Jacques Anquetil
Encyclopedia
Jacques Anquetil was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win 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...

 five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the yellow jersey on day one and wear it all through the tour, a tall order with two previous winners in the field—Charly Gaul
Charly Gaul
Charly Gaul was a professional cyclist. He was a national cyclo-cross champion, an accomplished time triallist and a better climber. His ability earned him the nickname of The Angel of the Mountains in the 1958 Tour de France, which he won with four stage victories...

 and Federico Bahamontes
Federico Bahamontes
Federico Martín Bahamontes is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist.-Biography:Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla , of Cuban descent. His family was devastated during the Spanish civil war and Bahamontes' father, Julián, took the family to Madrid as refugees...

—but he did just that. His victories in stage races such as the Tour were built on an exceptional ability to ride alone against the clock in individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

 stages, which lent him the name "Monsieur Chrono".

French record

Anquetil was:
  • the first rider to win the Tour de France five times
  • the first French rider to win the Giro d'Italia (1960)
  • the first French rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France from the first day to the last (1961)
  • the first rider to win all three Tours
    Grand Tour (cycling)
    In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...

    , with victory in the Vuelta (1963)

Early life

Anquetil was the son of a builder in Mont-Saint-Aignan
Mont-Saint-Aignan
-People:*Birthplace of Jacques Anquetil , the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times.*Viviane Asseyi footballer*Jackson Mendy footballer*Matthieu Louis-Jean footballer*Mohamed Sissoko, Juventus F.C footballer, was born here....

, in the hills above Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

 in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

, north-west France. He lived there with his parents, Ernest and Marie, and his brother Philippe and then at Boisguillaume in a two-storey house, "one of those houses with exposed beams that tourists think are pretty but those who live there find uncomfortable."

In 1941, his father refused contracts to work on military installations for the German occupiers and his work dried up. Other members of the family worked in strawberry farming and Anquetil's father followed them, moving to the hamlet of Bourguet, near Quincampoix
Quincampoix
Quincampoix is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A farming village situated some northeast of Rouen at the junction of the D90, D928 and the D51 roads.-Heraldry:-Population:...

. Anquetil had his first bicycle - an Alcyon
Alcyon
The Alcyon was a French bicycle, automobile and motorcycle manufacturer between 1890 and 1957.- Origins :Alcyon originated from about 1890 when Edmond Gentil started the manufacture of bicycles in Neuilly, Seine. In 1902, this was complemented by motorcycle production and in 1906, the first cars...

 - at the age of four and twice a day rode the kilometre and a half to the village and back. There he was taught by a teacher wearing clogs in a classroom heated by a smoking stove.

Anquetil learned metal-turning at the technical college at Sotteville-lès-Rouen
Sotteville-lès-Rouen
- Transportation :The métro connects the commune with Rouen and Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray.The commune used to be a railway town in the days of the old Rouen tramway.- Population :- Places of interest :* The three churches of Notre-Dame, St...

, a suburb of the city, where he played billiards with a friend named Maurice Dieulois. His friend joined the AC Sottevillais club with the encouragement of his father and began racing. Anquetil said:
He was 17 and he took out his first racing licence on 2 December 1950. He stayed a member the rest of his life and his grave in the churchyard at Quincampoix has a permanent tribute from his clubmates.

Anquetil passed his qualifications in light engineering and went to work for 50 old francs a day at a factory in Sotteville. He left after 26 days following a disagreement with his boss over time off for training. The AC Sottevillais, founded in 1898, was run by a cycle-dealer, André Boucher
André Boucher
André Boucher was a French moderate professional racing cyclist and a talented coach who trained the Tour de France winner, Jacques Anquetil, and the world champion, Jean Jourden...

, who had a shop in the Place du Trianon in Sotteville. The club had not just Anquetil but Claude LeBer, who became professional pursuit champion in 1955, Jean Jourden, world amateur champion in 1961, and Francis Bazire, who came second in the world amateur championship in 1963.

Boucher trained his group first from a bicycle and then by Derny
Derny
A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing, or motor-paced road races. It is driven by a 98cc Zurcher two-stroke engine and by being pedalled through a fixed gear, typically of 70 teeth on the front chainring and 11 on the sprocket on the...

. Anquetil made fast progress and won 16 times as an amateur. His first victory was the Prix Maurice Latour at Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

 on 3 May 1951. He also took the Prix de France in 1952 and the Tour de la Manche and the national road championship the same year.

The Grand Prix des Nations

Anquetil rode in the French team in the 100 km time trial
Time trial
In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial  can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...

 at the 1952 Summer Olympics
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...

 in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 and won a bronze medal. Impressed by his protégé's progress, André Boucher sent an envelope of Anquetil's press cuttings to the local representative of the Perle bicycle company and asked him to send them to the firm's cycling team manager, the former 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...

 rider, Francis Pélissier
Francis Pélissier
Francis Pélissier was a French professional road racing cyclist from Paris. He was the younger brother of Tour de France winner Henri Pélissier, and the older brother of Tour de France stage winner Charles Pélissier. He won several classic cycle races like Paris–Tours, Bordeaux–Paris and Grand...

.

Pélissier called Anquetil, who was surprised and flattered to hear from him, and offered him 30,000 old francs a month to ride for La Perle as an independent, or semi-professional. Anquetil accepted and immediately ordered a new car, a Renault Fregate
Renault Frégate
The Renault Frégate is a full-size or executive car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1951 and 1960.-Origins:The Frégate was conceived in the years immediately following World War II...

, which he crashed twice in the first 12 months.

Pélissier wanted Anquetil for the 1953 Grand Prix des Nations
Grand Prix des Nations
The Grand Prix des Nations was an individual time trial for professional racing cyclists. Held annually in France, it was instituted in 1932 and often regarded as the unofficial time trial championship of the world and as a Classic cycle race. The race was the idea of a Parisian newspaper editor...

, a race started by the newspaper Paris-Soir which since 1932 had risen to the status of an unofficial world time-trial championship. It was held on a 142 km loop of rolling roads through Versailles, Rambouillet
Rambouillet
Rambouillet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is located in the suburbs of Paris southwest from the center...

