04/09/2026
Luis Ocaña, mercurial genius of Spanish cycling, in the brilliant orange of BIC. Rider and jersey complemented one another perfectly; both vivid, dramatic and impossible to overlook. Together they created some of the most memorable images of the 1970s.
BIC was among the first “extra-sportif” sponsors, companies from outside cycling, to fund the entire cost of a professional team. Bike brands still supplied the machinery, first Jacques Anquetil’s marque and later Motobécane, but BIC alone occupied the jersey.
It was a striking break with tradition. Until the 1960s, bike manufacturers had largely underwritten the sport; then wealthier outside businesses arrived, bringing the budgets needed to build bigger, better-supported teams. Professional cycling was entering the commercial era we are in today.
BIC was founded in 1945 by Marcel B**h, who inherited the title Baron B**h from his father. Its first products were fountain pens, but in 1950 B**h acquired the patent for the ballpoint pen from Hungarian inventor László Bíró, hence the name many people still use for a ballpoint, and transferred production to Paris.
BIC entered cycling by taking over sponsorship of Anquetil’s Ford France team. It won important races in the late 1960s, although the great Frenchman was nearing the end of his career. Everything changed when BIC signed a young Spaniard named Luis Ocaña for 1970.
Experienced manager Maurice De Muer recognised Ocaña’s extraordinary talent and used BIC’s substantial budget to construct a team around him. Within a year Roger Rosiers had won Paris-Roubaix, while Ocaña was doing what had begun to seem impossible; challenging Eddy Merckx in the greatest stage races.
In the 1971 Tour de France, Ocaña humbled Merckx in the Alps and took yellow by minutes, only for a rain-soaked crash in the Pyrenees to end his race. Two years later, with Merckx absent, he delivered the victory his talent demanded; six stages and the 1973 Tour title by more than 15 minutes.
Ocaña was never quite the same force again. BIC, having gained immense publicity from that triumph, left professional cycling after 1974, but returned in 2012 as a Tour de France sponsor. An unforgettable marriage of colour and character.
📸 Cycling Legends Collection
