps"). The Roman culture and language overwhelmed the former civilization in the following years, and Lombardy became one of the most developed and rich areas of Italy with the construction of a wide array of roads and the development of agriculture and trade. Important figures like Pliny the Elder (in Como) and Virgil (in Mantua) were born here. In late antiquity the strategic role of Lombardy was emphasized by the temporary moving of the capital of the Western Empire to Mediolanum (Milan). Here, in 313 AD, emperor Constantine issued the famous edict that gave freedom of confession to all religions within the Empire.

Middle Ages[link]

King Alboin led the Lombard migration into the Po Valley and made Pavia the capital

During and after the fall of the Western Empire, Lombardy suffered heavily from destruction brought about by a series of invasions by tribal peoples. The last and most effective was that of the Lombards, or Longobardi, who came around 570s and whose long-lasting reign (whose capital was set in Pavia) gave the current name to the region. There was a close relationship between the Frankish, Bavarian and Lombard nobility for many centuries. After the initial struggles, relationships between the Lombard people and the Latin-speaking people improved. In the end, the Lombard language and culture assimilated with the Latin culture, leaving evidence in many names, the legal code and laws among other things. The end of Lombard rule came in 774, when the Frankish king Charlemagne conquered Pavia and annexed the Kingdom of Italy (mostly northern and central Italy) to his empire. The former Lombard dukes and nobles were replaced by other German vassals, prince-bishops or marquises. The 11th century marked a significant boom in the region's economy, due to improved trading and, mostly, agricultural conditions. In a similar way to other areas of Italy, this led to a growing self-acknowledgement of the cities, whose increasing richness made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power, represented by the German emperors and their local legates. This process reached its apex in the 12th and 13th centuries, when different Lombard Leagues formed by allied cities of Lombardy, usually led by Milan, managed to defeat the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick I, at Legnano, and his grandson Frederick II, at Parma.

This did not prevent other important Lombard centres, like Cremona (then rivalling Milan for size and wealth) and others, from supporting the imperial power if this could grant them an immediate advantage. Taking advantage of the flourishing agriculture, the area around the Po River, together with Venice and Tuscany, continued to expand its industry and commerce until it became the economic centre of the whole of Europe. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe: "Lombard" designated the merchant or banker coming from northern Italy (see, for instance, Lombard Street in London). The name "Lombardy" came to designate the whole of Northern Italy until the 15th century and sometimes later. From the 14th century onwards, the instability created by the unceasing internal and external struggles ended in the creation of noble seignories, the most significant of which were those of the Viscontis (later Sforzas) in Milan and of the Gonzagas in Mantua. In the 15th century the Duchy of Milan was a major political, economical and military force at the European level. Milan and Mantua became two centres of the Renaissance whose culture, with men like Leonardo da Vinci and Mantegna, and pieces of art were highly regarded (for example, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper). This richness, however, attracted the now more organized armies of national powers like France and Austria, which waged a lengthy battle for Lombardy in the late 15th-early 16th century.

Modern era[link]

Historical image of Villa Reale di Monza, official summer residence of the Austrian viceroys of Lombardy-Venetia, part of Austrian Empire

After the decisive Battle of Pavia, the Duchy of Milan became a possession of the Habsburgs of Spain: the new rulers did little to improve the economy of Lombardy, instead imposing a growing series of taxes needed to support their unending series of European wars. The eastern part of modern Lombardy, with cities like Bergamo and Brescia, was under the Republic of Venice, which had begun to extend its influence in the area from the 14th century onwards (see also Italian Wars). Pestilences (like that of 1628/1630,^[7] described by Alessandro Manzoni in his I Promessi Sposi) and the generally declining conditions of Italy's economy in the 17th and 18th centuries halted the further development of Lombardy. In 1706 the Austrians came to power and introduced some economical and social measures which granted a certain recovery. Their rule was smashed in the late 18th century by the French armies, however, and with the formation of the Napoleonic Empire, Lombardy became one of the semi-independent province of Napoleonic France. The restoration of Austrian rule in 1815, in the form of the puppet state called Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, had however to contend with new social ideals introduced by the Napoleonic era. Lombardy became one of the intellectual centres leading to Italian unification. The popular republic of 1848 was short-lived, its suppression leading to renewed Austrian rule. This came to a decisive end when Lombardy was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy 1859 as a result of the Second Italian Independence War. When annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1859 Lombardy achieved its present-day territorial shape by adding the Oltrepò Pavese (formerly the southern part of Novara's Province) to the province of Pavia. Starting from the late 19th century, and with a boom after World War II, Lombardy sharpened its status of richest and most industrialized region of Italy.