, Maulette
Maulette
Maulette is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-References:*...

, St-Rémy-les-Chevreuse and then back to Versailles before, originally, finishing on the Buffalo track in Paris.

Anquetil was aware that one of his rivals was an Englishman named Ken Joy, who had broken records in Britain but was unknown in France. He would ride with another Englishman, Bob Maitland. The historian Richard Yates says:

Many of the 'against-the-clock' fraternity in the United Kingdom sincerely believed that the British time triallists were as good as, if not better than, their Continental counterparts and here was the chance to prove it. When the final result was known the British fans were disappointed and saw the race as a total failure for Britain as both Englishman had finished nearly 20 minutes down. To rub salt in the wounds, the event had been won by an unknown, curly-haired teenager from Normandy.


Anquetil caught Joy - the moment he realised he was going to win the race - even though Joy had started 16 minutes earlier. At 19, Anquetil had become unofficial time-trial champion of the world.

The win pleased Pélissier but did not convince him. Next year he drove his team car not behind Anquetil but his Swiss star, Hugo Koblet
Hugo Koblet
Hugo Koblet was a Swiss champion cyclist. He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a professional...

. Anquetil was not amused. When he beat Koblet, he sent his winner's bouquet to Pélissier's wife "in deepest sympathy".

Anquetil rode the Grand Prix des Nations nine times without being beaten.

Hour record

On 22 September 1954, Anquetil started two years' compulsory service in the army, joining the Richepanse de Rouen barracks as a gunner of the 406th artillery regiment. The army accorded him few great favours but there was an exception:
Should he break the record, he and the army agreed, he would give half the rewards to the army and the rest to the mother of a soldier, André Dufour, who had been killed while fighting at Palestro, in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

. The chances of breaking it were far from guaranteed, not only because Coppi's record had already defied Gerrit Schulte
Gerrit Schulte
Gerrit Schulte was a Dutch professional road bicycle racer. Schulte was successful in track pursuit, becoming national champion ten times, European champion twice and World champion once, in 1948, when he beat Fausto Coppi in the final...

 and Louison Bobet
Louison Bobet
Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...

 but also Anquetil himself, on 23 November 1955, when he had started too fast, faded and finished 696 m short of Coppi. His second attempt also flopped. He again started too fast. After 54:36 his helpers called him to a stop after 41.326 km. His legs failed him when he got off his bike and he had to be carried to a chair in a corner of the Velodromo Vigorelli
Velodromo Vigorelli
Velodromo Vigorelli is a velodrome in Milan, Italy. It is currently used mostlyfor American football events. The stadium holds 9,000 people and was built in 1935 by 'Vigorelli Cycles'....

, 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...

 in 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 ,...

, Italy. The Italian crowd chanted: "Coppi! Coppi! Coppi!"
Next day he received a telegram: "Congratulations on a good performance. Sure of your success. Take your time. Captain Gueguen will arrive tomorrow with instructions. Signed: Commander Dieudonné".

At 7:30pm on 29 June 1956, riding a lighter bike made in three days to the same design as Coppi's, and using a 7m40 gear (52x15), Anquetil tried again and finally broke his hero's record, riding 46.159 km. Coppi was the first professional to give Anquetil his autograph. When the two next met, Anquetil was also a professional. He went to Italy to meet Coppi and, for reasons never explained, dressed as a simple country boy rather than in the smart clothes that he normally wore.
In 1967, 11 years later, Anquetil again broke the hour record, with 47.493 km, but the record was disallowed because he refused to take the newly-introduced post-race doping test. He objected to what he saw as the indignity of having to urinate in a tent in front of a crowded velodrome and said he would take the test later at his hotel. The international judge ruled against the idea and a scuffle ensued that involved Anquetil's manager, Raphaël Géminiani
Raphael Geminiani
Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

. Cycling
Cycling Weekly
Cycling Weekly is a British cycling magazine. It is published by IPC Media and is devoted to the sport and past-time of cycling. It is affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".-History:...

reported:

Wonderful Jacques Anquetil has broken the world hour record as he said he would... and then ran into official trouble when he refused to take a trackside dope test demanded by the Italian authorities. An Italian Dr Giuliano Marena asked for the urine sample, but Anquetil refused and asked him to come to his hotel. Dr Marena refused and, after waiting a couple of hours at the track, left town to go home to Florence. Anquetil said at his hotel: 'I didn't and don't intend to escape the test, but it must take place under circumstances far different from those at the velodrome. I'm still here and ready to undergo the test.' While Italian officials talked of taking the matter to the UCI, Dr Tanguy of the FFC [French cycling federation] took a sample from Anquetil on his return to Rouen, pointing out afterwards that it would be valid up to 48 hours after the record attempt. But Raphaël Géminiani, his manager, had all but lost his temper with the Italian medical man and had tried to throw him out of the cabin, though Jacques had remonstrated mildly. Later he said that he understood the tests would be valid for up to 48 hours and said he was trying to locate another doctor for the test.


Anquetil rode a 52 × 13 gear. His split times:
  • 0–5 km 6m 17.4
  • 5–10 km 6m 19.6
  • 10–15 km 6m 18.4
  • 15–20 km 6m 19.8
  • 20–25 km 6m 19.4
  • 25–30 km 6m 19.0
  • 30–35 km 6m 19.0
  • 35–40 km 6m 18.2
  • 40–45 km 6m 21

  • Tour de France

    In 1957 Anquetil rode - and won - his first Tour de France
    1957 Tour de France
    The 1957 Tour de France was the 44th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 20, 1957. It was composed of 22 stages over 4665 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.250 km/h....

    . His inclusion in the national team - the Tour was still ridden by national rather than commercial teams - was what the French broadcaster Jean-Paul Ollivier called "a forceps operation".

    Louison Bobet
    Louison Bobet
    Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...

     and Raphaël Géminiani
    Raphael Geminiani
    Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

     wished to rule the Tour de France and had no desire to have Anquetil. But Louison, worn out from his battle of nerves that he suffered in the Tour of Italy, where he used all his energy in defending the maglia rosa [leader's jersey] against Italian hatred [déferlante], declared, on the banks of the Adriatic; "I am not prepared, mentally, to take part in the Tour de France. I am 32 in a world of youth."


