1972 World Championships, Official Race Poster – Race Winner – Marino Basso

Championnats du Monde de Cyclisme – 1972
UCI Road World Championships
Rad-Weltmeisterschaften

Original French poster for the 1972 UCI World Cycling Championships, a rare surviving poster from 1972 that ties together both the track events in Marseille and the road races in Gap. Across the top, the text names the governing bodies in French, Union Cycliste Internationale and Fédération Française de Cyclisme, flanked by the period UCI emblem on the left and the FFC rooster shield on the right. The artwork shows two riders racing hard on a steeply banked velodrome, drawn in sepia and black, with a procession of stylised national flags rising above them, including the Union Jack of Great Britain, which reinforces the international character of the championships.

In large red letters, the poster announces “Championnats du Monde”, with the program spelled out below. On the left, the track section reads “Piste, 29 Juillet au 2 Aout 1972, Marseille, Stade Vélodrome,” which had a reduced schedule of events because of the Munich Olympic Games. On the right, the road section reads “Route, 5 et 6 Aout 1972, Gap, Hautes Alpes,” referring to the 1972 UCI Road World Championships in Gap, where two road races were held, the men’s professional race and the women’s race.

Historically, the Gap road races produced memorable winners. The men’s professional world title went to Italian sprinter Marino Basso, who outsprinted compatriot Franco Bitossi and French rider Cyrille Guimard. In the women’s race, French rider Geneviève Gambillon took gold ahead of Soviet riders Lubov Zadoroznaya and Anna Konkina. These results, combined with the unusual split between Marseille on the track and Gap on the road, make the 1972 edition a distinctive year in World Championships history.

Surviving posters from the 1972 Worlds are extremely rare and difficult to find. Although in poor condition, it is a particularly desirable piece for collectors of World Championship memorabilia.

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, allowing them to be displayed or framed without compromising their value.