Myths and legends of Vienna–Berlin

A lot is said about Vienna–Berlin 1893. Some of it is documented, some of it grew in the retelling. Here are the stories attached to this line – and what the contemporary reports actually say.

Horse against bicycle

In October 1892, officers from Austria-Hungary and Germany raced each other on horseback between Vienna and Berlin, around 580 kilometres. The winner, Count Wilhelm Starhemberg, needed 71 hours and 35 minutes. A year later the cyclists rode the same connection – and the fastest of them reached Berlin after just over 31 hours, in less than half the time.

So from the start the ride was more than a race: cycling wanted to prove that the bicycle beat the horse, and win recognition from the military. The historian Anne-Katrin Ebert calls it an “equally elaborate and pompous, yet ultimately helpless staging of modernity” (our translation). The bicycle was faster – the hoped-for recognition never came.

31 hours and 22 minutes?

Fischer’s time is often given as 31 hours and 22 minutes. The official results list of the Berlin committee records something else: 31:00:22⅖ – 31 hours, no minutes and just over 22 seconds. Both figures already circulated in 1893: the Berlin magazine Der Bär reported “31 hours 22 minutes”. The official list is what counts – in the retelling, 22 seconds became 22 minutes. Second was Georg Sorge from Cologne in 31:54, third Franz Gerger from Graz in 34:22.

The change of machine

Josef Fischer from Munich started on an English Swift racing machine. After around 460 kilometres, in Lusatia, it could no longer be ridden: according to one report the frame had broken at the bottom bracket, according to other sources the chain had snapped. Fischer carried on on an Opel “Victoria Blitz”, a 15-kilo half-racer.

The heavy thunderstorms in northern Bohemia hit mainly the riders behind him. Fischer and Sorge, the contemporary report says, got away “with a black eye”. At a Supergrevet today, a bike change with outside help would not be part of the format: whoever starts rides self-supported and without escort.

How many were there really?

150 riders had entered. On the morning of 29 June 1893, according to the committee’s report, 32 of them were missing; other sources say 35. So between 115 and 118 riders lined up in Floridsdorf, from 6 am in groups of ten, five minutes apart. Only amateurs – so-called “Herrenfahrer” – were admitted. The spectators were “to be counted in thousands”, the report says – more precise figures circulating today cannot be documented.

Arrival at the Tempelhof Steuerhaus

After 582.5 kilometres the finish was at the Steuerhaus on the Tempelhofer Feld, often called the customs house. Fischer reached it on 30 June 1893. Because amateurs were not allowed to accept money, the committee chose prizes in kind: Fischer received a silver tankard worth 800 marks, a gold medal and a case of Rhine wine.

What became of Josef Fischer

Fischer, born in Cham in 1865, stayed with long distances. In 1896 he won the first edition of Paris–Roubaix, and in 1903 he rode the first Tour de France.

And today

Since 2022 the line has been ridden again – on gravel, around 800 kilometres and 7,000 metres of climbing from Vienna to Berlin, self-supported, with a shared start and no classification. The next edition starts on 28 August 2027.

Sources

Comité Berlin: Rückblick auf die Distanz-Radfahrt Wien–Berlin (1893), with the official results list · Der Radfahrer, report on the Vienna–Berlin distance ride (1893) · Walter Ulreich: Die Distanz-Radfahrt Wien–Berlin 1893 · Rüdiger Rabenstein: Radsport und Gesellschaft (1991) · Anne-Katrin Ebert: Radelnde Nationen (2010).