Henri Pélissier
Encyclopedia
Henri Pélissier was a French
racing cyclist
from Paris
and champion of the 1923
Tour de France
. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange
and for protesting against the conditions endured by riders in the early years of the Tour. He was killed by his lover with the gun that his wife had used to commit suicide.
, including the 1912 Milan – San Remo and three stages in the 1914 Tour de France
.
After the war he resumed competition, winning Paris–Roubaix in 1919 and entering the Tour de France for the next five years. Before the 1921 Paris–Roubaix, Pélissier and his brother Francis demanded their sponsor pay them more than racers usually received. Their request was rebuffed and they rode as individuals without team support. Henri Desgrange
, organiser of the Tour de France, vowed that they would never again appear on the front page of his newspaper L'Auto, only to eat his words when Pélissier emerged the champion.
region of central France. They were cattle farmers and moved to Paris to run a farm there.
René de Latour
wrote in Sporting Cyclist
:
On 15 August 1911 he was walking near the Porte Maillot
on the edge of Paris when he met one of the great cycling heroes of the day, Lucien Petit-Breton
.
The two knew each other slightly but Pélissier was more in awe of Petit-Breton than the other way round because Petit-Breton had already ridden the Tour de France
four times and won it in 1907 and 1908. He had also won Milan – San Remo in 1907, which led to a further engagement to ride in Italy
. He asked Pélissier if he wanted to join him. He had six hours to make up his mind, collect his bags and bike and meet him for the 9pm train to Milan
.
Their first race was the Tour of Romany-Tuscany. Pélissier crashed and didn't finish. But he won Turin-Florence-Rome and the Tour of Lombardy. He returned to ride the Tour of Lombardy the following year as well, crashing at the entrance to the horse track in Milan with Constante Girardengo, the Italian star. There were 400m to the finish and the leaders were going flat out. A heap of riders came down with them. Pélissier got back on and passed the rest before the line and the crowd was so angry at how it perceived he had ruined Girardengo's chances that they ran on to the circuit and began pushing and punching Pélissier so much that he had scramble into the judges' watchtower and wait for 80 policemen to quieten the angry spectators three metres below him.
Pélissier came second in his first Tour de France, in 1914, less than two minutes behind Philippe Thys
of Belgium
. He took three stages: the 10th, 12th and 15th.
Pélissier came first in 1923, at 34. He attacked on the col de l'Izoard and dropped the Belgians who had been seen as the favourites. He also won Milan – San Remo, Paris–Brussels, Paris–Roubaix twice, three Tours of Lombardy, Bordeaux–Paris and Paris–Tours.
Pélissier's life was rarely happy. He was repeatedly at war with organisers, sponsors and the press. He niggled everyone with unhidden pleasure. The organiser of the Tour, Henri Desgrange
, called him "this pigheadedly arrogant champion." When he went training, he urged his friends to take it easy — 'It's important not to wear yourself out' he advised — but never let on that he'd been out at dawn for 40 kilometres' speed training.
He dismissed his rivals with a sneer. "The others are cart horses; I'm a thoroughbred," he said during the Tour de France. Next day Pélissier punctured and the whole field left him and his brother Francis 30 minutes behind.
He argued repeatedly with Desgrange, who in 1920 penalised Pélissier two minutes for leaving a flat tyre by the roadside. Pélissier left the race in protest. He then made a point of winning everywhere else for the rest of the season. Desgrange scoffed: "Pélissier can win any race except the Tour."
His disagreements and walkouts fired the public — 'it excited the public more than the boring way the flahutes rode,' as one French writer puts it — but it enraged everyone else.
Oscar Egg
said:
Pélissier saw himself as a campaigner for better conditions for cyclists, whom he considered were paid little better than a pittance by their sponsors. He fought Desgrange's plan that riders in the Tour de France should be limited to equal amounts of food. Pélissier objected to what he considered other petty restrictions. In 1919 he abandoned the Tour because Desgrange would not allow him an extra glass of wine at a reception after one stage. He pulled out in 1920 because of the weather. He left on the fifth stage but he would have quit on the third had he had enough money to take the train from Morlaix
. He asked followers to lend him the price of the ticket but they refused.