    Anquetil recognised the allusion and accepted the invitation to ride. He finished nearly 15 minutes ahead of the rest, having won 4 solo stages plus the team stage.

    In 1959, Anquetil was whistled as he finished the Tour on the Parc des Princes
    Parc 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...

     because spectators had worked out that he and others had contrived to let Federico Bahamontes
    Federico Bahamontes
    Federico Martín Bahamontes is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist.-Biography:Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla , of Cuban descent. His family was devastated during the Spanish civil war and Bahamontes' father, Julián, took the family to Madrid as refugees...

     win rather than the Frenchman Henry Anglade
    Henry Anglade
    Henry Anglade is a former French cyclist. In 1959 he was closest to winning the Tour de France, when he finished second, 4:01 behind Federico Bahamontes. In 1960 he wore the yellow jersey for two days.-Origins:...

    . The French team was unbalanced by internal rivalries. Anglade, whose bossy nature earned him the nickname Napoleon, was particularly unusual in that he was represented by the agent Roger Piel while the others had Daniel Dousset. The two men controlled all French racing. Dousset soon worked out that his riders had to either beat Bahamontes or make sure that Anglade didn't win. Since they couldn't beat Anglade, they contrived to let Bahamontes win because Bahamontes, a poor rider on the flat and on small circuits, would be no threat to the post-Tour criterium fees that made up the bulk of riders' - and agents' - earnings.

    Anquetil was jeered and showed his coldness to public reaction by buying a boat that he named "The Whistles of 59" and by pointing out that he was a professional and that his first interest was therefore money. It was an attitude that other riders could understand but made it hard for fans to love him.

    In 1960 Anquetil stayed away from the Tour, returning in 1961
    1961 Tour de France
    The 1961 Tour de France was the 48th running of the Tour de France. It meandered through France from 25 June to 16 July 1961. It consisted of 21 stages, a total of , which was ridden at an average speed of . Out of the 132 riders who started the tour, 72 managed to complete the tour's tough course...

     and winning the Tour de France thereafter until 1964
    1964 Tour de France
    The 1964 Tour de France was the 51st Tour de France, taking place June 22 to July 14, 1964. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4504 km, with riders averaging 35.419 km/h. Stages 3, 10 and 22 were all two part stages with one the first half being a regular stage and the second half...

    . He won in 1962
    1962 Tour de France
    The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 15, 1962. It was composed of 22 stages over 4274 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.306 km/h. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams...

     at a speed not bettered until 1981
    1981 Tour de France
    The 1981 Tour de France was the 68th Tour de France, taking place June 25 to July 19, 1981. The total race distance was 24 stages over 3753 km, with riders averaging 38.96 km/h....

    . He was the first rider to win four successive times, breaking the record of three set by Philippe Thys
    Philippe Thys
    Philippe Thys was a Belgian cyclist and three times winner of the Tour de France.-Professional career:...

     and Louison Bobet
    Louison Bobet
    Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...

    . He was also the first to win five times in total, a feat since emulated by Eddy Merckx
    Eddy Merckx
    Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...

    , Bernard Hinault
    Bernard Hinault
    Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985...

     and Miguel Indurain
    Miguel Indurain
    Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He won five consecutive Tour de Frances from 1991 and 1995, the first to do so, and the fourth athlete to win five times. He won the Giro d'Italia twice, becoming one of only seven people in history to achieve the Giro Tour...

    . Only Lance Armstrong
    Lance Armstrong
    Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...

     has won more Tours.

    In 1963 Tour de France, at the top of a mountain, Anquetil faked a mechanical problem, so that his team director could give him a bicycle that was more suitable for the descent. The plan worked, and Anquetil overtook Bahamontes in the descent and won the stage, taking over the lead in the general classification.

    His last Tour victory (in 1964) was also his most famous, featuring an elbow-to-elbow duel with public favourite Raymond Poulidor
    Raymond Poulidor
    Raymond Poulidor , is a former professional bicycle racer. He was known as the eternal second, because he finished the Tour de France in second place three times, and in third place five times, including his final Tour at the age of 40...

     on the road up the Puy de Dôme mountain
    Puy-de-Dôme (mountain)
    Puy de Dôme is a large lava dome and one of the youngest volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys region of Massif Central in south-central France. This chain of volcanoes including numerous cinder cones, lava domes, and maars is located far from the edge of any tectonic plate. Puy de Dôme is located...

     on 12 July. Suffering indigestion after his excesses on a rest day, Anquetil is reputed to have received treatment from his team manager in the form of a swallow of champagne - a story that Anquetil's wife says is untrue.

    The Tour organiser, Jacques Goddet
    Jacques Goddet
    Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986....

     was behind the pair as they turned off the main road and climbed through what the police estimated as half a million spectators. Goddet recalled:

    The two, at the extreme of their rivalry, climbing the road wrapped like a ribbon round the majestic volcano, terribly steep, in parallel action... I've always been convinced that in these moments that supreme player of poker, the Norman [Anquetil], used his craftiness and his fearless bluffing to win his fifth Tour. Because, to me, it was clear that Anquetil was at the very limit of his strength and that had Poulidor attacked him repeatedly and suddenly then he would have cracked... Although his advisers claim that his error in maintaining steady pressure rather than attacking was the result of using slightly too big a gear, which stopped his jumping away, I still think that it was in his head that Pou-Pou should have changed gears.


    Anquetil rode on the inside by the mountain wall while Poulidor took the outer edge by the precipice. They could sometimes feel the other's hot gasps on their bare arms. At the end, Anquetil cracked, after a battle of wills and legs so intense that at times they banged elbows. Of Anquetil, Pierre Chany
    Pierre Chany
    Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...

     wrote:
    "His face, until then purple, lost all its colour; the sweat ran down in drops through the creases of his cheeks."
    Anquetil was only semi-conscious, he said. Anquetil's manager, Raphaël Géminiani, said:

    Anquetil's head was a computer. It started working: in 500 metres, Poulidor wouldn't get his 56 seconds. I'll never forget what happened when Jacques crossed the line. Close to fainting, he collapsed on the front of my car. With barely any breath left, exhausted, but 200 per cent lucid, he asked me: 'How much?' I told him 14 seconds. 'That's one more than I need. I've got 13 in hand'.


