Spinning Through Time Remind me

Know the riders and the roads before the race

Road cycling's history, told slide by slide over archive photos. Before each race the app covers, you read up on the roads it will take and the riders who won there before.

In closed beta on iPhone. Coming to the App Store and Google Play.App in English, Nederlands and Français

To race week, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The first race in the app, Saturday 27 February. Race week opens a week before, at 06:00.

Race week for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad opens on Saturday 20 February 2027 at 06:00.

  • Fausto Coppi
  • Roger De Vlaeminck climbing the wet cobbles of the Koppenberg during the 1978 Tour of Flanders, with spectators on the bank.Tour of FlandersKoppenberg600 m at 11.6%
  • Marianne Vos
  • Laurent Fignon
  • Alfonsina Strada
  • Roger De Vlaeminck
  • The village of Poggio on its hill above Sanremo, surrounded by terraced greenhouses, the last climb of Milan-San RemoMilan-San RemoPoggio di Sanremo3.7 km at 3.7%
  • Lotte Kopecky
  • The peloton riding over the cobbles of the Trouée d'Arenberg forest sector between crowds of spectators during Paris-Roubaix 2008.Paris-RoubaixTrouée d'Arenberg2,300 m
  • Sean Kelly
  • Beryl Burton
  • A rider climbing the last cobbles of the Muur van Geraardsbergen towards the domed chapel of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Oudenberg at the top, 2017.Tour of FlandersMuur van Geraardsbergen1,075 m at 9.3%
The app's home screen five days before Paris-Roubaix: today's briefing, Thirty sectors, counted down, over a photo of the race, and the story you were reading

The days cycling still talks about

Merckx riding 140 km alone over the Pyrenees in the yellow jersey. Coppi, hired to ride for Bartali, and the rivalry that split Italy in two. Alfonsina Strada lining up for the Giro among the men in 1924.

Each story starts long before the moment that decided it, then slows down kilometre by kilometre as it gets there. Doping and stripped titles are in it too, as they happened.

  • Coppi rode 192 km alone over five Alpine passes to win the 1949 Giro.
  • Merckx got off and walked up the Koppenberg in its first Tour of Flanders, in 1976.
  • Beryl Burton caught the man setting the men's 12-hour record, offered him a liquorice allsort and rode 277 miles, in 1967.

Watch your first Tour of Flanders knowing why the crowd packs the Koppenberg.

Explore: one search box for riders, races, climbs and paths, the next race in the app with the places on its roads, and riders by era
The start of the Eddy Merckx story: an archive portrait, The Cannibal, 18 slides, one big moment, and a Start the race button

Merckx in the snow on the Tre Cime

June 1968: Eddy Merckx rides through a snowstorm in the Dolomites and takes the pink jersey of the Giro. A year later, in his first Tour de France, he wins the yellow jersey, the green jersey and the mountains classification in the same race.

That is one story. The app has them from the first races in 1869 to the 2026 season, told over archive photos of the riders and the roads.

Slide Storm on the Tre Cime: a 1968 archive portrait of Eddy Merckx fills the screen
Slide The Faema men: a 1969 crowd photo fills the screen
Slide Merckxissimo: Merckx with both arms raised in his Faema jersey, 1969

The women who raced anyway

For most of the sport's history women raced without television, without prize money and often without a race to enter. The app tells their stories the way it tells the men's: the moment that decided it, the rivals, and the helpers who made it possible. Thirty of them so far, from 1924 to today.

Elsy Jacobs, the first women's road world champion, at Reims in 1958
Elsy Jacobs, the first women's world road champion, Reims 1958
  1. 1924
    Number 72 at the Giro

    Alfonsina Strada rode the Giro d'Italia among the men, the only woman who ever did. The judges ruled her out at Perugia; she rode on to Milan anyway.

  2. 1958
    The first world title

    About thirty women lined up outside Reims for the first women's world road championship. Elsy Jacobs attacked on the Calvaire, and nobody followed her to the line.

  3. 1967
    A liquorice allsort

    In a 12-hour time trial Beryl Burton caught the man setting the men's record, offered him a sweet and rode on: 277 miles to his 276.52.

  4. 1984
    Gold by inches

    The first Olympic road race for women. Connie Carpenter threw her bike at the line and beat Rebecca Twigg, in the last race she ever rode.

  5. 2021
    The first Queen of Roubaix

    Women raced Paris-Roubaix for the first time. Lizzie Deignan reached the cobbles first with 82 km to go and nobody caught her.

  6. 2022
    Alone into yellow

    The first Tour de France Femmes. Ill after stage 1, Annemiek van Vleuten rode the last 62 km of stage 7 alone and took the yellow jersey.

