The Christmas Holiday Quiz

A Christmas quiz with 50 questions. Some are obvious, some odd, most can’t be Googled and a few are fiendishly. By all means have a go and there’s a prize for the winner but most will probably find fun in testing themselves and seeing the answers that will appear here in the coming days.

Festive Greetings
1. Can you name the joyous Noël pictured above? He’s now a sports director with a large team.
2. Jesus H! Nothing blasphemous, just the first name and initial of two World Tour pros. Name them.
3. Which Danish pro has a name that sounds like Christmas?

That Was The Year That Was
4. One Hour: who was the first rider to break the UCI Hour Record in 2015?
5. Minutes: What was the biggest winning margin for the overall classification in a grand tour?
6. Seconds: Which Monument Classic had the biggest group finishing on the same time as the winner?

7. Sour grapes: what’s just happened to make Jürgen Roelandts look so miserable?
8. Beer: Name two pro races where the podium featured some beer drinking antics.
9. High: Name the highest altitude finish of the World Tour this year.
10. Slow: Which World Tour team was the last to win a race this year?
11. Stop: Which pro team was first to test disc brakes in a World Tour race?

12. Pink: the Giro d’Italia launched a new mascot. What is its name?
13. Red faces: which team was the first ever to get a collective suspension under the UCI’s new anti-doping rules?
14. Red: who was lanterne rouge in the Tour de France?
15. Yellow: Name two riders who retired for good this year – not Bradley Wiggins – who’ve worn the yellow jersey.
16. Polka-dotted: Daniel Teklahaimanot wore the Tour de France mountains jersey for four days. Which race did he win the mountains competition outright?

Christmas Past
17. Erik de Vlaeminck died this year. He won the cyclo-cross world championships seven times. Which rider is alive today with the most titles?
18. Which Tour de France winner was born in a village with a name that translates as “The Handlebar”?

“Those who created cycling as a sport went to work on their bikes from dawn to dusk. The kids who work for the baker today travel by scooter. They no longer want to pedal. Cycling is dying because poverty is coming to an end and with the end of poverty we are seeing the end of all sports of the poor.“

19. In which decade was the quote above made?

Celeb Gossip!

20. Name five languages spoken by Katarína Smolková, also known as Mrs Sagan.
21. Name three cyclists who have moved to the mountain microstate of Andorra for the fresh air, the mountain roads and its 10% tax rate.
22. Which pro has a pet dog called Colin that can often be spotted at races?

Absurd World
23. How many days does the Four Days of Dunkirk last?
24. The Tour de Langkawi has eight stages, how many of these are in Langkawi?
25. Where does Paris-Roubaix start?

Chief Commissaire
26. Taxi! The video of Vincenzo Nibali holding onto the team car during the Vuelta a España went viral. Which rider took a ride inside a team car during the Tour de France?
27. Unless stated otherwise what percentage of the winner’s time is the time cut?
28. After Richie Porte’s Richard III puncture moment in the Giro hopefully everyone knows you can’t take a wheel from a rider on a rival team by now. But can a rival team’s mechanic offer assistance?

Business
29. World Tour races must pay teams a fee to start. What is the minimum amount payable per team for a one day race?
30. Saxo Bank isn’t really a bank. Name a pro team that’s actually sponsored by a bank.
31. Cervélo is a brand belonging to Dutch company PON Holdings. Name another of their bike brands in the World Tour.

Politics
32. The GP Frankfurt was cancelled because of a terrorist threat. Name a race that has been bombed by terrorists in the past.
33. Lampre-Merida are Italy’s sole remaining World Tour team but which country is their registered address?
34. The talks over Iran’s nuclear energy ambitions leading to the Lausanne Accord this summer were briefly delayed when a cyclist crashed on a mountain pass in the Alps. Who?

Where in the World?

35. An old road but a new route for racing in 2015, can you name the climb above?

36. The picture above shows the final bends of what Gianni Brera once described as “the poor man’s spaceship” for the way it allowed someone with a bicycle to copy Neil Armstrong and go up to the heavens. It’s better known as which climb?

When They Were Young


37. Which future World Champion is this in the picture above?


38. Which future World Champion is this in the picture above?


39. Which future World Champion is this in the picture above?


40. Which future French champion is this posing with Samuel Dumoulin?

Amateur Hour
41. Which national team won four of the seven stages of the Tour de l’Avenir?
42. Name the rider who rode the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège but got so lost he made it to the finish four hours late and in the dark.
43. How many riders have won both the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the pro Liège-Bastogne-Liège?

