1948 World Championships, Official Race Poster, Race Winner – Briek Schotte

1948 Track & Road World Championships – Wereld-Kampionenschappen
Amsterdam & Valkenburg

This poster from the 1948 Road World Championships features a cyclist riding atop a globe, symbolizing the international reach and significance of the race it promotes. An interesting stylistic choice: while most would make the oceans blue and the land a different color, such as green, the artist here decided to make the land blue and the oceans white. It’s a detail one may not pick up on at first, instead probably registering it as having weirdly drawn continents.

The dates split neatly: road races in hilly Valkenburg on 21-22 August, track events in Amsterdam’s Olympisch Stadion 23-29 August. Post-war Europe was still rationing butter, yet the Dutch pulled off a two-city world championship as if staging was no big deal. Note the initials “U.C.I.” and “N.W.U.” stacked like Scrabble tiles on the right. International cycling meets the Dutch cycling union.

The Men’s Professional Road Race took place on 22 August 1948 around the Cauberg circuit in Valkenburg. The podium finishers were:

• 🥇 Briek Schotte (Belgium) – finished in 7 h 30′ 42″

• 🥈 Apo Lazaridès (France) – + 1″ behind

• 🥉 Lucien Teisseire (France) – + 3′ 41″ behind

This poster has been archivally and professionally linen-backed. Virtually all original vintage posters of this era were viewed as temporary advertising and were printed on very thin paper. While expensive, linen backing is a conservation method used to mount, stabilize, preserve, and protect vintage posters so they can be displayed or framed without compromising value.

This poster is an original first printing, not a reproduction.

Year: 1948
Artist: Piet van der Poll

Size:  53 x 73 cm ( 20 ¾  x 28 ¾  inches) – Linen Backed Archival Mounting

Posters are sold unframed. Framed images are display ideas only.

This is a one-of-a-kind item; please review the photos carefully to determine the condition.