  7. 2023
    Glasgow

    Lotte Kopecky rode alone up Scott Street to Belgium's first women's world road title in 50 years.

Read them in order: Queens of the road

  1. Chapter 1

    Alfonsina Strada

    Where it began: number 72, the only woman who ever rode the Giro d'Italia, in 1924.

  2. Chapter 2

    Yvonne Reynders

    In 1959 a coal merchant's daughter from Brussels won the second women's world road title ever held.

  3. Chapter 3

    Beryl Burton

    Her great rival on the road: a rhubarb picker from Morley who in 1967 beat the men's record.

  4. Chapter 4

    Keetie van Oosten-Hage

    A teacher from Tholen who won the world title at 19 and set an hour record that the UCI's record list kept for 22 years.

  5. Chapter 5

    Jeannie Longo

    The first Olympic road race for women came in 1984, and Longo needed twelve years to win it.

  6. Chapter 6

    Leontien van Moorsel

    On Alpe d'Huez in 1992 the rider from Boekel sat on Longo's wheel and took the Tour.

  7. Chapter 7

    Marianne Vos

    In 2006, at 18, Vos took her first rainbow jersey on a frozen course at Zeddam.

  8. Chapter 8

    Annemiek van Vleuten

    Twelve kilometres from gold in Rio in 2016, a right-hand bend stopped van Vleuten.

  9. Chapter 9

    Demi Vollering

    A florist from Pijnacker who won the Tour on the Tourmalet and lost the next one by four seconds.

  10. Chapter 10

    Lotte Kopecky

    In Glasgow in 2023 Kopecky rode alone up Scott Street to Belgium's first women's world road title in 50 years.

Alone from the Kwaremont

Tour of Flanders, 2 April 2017. Philippe Gilbert attacks on the Oude Kwaremont with 55 km to go, in the Belgian champion's jersey. Nobody sees him again before Oudenaarde.

Swipe through how it happened, card by card, the way the app tells it.

Story
Philippe Gilbert in the Belgian champion's jersey of Quick-Step Floors in 2017
  1. The moment, 2017

    Alone from the Kwaremont

    55 km to go. The second Oude Kwaremont. The group has 35 s at the foot. Midway up, Gilbert goes full on, looks back and sees nobody. At the top he is 56 seconds clear, and he does not wait.

  2. Koppenberg: 55 seconds. On the Taaienberg Tom Boonen's chain fails, the spare bike fails too, and his chance in his last Ronde is gone. Peter Sagan attacks behind. Over the Kruisberg the gap holds at a minute.

  3. The last Kwaremont, 16 km out. The chasers are 55 s down. Near the top Sagan hits the barrier and Van Avermaet and Naesen go down with him. Paterberg. Gilbert can hardly turn his gear over and still crests 50 s clear.

  4. At 5 km a bloodied Van Avermaet chases hard into a headwind, and seconds crumble off the lead. By the last kilometre Gilbert has it steady. He steps off after the line and lifts his bike over his head. The chasers come in 29 seconds later.

  5. That was one moment.

    Gilbert's story has more: the Cauberg, La Redoute, a Roubaix at 36. And the Ronde has its own, ready before 4 April 2027.

    Tell me when it is out
1 / 4

Guess first, then the moment

A story slows down as it nears the moment that decided the race, and on that slide the app asks you first. Merckx is alone in yellow, about 140 km from Mourenx: how big is his lead at the line? Slide to a guess or tap Just show me, then read how it ended.

  1. The moment

    One question at the turning point of each story. The app tells you what you said and what it was, and keeps no score.

  2. In the same years

    A rider's story ends on a chart of the riders of his years: Merckx from 1965 to 1978, with Anquetil still racing when he started and Hinault already winning when he stopped.

In the same years: a chart of Eddy Merckx's career from 1965 to 1978 next to Anquetil, Gimondi, Ocaña, Van Impe, Thévenet, Zoetemelk, Maertens, Moser and Hinault
The moment in the Eddy Merckx story: a slider asks how big his lead at Mourenx will be, set to Merckx by 7:30, with Lock it in and Just show me

One climb, a hundred years of races

Each place in the app keeps its own history, race by race. The Tourmalet's starts in 1902, before the Tour ever went over it.

Octave Lapize pushing his bicycle up the dirt road of the Tourmalet during the 1910 Tour de France, with a car stopped behind him
Octave Lapize on the Tourmalet, 1910
  1. 1902
    Four of 43 never put a foot down

    Of 43 riders sent over at 4 am, four crossed without touching the ground, one of them Marthe Hesse on a three-speed hub.