    In my opinion Poulidor was demoralised by Anquetil's resistance, his mental strength. There were three times when he could have dropped Anquetil. First, at the bottom of the climb. Then when Julio Jimenez attacked [and left the two Frenchmen, accompanied by the rival climber Federico Bahamontes]. Finally in the last kilometre. The nearer the summit came, the more Jacques was suffering. In the last few hundred metres, he was losing time. At the top of the Puy it's 13 per cent. Poulidor should have attacked: he didn't. Poulidor didn't attack in the last 500 metres - it was Jacques who got dropped, and that's not the same thing.


    Poulidor gained time but when they reached Paris, Anquetil still had a 55-second lead and won his last Tour de France. The writer Chris Sidwells said:

    The race also ended the Anquetil era in Tour history. He could not face riding it the following year, and in 1966 he retired from the Tour with bad health - once he'd made sure that Poulidor could not win either.In 1966 Anquetil prevented Poulidor from winning the Tour by putting his team-mate Lucien Aimar in a position to win. Poulidor may not have managed to slay his dragon, in fact so bloodied was he by his battle that he never did win the Tour, but he did manage to wound his rival, and in so doing brought down the curtain on the rule of the first five-times winner - the first great super-champion of the Tour de France.


    Anquetil won all three of the Grand Tours
    Grand Tour (cycling)
    In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...

     - the first cyclist to do so. Anquetil twice won the Giro d'Italia
    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...

     (1960
    1960 Giro d'Italia
    The 1960 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 19 May to 9 June 1960, consisting of 21 stages. This 43rd edition was won by the French Jacques Anquetil.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...

    , 1964
    1964 Giro d'Italia
    The 1964 Giro d'Italia of cycling, 47th edition of the Corsa Rosa, was held from 16 May to 7 June 1964. It consisted of 22 stages and was won by Jacques Anquetil.- Final placings:- Maglia rosa holders:...

    ) and won the Vuelta a España
    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...

     once (1963
    1963 Vuelta a España
    The 18th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from May 1 to May 15, 1963. It consisted of 15 stages covering a total of , and was won by Jacques Anquetil of the St. Raphael-Gitane cycling team...

    ). He also won the season-long Super Prestige Pernod International
    Super Prestige Pernod International
    The Super Prestige Pernod International was a season-long competition in road bicycle racing between 1958 and 1988.Disagreements between the organisers of the similar Challenge Desgrange-Colombo led to its demise and a gap in season-long competitions. In 1958, the publicity division of Pernod...

    competition four times, in 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1966 - a record only surpassed by Eddy Merckx
    Eddy Merckx
    Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...

    .

    Anquetil-Poulidor: the social significance

    Anquetil unfailingly beat Raymond Poulidor
    Raymond Poulidor
    Raymond Poulidor , is a former professional bicycle racer. He was known as the eternal second, because he finished the Tour de France in second place three times, and in third place five times, including his final Tour at the age of 40...

     in the Tour de France and yet Poulidor remained the more popular. Divisions between their fans became marked, which two sociologists studying the impact of the Tour on French society say became emblematic of France old and new.

    The extent of those divisions is shown in a story, perhaps apocryphal, told by Pierre Chany
    Pierre Chany
    Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...

    , who was close to Anquetil:

    The Tour de France has the major fault of dividing the country, right down to the smallest hamlet, even families, into two rival camps. I know a man who grabbed his wife and held her on the grill of a heated stove, seated and with her skirts held up, for favouring Jacques Anquetil when he preferred Raymond Poulidor. The following year, the woman became a Poulidor-iste. But it was too late. The husband had switched his allegiance to Gimondi. The last I heard they were digging in their heels and the neighbours were complaining.


    Jean-Luc Boeuf and Yves Léonard, in their study, wrote:

    Those who recognised themselves in Jacques Anquetil liked his priority of style and elegance in the way he rode. Behind this fluidity and the appearance of ease was the image of France winning and those who took risks identified with him. Humble people saw themselves in Raymond Poulidor, whose face - lined with effort - represented the life they led on land they worked without rest or respite. His declarations, full of good sense, delighted the crowds: a race, even a difficult one, lasts less time than a day bringing in the harvest. A big part of the public therefore finished by identifying with the one who symbolised bad luck and the eternal position of runner-up, an image that was far from true for Poulidor, whose record was particularly rich. Even today, the expression of the eternal second and of a Poulidor Complex is associated with a hard life, as an article by Jacques Marseille showed in Le Figaro when it was headlined "This country is suffering from a Poulidor Complex".

    Dauphiné and Bordeaux–Paris double

    In 1965, Anquetil won the eight-day Alpine Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race at 3pm, sat through two hours of interviews and receptions, took a 6:30pm chartered flight to Bordeaux
    Bordeaux
    Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

     and won the world's longest single-day classic, Bordeaux–Paris the following day. The race started at night and continued, from soon after dawn, behind derny
    Derny
    A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing, or motor-paced road races. It is driven by a 98cc Zurcher two-stroke engine and by being pedalled through a fixed gear, typically of 70 teeth on the front chainring and 11 on the sprocket on the...

     motorcycle pacers.

    Anquetil was upset, said Raphaël Géminiani
    Raphael Geminiani
    Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

     in his autobiography, that his rival, Raymond Poulidor
    Raymond Poulidor
    Raymond Poulidor , is a former professional bicycle racer. He was known as the eternal second, because he finished the Tour de France in second place three times, and in third place five times, including his final Tour at the age of 40...

     was always more warmly regarded even though he had never won the Tour de France. In 1965, when Poulidor was perceived to have received more credit for dropping Anquetil the previous year on the Puy-de-Dôme than Anquetil had received for winning the whole Tour, Géminiani persuaded him to ride the Dauphiné Libéré and, next day, the 557 km Bordeaux–Paris. That, he said, would end any argument over who was the greater athlete.