Demographics[link]

One sixth of the Italian population or about 10 million people live in Lombardy (16.2% of the national population; 2% of the European Union population), making it the second most densely populated region in Italy after Campania with a strong concentration in the Milan metropolitan area and the Alpine foothills areas of the provinces of Varese, Como, Lecco, Monza and Brianza and Bergamo, (1,200 inh./km²), a lower average density (250 inh./km²) in the Po valley and the lower Brescia valleys, and much lower densities (less than 60 inh./km²) in the northern mountain areas and the southern Oltrepò Pavese subregion.

The growth of the regional population was particularly sustained during the 1950s–60s, thanks to a prolonged economic boom, high birth rates, and strong immigration flows (especially from Southern Italy). During the last two decades, Lombardy became the destination of a large number of international immigrants, insomuch that today more than a quarter of all foreign immigrants in Italy lives in this region. As of 2008, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 815,335 foreign-born immigrants live in Lombardy, equal to 8.4% of the total regional population.

The primary religion is Catholicism; significative religious minorities include Christian Waldenses, Protestants and Orthodox, as well as Jews, Sikh and Muslims.

Economy[link]

View over the business district of Milan: with a metropolitan area of 7.4m people,^[8] it is Italy's most important industrial, commercial and financial center.

The gross domestic product in Lombardia (equal to over €318.424 billion in 2009) accounts for 20% of the total gross domestic product of Italy. When this measure is considered by inhabitant, it results in a value of €31,600 per inhabitant, which is almost 25% higher than the national average of €24,300.^[9]

Lombardy's development has been marked by the growth of the services sector since the 1980s, and in particular by the growth of innovative activities in the sector of services to enterprises and in credit and financial services. At the same time, the strong industrial vocation of the region has not suffered from it. Lombardy remains, in fact, the main industrial area of the country. The presence, and development, of a very high number of enterprises belonging to the services sector represents a favourable situation for the improvement of the efficiency of the productive process, as well as for the growth of the regional economy. Lombardy is one of the Four Motors for Europe.

The region can broadly be divided into three areas as regards the productive activity. Milan, where the services sector makes up for 65.3% of the employment; a group of provinces, Varese, Como, Lecco, Bergamo and Brescia, highly industrialised, although in the two latter ones, in the plains, there is also a rich agricultural sector. Finally, in the provinces of Sondrio, Pavia, Cremona, Mantova and Lodi, there is a consistent agricultural activity, and at the same time an above average development of the services sector.

The countryside around Lake Garda.

The productivity of agriculture is enhanced by a well-developed use of fertilizers and the traditional abundance of water, boosted since the Middle Ages by the construction (partly designed by Leonardo da Vinci) of a wide net of irrigation systems. Lower plains are characterized by fodder crops, which are mowed up to eight times a years, cereals (rice, wheat and maize) and sugarbeet. Productions of the higher plains include cereals, vegetables, fruit trees and mulberries. The higher areas, up to the Prealps and Alps sectors of the north, produce fruit and vines. Cattle (with the highest density in Italy), pigs and sheep are raised.

Government and politics[link]

Palazzo Lombardia in Milan, seat of the regional government.

The politics of Lombardy take place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of the Region (Presidente della Regione) is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government (Giunta Regionale). Legislative power is vested in the Regional Council (Consiglio Regionale).

The Christian Democrats maintained a large majority of the popular support and the control of the most important cities and provinces since the birth of the Italian Republic until the late 1980s. The Italian Communist Party was a considerable presence only in the eastern and southern parts of Lombardy from the late 1960s to the mid 1980's. Their base however was increasingly eroded by the Italian Socialist Party until, in the early 1990s, the Mani Pulite corruption scandal which spread from Milan to the whole of Italy wiped away the old political class almost entirely. This, together with the general disaffection towards Rome's government (considered as favouring excessively the less developed regions of southern Italy in economical matters), led to the sudden growth of the secessionist (later Northern League), that is particularly strong in mountain and rural areas. In recent years, Lombardy stayed as a conservative stronghold, that gave about 60 per cent of its votes to Silvio Berlusconi at the last general election. Notwithstanding, the capital city of Milan landslide elected a new progressive mayor at the 2011 municipal elections.