Tech Talk
44. Derailleur gears took off in popularity among cycle tourists in the 1920s. When were they first allowed in the Tour de France?
45. Who went public with criticism of their team’s bike sponsor leading to tales of the company withholding its sponsorship payments?
46. Lotto-Soudal are sponsored by Campagnolo and have a full groupset and wheels from the Italian firm but which one component do they swap out for a Belgian-made one for their bikes?

Final Kilometre
47. Which pro rode the most race kilometres this year?
48. Name the road used as the finishing straight for this year’s Milan-Sanremo
49. Name the road used as the finishing straight on Alpe d’Huez
50. What’s the most used climb in the Tour de France?

What did you expect, a Trek Madone?

The Prize
This is a proper quiz rather an email harvesting attempt. I don’t expect many to try and answer all 50 questions. Still if you want to have a go or maybe readers collectively crowdsource they way together, feel free to leave your answers in the comments below and the deadline is midday Euro Time on Sunday 27 December. The winner gets some coffee. The most correct answers wins and if there’s a tie then a name gets picked at random.

Obviously people can copy off each other which spoils the point of it all but if you want to wheelsuck your way to victory by copying someone else’s answers and then sprinting past them in the finish line… …well that’s cycling.

24 thoughts on “The Christmas Holiday Quiz”

  2. I think I’ll probably be able to answer about four of these, but then I shall spring Valverde-esque at the end on the answers of others.
    Thanks for this – and a fantastic year of writing – and, most of all, for the photo in Q38!

  3. I tried without Googling, so some answers may sound stupid 🙂

    1.
    2. Hernandez – Herrada
    3.

    4. Brändle
    5. Giro, 8 minutes?
    6. Milano-San Remo

    7. Belgian National Championships – lost sprint to Preben Van Hecke
    8. Amstel Gold Race / GP Jef Scheerens
    9. 2200m
    10. FDJ
    11.

    12.
    13.
    14.
    15. Jens Voigt – Thor Hushovd
    16. Tour of Austria

    17. Liboton
    18.
    19. 2000’s

    20. German-English-Italian-French-Slovakian
    21. Rodriguez –
    22. Sagan

    23. 3
    24. 2
    25. Longchamps

    26. Sepulveda
    27. 45%
    28. Yes

    29. 10.000 euro
    30. Sparkassen
    31. Giant

    32.
    33. South-Korea
    34.

    35. les lacets de montvernier
    36.

    37. Vos
    38. Cavendish
    39.
    40. Démare

    41. Colombia
    42.
    43. zero

    44. 1935
    45.
    46.

    47. Hansen
    48. Via Roma
    49.
    50. Tourmalet

  5. 1. Noel Dejonckheere at the 1978 Track World Championships
    2. Jesús Hernández Blázquez, Tinkoff-Saxo & Jesús Herrada López, Movistar
    3. Chris Juul-Jensen (Yule), Orica-GreenEdge

    4. Rohan Dennis, 8 February 2015
    5. 1:53 – Giro d’Italia
    6. 26 – Milano-Sanremo

    7. He was outsprinted by Preben Van Hecke at the Belgian National Championships
    8. Amstel Gold Race, Bayern Rundfahrt
    9. 2669m, Sölden/Rettenbachgletscher, Tour de Suisse
    10. LottoNL-Jumbo, 2 May, stage 2 Tour de Yorkshire
    11. Roompot Oranje Peloton, Eneco Tour

    12. Lupo Wolfie
    13. Androni Giocattoli
    14. Sébastien Chavanel
    15. Cadel Evans, Rinaldo Nocentini
    16. Critérium du Dauphiné

    17. For women, Marianne Vos with 7. For men, André Dufraisse Renato Longo and Albert Zweifel with 5.
    18. Bernard Thévenet, Le Guidon
    19. 1970s, Luciano Bianciardi

    20. Slovak, Czech, English, German, French
    21. Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver, José Joaquín Rojas, Daniel Moreno Fernández. Also Damien Howson, Svein Tuft and Carlos Verona.
    22. cyclist pet dog colin

    23. 5
    24. 1
    25. Compiègne

    26. Eduardo Sepúlveda
    27. 8% – UCI Rule 2.3.039 Any rider finishing in a time exceeding that of the winner by more than 8% shall not be placed.
    28. After Richie Porte’s Richard III puncture moment in the Giro hopefully everyone knows you can’t take a wheel from a rider on a rival team by now. But can a rival team’s mechanic offer assistance?

