Cycling at the 1900 Paris Summer Games

The cycling events at the 1900 Olympics should be considered those entitled in the popular press of the day as “Grand Prix de l’Exposition.” The meeting began on 9 September at the Velodrome in Vincennes, and ended on 16 September. Most of the competitions were conducted for professionals. By far the most complete description of the cycling events in 1900 is contained in the French daily cycling paper, Le Vélo. The edition of 9 September contained the complete program for the “Grand Prix de l’Exposition.”

The program listed in that edition was as follows:

Dimanche (Sunday), 9 September

Séries du Grand Prix de l’Exposition

Courses de primes

Course de 50 kilometres

Lundi (Monday), 10 September

Handicap (3,000 m.), séries

Tandems. Séries éliminatoires

Tandems. Demi-finales

Tandems. Finale

Inter-rêgionale. Séries éliminatoires

Inter-rêgionale. Demi-finales

Inter-rêgionale. Finale

Mardi (Tuesday), 11 September

Amateurs. Séries préparatoires (le matin 9 heures)

Amateurs. Séries éliminatoires

Repêchage. Séries éliminatoires

Repêchage. Demi-finales

Repêchage. Finale

Course de 100 miles

Jeudi (Thursday), 13 September

Amateurs, demi-finales. Grand Prix Exposition

Amateurs, finale. Grand Prix Exposition

Professionels, demi-finales. Grand Prix Exposition

Professionels, finale. Grand Prix Exposition

Course de 100 kilomêtres

Vendredi (Friday), 14 September

Course des Nations. Séries éliminatoires

Course des Nations. Demi-finales

Course des Nations. Finale

Handicap, finale

Course de 25 kilomêtres avec entraineurs (2e sŠrie)

Course scratch (2e série)

Samedi (Saturday), 15 September

Amateurs, handicap. Séries

Amateurs, handicap. Finale

Amateurs. Courses de 25 kilomêtres

Amateurs. Course de primes

Professionels, course poursuite. Sêries

Professionels, course poursuite. Finale

Bol d’Or (départ)

Dimanche (Sunday), 16 September

Bol d’Or (arrivée)

Other cycling events were conducted in Paris in the summer of 1900. Karl Lennartz and Walter Teutenberg, in II. Olympische Spiele 1900 listed two cycling events which occurred on 12, 15, and 19 August 1900. These were the 2,000 metre individual match sprint, and the 5 km. points race. However, Le Vélo listed these as the “Championnats du Monde” or World Championships and they are considered as such by the authoritative cycling reference book, Velo 93, which lists the same finishers in the 1900 amateur match sprint world championship as do Lennartz and Teutenberg.

The professional events listed above should not be given consideration as Olympic events. It appeared that, unless the event is classified as for “amateur,” it was a professional event. This turns out to be the case when one examines the results contained in Le Vélo, as the events not explicitly described above always contained professional riders. The handicap events should also not be considered as Olympic events.

Prior to Lennartz and Teutenberg’s book, no other recent source giving Olympic results has ever listed anything other than the match sprint as an Olympic event in 1900. However, even omitting the professional and handicap events, one notes that there were three amateur events contested at the 1900 Grand Prix de l’Exposition – 1) match sprint (11 and 13 September), 2) 25 kilometre race (15 September), and 3) Points race (“course de primes”) (15 September). These all fit all parameters which can be used to classify the events as “Olympic” in nature, and results of these are given below in detail.