About the author of this blog

Hello, my name is Anita Pethő (Petho, if your devise isn't able to decrypt the unique Hungarian letter at the end of my surname.) I'm a Hungarian literary critic and expert of the genre historical novel, also used to work as a freelance cultural journalist before I (temporarily) retired from public life. 

I started watching road cycling events in the 1990s, created my first road cycling related blog (TOURázzunk együtt) in 2009, published a book about the world of professional road cycling races in 2017. 

Between 2020 and 2025 I had an English written project called PelotonTales, focused mostly on road cycling history. 

In late 2025 I started restructuring the system of my online projects including not only road cying related content, but special projects about cultural history of food, travel, or gardening, fictional stories set particularly in the 18th century, (re-)reading literary classics, watching tv series films set in the past, etc. (If you're willing to spend a little time within my textual world, you might notice, that at the end these topics are all connected somehow). 

There is a website you might find more information: 

anitapetho.com 

E-mail: newblogs@anitapetho.com

Social media (although I share very rarely stuff, mostly just reminders what's going on my websites): 

Bluesky: anitapetho.bsky.social

Instagram/Threads: anita_petho

Popular posts from this blog

Monument winner of the day: Cyrille Van Hauwaert

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Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1883-1974) was one of the most successful Belgian cyclists of the pre-WWI era.  Van Hauwaert’s story reads like a folk legend. A big, strong Flemish farm boy who didn’t speak French, he arrived at the office of La Française cycling team’s directeur sportif, Pierre Pierrard, just two days before the Paris-Roubaix 1907. In his hand was a letter of recommendation from a regional agent of the bicycle manufacturer sponsoring the team.  Despite the late hour and the lack of available pacemakers to support him, Pierrard took a chance, ordering the mechanics to set up a bicycle for the young Belgian. With instructions to keep up with the pack as long as he could, Van Hauwaert exceeded expectations.  In a stunning debut, he finished second, just behind the winner, Georges Passerieu.  Van Hauwaert’s next race was the prestigious Bordeaux-Paris, where he emerged as the top rider, cementing his reputation as a powerful competitor.  The following yea...
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Monument winner of the day: Hippolyte Aucouturier

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Who else could be the first cyclist of the series  about Monument winners than the epitome of early day road cycling races, Hippolyte Aucouturier (1876-1944). The image of a French cyclist in a striped shirt may feel like a cliché, but sometimes stereotypes hold a surprising amount of truth. Recognizable for his distinctive outfit, Hippolyte Aucouturier  also found considerable success during his career, active from 1900 to 1908 as an independent rider.   He claimed victory at the 1903 Paris-Roubaix under rather chaotic circumstances. Traditionally, riders switched bikes upon entering the velodrome, but when Aucouturier arrived alongside Claude Chaperon, Chaperon mistakenly grabbed Louis Trousselier's bike. By the time he realized and corrected his mistake, Aucouturier had surged ahead, winning the race.   Following this victory, Aucouturier was one of the favorites for the inaugural Tour de France. He abandoned the first stage due to stomach pains, bu...
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The unpleasant anachronism of the Cycling Monuments

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There is a reason, obviously, why they called that. The five most prestigious one-day races, traditionally called Monuments, are carrying history. Sometimes not just road cycling history but they also remind us of pivotal moments from the history of Europe in the 20th century.  In 1981, Bernard Hinault delivered a spectacular Paris-Roubaix victory fuelled rather with anger and frustration. After the race he called Paris-Roubaix a bullshit All the five Monuments was born in the first great era of road cycling competitions ended with the outbreak of Word War I. Liege-Bastogne-Liege , a classic amateur cycling tourist adventure in 1892, Paris-Roubaix , a typical French cycling enterprise in 1896, the two Italian (more precisely, and not coincidently at all, two Lombardian) events, Giro di Lombardia in 1905, Milano-Sanremo 1907, and finally, Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1913, these latter three following the French recipe too, as newspapers were heavily involved in the founding process o...
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