    29. For WorldTour one-day races in 2016 its €24369. For 1HC its €2548, for 1.1 its €1699, for 1.2 & 1NCup its €1103
    30. Astana – Tsesnabank, Tinkoff – Tinkoff Bank. Others WT teams sponsored by finance-related companies: Astana – Samruk Kazyna; IAM – Independent Asset Management; Cannondale – Holowesko; Dimension Data, Lotto-Soudal – Deloitte
    31. Focus, owned by Derby Cycle, in turn owned by PON

    32. 2014 Giro d’Italia bomb in Dublin is the only thing that springs to mind
    33. Lugano, Switzerland
    34. US Secretary of State John Kerry

    35. Lacets de Montvernier
    36. Madonna del Ghisallo

    37. Marianne Vos
    38. Mark Cavendish
    39. Philippe Gilbert
    40. Arnaud Démare

    41. Denmark
    42. Dylan Durand of UC Nantes Atlantique
    43. Nobody has

    44. 1937
    45. Pierre Rolland of Europcar criticising Colnago
    46. C-Bear bottom brackets

    47. Jens Debusschere, 15626.20km
    48. Via Roma
    49. Avenue du Rif Nel
    50. Col du Tourmalet, 80 times

  8. Thank you for this gem Inrng, as usual. Merry Christmas everyone!

    1. Noël Dejonckheere
    2. Jesús Hernández, Jesus Herrada
    3. Bjarne Riis
    4. Rohan Dennis
    5. Giro d’Italia 1:53
    6. Paris-Roubaix
    7. Second in National Champs
    8. Amstel Gold Race, Gent-Wevelgem
    9. Arapahoe Basin, 3288m
    10. Lotto NL-Jumbo?
    11. BMC
    12. Lupo
    13. Androni Giacottali-Sidermec
    14. Sébastien Chavanel
    15. Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso
    16. Criterium du Dauphiné
    17. Albert Zweifel
    18. Bernard Thévenet
    19. 1980?
    20. Czech, English, French, Slovak and German.
    21. Purito, Dani Moreno, …
    22.
    23. Five
    24. None
    25. Compiègne
    26. Eduardo Sépulveda
    27. 18%
    28. No
    29. 1160 EUR per team
    30. Rabobank-LIV
    31. Santa Cruz?
    32.
    33. Switzerland
    34. John Kerry
    35. Lacets de Montvernier
    36. Joux Plane
    37. Marianne Vos
    38. Mark Cavendish
    39. Philippe Gilbet
    40. Arnaud Demare
    41. Denmark
    42. Dylan Durand
    43. None
    44. 1937
    45. Pierre Roland
    46. C-Bear Bottom Bracket
    47. Jens Debusschere
    48. Via Roma
    49. Avenue du Rif-Nel
    50. Col du Tourmalet

  9. …spoils the point of it all but if you want to wheelsuck your way to victory by copying someone else’s answers and then sprinting past them in the finish line… …well that’s cycling.” Really? There are plenty of sprinters paid just to do that. Happy Holidays!

    • Was your message for me? I did it separately and then copied my response in the comments section. As you can see, some of responses are rather incorrect.

      Happy Holidays to you too!

  10. 01 —
    02 Jesús Hernández & …?
    03 —
    04 Alex Dowsett
    05 Giro?
    06 MSR
    07 Lost G-W to Luca Paolini
    08 Amstel Gold Race & ?
    09 —
    10 Lotto-Jumbo
    11 —
    12 —
    13 Androni Giocattoli
    14 —
    15 Jens Voigt & ?
    16 Dauphiné
    17 —
    18 —
    19 1950s
    20 —
    21 Rui Costa, Esteban Chaves & Joaquim Rodríguez
    22 Adam Hansen
    23 5
    24 Zero
    25 Compiègne
    26 Eduardo Sepúlveda
    27 20 %
    28 Yes
    29 —
    30 Cofidis?
    31 —
    32 TdF?
    33 Switzerland
    34 —
    35 Lacets de Montvernier
    36 —
    37 Michal Kwiatkowski
    38 Mark Cavendish
    39 —
    40 Arnaud Démare
    41 —
    42 —
    43 —
    44 —
    45 —
    46 —
    47 —
    48 Via Roma
    49 —
    50 Col du Tourmalet

  13. Thank you for the uber cool and fun quizz. I am being shamed by the fact that I can only answer a few questions. There will be more regular reading of inrng.com for me in 2016!
    And thank you for your amazing articles all year round. Merry Christmas to you and to everybody.

  14. I am not taking part in the competition, therefore I stay anonymous. I am only answering for the fun of it. And fun it was.Thanks. Very much.