  2. 1910
    A man lost in the snow

    Checking the road for the Tour, Alphonse Steinès got lost in the snow and was found at 3 am. He wired that the road was passable.

  3. 1913
    Christophe walks to the forge

    Eugène Christophe broke his fork on the descent, walked to the village forge and rebuilt it himself: outside help was forbidden.

  4. 1924
    Bottecchia, ten minutes clear

    Ottavio Bottecchia crossed in yellow more than ten minutes ahead, on his way to Italy's first Tour win.

  5. 1969
    Merckx goes, 140 km from Mourenx

    Eddy Merckx went near the top in yellow and stayed away all the way to the finish.

  6. 1970
    The Tour finishes on the mountain

    For the first time a stage ends on the Tourmalet, at La Mongie. Bernard Thévenet wins it.

And on the other roads

  • Giro d'Italia, 1994

    Mortirolo

    Pantani takes flight

    Marco Pantani, 24, crosses first and attacks again on the next climb. Induráin loses 3'30".

  • Milan-San Remo, 1992

    Poggio

    Kelly hunts Argentin

    Sean Kelly, 35, dives down the Poggio after Moreno Argentin, catches him in the last kilometre and wins.

  • Paris-Roubaix, 1998

    Trouée d'Arenberg

    Museeuw's knee

    A week after winning Flanders, Johan Museeuw crashes in the trench and breaks his kneecap.

  • Tour of Flanders, 1976

    Koppenberg

    The new wall

    The Ronde's first time up the lane: five riders reach the top in the saddle. Merckx walks.

  • Tour de France, 1986

    Alpe d'Huez

    Hand in hand

    Hinault and LeMond, teammates and rivals for yellow, cross the line together, hand in hand.

Every race, every winner

You find riders, races, climbs and paths from one search box. Each of the 42 races in the app has its own page: the date, the places on its roads, its story, the riders who made it, and the paths to read before it.

  1. A page for each race

    Omloop Het Nieuwsblad opens the season on 27 February: nine places on its roads, from the Bosberg to the Muur van Geraardsbergen, and the race week that starts a week before.

  2. The record books

    Every winner from the first edition to this season, by year, by most wins, or on one grid by decade. Where you see a photo, there is a story to read.

The Tour de France list: since 1903, 113 editions, with the overall winners year by year, Pogačar, Vingegaard, Bernal and Thomas, each with a story to read
The race page for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: Saturday 27 February 2027, nine places on its roads, the race week button, the Bosberg and the Muur van Geraardsbergen, and its story

Ready before the start, with you to the line

The Tour of Flanders, Sunday 4 April 2027: how the app gets you ready for it, and what it gives you while you watch.

  1. Before the race: get ready

    In the days before, a short briefing each morning: where the Ronde comes from, its legends, the course, and the Rondes people still argue about.

  2. On race day: the stories of the road

    The guide runs with the race by kilometres to go. When the riders hit the Koppenberg or the Kwaremont, tap it and read what happened there before.

  3. The favourites

    The riders to watch, and why, at the bottom of the race-day guide. Tap a name for their story.

  4. Scroll inside the screens: this is the app's real Tour of Flanders content.
Race week
Race week · Sun 4 Apr

Tour of Flanders

De Ronde

2 of 7 briefings read · 5 days to go

  1. 7
    Ghent, 1913: a newspaper with a cause

    A Flemish paper started the Ronde to give its people a race of their own.

    Read
  2. 6
    Bergs, cobbles and a Flemish Sunday

    Short cobbled hills, protected stones and a whole region at the roadside.

    Read
  3. 5
    The road to Oudenaarde

    Three times up the Oude Kwaremont, twice up the Paterberg, and the Koppenberg in between.

    Today
  4. 4
    Three wins, and nobody has four

    Eight men share the record, and the two newest still race each other every April.

    Opens Wed
  5. 3
    Sleet, boos, a seated attack and a sprint

    Four Rondes that people in Flanders still argue about.

    Opens Thu
  6. 2
    Who can win the 2027 Ronde

    Pogačar chases a fourth win that nobody has ever taken, and his rivals want to stop him.

    Opens Fri
  7. 1
    Race-day guide

    Sector by sector, to watch along

    Peek

A new briefing opens every morning at 06:00. Missed days stay open, so you can catch up any time.

Race-day guide

A look ahead: this guide is for race day. It counts as read once it opens the day before the race.