Culture[link]

This section requires expansion.

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Although Lombardy as a region is often identified as merely an economic and industrial powerhouse, it has interesting examples [2] even from the standpoint of cultural and artistic. The many examples range from prehistory to the present day, through the Roman period and the Renaissance and can be found both in museums and churches that enrich cities and towns around the region.

Prehistory[link]

Rock engraves, Nadro.

The rock carvings (some 300,000) left by the ancient Camuni in the Valcamonica depicting animals, people and symbols date back to the period from Neolithic to Middle Ages.

The many artifacts (pottery, personal items and weapons) found in the necropolis near the Lake Maggiore, and Ticino demonstrate the presence of civilization Golasecca who lived in Western Lombardy between the ninth and the fourth century BC.

Museums[link]

Lombardy contains numerous museums (over 330) of different types: ethnographic, historical, technical-scientific, artistic and naturalistic which testify to the historical-cultural and artistic development of the region. Among the most famous are the National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci" (Milan), the The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci (Milan), the Accademia Carrara (Bergamo), the Museum of Santa Giulia (Brescia), the Volta Temple (Como), the Stradivari Museum (Cremona), the Palazzo Te (Mantua), the Museum Sacred Art of the Nativity and the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta at Gandino, the Royal Villa of Monza and many others.

Villa Olmo in Como.

The Last Supper (Convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy (1499), by Leonardo da Vinci.

Main sights[link]

• Cathedral of Milan
• Castello Sforzesco
• Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio
• Convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie
• The Last Supper
• Teatro alla Scala
• Basilica of San Lorenzo
• Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio
• Portinari Chapel
• Brera Gallery
• Certosa di Pavia
• Petroglyphs of Valcamonica
• Bellagio
• Lake of Como
• Lake of Garda
• Industrial village of Crespi d'Adda
• Duomo and Torrazzo in Cremona
• Royal Villa of Monza
• Tempio Civico della Beata Vergine Incoronata in Lodi
• Palazzo Te, Castello di San Giorgio, Basilica di Sant'Andrea and Cathedral in Mantua

Cuisine[link]

Rice is popular in the region, often found in soups as well as risotti, such as "risotto alla Milanese", with saffron. In the city of Monza a popular recipe also adds pieces of sausages to the risotto. Regional cheeses include robiola, crescenza, taleggio, gorgonzola and grana padano (the plains of central and southern Lombardy allow intensive cattle-raising). Butter and cream are used. Single pot dishes, which take less work to prepare, are popular. In Bergamo, Brescia, and Valtellina, polenta is common. In Valtellina, Pizzoccheri too. In Mantua festivals feature tortelli di zucca (ravioli with pumpkin filling) accompanied by melted butter and followed by turkey stuffed with chicken or other stewed meats.^[10]

Typical dishes[link]

A traditional "Cotoletta alla Milanese (Milanese-style cutlet)" served with potatoes.

• Polenta (Asino e Polenta, Polenta e Osei, Vunscia Polenta, Polenta e Gorgonzola)
• Pizzoccheri (short tagliatelle made out of buckwheat flour and wheat, laced with butter, green vegetables, garlic, sage, potatoes and onions, all topped with Casera cheese)
• Quartirolo lombardo
• Risotto (alla Milanese)
• Osso buco
• Cotoletta (Cutlet) ("alla Milanese")
• Cassoeula
• Gorgonzola cheese
• Bitto cheese
• Grana Padano cheese
• Panettone
• Lo Spiedo Bresciano – a traditional spit roast consisting of different cuts of meat, butter and sage
• Tortelli di Zucca (Pumpkins filled pasta)
• Sbrisolona cake

Wines[link]

• Nebbiolo red
• Bellavista
• Santi
• Nino Negri
• Bonarda Lombardy
• Inferno (Valtellina)
• Grumello (Valtellina)
• Sassella (Valtellina)

Music[link]

The magnificent auditorium of the Teatro Grande in Brescia.