    1.
    2. Herrada (Movistar), Hernandez (Tinkoff)
    3. Juul-Jensen
    4. Rohan Dennis
    5. Giro: 1:53
    6. I feel like saying Milano-Sanremo, but am not entirely sure
    7.He lost in the national championship
    8. Amstel Gold Race, Schaal Sels (although the “antics” are winning Primus beer and not drinking it. Does it count? @everybody: Look at the pictures of this year’s race, there are not many, but they are great)
    9.
    10. Lotto NL
    11. Trek
    12. Lupo Wolfie (which I thought a very original and very clever name, I have to add. I am sure they paid a lot of money to the someone who came up with this!)
    13. Androni
    14. Seb Chavanel
    15. Basso, Evans, Nocentini and I don’t know, if Feillu still rides on in 2016?
    16. Dauphine
    17.
    18. Unsure about that one? The net answers me the question: “Guidon vainqueur Tour de France” with Bernard Thevenet. Yet it also says he was born in Saint-Julien de Civry and lived in Le Guidon. Probably Le Guidon is a part of Saint-Julien de Civry?
    19. As found in “Pedalare, Pedalare”, it was said in the 1970’s
    20. Slovakian, italian, english, french, russian
    21. I’d go with Moreno and Rodriguez, but don’t know more – btw: The reason for that is of course that Andorra has (or had) the longest life expectancy of all countries
    22. It is not Sagan, I think his dog is named Charlie. Ok, I don’t exactly know the answer, does this count at least a tiny bit? My answer contains a dog, a pro cyclist and a name beginning with the letter c. Come on, that is as good as knowing the answer…
    23. This seems to fascinate you. 5 days
    24. no idea, but probably none
    25. Compiègne
    26. Sepulveda
    27. 8%
    28. No, Sir! Can’t do that
    29. 7.500€ to WT-teams (plus (I think) 1550€, if the team is forced to stay an additional day)
    30. Cofidis
    31.Focus
    32. Vuelta, 1968
    33.not interested in knowing that
    34.politicians -they all look the same to me
    35. the Lacets de Montvernier
    36. Ghisallo
    37.
    38. Mark Cavendish
    39. Philippe Gilbert?
    40. ok, I got a problem with that one: I know you already used this picture and the word “postcards” comes to mind (did the young rider want a postcard signed?). But I can’t remember the name of the rider. I want to say Bryan Coquard – who was french champion, just not at the road. I don’t think it is Bryan, but I want to say it, so I do…although it probably is Arnaud Demare
    41. Denmark
    42. this happened to Dylan Durand, who finished his personal race alone, in a foreign country, natirally without having money or a phone with him, just he and his bike around 21h
    43. puh, you ask things! Ok, on to the finish sprint- I would go with:none
    44. 1937
    45. of course this was our friend Pierre Rolland
    46. only a few more questions, now careful, concentrate, don’t stumble across the numbers so close to the finish….as Lotto Soudal tells us, it are the c-bear bottom brackets
    47. can only guess: Maybe Valverde or Hansen, but more probably it is a domestique who’s name usually never pops up in the news or race-reports. At least that is what I imagine in my cycling romantic tainted view
    48.come on. ..Via Roma
    49. almost there…. Avenue du Rif Nel that is
    50. of course the Tourmalet
    Yeah…I made it!!!

  15. 1. Noël Dejonckheere
    2. Jesús Hernández (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Jesús Herrada (Movistar)
    3. Christopher Juul-Jensen

    4. Rohan Dennis
    5. 1’53” at Giro d’Italia
    6. Milano-San Remo

    7. He lost the sprint for the win at the Belgian National Road Race
    Championships
    8. Amstel Gold Race, Bayern-Rundfahrt
    9. Sölden/Rettenbachferner at 2669m
    10. Lotto NL-Jumbo
    11. Team Roompot

    12. Lupo Wolfie
    13. Androni Giacottali-Sidermec
    14. Sébastien Chavanel
    15. Cadel Evans,
    16. Criterium du Dauphiné

    17. Albert Zweifel
    18. Bernard Thévenet
    19. 1970s

    20. Czech, English, French, Slovak and German.
    21. Joaquim Rodriguez, Dani Moreno, Carlos Verona

    22.

    23. Five
    24. None
    25. Compiègne

    26. Eduardo Sépulveda
    27. 8%
    28. No

    29. 1,550 CHF per team
    30. Rabobank-LIV
    31. Focus

    32. Vuelta a España 1968
    33. Switzerland
    34. John Kerry

    35. Lacets de Montvernier
    36. Madonna del Ghisallo

    37. Marianne Vos
    38. Mark Cavendish
    39. Philippe Gilbet
    40. Arnaud Demare

    41. Denmark
    42. Dylan Durand
    43. None

    44. 1937
    45. Pierre Rolland
    46. C-Bear Bottom Bracket

    47. Jens Debusschere
    48. Via Roma
    49. Avenue du Rif-Nel
    50. Col du Tourmalet

  16. Seems like a win for OnTheDrops, two mistakes with Q22 unanswered and Q32 relating a bomb that was discovered and apparently defused in Dublin but not necessarily destined for the race, certainly the event wasn’t attacked.

    Email me to claim the coffee!

Comments are closed.