Bernard Thevenet (1974)

1974 saw the very first World Championship Road Racing competition held outside the European continent with the 41st such event being hosted by Montreal, Canada on August 25th of that year. Over a grueling course that would ultimately see but eighteen of the original sixty-six entrants complete, Bernard Thevenet (...wearing the Maillot Tricolore as reigning French National Champion) managed a solo breakaway some 100 kilometers from the finish. Seen here powering his way up Mont-Real yet still well away in the lead, Thevenet set a blistering pace but was eventually caught on the last lap with some 7 kilometers to go by a pack of five riders which included Eddy Merckx, Herman Van Springel, Raymond Poulidor, Giacinto Santambrogio, and Mariano Martinez. In the end, it would be the indomitable Merckx who bested none other than a thirty-eight year old Pou-Pou (...the “eternal second”) by a slim 2 seconds in a sprint for the Rainbow Jersey. Bernard Thevenet would finish in fifth place overall - a more than respectable performance, especially in consideration of the fact that his 1974 season had to that point been almost entirely wiped out due to a nasty case of shingles (...a condition which had prompted his withdrawal from the Tour de France only a month earlier).

The original of the photograph seen here was taken by Ken30684 of Worcester, MA who has been generous enough to allow use of said image as reproduced herein for the benefit of the vintage cycling community as a whole.