Pélissier rode beside Eugène Christophe
to complain and Christophe persuaded him to keep riding. They rode hard — "only to keep warm', Pélissier said—and caught a group which turned out to be the leaders.
"I thought to myself, now I may as well win," he said afterwards and he did. He won the stage the next day as well and then pulled out on the fifth.
"Henri Pélissier is saturated with class but he does not know how to suffer," Desgrange wrote in L'Auto
.
Pélissier started a cyclists' trade union but it had only lukewarm support. Riders close to Pélissier joined it but other French riders and most foreigners stayed away, unsure they wanted to be led by a man already at war with sponsors and organisers across Europe.
in 1924 after Desgrange had not let Pélissier to take off a jersey as the sun came up. They were met in the station café by the journalist Albert Londres
, who normally wrote about social and international affairs but was following the Tour for Le Petit Parisien
.
Londres' piece, reproduced largely as a dialogue, appeared under the headline Les Forçats de la Route.
Pélissier went to his brother, Francis, told him his decision and encouraged him to do the same. Francis said that suited him because he had a bad stomach and no enthusiasm for racing. Ville said he hadn't been part of the strike but that the other two had picked him up along the road. He was too tired to go on, he said.
Londres had the best colour piece he'd ever written, although Francis claimed afterwards they'd taken advantage of his gullibility by exaggerating.
, outside Paris. Pélissier lunged at her with a knife, cutting her face. She ran to the bedroom, opened a drawer and pulled out the revolver with which Léonie had shot herself. She ran back to the kitchen and found Pélissier waiting with the knife.
At that moment both saw the other threatening and Camille pulled the trigger five times. Pélissier fell to the floor. A bullet had hit the carotid artery. His body was placed in the room where Léonie had killed herself.
Next day, Paris-Soir
's headline was:
Albert Baker d'Isy
wrote:
Camille's trial opened a year later, almost to the day. She pleaded self-defence and on 26 May 1936, she got a year's suspended jail sentence. It was as close as the court could come to acquitting her.
bought a bas-relief
memorial to Henri, Francis and Charles Pélissier and put it up at the velodrome
. It was moved to the Piste Municipale after demolition of the Parc des Princes. It is on the right beyond the inner metal gate.
1912
1913
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
racing cyclist
Bicycle racing
Bicycle racing is a competition sport in which various types of bicycles are used. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, bike trials, and cycle speedway. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport...
from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and champion of the 1923
1923 Tour de France
The 1923 Tour de France was the 17th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 22, 1923. It consisted of 15 stages over 5386 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.233 km/h. The race was won by Henri Pélissier with a convincing half hour lead to his next opponent, Italian Ottavio...
Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
and for protesting against the conditions endured by riders in the early years of the Tour. He was killed by his lover with the gun that his wife had used to commit suicide.
Background
Pélissier was one of four brothers, three of whom became professional cyclists. He began racing professionally in 1911 and amassed important victories before the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, including the 1912 Milan – San Remo and three stages in the 1914 Tour de France
1914 Tour de France
The 1914 Tour de France was the 12th Tour de France, taking place June 28 to July 26, 1914. The total distance was and the average speed of the riders was . It was won by the Belgian cyclist Philippe Thys....
.
After the war he resumed competition, winning Paris–Roubaix in 1919 and entering the Tour de France for the next five years. Before the 1921 Paris–Roubaix, Pélissier and his brother Francis demanded their sponsor pay them more than racers usually received. Their request was rebuffed and they rode as individuals without team support. Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
, organiser of the Tour de France, vowed that they would never again appear on the front page of his newspaper L'Auto, only to eat his words when Pélissier emerged the champion.
Origins
The Pélissier family came from the AuvergneAuvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
region of central France. They were cattle farmers and moved to Paris to run a farm there.
René de Latour
René de Latour
René de Latour was a Franco-American sports journalist, race director of the Tour de l'Avenir cycle race, and correspondent of the British magazine, Sporting Cyclist, to which he contributed to 120 of the 131 issues.-Background:René de Latour was born in 42nd Street, New York...
wrote in Sporting Cyclist
Sporting Cyclist
Sporting Cyclist was a British cycling A4-sized magazine originally called Coureur. It began in 1957 and closed after 131 issues in October 1968.-Coureur:...