    Anquetil won the Dauphiné, despite bad weather which he disliked, at 3pm. After two hours of interviews and receptions he flew from Nîmes to Bordeaux. At midnight, he ate his pre-race meal and then went to the start in the city's northern suburbs.

    He could eat little during the night because of stomach cramp and was on the verge of retiring. Géminiani swore at Anquetil and called him "a great poof" to offend his pride and keep him riding. Anquetil felt better as morning came and the riders dropped in behind the derny
    Derny
    A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing, or motor-paced road races. It is driven by a 98cc Zurcher two-stroke engine and by being pedalled through a fixed gear, typically of 70 teeth on the front chainring and 11 on the sprocket on the...

     pacing motorcycles that were a feature of the race. He responded to an attack by Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...

    , followed by his own team-mate Jean Stablinski
    Jean Stablinski
    Jean Stablewski, known as Jean Stablinski was a French professional cyclist from a family of Polish immigrants. He rode from 1952 to 1968, winning 105 races as a professional...

    . Anquetil and Stablinski attacked Simpson alternately, forcing himself to exhaust himself, and Anquetil won at the Parc des Princes
    Parc 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...

    . Stablinski finished 57 seconds later just ahead of Simpson.

    The historian Dick Yates said:
    It had been one of the hardest and closest derny
    Derny
    A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing, or motor-paced road races. It is driven by a 98cc Zurcher two-stroke engine and by being pedalled through a fixed gear, typically of 70 teeth on the front chainring and 11 on the sprocket on the...

    -paced races in history but much more than that this double of Anquetil was one of the greatest exploits ever seen in cycling. At the Parc des Princes
    Parc 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...

    , Anquetil received the biggest ovation of his career, certainly much bigger than after any of his wins in the Tour. The race record was broken, Jacques was mobbed by reporters and photographers but he was tired and really had to get some rest. Few people realised it at the time but he had to make the long journey to Maubeuge
    Maubeuge
    Maubeuge is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is situated on both banks of the Sambre , east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian border.-History:...

     in north-eastern France where the following day he was riding a criterium
    Criterium
    A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course , often run on closed-off city center streets....

    !


    There are strong and undenied rumours that the jet laid on to get Anquetil to Bordeaux was provided through state funds on the orders of President
    President
    A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

     Charles de Gaulle
    Charles de Gaulle
    Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

    . Géminiani mentions the belief in his biography, without denying it, saying the truth will come out when French state records are opened to scrutiny.

    Trofeo Baracchi

    Anquetil's most humiliating race was the Trofeo Baracchi
    Trofeo Baracchi
    The Trofeo Baracchi was a major Italian cycling race that ran for 50 years. It was created by Mino Baracchi, in memory of his father Angelo who was a great cycle racing fan. Originally an amateur individual time trial, from 1944 it was open to professionals and became a major event on the...

     in Italy in 1962, when he had to be pushed by his partner, Rudi Altig
    Rudi Altig
    Rudi Altig is a former professional track and road racing cyclist who won the 1962 Vuelta a España and the world championship in 1966. He is now a television commentator.-Amateur career:...

    , and was so exhausted that he hit a pillar before reaching the track on which the race finished.

    The Trofeo Baracchi was a 111 km race for two-man teams. Anquetil, the world's best time-triallist, and Altig, a powerful rider with a strong sprint, were favourites. But things soon went wrong. The writer 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:

    I got my stopwatch going again to check the length of each man's turn at the front. Generally in a race of the Baracchi type, the changes are very rapid, with stints of no more than 300 yards. Altig was at the front when I started the check - and he was still there a minute later. Something must be wrong. Altig wasn't even swinging aside to invite Anquetil through... Suddenly, on a flat road, Anquetil lost contact and a gap of three lengths appeared between the two partners. There followed one of the most sensational things I have ever seen in any form of cycle racing during my 35 years' association with the sport - something which I consider as great a physical performance as a world hour record or a classic road race win. Altig was riding at 30mph at the front - and had been doing so for 15 minutes. When Anquetil lost contact, he had to ease the pace, wait for his partner to go by, push him powerfully in the back, sprint to the front again after losing 10 yards in the process, and again settle down to a 30mph stint at the front. Altig did not this just once but dozens of times.


    The pair reached the track on which the race finished. The timekeeper was at the entrance to the stadium, so Anquetil finished. But instead of turning on to 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...

    , he rode straight on and hit a pole. He was helped away with staring eyes and with blood streaming from a cut to his head. The couple nevertheless won by nine seconds.

    Other races

    Anquetil was not as successful in the classic single-day races but towards the end of his career he won:
    • Gent–Wevelgem (1964)
    • Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1966)


    Anquetil finished in the top 10 in the world championship
    World Cycling Championship
    The UCI Road World Championships, often referred to as the World Cycling Championships, is the annual world championship for bicycle road racing organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale . The UCI Road World Championships include championships for elite men's road race and individual time trial...

     on six occasions, but second place in 1966 was the nearest he came to the rainbow jersey.

    Riding style

    Anquetil was a smooth rider, a beautiful pedalling machine according to one writer. The American journalist Owen Mulholland wrote:

    The sight of Jacques Anquetil on a bicycle gives credence to an idea we Americans find unpalatable, that of a natural aristocracy. From the first day he seriously straddled a top tube, "Anq" had a sense or perfection most riders spend a lifetime searching for. Between 1950, when he rode his first race, and nineteen years later, when he retired, Anquetil had countless frames underneath him, yet that indefinable poise was always there.


    The look was that of a greyhound. His arms and legs were extended more than was customary in his era of pounded post World War II roads. And the toes pointed down. Just a few years before, riders had prided their ankling motion, but Jacques was the first of the big gear school. His smooth power dictated his entire approach to the sport. Hands resting serenely on his thin Mafac
    Mafac
    MAFAC, or Manufacture Arvernoise de Freins et Accessoires pour Cycles , was a French manufacturer of bicycle brakes and tool kits. MAFAC was founded in post-war France under the name "Securité", which changed to MAFAC in Fall 1947. Initially MAFAC made cantilever brakes, brake levers, and tool kits...

     brake levers, the sensation from Quincampoix, Normandy, appeared to cruise while others wriggled in desperate attempts to keep up.

