Tragedy ·
Tom Simpson’s Last Climb
On Mont Ventoux in the 1967 Tour de France, Simpson collapsed, remounted and collapsed again. His death left a teammate grieving amid disagreement over the role of drugs.
Near the summit of Mont Ventoux on July 13, 1967, Tom Simpson fell from his bicycle. One account says he got back on and rode a short distance before collapsing again. The 29-year-old British cyclist died during the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France.
Earlier on the climb, his British teammate Vin Denson had seen him preparing to attack. Denson believed the move could determine whether Simpson reached the podium. Recalling their exchange in a 2017 interview with The Telegraph, he said he had shouted, “Die, die”—an encouragement to expend everything. “Christ, it was just a figure of speech. If I had known what would happen …”
Simpson had won the world road-race championship in 1965 and was the first British cyclist to wear the Tour’s yellow jersey. He was also known for his ability to withstand physical punishment, even among cycling’s elite.
Simpson knew the mountain’s demands. In a recollection quoted by cycling writer Les Woodland, he described Mont Ventoux as “another world up there among the bare rocks and the glaring sun”. He remembered sweating so heavily that he had needed to wring out his socks. When Denson next saw him, Simpson was lying beside the road with a small crowd around him and an oxygen mask on his face.
The findings after Simpson’s death became a second ordeal for Denson. The Telegraph reported that two ampoules had been discovered in Simpson’s jersey pocket, one labelled Tonedron, an amphetamine, and that traces of amphetamine were found in his system. It said the autopsy attributed his death to heart failure resulting from exhaustion.
Denson resisted the suggestion that performance-enhancing drugs had caused his friend’s death, insisting that Simpson had pushed beyond his physical limit. He said the discussion in the weeks afterward, focused largely on the drugs found in Simpson’s pocket, deepened his grief.
Denson later recalled looking for Simpson among the other riders. “I kept mistaking other riders for Tom,” he said. “It was like I was hallucinating. I couldn’t take it any more. Just undid my straps and got into the team car.”