:
Auvergnats are considered to be very tight with their money. The old Pélissiers came to Paris in wooden shoes and finished up as millionaires. They took on a farm at AuteuilAuteuil-Neuilly-PassyAuteuil and Passy are part of the 16th arrondissement of Paris. They are located near the Bois de Boulogne and the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine too....
, the classy part of Paris to the south-west. It was really the last farm in Paris, the two dozen cows never really knowing what fresh air meant. The two elder sons had to work for their father on leaving school at the easy but very early-morning job of delivering the milk from a horse-drawn cart. That was around 1910. The elder boy [Henri] did not think much of this. He had started bike racing, was a good amateur, and wanted to turn professional. Father Pélissier had different ideas; to him the bicycle was not a god but a devil.
Racing career
Henri Pélissier was so thin as a young man that friends called him Ficelle, after France's thinnest loaf of bread. The word also means "string". One of four brothers, of whom three who became professional cyclists, he was by far the strongest. He also became known for a stubborn, difficult personality which had led his father to banish him from the family farm when he was 16. Pélissier lived alone in Paris and at 20 had become an independent, or semi-professional.On 15 August 1911 he was walking near the Porte Maillot
Porte Maillot
The Porte Maillot is one of the access points into Paris mentioned in 1860 and one of the ancient ancient city gates in the Thiers wall....
on the edge of Paris when he met one of the great cycling heroes of the day, Lucien Petit-Breton
Lucien Petit-Breton
Lucien Georges Mazan was a French racing cyclist .He was born in Plessé, Loire-Atlantique , a part of Brittany, now part of Pays de la Loire. When he was six he moved with his parents to Buenos Aires where he took Argentine nationality...
.
The two knew each other slightly but Pélissier was more in awe of Petit-Breton than the other way round because Petit-Breton had already ridden the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
four times and won it in 1907 and 1908. He had also won Milan – San Remo in 1907, which led to a further engagement to ride in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He asked Pélissier if he wanted to join him. He had six hours to make up his mind, collect his bags and bike and meet him for the 9pm train to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
.
Their first race was the Tour of Romany-Tuscany. Pélissier crashed and didn't finish. But he won Turin-Florence-Rome and the Tour of Lombardy. He returned to ride the Tour of Lombardy the following year as well, crashing at the entrance to the horse track in Milan with Constante Girardengo, the Italian star. There were 400m to the finish and the leaders were going flat out. A heap of riders came down with them. Pélissier got back on and passed the rest before the line and the crowd was so angry at how it perceived he had ruined Girardengo's chances that they ran on to the circuit and began pushing and punching Pélissier so much that he had scramble into the judges' watchtower and wait for 80 policemen to quieten the angry spectators three metres below him.
Pélissier came second in his first Tour de France, in 1914, less than two minutes behind Philippe Thys
Philippe Thys
Philippe Thys was a Belgian cyclist and three times winner of the Tour de France.-Professional career:...
of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He took three stages: the 10th, 12th and 15th.
Pélissier came first in 1923, at 34. He attacked on the col de l'Izoard and dropped the Belgians who had been seen as the favourites. He also won Milan – San Remo, Paris–Brussels, Paris–Roubaix twice, three Tours of Lombardy, Bordeaux–Paris and Paris–Tours.
Personality and trade union
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
, called him "this pigheadedly arrogant champion." When he went training, he urged his friends to take it easy — 'It's important not to wear yourself out' he advised — but never let on that he'd been out at dawn for 40 kilometres' speed training.
He dismissed his rivals with a sneer. "The others are cart horses; I'm a thoroughbred," he said during the Tour de France. Next day Pélissier punctured and the whole field left him and his brother Francis 30 minutes behind.
He argued repeatedly with Desgrange, who in 1920 penalised Pélissier two minutes for leaving a flat tyre by the roadside. Pélissier left the race in protest. He then made a point of winning everywhere else for the rest of the season. Desgrange scoffed: "Pélissier can win any race except the Tour."
His disagreements and walkouts fired the public — 'it excited the public more than the boring way the flahutes rode,' as one French writer puts it — but it enraged everyone else.