    Physical attributes

    Height: 1m 76

    Weight: 70 kg

    Chest: 95 cm

    Arm circumference: 27 cm

    Calf circumference: 32 cm

    Thigh circumference: 47 cm

    Foot size: 41

    Lung capacity: 6 litres

    Normal heart rate: 48

    Heart rate after exercise: 90

    Training: 100–120 km, three times a week

    Gym training: 20 minutes, twice a week

    Diet: No restrictions other than sauces. A little wine with each meal.

    Smoking: A small cigar with meals in winter

    Sleep: Eight hours

    Raphaël Géminiani

    Raphaël Géminiani had been Anquetil's rival as a rider; he became his strongest asset as his manager. The historian Dick Yates wrote:

    Raphaël embarked on a policy of trying to convince Jacques of the need to win more races as he certainly had the ability to do so... Anquetil had a very strong personality so he was not easily dominated but Géminiani had an even stronger one. He never gave up the task of trying to convince Jacques of the need for more panache, how a man of his talent should have an even bigger list of important wins.


    As a partnership they won four Tours de France, two Giro d'Italia, the Dauphiné-Libéré and then next day, Bordeaux–Paris. Géminiani said of him:
    Today, everybody pays him homage. I nearly blow my top. I can still hear the way he was whistled when he rode. I think of the organisers of the Tour, who shortened the time trialAnquetil was the dominant time-triallist of his period to make him lose. His home town of Rouen
    Rouen
    Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

     organises commemorations but, me, I haven't forgotten that it was in Antwerp that he made his farewell appearance. More than once, I saw him crying in his hotel room after suffering the spitting and insults of spectators. People said he was cold, a calculator, a dilettante
    Amateur
    An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

    . The truth is that Jacques was a monster of courage. In the mountains, he suffered as though he was damned. He wasn't a climber. But with bluffing, with guts, he tore them to shreds (il les a tous couillonnés).

    Honours

    Anquetil was named France's champion of champions by L'Équipe
    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...

     in 1963. He was also appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite
    Ordre National du Mérite
    The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...

     in 1965 (cross of merit) and Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
    Légion d'honneur
    The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

     on 5 October 1966.

    Personal life

    Anquetil was fascinated by astronomy and was delighted to meet the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

    . The rational side of his character contrasted with his superstition. In the 1964 Tour de France
    1964 Tour de France
    The 1964 Tour de France was the 51st Tour de France, taking place June 22 to July 14, 1964. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4504 km, with riders averaging 35.419 km/h. Stages 3, 10 and 22 were all two part stages with one the first half being a regular stage and the second half...

    , a fortune-teller called Belline predicted in the newspaper France-Soir that Anquetil would die on or around the 13th day of the race. His wife Janine, knowing Anquetil's superstition, hid the paper from him but Anquetil found out, not least because he was sent cuttings with unsigned letters.

    Jean-Paul Brouchon, leading cycling commentator at the news radio station France-Info, said of the day the forecast was supposed to come true:

    During those dark hours, Anquetil refused to leave his room [the race was having a rest day]. Finally he agreed to go for a short car ride with Raphaël Géminiani
    Raphael Geminiani
    Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

     [his team manager] and Janine, to join a party organised by Radio Andorra.


    A mixture of Anquetil's fear for the future and his enjoyment of living in the present led to many newspaper pictures of the large meal and the wine that he drank that day. Next morning, still worried about the prediction and laden down by the partying, he was dropped on the first hairpins of the Port d'Envalira
    Port d'Envalira
    Port d'Envalira is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees in Andorra, that connects El Pas de la Casa with the rest of the country. It is the highest paved road in the Pyrenees...

    .

    He was famous for preparing for races by staying up all night before drinking and playing cards, although the story seems to have increased with the telling. Nevertheless, his team-mate, the British rider Vin Denson
    Vin Denson
    Vin Denson is a former professional racing cyclist who rode the Tour de France, won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and won the Tour of Luxembourg in the 1960s. He was a team-mate of Rik van Looy and of Jacques Anquetil and, in the Tour de France, of Tom Simpson...

    , has written in the UK publication Cycling
    Cycling Weekly
    Cycling Weekly is a British cycling magazine. It is published by IPC Media and is devoted to the sport and past-time of cycling. It is affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".-History:...

    of exuberant parties during races. Denson has written, too, of Anquetil's scrupulous business arrangements with riders and others:

    I always considered Jacques to be the very best professional", he said. "I admired him for the gentlemanly manner and charm with riders, the public and media. A more honest and sincere businessman and friend you would not find in any walk of life. His word was his all and was of great importance to him. He was a truly great man and champion who will be greatly missed and impossible to replace.


    The British journalist Alan Gayfer, former editor of Cycling
    Cycling Weekly
    Cycling Weekly is a British cycling magazine. It is published by IPC Media and is devoted to the sport and past-time of cycling. It is affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".-History:...

     said:

    Jacques was a real Norman with the nuances of speech that make the Normans famous, they almost say Yes to mean No, and vice versa. I asked him when he was in London if Poulidor, who was often second to Jacques, could ever win the Tour de France: "Yes", he said, "but only if I am riding, and I would always finish ahead of him.


    But perhaps my finest memory of this lordly Frenchman came in 1966 at the Nürburgring
    Nürburgring
    The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...

    , where a German official had been particularly rude to myself and other English journalists about going through one gate (the exit) to the press room instead of another 100 yards away (the entrance). We sat in delight, Sid Saltmarsh, Bill Long and me, not 20 yards from that 'Exit' gate, and watched as Jacques pulled up in his Ford Mustang, and proceeded to unload his bike from the back of the car. Yes, he did, not leaving it to mechanics. German official railed and cried, but all in vain. The seigniorial aspect came out oh so clearly, and Jacques did not merely ignore him, it was palpably as if the German did not exist at all. He left the car there, walked over to the riders' quarters pushing the gate open and the German with it. It has probably the finest comeuppance I shall ever see, and for that I shall remember Jacques for a long time.