Besides Milan, the region of Lombardy has 11 other provinces, most of them with equally great musical traditions. Bergamo is famous for being the birthplace of Gaetano Donizetti and home of the Teatro Donizetti; Brescia is hosts the impressive 1709 Teatro Grande; Cremona is regarded as the birthplace of the commonly used violin, and is home to several of the most prestigious luthiers in the world, and Mantua was one of the founding and most important cities in 16th and 17th opera and classical music. Other cities such as Lecco, Lodi, Varese and Pavia also have rich musical traditions, but Milan is the hub and centre of the Lombard musical scene. It was the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi, one of the most famous and influential opera composers of the 19th century, and boasts a variety of acclaimed theatres, such as the Piccolo Teatro and the Teatro Arcimboldi; however, the most famous is the 1778 Teatro alla Scala, one of the most important and prestigious operahouses in the world.

Language[link]

Apart from standardized Italian, Lombard is the local language of Lombardy. Lombard is a member of the Gallo-Italic group within the Romance languages. It is spoken natively in Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions, notably the eastern side of Piedmont) and Southern Switzerland (Ticino and Graubünden).

The two main varieties (Western Lombard language and Eastern Lombard language) show differences and are often, but not always, mutually comprehensible. The union of Western Lombard or Insubric, Eastern Lombard and intermediate varieties under the denomination of "Lombard" is a matter of debate, and it has been argued that the two might potentially form separate languages.^[11]

Fashion[link]

Lombardy has always been an important centre for silk and textile production, notably the cities of Pavia, Vigevano and Cremona, but Milan is the region's most important centre for clothing and high fashion. In 2009, Milan was regarded as the world fashion capital, even surpassing New York, Paris, Rome and London.^[12] Most of the major Italian fashion brands, such as Valentino, Versace, Prada, Armani and Dolce & Gabbana (to name a few), are currently headquartered in the city.

Administrative divisions[link]

Lombardy is divided into 12 provinces:

UNESCO World Heritage Sites[link]

• Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci
• Crespi d'Adda
• Rock Drawings in Valcamonica
• Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
• Mantua and Sabbioneta

References[link]

External links[link]

Media related to Lombardy at Wikimedia Commons

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Tom Simpson

Personal information
Full name	Thomas Simpson[1]
Nickname	Tommy
Born	(1937-11-30)30 November 1937 Haswell, County Durham, United Kingdom
Died	13 July 1967(1967-07-13) (aged 29) Mont Ventoux, France
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional team(s)
1959-1967	Peugeot-BP
Major wins
Grand Tours Vuelta a España 2 Stages Stage Races Paris–Nice (1967) Single-Day Races and Classics Ronde van Vlaanderen (1961) Bordeaux–Paris (1963) Milan – San Remo (1964) World Road Race Champion (1965) Giro di Lombardia (1965)
Medal record Competitor for  United Kingdom Road bicycle racing World Championships Gold 1965 San Sebastián Elite Men's Road Race Olympic Games Bronze Melbourne 1956 4.000m Team Pursuit
Infobox last updated on 29 December 2011

Tom Simpson (30 November 1937–13 July 1967) was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. Simpson was Britain's first men's road race World Champion (a feat matched only by Mark Cavendish in 2011), and won three monument classics, Paris-Nice and two Vuelta a España stages. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967. The post mortem found that he had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and a stomach complaint.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Simpson was the youngest of the six children of coalmine worker Tom Simpson senior and his wife Alice, née Cheetham,^[1] and was born in Haswell, County Durham. Tom senior worked at nearby South Hetton Colliery, while Alice ran Haswell Workingmen's Club. After World War II, the Simpson family moved to Harworth in north Nottinghamshire, another mining village, where Simpson grew up and acquired his interest in cycling. He attended the village school and later Worksop Technical College and in 1954 was an apprentice draughtsman at an engineering company in Retford.

As a cyclist he joined Harworth and District cycling club^[2] and later Rotherham's Scala Wheelers. In 1954, still with the Harworth club, he wrote for advice to the former Tour rider, Charles Pélissier, who was running a training camp in Monaco.