Oscar Egg
Oscar Egg
Oscar Egg was a Swiss track and road bicycle racer. He captured the world hour record three times before the First World War...
said:
Pélissier saw himself as a campaigner for better conditions for cyclists, whom he considered were paid little better than a pittance by their sponsors. He fought Desgrange's plan that riders in the Tour de France should be limited to equal amounts of food. Pélissier objected to what he considered other petty restrictions. In 1919 he abandoned the Tour because Desgrange would not allow him an extra glass of wine at a reception after one stage. He pulled out in 1920 because of the weather. He left on the fifth stage but he would have quit on the third had he had enough money to take the train from Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
. He asked followers to lend him the price of the ticket but they refused.
Pélissier rode beside Eugène Christophe
Eugene Christophe
Eugène Christophe was a French road bicycle racer and pioneer of cyclo-cross. He was a professional from 1904 until 1926. In 1919 he became the first rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France .Eugène Christophe rode 11 Tours de France and finished eight...
to complain and Christophe persuaded him to keep riding. They rode hard — "only to keep warm', Pélissier said—and caught a group which turned out to be the leaders.
"I thought to myself, now I may as well win," he said afterwards and he did. He won the stage the next day as well and then pulled out on the fifth.
"Henri Pélissier is saturated with class but he does not know how to suffer," Desgrange wrote in L'Auto
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
.
Pélissier started a cyclists' trade union but it had only lukewarm support. Riders close to Pélissier joined it but other French riders and most foreigners stayed away, unsure they wanted to be led by a man already at war with sponsors and organisers across Europe.
Les Forçats de la route
Pélissier, Francis and another rider, Maurice Ville, abandoned the Tour at CoutancesCoutances
Coutances is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-History:Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town took the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus...
in 1924 after Desgrange had not let Pélissier to take off a jersey as the sun came up. They were met in the station café by the journalist Albert Londres
Albert Londres
Albert Londres was a French journalist and writer. One of the inventors of investigative journalism, he criticized abuses of colonialism such as forced labour. Albert Londres gave his name to a journalism prize for Francophone journalists.- Biography :Londres was born in Vichy in 1884...
, who normally wrote about social and international affairs but was following the Tour for Le Petit Parisien
Le Petit Parisien
Le Petit Parisien was a prominent French newspaper during the French Third Republic. It was published between 1876 and 1944, and its circulation was over 2 million after the First World War.-Publishing:...
.
Londres' piece, reproduced largely as a dialogue, appeared under the headline Les Forçats de la Route.
- "You wouldn't believe that all this is about nothing more than a few jerseys. This morning, in CherbourgCherbourg-Octeville-Main sights:* La Glacerie has a race track.* The Cité de la Mer is a large museum devoted to scientific and historical aspects of maritime subjects.* Cherbourg Basilica* Jardin botanique de la Roche Fauconnière, a private botanical garden.* Le Trident theatre...
, a race official came up to me and without a word, he pulled up my jersey to check that I'm not wearing two. What would you say if I pulled open your waistcoat to see if your shirt was clean? That's the way these people behave and I won't stand for it. That's what this is all about."
- "But what if you were wearing two jerseys?"
- "That's the point. If I want to, I can wear 15. What I can't do is start with two and finish with only one."
- "Why not?"
- "Because that's the rule. We don't only have to work like donkeys, we have to freeze or suffocate as well. Apparently that's an important part of the sport. So I went off to find Desgrange. 'I can't throw my jersey on the road, then?' 'No,' he said, 'you can't throw away anything provided by the organisation.' 'But this isn't the organisation's—it's mine.'
- "'I don't conduct arguments in the street,' he said. 'OK,' I said, 'if you're not prepared to talk about it in the street, I'm going back to bed.'
- "'We'll sort it all out in BrestBrest, FranceBrest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
', he said. It will definitely be sorted out in Brest, I said, because I'm quitting. And I did."
Pélissier went to his brother, Francis, told him his decision and encouraged him to do the same. Francis said that suited him because he had a bad stomach and no enthusiasm for racing. Ville said he hadn't been part of the strike but that the other two had picked him up along the road. He was too tired to go on, he said.