    Dick Yates said:
    "He had a deep love of the land and was at his happiest when driving a tractor. They [his wife and he] both acquired a taste for bridge parties which often continued late into the night. That Anquetil was a highly intelligent man there can be no doubt and he was the nearest thing to a true intellectual that cycling has ever produced."


    Anquetil married Janine Boeda on 22 December 1958. She had been married to Anquetil's doctor. The doctor, seeing a rival, sent his wife to live with friends. Anquetil went to see her, disguised as a plumber, and took her off to Paris to buy clothes in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
    Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
    The rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré is a street in Paris, France. Although relatively narrow and nondescript , it is cited as being one of the most fashionable streets in the world, thanks to the presence of virtually every major global fashion house...

    .

    Their marriage produced no children. Janine had two children, Alain and Annie, from her previous marriage. In 2004, Sophie Anquetil published the book Pour l'amour de Jacques in which she confirmed what had been rumoured but what Anquetil had always tried to hide: that she was Anquetil's daughter.

    Janine had two failed pregnancies and Anquetil grew upset in 1970 that he wasn't a father. The couple considered a surrogate mother before Janine thought of her daughter, Annie. Janine said: "We didn't use the parental authority that we could have had over her. It was a request that I addressed to her. Gently. Annie always had the choice of refusing."Non; nous n'avons pas abusé de l'ascendant que nous pouvions sur elle. C'est une prière que je lui ai adresseée. Gentiment. Annie avait toujours le choix de refuser. Anquetil le Sultan, Nouvel Observateur, France, 29 April 2004 Annie confirmed her mother's recollection. She said:
    Anquetil, his wife and his wife's daughter began a ménage à trois
    Ménage à trois
    Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...

    Annie said:
    Annie said she should have left the house after her daughter, Sophie, was born. Instead, she grew jealous of her own mother and demanded that she leave instead. When Janine refused, Annie left instead. To fill the gap in the house, Janine invited her son, Alain, and his wife, Dominique, to return to live there. Anquetil began an affair with Dominique, to make Annie jealous. Dominique had Anquetil's child but Annie still refused to return.

    Dominique still lives in the house, Les Elfes, where she organises conferences. Janine and Anquetil divorced. Sophie moved in with Janine, although she lives now in Calenzana
    Calenzana
    Calenzana is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.In 1732 it was the site of an uprising by Corsican nationalists against the island's Genoese rulers....

    , near Calvi
    Calvi
    Calvi is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.It is the seat of the Canton of Calvi, which contains Calvi and one other commune, Lumio...

    .

    Both Janine and Dominique wrote their life story: neither mentioned the link between Sophie and Anquetil.

    Doping

    Anquetil took a forthright and controversial stand on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He never hid that he took drugs and in a debate with a government minister on French television said only a fool would imagine it was possible to ride Bordeaux–Paris on just water.

    He and other cyclists had to ride through "the cold, through heatwaves, in the rain and in the mountains", and they had the right to treat themselves as they wished, he said in a television interview, before adding: There was implied acceptance of doping right to the top of the state: the president, Charles de Gaulle
    Charles de Gaulle
    Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

    , said of Anquetil:

    He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1966. An official named Collard told him once he had got changed that there would be a drugs test. "Too late", Anquetil said. "If you can collect it from the soapy water there, go ahead. I'm a human being, not a fountain." Collard said he would return half an hour later; Anquetil said he would already have left for a dinner appointment 140 km away. Two days later the Belgian cycling federation disqualified Anquetil and fined him. Anquetil responded by calling urine tests "a threat to individual liberty" and engaged a lawyer. The case was never heard, the Belgians backed down and Anquetil became the winner.

    Pierre Chany
    Pierre Chany
    Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...

     said:
    "Jacques had the strength - for which he was always criticised - to say out loud what others would only whisper. So, when I asked him 'What have you taken?' he didn't drop his eyes before replying. He had the strength of conviction."


    Anquetil argued that professional riders were workers and had the same right to treat their pains as, say, a geography teacher. But the argument found less support as more riders were reported to have died or suffered health problems through drug-related incidents, including the death of the English rider, Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...

    , in the Tour de France of 1967.

    There was great support in the cyclist community, however, for the way Anquetil argued that, if there were to be rules and tests, the tests should be carried out consistently and with dignity. It was professional dignity, the right of a champion not to be ridiculed in front of his public, that he said led to his refusal to take a test in the centre of the Vigorelli track after breaking the world hour record.

    The unrecognised time that Anquetil set that day was in any case quickly broken by the Belgian rider, Ferdi Bracke. Anquetil was hurt that the French government had never sent him a telegram of congratulations but sent one to Bracke, who wasn't French. It was a measure of the unacceptability of Anquetil's arguments, as was the way he was quietly dropped from future French teams.

    Anecdote

    Anquetil recounted an incident in a hotel at La Rochelle where he and others were relaxing after a criterium:
    I think it was [Roger] Hassenforder's idea.. We started looking at the fish in a lovely little tank at the entrance to the restaurant. Hassen suddenly said: 'Let's give them something to liven them up a bit!' He got out of his pocket a few Maxitons and gave them to me... I threw them to the fish. And oh yes, amphetamines work just as well on fish, I can tell you. After 10 minutes they were thrashing from one end of the tank to the other."

    Anquetil and Britain

    Anquetil holds a particular place in the estimation of British fans, who voted him the BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

    's international personality of the year in 1964. He appeared with Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...

     from a studio in Paris. The Franco-American journalist 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 the studio we watched the proceedings in London, and while I cannot say Anquetil was keenly interested in the cricketing part, he was impressed with the general presentation which, however (like the stages of the 1964 Tour) he found a bit long. He was interested, though, to see Beryl Burton
    Beryl Burton
    Beryl Burton, MBE OBE was an English racing cyclist and one of Britain's greatest ever athletes.She dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records...

    , and his old acquaintance Reg Harris
    Reg Harris
    Reginald - 'Reg' - Hargreaves Harris OBE was a leading English track racing cyclist in the 1940s and 1950s. He won the world amateur sprint title in 1947, two Olympic silver medals in 1948, and the professional title in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1954...

     pulling at his pipe in the invited audience.


    A few days later, Anquetil was named French sportsman of the year.