There is no evidence of a reply from Pélissier, who didn't speak English, although the writer Jock Wadley of Sporting Cyclist suggested in his magazine in 1965 that he may well have done.

By his late teens, Simpson was winning local time trials. He was then advised to try track cycling, and he travelled regularly to Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester to compete, winning a medal in the national 4000m individual pursuit. Still 19, he was part of the Great Britain team pursuit squad which won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Two years later, he won a silver medal for England in the individual pursuit at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.

In April 1959, Simpson set off to live in the Breton fishing port of Saint-Brieuc, France, hoping to win enough local amateur races to get noticed by a professional cycling team. It was in Saint-Brieuc that he met Helen Sherburn, whom he married on 3 January 1960 and with whom he had two daughters Jane and Joanne. After his death Helen Simpson married another cyclist, Barry Hoban, in 1969. Tom Simpson is the uncle of Belgian cyclist Matthew Gilmore, whose mother was Tom's sister.

Professional cyclist[link]

Within two months, Simpson had won five races and in July 1959 was offered terms by two professional teams; he decided to join Raphael Geminiani, which already had a British cyclist, Brian Robinson. His first event as a professional was a small stage race, the Tour de l'Ouest in which he won two stages and finished 18th – a major achievement for a new pro who would normally be expected to act as a domestique to the team's leader.

He competed in the 1959 world championship in the Netherlands in the individual pursuit and professional road race, finishing fourth in both. He turned down selection to ride the 1959 Tour de France. He did ride the following year, finishing 29th, and taking third place on stage 3. 1960 also saw him compete in his first Classic: he had top ten finishes in La Flèche Wallonne and Paris–Roubaix – he led the latter for 40 km before running out of energy and being overtaken less than 10 km from the finish, ending up 9th.

In April 1961, Simpson won his first Classic. After losing at Roubaix the previous year, he demonstrated his liking for cobbles by winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen after a two-man sprint at the finish. That year, he also finished fifth in the early season Paris–Nice stage race, and ninth in the world championship, but he abandoned the Tour de France on stage 3, affected by a knee injury.

In 1962, he became first Briton to wear the maillot jaune as leader of the Tour de France (after stage 12) and finished sixth overall (his highest placing and the best by a Briton until Robert Millar's fourth in 1984, and later Bradley Wiggins' fourth in 2009), losing third spot after a crash. Earlier in the season, he again finished fifth in the Ronde van Vlaanderen and sixth in Gent–Wevelgem.

In Classics, 1963 and 1965 were Simpson's best years. Riding in the black-and-white of the Peugeot BP team in 1963, he won Bordeaux–Paris, was second in Paris–Brussels and Paris–Tours, third in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, eighth in Paris–Roubaix, and 10th in La Flèche Wallonne and the Giro di Lombardia.

Simpson won Milan–San Remo in 1964, finished fourth again in the world championship and 10th in Paris–Roubaix. He also came close to a stage victory in the Tour de France, finishing second on stage 9, ending 14th overall.

In 1965, Simpson became first Briton to win the world professional road racing championship, outsprinting Germany's Rudi Altig at San Sebastián in Spain after the two had broken away with 40 km to go. He also won the Italian Autumn Classic, the Giro di Lombardia (the second world champion jersey also to win in Italy – the other was Alfredo Binda in the 1920s), and picked up third in Flèche Wallonne and Bordeaux–Paris, sixth in Paris–Roubaix and 10th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He partnered Peter Post to victory in the six-day race at Brussels.

Simpson ended the year by winning UK Sports Journalists' Association's award of Sportsman of the Year (following Reg Harris – the only other cyclist to win), and he won the 1965 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award – the only cyclist to have won this accolade until Chris Hoy won in 2008 and Mark Cavendish in 2011. Within UK cycling, Simpson won the Bidlake Memorial Prize in 1965.

A stage victory in the Tour de France still eluded Simpson. He twice finished second, on stages 12 and 13, of the 1966 Tour, but abandoned on stage 17: he had attacked on the Col du Galibier but crashed on the descent and was unable to hold his handlebars. 1966, overall, was a write-off for Simpson, who missed much of the season due to a skiing injury the previous winter.