Tour of Flanders

The 2027 Tour of Flanders is on Sunday 4 April. Distances follow the 2026 route, 278.2 km from Antwerp to Oudenaarde; they are updated when the 2027 route is published. Watch the last 60 km: in recent years the Ronde has been won on the Koppenberg, the Oude Kwaremont or the Paterberg.

  1. 278.2
    Start: Antwerp

    The 2026 race left Antwerp and crossed to the Left Bank for the official start. The first 110 km are flat, out to the first cobbles at Zottegem, and the early break goes clear somewhere on these roads.

  2. 136
    Oude Kwaremont, first ascent

    The first of three ascents: 2.2 km, 1,600 metres of them cobbled. Nobody wins the Ronde here, but a leader who starts the climb too far back can lose it.

    The story of this place
  3. 55.1
    Oude Kwaremont, second ascent

    Philippe Gilbert went alone here with about 55 km to go in 2017 and held on to Oudenaarde. In 2025 Pogačar attacked on this ascent and won by more than a minute. Watch who is at the front at the foot.

    The story of this place
  4. 45.3
    Koppenberg

    600 metres of cobbles, up to 22%. In the rain of 2024 the leaders slipped and walked, and Van der Poel rode to the top and went alone. The official route notes call this the start of the finale.

    The story of this place
  5. 36.8
    Taaienberg

    800 metres of cobbles where Tom Boonen liked to attack, with his bronze legs at the top. Teams with numbers use it to thin the front group.

    The story of this place
  6. 26.5
    Oude Kruisberg

    The last climb before the final pair. A rider who missed the front group has one more chance here to close the gap before the Kwaremont.

    The story of this place
  7. 16.7
    Oude Kwaremont, last ascent

    Pogačar dropped Van der Poel on the last Kwaremont in 2023 and again in 2026, and rode in alone both times. A gap made here still has to survive the Paterberg and 13 flat kilometres.

    The story of this place
  8. 13.2
    Paterberg, last ascent

    400 metres, with more than 100 metres at 20%. Cancellara dropped Sagan here in 2013, and Sagan won from here in 2016. The last place to drop a rival before the run to Oudenaarde.

    The story of this place
  9. 0
    Finish: Oudenaarde

    The line is on the Minderbroedersstraat. In 2020 Van der Poel and Van Aert arrived together and Van der Poel won the sprint by a hair.

Riders to watch
  • Tadej Pogačar

    Won in 2023, 2025 and 2026, so a fourth win would give him the record alone. He broke his left collarbone at the Vuelta in August 2026; the spring will show whether he is back to his best.

  • Mathieu van der Poel

    Three wins (2020, 2022, 2024) and seven podiums in a row. Second in 2026, 34 seconds behind Pogačar. He also wants the fourth win.

  • Wout van Aert

    Won Paris-Roubaix in 2026, the fastest ever, after eight years of trying. Fourth at the Ronde in 2025, and still without a Flanders win.

  • Remco Evenepoel

    Third on his Ronde debut in 2026 after cracking on the Paterberg. European road champion since October 2026.

  • Mads Pedersen

    The Dane has won Gent-Wevelgem three times. Second at the Ronde in 2025, ahead of Van der Poel in the sprint behind Pogačar, and third in 2023.

The 2027 season

The races the app follows in 2027, from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February to Il Lombardia in October. The Tour starts in Edinburgh on 2 July: the 2027 route, stage by stage.

    The 2027 Tour, stage by stage

    From Edinburgh on 2 July to the Champs-Élysées on 25 July. Tap a stage for its climbs and finishes and what happened there before; the app briefs the key stages the evening before.

    1. Fri 2 JulEdinburgh to Carlisle1 185 km · Flat
    2. Sat 3 JulLakes to Liverpool2 223 km · Hilly
    3. Sun 4 JulThrough the Welsh valleys3 223 km · Hilly
    4. Tue 6 JulAround Cherbourg4 171 km · Hilly
    5. Wed 7 JulPontorson to Plumelec5 178 km · Hilly
    6. Thu 8 JulVannes to Angers6 193 km · Hilly
    7. Fri 9 JulTime trial to Chambord7 38 km · Time trial
    8. Sat 10 JulBourges to Le Creusot8 224 km · Hilly
    9. Sun 11 JulUp the Grand Colombier9 162 km · Mountain
    10. Tue 13 JulAnnecy to Sallanches10 171 km · Mountain
    11. Wed 14 JulBastille Day at Les Saisies11 150 km · Mountain
    12. Thu 15 JulChambéry to Valence12 162 km · Flat
    13. Fri 16 JulAubenas to Montpellier13 164 km · Flat
    14. Sat 17 JulMontpellier to Mende14 199 km · Mountain
    15. Sun 18 JulRodez to Albi15 169 km · Hilly
    16. Tue 20 JulTime trial in Toulouse16 33 km · Time trial
    17. Wed 21 JulMuret to Pau17 186 km · Flat
    18. Thu 22 JulUp to the Col du Portet18 174 km · Mountain
    19. Fri 23 JulHasparren to Laruns19 160 km · Mountain
    20. Sat 24 JulMaubourguet to Libourne20 198 km · Flat
    21. Sun 25 JulInto Paris21 116 km · Flat