- "You have no idea what the Tour de France is,' Henri said. "It's a calvary. And what's more, the way to the cross only had 14 stations — we've got 15. We suffer on the road. But do you want to see how we keep going? Wait...'
- From his bag he takes a phial. "That, that's cocaine for our eyes and chloroform for our gums..."
- "Here," said Ville, tipping out the contents of his bag, "horse liniment to keep my knees warm. And pills? You want to see the pills?" They got out three boxes apiece.
- "In short," said Francis, "we run on dynamite.'
- Henri takes up the story. "You ever seen the baths at the finish? It's worth buying a ticket. You go in plastered with mud and you come out as white as a sheet. We're drained all the time by diarrhoea. Have a look at the water. We can't sleep at night. We're twitching as if we've got St Vitus's DanceDancing maniaDancing mania was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely...
. You see my shoelaces? They're leather, as hard as nails, but they're always breaking. So imagine what happens to our skin. And our toenails. I've lost six. They fall off a bit at a time all through the stage. They wouldn't treat mules the way we're treated. We're not weaklings, but my God, they treat us so brutally. And if I so much as stick a newspaper under my jersey at the start, they check to see it's still there at the finish. One day they'll start putting lumps of lead in our pocket because God made men too light."
Londres had the best colour piece he'd ever written, although Francis claimed afterwards they'd taken advantage of his gullibility by exaggerating.
Retirement
Pélissier rode his last Tour de France in 1925. He did not finish. He stopped racing in 1927. He did nothing for two years after ending his career, then returned as a motorcycle-pacer and team manager. He had little success at either. In 1932 he wrote his impressions of the Tour de France for Paris-Soir. He remained bitter about those he believed treated cyclists as little better than slaves, said the broadcaster Jean-Paul Brouchon, while forgetting that cycling had made him rich.Death
Pélissier's first wife, Léonie, despaired and shot herself in 1933. Three years later Pélissier took a lover, Camille Tharault whom he called Miete, who was 20 years his junior. He threatened her with a knife at least once. He was 46 and he hadn't raced for eight years. On 1 May 1935, he and Camille had a row in the kitchen of their Norman-style villa at Fourcherolles, near DampierreDampierre-en-Yvelines
Dampierre-en-Yvelines is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-People:* Honoré d'Albert, Dukes of Luynes * Éric Judor, humorist* Ian Delépine, humorist...
, outside Paris. Pélissier lunged at her with a knife, cutting her face. She ran to the bedroom, opened a drawer and pulled out the revolver with which Léonie had shot herself. She ran back to the kitchen and found Pélissier waiting with the knife.
At that moment both saw the other threatening and Camille pulled the trigger five times. Pélissier fell to the floor. A bullet had hit the carotid artery. His body was placed in the room where Léonie had killed herself.
Next day, Paris-Soir
Paris-Soir
Paris-Soir was a large-circulation daily newspaper in Paris, France from 1923-1944.Its first issue came out in 4 October 1923. After June 11, 1940, the same publisher, Jean Prouvost, continued its publication in Vichy France: Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Marseille, and Vichy while in occupied Paris, it...
's headline was:
Albert Baker d'Isy
Albert Baker d'Isy
Albert Baker d'Isy was a French cycling journalist and author and the founder of the Grand Prix des Nations international time-trial. He is considered, in the French expression, "one of the most beautiful pens" of sports writing...
wrote:
"He had few friendships because of his absolute opinions, and the way he expressed them cost him many friends... But they all bowed to the great quality of a champion that they considered the greatest French rider since the [first world] war." Léo Breton, president of the UVF, the French federation, called Pélissier the greatest rider of all time.
Camille's trial opened a year later, almost to the day. She pleaded self-defence and on 26 May 1936, she got a year's suspended jail sentence. It was as close as the court could come to acquitting her.
Memorial
Fans at the Parc des PrincesParc des Princes
The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium located in the southwest of Paris, France. The venue, with a seating capacity of 48,712 spectators, has been the home of French football club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. The current Parc des Princes was inaugurated on 4 June 1972, endowed...
bought a bas-relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
memorial to Henri, Francis and Charles Pélissier and put it up at the velodrome
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights...
