Le Tour De France poster Miroir Sprint – Paul Ordner – 1948

Le Tour De France poster Miroir Sprint – Paul Ordner – 1948 This is a reproduction of a Miroir Sprint magazine cover. The magazine was produced as a special edition to celebrate the upcoming 1948 Le Tour de France cycle race. The cover artwork was created by the French artist and illustrator Paul Ordner. The artist was renowned for sports illustrations used in magazines, books and posters. He created the artwork for several commercial advertising posters and travel posters, especially for ski resorts. For this magazine cover, Ordner has depicted the legendary Italian cyclist Gino Bartali leading the famous bike race as he climbs the mountains in the French Alps in the yellow jersey. The 1948 Tour De France poster The Tour de France bicycle race is one of the most physically demanding sports there is. The 1948 event was no exception. In order to win the race, competitors had to cycle 4,922 miles, over 21 stages in 26 days. Twelve teams of ten cyclists entered the race, consisting of sixty French cyclists, 24 Italian, 22 Belgian, 6 Dutch, 4 Luxembourgian, 2 Swiss, 1 Polish and 1 Algerian cyclist. Of the 120 cyclists, 44 finished the gruelling race. It was only the second Tour de France to be held since the end of world war two. It was the first edition the Italians had been eligible to race in since 1938 ten years earlier. The winner of that year’s race was a young twenty-four year old, Gino Bartali and the young Italian was present at the 1948 edition. Bartali’s performances at recent Giro d’Italia races had not gone well and, at 34 years of age, it was thought Bartali was too old to be a competitive threat. Gino Bartali Bartali obviously had other ideas and set his stall out early by taking victory in Stage 1, the sprint from Paris to Trouville. Throughout the course of the following twenty stages, Bartali took seven victories. Of his five mountain stage wins, three of them were on consecutive races. This achievement wasn’t surpassed for fifty years when in 1999, Mario Cipollini made it four in a row. Bartali’s victory in the 1948 Tour de France made him the only cyclist to win two Tours de France ten years apart. An achievement that hasn’t been seen since. Gino Bartali is quite rightly known as one of the most successful and popular cyclists Italy has ever produced. In addition to his two Tour de France victories Bartali was also a 3x winner of the Giro d’italia, 4× Milan–Sanremo, 3× Giro di Lombardia, 2× Tour de Suiss, 4× Italian road champion, 5× Giro della Toscana, 3× Giro del Piemonte, 2× championship of Zurich, 2× Giro dell’emilia, 2× Giro di Campania, 1× Coppa Bernocchi, 1× Tre Valli Varesine and a one time winner of the Tour de Romandie. According to an article on the Campagnolo website, his achievements don’t end there. In fact, his wartime achievements are far more important. The article explains “Gino Bartali’s achievements transcend far beyond cycling. The five-time Grand Tour winner was one of the world’s greatest cyclists between 1935 and his retirement in 1954, but it was acts of heroism that many remember the great Italian for. In 2010 it emerged that during World War II, Bartali saved the lives of over 800 people after using his handlebars to hide counterfeit identity papers, delivering them to Jews in hiding and handing over exits visas to allow them to escape transportation to death camps. He also hid a Jewish family in his cellar, an act one of the survivors said saved their lives.” Other Vintage Cycling Posters For many people, cycling is one of life’s joys. The simple feeling of freedom when riding along on a beautiful day, to the endorphin rush that comes from conquering a challenging hill. Over the years, thousands of posters have been devoted to the activity. From posters advertising the manufacturer’s latest bicycle models to posters for cycling events to the fun and health benefits that cycling offers. We currently have heading for 100 cycling posters on our website and we are adding to them all the time. Here, we’ve selected just five to show the variety and diversity available. One of the earliest we have dates back to 1889 and was created by the French artist Lucian Baylac. It was produced for Clement Cycles and depicts three men in a close-run cycle race. We love it! Our second offers a beautiful sedate cycling scene. The poster was illustrated by Felix Fournery for Cycles de Dion-Bouton. It shows a woman standing on top of coastal cliffs, with her dog at her side. Wonderful! Another one we love was created in 1920 by the artist Mich. The poster was produced for Wonder Cycles and depicts a competitive cyclist riding and splashing his way through a muddy puddle. One cycle manufacturer who embraced the humble poster in their advertising more than most was Terrot & Cie. The poster we’ve chosen features a young couple who are simply breezing up the Montanvers mountainside. It’s easy on a Terrot cycle, not so much for those further down the hill! For our fifth choice we’ve picked a 1936 poster by Gino Boccasile. The bold and dynamic image of a pair of cyclists on the oval cycle track advertises the Velodromo Comunale Vigorelli Via Arorna Sempione. There are so many more to choose from and maybe you’ll prefer some of our others,