page_title: Death of Tom Simpson
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Death of Tom Simpson / Death
caption_attribution_description: Le mont Ventoux (vu depuis le sud) par dessus les vignes de la plaine entre Carpentras et Flassan, France
context_page_description: Tom Simpson was a British professional cyclist, one of Britain's most successful of all time. At the time of the 1967 Tour de France, he was the undisputed leader of the British team. In the 13th stage of that race, he collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux.
  Simpson fell ill with diarrhoea during the Tour's tenth stage. He was under pressure from his personal manager to continue in the race, though members of his team encouraged him to quit. Near the summit of Mont Ventoux, Simpson fell off of his bike but was able to get back on it. After riding a short distance further, he collapsed. He was pronounced dead after being airlifted to a hospital. The post-mortem examination found that Simpson had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and the stomach complaint.
  Approximately 5,000 people came to Simpson's funeral service. A memorial stands close to the spot where he died and has become a pilgrimage for many cyclists. At the Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club, there is a museum dedicated to Simpson's memory.
context_section_description: The thirteenth stage (13 July) of the 1967 Tour measured 211.5 km (131.4 mi); it started in Marseille, crossing Mont Ventoux (the "Giant of Provence") before finishing in Carpentras. At dawn, Tour doctor Pierre Dumas met journalist Pierre Chany near his hotel. Dumas noted the warm temperature: "If the boys stick their nose in a 'topette' [bag of drugs] today, we could have a death on our hands". At the start line, a journalist noticed Simpson looked tired and ask him if the heat was the problem. Simpson replied, "No, it's not the heat, it's the Tour."
  As the race reached the lower slopes of Ventoux, Simpson's team mechanic, Harry Hall, witnessed a still ill Simpson putting the lid back on his water bottle as he exited a building. Race commissaire (official) Jacques Lohmuller later confirmed to Hall that he also saw the incident and that Simpson was putting brandy in his bottle. As the race closed in on the summit of Ventoux, the peloton began to fracture, and for a while, Simpson managed to stay in the front group of elite riders. He then slipped back to a group of chasers around one minute behind before he began to lose control of his bike and zig-zag across the road. His team manager, Alec Taylor, feared for Simpson less for the way he was going up the mountain than for the way he would go down the other side.
  One kilometre from the summit, Simpson fell off his bike. Taylor and Hall arrived in the team car to help him. Hall tried to persuade Simpson to stop when he fell, saying, "Come on Tom, that's it, that's your Tour finished." But Simpson said he wanted to go on. Taylor was informed and said, "If Tom, wants to go on, he goes." Noticing that his toe straps were still undone, Simpson said, "Me straps, Harry, me straps!" They got him on his bike and pushed him off. Simpson's last words, as remembered by Hall, were, "On, on, on." The words, "Put me back on my bike!" were invented by Sid Saltmarsh, covering the event for The Sun and Cycling – now Cycling Weekly – who was not there at the time but rather in a reception black-spot for live accounts on Radio Tour. Simpson managed to ride a further 500 yards (460 m) before he began to wobble. He was held upright by three spectators who then helped him to the ground on side of the road. Simpson was unconscious with his hands locked to the handlebars. Hall shouted for the other mechanic, Ken Ryall, to pry them loose and the pair laid the lifeless Simpson beside the road. Hall and a nurse from the Tour's medical team took turns giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before Dumas came with an oxygen mask.
  Approximately forty minutes after his collapse, a police helicopter took Simpson to nearby Avignon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:40 p.m. Dumas refused to sign a burial certificate and a poisons expert from Marseille was commissioned to conduct an autopsy. Two empty tubes of amphetamines and a half-full tube were found in the rear pocket of his racing jersey, one of which was labelled Tonedron. The British team was called in for questioning and their baggage was searched. Two of the Belgian soigneurs – who looked after riders on the British team including Simpson – locked themselves in their room, got drunk and did not come out.
  On the next racing day, the other riders were reluctant to continue racing and asked the organisers for a postponement. French rider Jean Stablinski suggested that the race continue, with a British rider, whose team would wear black armbands, allowed to win the stage. Barry Hoban won the stage. This was later a subject of argument as it was widely believed that the race winner should have been Denson, Simpson's other teammate and close friend.
caption: The 1,912 m (6,273 ft)-high Mont Ventoux, where Simpson died on 13 July 1967, aged 29.
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