. It was moved to the Piste Municipale after demolition of the Parc des Princes. It is on the right beyond the inner metal gate.
Major achievements
1911- 1st, Giro di Lombardia
- 1st, Milano–Torino
1912
- 1st, Milan – San Remo
1913
- 1st, Giro di Lombardia
- 2nd, Overall, Tour de France1913 Tour de FranceThe 1913 Tour de France was the 11th Tour de France, taking place June 29 to July 27, 1913. The total distance was and the average speed of the riders was . The competition was won by the Belgian Philippe Thys, after in the crucial sixth stage Eugène Christophe broke his bicycle and lost several...
(and Stages 10 and 12)
1919
- 1st, Paris–Roubaix
- 1st, Bordeaux–Paris
- Stages 2 and 3, Tour de France1919 Tour de FranceThe 1919 Tour de France was the 13th Tour de France, taking place from 29 June to 27 July 1919 over a total distance of . It was the first Tour de France after World War I, and was won by Firmin Lambot...
1920
- 1st, Giro di Lombardia
- 1st, Paris–Brussels
- Stages 3 and 4, Tour de France1920 Tour de FranceThe 1920 Tour de France was the 14th Tour de France, taking place from June 27 to July 27, 1920. It consisted of 15 stages over , ridden at an average speed of . It was won by Belgian Philippe Thys, making him the first cyclist to win the Tour de France three times...
1921
- 1st, Paris–Roubaix
1922
- 1st, Paris–Tours
1923
-
1st, Overall, Tour de France1923 Tour de FranceThe 1923 Tour de France was the 17th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 22, 1923. It consisted of 15 stages over 5386 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.233 km/h. The race was won by Henri Pélissier with a convincing half hour lead to his next opponent, Italian Ottavio...
(and Stages 3, 10 and 11)
1924
- 1st, Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
Grand Tour results timeline
| 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar... |
DNE | DNE | DNE | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Tour Tour de France The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The... |
DNF-4 1912 Tour de France The 1912 Tour de France was the 10th anniversary of the Tour de France. It consisted of 15 stages for a total of . The Tour took place from 30 June to 28 July 1912. The riders rode at an average speed of 27.763 km/h. After 4 stage wins during the Tour of Belgium, the Alcyon team hired Odile... |
DNF-6 1913 Tour de France The 1913 Tour de France was the 11th Tour de France, taking place June 29 to July 27, 1913. The total distance was and the average speed of the riders was . The competition was won by the Belgian Philippe Thys, after in the crucial sixth stage Eugène Christophe broke his bicycle and lost several... |
2 1914 Tour de France The 1914 Tour de France was the 12th Tour de France, taking place June 28 to July 26, 1914. The total distance was and the average speed of the riders was . It was won by the Belgian cyclist Philippe Thys.... |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNF-5 1919 Tour de France The 1919 Tour de France was the 13th Tour de France, taking place from 29 June to 27 July 1919 over a total distance of . It was the first Tour de France after World War I, and was won by Firmin Lambot... |
DNF-5 1920 Tour de France The 1920 Tour de France was the 14th Tour de France, taking place from June 27 to July 27, 1920. It consisted of 15 stages over , ridden at an average speed of . It was won by Belgian Philippe Thys, making him the first cyclist to win the Tour de France three times... |
DNE | DNE | 1 1923 Tour de France The 1923 Tour de France was the 17th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 22, 1923. It consisted of 15 stages over 5386 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.233 km/h. The race was won by Henri Pélissier with a convincing half hour lead to his next opponent, Italian Ottavio... |
DNF-3 1924 Tour de France The 1924 Tour de France was the 18th edition of the Tour de France and was won by Ottavio Bottecchia. He was the first Italian cyclist to win the Tour and the first rider to hold the yellow jersey the entire event. The race was held over 5,425 km with an average speed of 23.972 km/h... |
DNF-4 1925 Tour de France The 1925 Tour de France was the 19th edition and was held from June 21 to July 19, 1925 over 5430 kilometers in 18 stages. Italian cyclist Ottavio Bottecchia successfully defended his 1924 victory to win his second consecutive Tour de France... |
| Stages won | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Vuelta Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages... |
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External links
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/jul/03/1