Track cycling world championships 1895

Start of the amateurs' mile race (from left to right): Wilhelm Henie, Jean Schaaf, Christian Ingemann Petersen, Jaap Eden. Eden won that race.

The World Cup took place on the cycling track in Cologne-Riehl.

Jimmy Michael became World Champion at the age of 18.

The track cycling world championships in 1895 took place from August 17th to 19th in Cologne on the cycling track on Mülheimer Straße in Cologne-Riehl (today the Cologne Zoo is located there ).

Four races were held, two for amateurs and two for the first time for professional drivers . The disciplines on the program were aviation races, today sprint , over 1 mile and standing races over 100 km (behind non-motorized multi-seater pacemakers). Around 60 drivers from eleven nations took part. The organizer was the "International Cyclists Association", a predecessor organization of the UCI .

Since the organizer, the German Cyclists Association , insisted on dedicating the world championships to the 25th anniversary of the German victory over France in 1870, the French riders refused to participate; Drivers from other nations showed their solidarity with them, including the Italian Gigi Pontecchi, who was favored for the sprint.

The only 18-year-old Welshman Jimmy Michael was the surprising winner in the stayer race for professional drivers. The decision in the sprint of the professional drivers came to a head: First of all, there were disagreements about whether to start standing or flying. In the finals, the American banker, on the other hand, kept a shadow for the finish line and believed he was the winner when the Belgian Protin drove past him and won. Attempts to repeat this final failed, however, so that Protin remained world champion.

Professional driver

discipline	space	country	athlete
1 mile flying race	1	Belgium	Robert Protin
	2	United States	George A. Banker
	3	Belgium	Emile Huet
Standing race over 100 km	1	United Kingdom	Jimmy Michael
	2	Belgium	Henri Luyten
	3	German Empire	Hans Hofmann

Amateurs

discipline	space	country	athlete
1 mile flying race	1	Netherlands	Jaap Eden
	2	Denmark	Christian Ingemann Petersen
	3	German Empire	Jean Schaaf
Standing race over 100 km	1	Netherlands	Mathieu Cordang
	2	Netherlands	Kees Witteveen
	3	Norway	Wilhelm Henie

literature

• Werner Ruttkus / Wolfgang Schoppe / Hans-Alfred Roth : In the shine and shadow of the rainbow. A look back at the cycling world championships in racing, which have been held across Germany since 1895 , Berlin 1999

Web links

Commons : Track Cycling World Championships 1895  - Collection of images, videos and audio files