Simpson looked in form in early 1967. He won Paris–Nice (taking two second places and a third place on different days) and the Tour of Sardinia. He also rode in the Vuelta a España for the first time, collecting two stage victories and 33rd place overall.

Death[link]

At the start of the 1967 Tour de France, Simpson was optimistic he could make an impact. After the first week he was sixth, but a stomach bug began to affect his form, and he lost time in a stage including the Col du Galibier. In Marseille, at the start of stage 13 on Thursday 13 July, he was still suffering as the race headed into Provence on a hot day, and was seen to drink brandy during the early parts of the stage. In those years, Tour organisers limited each rider to four bottles (bidons) of water, about two litres - the effects of dehydration being poorly understood. During races, riders raided roadside bars for drinks, and filled their bottles from fountains.

The day started hot. The Tour doctor, Pierre Dumas, took a stroll at dawn. Near his hotel, the Noaille at Cannebière, he met other race followers at 6:30am. "If the riders take something today, we'll have a death on our hands", he said.^[3]

His team manager, Alec Taylor, said in Cycling that after the first fall he feared for Simpson less for the way he was going up the mountain than for the way he would go down the other side. The rushing air would revive him but Taylor feared that Simpson, whom he described as a madcap descender, would overdo things and crash. The team mechanic, Harry Hall, said he worried the moment Simpson started to zig-zag. "He was riding like an amateur then, going from one side of the road to the other [to lessen the gradient] and sometimes he went dangerously close to the edge of the road. And there's no barrier there. Once you go over, you go over." He tried to persuade Simpson to stop when he fell, saying "That's it for you, Tom."^[4] "But he said he wanted to go on. He said 'My straps, Harry, my straps!' Meaning that his toe-straps were still undone. So we got him upright and we pushed him off again."

When he fell again, his hands were locked to the handlebars. Hall shouted for the other mechanic, Ken Ryall, to prise them loose and the pair laid Simpson beside the road. A motorcycle policeman summoned Pierre Dumas, who took over team officials' first attempts at saving Simpson, including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Dumas massaged Simpson's heart and gave him oxygen and an injection. Dumas found that Simpson was not breathing even in an oxygen mask. He, his deputy Macorig and nurse, took turns massaging his heart and giving mouth-to-mouth. A police helicopter took Simpson to the St-Marthe hospital at Avignon but Simpson was declared dead soon after arrival. Two tubes of amphetamines and a further empty tube were found in the rear pocket of his racing jersey. The official time of death was 5:30pm, the verdict that he had died of a heart attack.

Dumas refused to sign a burial certificate and a poisons expert from Marseille was commissioned to conduct an autopsy. It confirmed five days later that Simpson had traces of amphetamine in his body.

Simpson's last words, as remembered by the team mechanic, Harry Hall (d. 2007), and by Alec Taylor (d. 1997), were "Go on, go on!"^[4] The words "Put me back on my bike!" were invented by Sid Saltmarsh, covering the event for The Sun and Cycling, who was not there at the time and in a reception blackspot for live accounts on Radio Tour.^[5][6]

On the next racing day the other riders were reluctant to continue racing so soon after Simpson's death and asked the organisers for a postponement. The French rider Jean Stablinski proposed instead that the race would go on but that one of the British riders would be allowed to win the stage. This honour went to Barry Hoban. This was later a subject of argument as it was widely believed that the race winner should have been Simpson's other team mate and close friend Vin Denson.

The British team had been called in for questioning. Their baggage was searched. Two of the Belgian soigneurs who looked after riders in the team, specifically Simpson - soigneur means carer and a soigneur is akin to a second in boxing - locked themselves in their room, got drunk and would not come out. They were named as Gus Naessens, one of the highest paid soigneurs and a favourite of Simpson's, and Rudi van der Weide.^[5]

Funeral[link]

Simpson was buried in Harworth, Nottinghamshire after a service at the 12th-century church of All Saints in the village. Cycling reported that there were 200 mourners in the church, including Eddy Merckx. The world champion Beryl Burton was among more who stood outside in rain to hear the service by loudspeaker.

