Originally Posted by
alanbikehouston
One of the interesting aspects of the history of the Tour de France is the history of injuries. From 1905 to 1985, there were thousands of injuries. But, it was very rare for a cyclist to require knee surgery. I don't recall any leading pro losing a season to knee surgery in that era (not related to crash imposed injuries).
It's even more interesting if you take into consideration that arthroscopic knee surgery had its beginnings in the early 1970s, and didn't mature until the 80s.