Re-Cycle podcast - 'The hold-up of the century': Jacky Durand's 217km break to win the Ronde

Eurosport has broadened its audio offering to bring cycling fans the greatest stories from the sport’s rich history, featuring iconic names like Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi and Bernard Hinault and some of the most famous, and infamous, cycling feats ever witnessed.

Re-Cycle is the first podcast to delve into the history of a sport rich in dramatic sporting tales, and it returns this week with the story of the last time a Frenchman won the Tour of Flanders.

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In 1992 Frenchman Jacky Durand defied all the odds by winning the Tour of Flanders from a breakaway of 217 kilometres. Part of a four-man move, the 25-year-old became the first rider in Ronde history to win from a long-distance break – and remains to this day the last Frenchman to win the cobbled classic.

Rewinding only five years to the crazy, windswept 2015 edition of Gent-Wevelgem, Felix Lowe remembers bearded Italian veteran Luca Paolini’s victory on a day of blustery subplots, cobbled catastrophe, endless drama and a meme-tastic crash by Geraint Thomas.

As season two of Re-Cycle continues, we look back at Sean Kelly's second Milan-San Remo victory, when the Irishman reeled in rival Moreno Argentin on his fearless descent of the Poggio before kicking clear for the final big win of his illustrious career.

The first of the 2020 series looks back at one of the greatest editions of Paris-Nice. Felix Lowe revisits the 1966 Race to the Sun, when Jacques Anquetil won the race for the fifth and final time by denying compatriot Raymond Poulidor on the very last day.

In the final Re-Cycle of season one, we take a look back at the last time the World Championships came to England prior to the 2019 race. The 1982 world title may have gone to the red-hot Italian favourite, but it was the actions of Greg LeMond, who controversially chased down fellow American Jonathan Boyer, which made the headlines.

From winning the inaugural Vuelta a Espana in 1935 to helping put a man on the moon, Belgium's Gustaaf Deloor was a pedalling pioneer whose career was cut short by war.

This time, we’re rolling with the first rider to win all of cycling's Grand Tours – France’s Jacques Anquetil and the 1963 Vuelta victory from the man considered the best time triallist of his generation.

In this edition of Re-Cycle, we’re riding with the first South American to win a Grand Tour – Colombia’s Luis 'Lucho' Herrera – and delving into the stories of race fixing and saddle sores behind his 1987 Vuelta a Espana title, as well as the kidnapping that followed.

In the latest episode of Re-Cycle, we look back at the year the greatest road cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx, broke rival Luis Ocana by almost winning two stages in one day during the 1972 Tour de France.

One hundred years after the introduction of the first yellow jersey, the latest in our historical Re-Cycle series looks back at the creation of one of the most iconic symbols in the world of sport. We delve into the origins of the fabled maillot jaune – first worn by the Frenchman Eugène Christophe on 19th July 1919...

In this episode of Re-Cycle, we doff our cap to Brian Robinson, Britain's first ever Tour de France stage winner courtesy of a remarkable solo win on Stage 20 in the 1959 race.

This time out we’re going back to 1937, when defending Tour de France champion Sylvère Maes withdrew from the race with his entire Belgian team while wearing the yellow jersey – just days away from Paris. Yes, really...

From one extreme breakaway to another, and this time out we’re riding with Andy Hampsten, who – with the help of sheep's wool fat and neoprene diving gloves – conquered the snow-capped Gavia to become the first American to don the maglia rosa in 1988. It was the day that did more than any other to make Hampsten the first and only American to win the Giro – and a stage otherwise known as ‘The Day the Hard Men Cried’.

Last time out, we climbed to the Basilica San Luca with Fiorenzo Magni biting down on an innertube to distract him from the pain of a broken collarbone. Magni had, despite winning the Giro d’Italia three times, always lived in the shadow of his compatriots: Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. This time out, we’re on the road with Coppi himself – and his mythical long-range attack from Cuneo to Pinerolo that helped him win the 1949 Giro d’Italia.

They say 666 is the number of the beast. Not that many riders to have taken on the monstrous climb to the Basilica San Luca in northern Italy need reminding. It’s a road that has staged some stand-out moments in the history of the Giro d’Italia – from Fiorenzo Magni’s grimacing heroics in 1956 to Simon Gerrans dropping Chris Froome in 2009.

In the second episode of Re-Cycle, we look back at the freezing 1980 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in which Bernard Hinault braved blizzards and snow to win by almost 10 minutes from a field of just 21 finishers.

How did it come to be that the official list of Paris-Roubaix winners exceeds the number of races by one? We revisit the controversy that saw Frenchman André Mahé and Italy's Serse Coppi both win – at least officially – the 47th edition of the Hell of the North.