    Paths through the stories

    New to the sport, or getting ready for Flanders? A path puts stories in an order that makes sense, each one leading into the next. Road to the Ronde runs from the opening weekend to the Oude Kwaremont:

    1. Chapter 1

      Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

      The cobbled season opens here, on the last weekend of February, from Ghent over the Flemish hills.

    2. Chapter 2

      Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

      On the Sunday, Kuurne closes the opening weekend, and in 2010 only 26 riders reached the finish.

    3. Chapter 3

      Flemish Classics

      Behind both races stands the Ronde, first raced over 324 km in 1913.

    4. Chapter 4

      Flemish Hills

      The climbs that decide it: the Koppenberg, the Muur and the Oude Kwaremont.

    5. Chapter 5

      Rik Van Looy

      The first Flemish name on this path: a paper boy who won all five Monuments first.

    6. Chapter 6

      Johan Museeuw

      A garage owner's son from West Flanders who won three Rondes in the 1990s.

    7. Chapter 7

      Tom Boonen

      Museeuw's young teammate at Quick-Step, who went on to win the Tour of Flanders three times.

    8. Chapter 8

      Fabian Cancellara

      Boonen's great rival, who rode away from him near the top of the Muur in 2010.

    9. Chapter 9

      Mathieu van der Poel

      The rider of today: a grandson of Raymond Poulidor and son of a Flanders winner.

    More paths to start with

    • The eight who made cycling

      A newcomer's first evening: one story per era, from the first Tour to today.

    • Great rivalries

      Seven duels that split families and countries, one story each.

    • Queens of the road

      The women who raced when nobody filmed it, and the ones who changed that.

    Questions

    What is Spinning Through Time?

    An app for iPhone and Android with stories from road cycling's history, from the first races in 1869 to the 2026 season, and briefings before the races it covers, so you watch knowing what happened on those roads before.

    Which races does it cover?

    The spring classics from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on 27 February 2027, the five Monuments (the oldest and biggest one-day races) up to Il Lombardia in October, and the Tour de France, with a briefing the evening before each key stage. Before a race you read up on its history, and on race day a guide follows it by kilometres to go.

    Is women's racing in it?

    Yes. 30 of the 201 rider stories are about women, from Alfonsina Strada at the 1924 Giro to Lotte Kopecky's world title in Glasgow, and the Queens of the road path reads them in order. The women's Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix Femmes and the Tour de France Femmes are in the 2027 season, each with its own path to read before the race. Their race weeks, with a briefing each morning, come next.

    Where do the stories come from?

    Each story lists the sources it was written from in the app: newspapers of the day, books, race archives and interviews. You can report an error on any slide, and when we correct a story, the fix reaches your phone without an app update.

    Can I use it now?

    Spinning Through Time is in a closed beta on iPhone. Leave your email and we will write when it is in the App Store and on Google Play.

    Is it a quiz or a game?

    No. After a briefing you can answer two or three questions, and the app keeps no score. A wrong answer explains the right one and links back to the card to reread.

    Do I need an account or a connection?

    You do not need one. Open the app and read, without ads and without signing up. The app keeps your reading under an anonymous account that you can delete in Settings. To keep your reading on a new phone you can sign in with Apple, Google or a code sent to your email; that is optional. The first stories come with the app. A story you open downloads in full, photos included, so you can finish it offline.

    Which languages is it in?

    English, Dutch and French. The app follows your phone's language, or the one you pick in Settings. A story shows in Dutch or French once we have reviewed its translation; until then it is in English.

    Be ready for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

    Omloop Het Nieuwsblad starts on Saturday 27 February 2027. The app is in closed beta on iPhone and comes to the App Store and Google Play after the beta.

      Race week, one briefing each morning at 06:00Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

      1. 7Ghent, 1945: a newspaper answers a newspaper
      2. 6Late February, and Flanders starts racing
      3. 5From Ghent to Ninove
      4. 4No shoes, a long solo and twelve centimetres
      5. 3The women's Omloop: same day, same Muur
      6. 2Who can win the 2027 Omloop
      7. 1Race-day guide