Tom Simpson (30 November 1937–13 July 1967) was, until the success of Bradley Wiggins in the 2012 Tour de France, the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years.
Simpson was Britain's first men's road race World Champion (a feat matched only by Mark Cavendish in 2011), and won three monument classics, Paris-Nice and two Vuelta a España stages. He notoriously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France. The post mortem examination found that he had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and a stomach complaint.
Read more about Tom Simpson: Simpson and Drugs, Memorials, Palmarès
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Be very much his friend indeed
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—William Cowper (1731–1800)
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—Louis Simpson (b. 1923)