Friday, April 25, 2025

Tag: Famous Photographers

John Pierce – Part Three, Favourites, Tips, and UCI Changes

John Pierce is one of the world's great sports photographers, he's a friend of VeloVeritas and in our site's best tradition, the man can RANT about the sport he's been a part of for 50 years. In Part Three, our final chat with John, he looks at what changes he would bring if he were elected President of the UCI (we'd vote for him!), tells us about his favourite and most photogenic riders, ponders what really was in Lance's bottom bracket, and gives us amateur photographers some tips of the trade.

John Pierce – Part Two, the Better – and Worse – Aspects of the Sport

John Pierce is one of the world's great sports photographers, he's a friend of VeloVeritas and in our site's best tradition, the man can RANT about the sport he's been a part of for 50 years. In Part One of our interview John told us about his introduction to the profession of cycling photography, his work around the globe and the background to his famous image of Guido Van Caster, Eddy Plankaert and Bernard Hinault sprinting flat out at the end of Stage 12 of the 1981 Tour De France which won 'Action Sports Picture of the Decade' nine years later. In Part Two, John looks at the changes in the sport - and in the photography equipment - through the decades, telling us why he prefers Canon over Nikon and Paris-Roubaix over all other races.

John Pierce – Part One, the Early Days

John Pierce is one of the world’s great sports photographers, he’s a friend of VeloVeritas and in our site’s best tradition, the man can RANT about the sport he’s been a part of for 50 years. We had a good long chat with John about his racing and photography careers - here in Part One, John tells us about his early successes and how he became interested in photography, his first equipment, his travels and adventures.

John Pierce – My Favourite Six Day Men; by one of the World’s Best Photographers

It’s not every day that you receive pictures from one of the world’s best cycling photographers – they’re way too good to keep to ourselves so with Mr. John Pierce’s permission allow us to share his memories of some of his favourite Six Day riders of the 70’s and 80’s. John attended the last London Six in 1980 and these first images are from that race.

At Random

Giro d’Italia 2012 – Stage 7: Recanati – Rocca di Cambio 202km. Ryder!

I didn't manage to see stage seven to Rocca di Cambio - it fell on 'D minus one' for the VeloVeritas annual excursion to Italia. The loose ends were many and instead of having plenty of time to pack my bag and watch the Giro, I was 'running aboot daft' in the van. And Saturday evening rituals still had to be observed - a wee bite to eat and a movie. It's not as if you can say; 'I'm off to Italy the morn love, so we're no' going out tonight - I have a bag to pack and a Giro stage to skek !'

Mario Chiesa – Top Road Star of the 90’s

As a ‘road captain’ in the 80's and 90's Mario Chiesa helped guide riders like Marco Pantani, Urs Zimmermann and Claudio Chiappucci to some big victories. More recently he’s been behind the steering wheel of nine top teams. Thanks to Lucio Belli, we caught up with Mario to get his story. 

UCI Track World Cup 2012, Glasgow – Friday

The first major competition on the brand new Sir Chris Hoy velodrome in Glasgow was the three-day UCI Track World Cup. We've been racing the Wednesday night Track League here since early October, and the Scottish Championships were held a few weeks ago, with the invitational two hour 'Thunderdrome' event taking up an afternoon and covered live on Radio Scotland, but this was something else.

Craig Middleton – Onix Bikes Owner, Designer, Webmaster…

We became aware of the bike brand Onix when our blogger, Asfra Professional Dan Patten told us he was using them for this coming season. Thrashing around the Flandrian kermises and InterClub races on the cobbles, concrete roads and paths will be sure to give any bike a good test, and Dan has been enthusing to us about his new machines. Turns out Onix Bikes was started recently by Craig Middleton, who gave up his previous job in printing and threw everything into creating something pretty different.

Le Tour de France 2012 – Stage 18: Blagnac – Brive-la-Gaillarde, 215 km.

It’s a new hotel chain today, Premiere Classe – we had a bit of a battle to get in. To keep the costs down, they only man these places in the morning and early evening – during the day you have to punch codes in to gain access. We started with credit card information, then the reservation number – no dice. Eventually we stuck Martin’s name in – et voila!

World Road Championships 2012 – Day Three; U23 Time Trial World Championship

The party’s over at the U23 Time Trial World Championship, there’s no more nice wee room in Valkenburg and ambling down for breakfast, with the patron asking if you’d like a fried egg to go with your rolls, cheese and ham.