Aftermath[link]

For a while, nothing happened. There was no inquest in either Britain or France. Then a British reporter, J. L. Manning of the Daily Mail, broke the news:

Tommy Simpson rode to his death in the Tour de France so doped that he did not know he had reached the limit of his endurance. He died in the saddle, slowly asphyxiated by intense effort in a heatwave after taking methylamphetamine drugs and alcoholic stimulants.^[7]

Manning was a serious and well-respected journalist. His exposure, the first time a formal connection had been made between drugs and Simpson's death, set off a wave of similar reporting in Britain and elsewhere. The following month, Manning went further, in a piece headed "Evidence in the case of Simpson who crossed the frontier of endurance without being able to know he had 'had enough'".

One consequence of Manning and those who followed was that the Tour organizers billed the following year's Tour as the Tour of Health, starting symbolically at Vittel, a town which produced mineral water.

Simpson and drugs[link]

Two years before his death, Simpson wrote in the British newspaper, The People, hinted at taking drugs in races, although blaming it on others.^[8] Asked about drugs by Eamonn Andrews on the BBC Home Service radio network, Simpson did not deny taking them - nor was he asked - but said that a rider who took drugs all the time might get to the top but he would not stay there.^[4]

William Fotheringham spoke to another British professional, Alan Ramsbottom, for his biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike. He quoted Ramsbottom as saying "Tom went on the Tour de France with one suitcase for his kit and another with his stuff, drugs and recovery things." Fotheringham said Lewis had the same memory. Ramsbottom added: "Tom took a lot of chances. He took a lot of it. I remember him taking a course of strychnine to build up to some big event. He showed me the box, and had to take one every few days."^{[notes 1]}

Simpson's friend and helper in Ghent, Albert Beurick, insisted: "I know he took them but he was a clever man. He didn't just take them, take them, take them. One day I remember he was going to take some to go training and he said 'I don't need this... I'm getting as bad as Stablinski.'"^{[4][notes 2]}

Harry Hall said: "He had this incredible ability to suffer. The drugs didn't kill Tom. Tom killed himself."^[4]

Lucien Aimar, himself caught for doping, said: "Simpson had taken, at most, 30mg [of amphetamine]. Had it not been for his anaemic state he wouldn't have died. What killed him wasn't the dope, nor Ventoux even though it was so hot. The true guilt lay with medical science. What pushed him into his coffin was the person who administered an intravenous drip, the thing that made it possible for him to go on restarting [each day]."^[9]

Memorials[link]

Memorial to Tom Simpson

There is a granite memorial to Simpson near the spot where he died, paid for by British cyclists. The magazine Cycling, now Cycling Weekly, opened a memorial fund through its editor, Alan Gayfer, and the managing editor, Peter Bryan, to install a stained glass window in the church at Harworth. When that proved beyond the fund, Gayfer approached the authorities in Bédoin at the foot of Mont Ventoux for permission to erect a granite monument, sculpted by a local craftsman. Bryan said in Cycling Plus that the fund had opened so fast that legal procedures had not been followed, with the consequence that nobody now knew who owned the memorial or the land on which it stands. It fell into a poor condition even though it was occasionally swept clean by bar-owners in Bédoin. It is now in the care of British cyclists and riders who pass the memorial frequently leaving tributes such as drinking bottles and caps.

There is a plaque in Bédoin placed by journalists following the 1967 Tour.

There is a display case - dedicated in August 2001 by Tour de France winner Lucien Van Impe - in Harworth and Bircotes sports and social club. The display shows Simpson's Peugeot bike, his shorts and jersey from the 1967 Tour de France, his Great Britain jersey from his win in the world road race championship, and newspaper cuttings. There is a Simpson memorial on the road outside the club, erected by local cyclists, including members of the Harworth and District Cycling Club to commemorate the 30th anniversary in 1997.

The documentary Wheels Within Wheels follows actor Simon Dutton (known as Simon Templar, The Saint) as he meets people and visits places from the life of Tom Simpson. The documentary was made over four years, and chronicles Dutton, who, in a mid-life crisis decides to go in the tracks of Simpson.

In 2001, Cycling named Simpson Britain's No. 2 rider of the previous century, saying it was the drugs connection that made him come second to Chris Boardman.^[10]

In 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.^[11]

Palmarès[link]

See also[link]

• List of doping cases in cycling

References[link]