Cycling Track at the 1900 Summer Olympics

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 that occurred on 12, 15, and 19 August 1900. These were the 2,000 metre individual match sprint and the 5 km points race. Le Vélo, however, 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 as amateur above always contained professional riders. The handicap events should also not be considered 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. Even omitting the professional and handicap events, however, 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 fit all parameters that can be used to classify the events as “Olympic” in nature, and results of these are given in detail under the events.