    Anquetil was fascinated by Britain because of the country's enthusiasm for time-trialling and because in 1961 he presented prizes at the Road Time Trials Council evening at the Royal Albert Hall
    Royal Albert Hall
    The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

     to honour Beryl Burton
    Beryl Burton
    Beryl Burton, MBE OBE was an English racing cyclist and one of Britain's greatest ever athletes.She dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records...

     and Brian Kirby. The pair had won the women's and men's British Best All-Rounder
    British Best All-Rounder
    The British Best All-Rounder competition, organised by Cycling Time Trials, is an annual British cycle-racing competition. It ranks riders by their average speeds in individual time trials, over 50 and and 12 hours for men, and over 25, 50 and for women. There are similar competitions for...

     competitions (BBAR) for, respectively, the highest average speed in a season over 25, 50 and 100 miles (women) and 50 and 100 miles (160.9 km) and 12 hours (men).

    Alan Gayfer, the editor of Cycling
    Cycling Weekly
    Cycling Weekly is a British cycling magazine. It is published by IPC Media and is devoted to the sport and past-time of cycling. It is affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".-History:...

    at the time of Anquetil's death, wrote in appreciation:
    It is strange to look back and see how this frail-looking young man burst on the scene in 1953. We had sent Ken Joy, the former BBAR, to challenge for the Grand Prix des Nations, then 140 kilometres long, and dragging through the hills of the Chevreuse valley. All over Paris they talked about this burly Englishman who had ridden 160km in 4 hours and 6 minutes: and when it came to it, he was hammered by a 19-year-old, but a teenager with a will of iron that was to prove inflexible for the next 19 years.


    Anquetil was fascinated by the British love of time-trialling and in 1964 discussed riding a British 25 mile (40 km) race. Gayfer and the British professional Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson
    Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...

     explained that the course would be on flat roads and asked Anquetil how long the distance would take him. Anquetil, who had the talent to predict his time-trial times accurately, said 46 minutes. That was eight minutes faster than the distance had ever been ridden, the record standing to Bas Breedon at 54:23. It took until 1993 for the record to fall below Anquetil's estimation.

    Anquetil asked £1,000 to compete and a London timber merchant called Vic Jenner said he would put up the money. Jenner was an enthusiast who had often put money into the sport. He died shortly afterwards, however, and the ride never happened.

    Anquetil took part, with Tom Simpson, in an afternoon of exhibition racing at the Herne Hill track in South London, on 13 June 1964 - three weeks before starting in the 1964 Tour de France.

    Anquetil rode on the Isle of Man
    Isle of Man
    The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

     in 1959, and in 1965, when he won the Manx Premier by beating Eddy Merckx
    Eddy Merckx
    Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...

     into second place.

    Retirement and death

    Anquetil rode his last race not in France, of which he still despaired for its preferring Poulidor, but on 27 December 1969 on the track at Antwerp, in Belgium. It happened, wrote L'Équipe "to the great indifference of the media."L'Équipe said that Anquetil's farewell race was in Charleroi. Other reports agree that it was Antwerp. He retired to become a farmer at Le Domaine des Elfes, La Neuville-Chant-d'Oisel
    La Neuville-Chant-d'Oisel
    -Places of interest:* A memorial to cyclist Jacques Anquetil, who lived here.* The church of Notre-Dame, dating from the thirteenth century.* A chapel dating from the sixteenth century at St.Augustin.* Two châteaux, at Neuville and at Chant-d'Oisel....

    , 17 km from Rouen. The château, formerly owned by Guy de Maupassant
    Guy de Maupassant
    Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....

    , was surrounded by 170 hectares.

    Anquetil was a correspondent for L'Équipe, consultant for Europe 1
    Europe 1
    Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio network created in 1955. It is one of the leading French radio broadcasters and heard throughout France...

     and then on Antenne 2, a race director for Paris–Nice and the Tour Méditerranéen
    Tour Méditerranéen
    Tour Méditerranéen is a professional road bicycle racing event held in southern France along the Mediterranean Sea. The Tour Méditerranéen is a five-day stage race that began in 1974 and since 2005 has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event...

     and in Canada, directeur sportif
    Directeur sportif
    A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...

     of French teams at world championships, and a member of the managing committee of the Fédération Française de Cyclisme
    Fédération Française de Cyclisme
    The French Cycling Federation or FFC is the national governing body of cycle racing in France.The FFC is a member of the UCI and the UEC...

    . His radio analyses were considered especially sharp and he gained a notoriety in Belgium for telling Luis Ocaña
    Luis Ocaña
    Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1973 and the Vuelta a España in 1970.- Early professional career :...

    , the Spanish rider living in France, how to beat the Belgian star Eddy Merckx
    Eddy Merckx
    Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...

     during the Tour de France.

    He rode his bike only three times in retirement, saying he had already ridden plenty enough ("trop dégoûté sur cet engin"). He rode the Grand Prix des Gentlemen in Nice
    Nice
    Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

    , a race in which old riders were paired with current competitors; he went out for an afternoon with friends in Normandy; and he joined his daughter for a bike ride on her birthday. Other than that, he didn't ride his bike from 1969 to 1987.

    In 1987, after stomach cancer
    Stomach cancer
    Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...

    , Jacques Anquetil died in his sleep at 6am on 18 November at the St-Hilaire Clinic in Rouen
    Rouen
    Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

    . He had been there since 10 October. A statement from the clinic said: "His state of health had visibly deteriorated over the last hours and he died in his sleep after showing great courage throughout his illness." Anquetil is buried beside the church in the village of Quincampoix, north of Rouen, where a large black monument by the traffic lights lists all his achievements. There is a further monument at the Piste Municipale track in Paris, where the centre is named after him.

    The Jacques Anquetil sports stadium at Quincampoix was dedicated in 1983. There are moves to open a museum in his memory.

    The historian Richard Yates wrote:
    He finally came to be respected as one of the most intelligent cyclists ever, but when he died in 1987 he was still to a large extent one of cycling's greatest enigmas. Raphaël Géminiani knew him better than anyone and he was such a perceptive man that his comments are particularly interesting. He said that Jacques was one of the most gifted riders of all time but this was hardly reflected by his record. He had won eight major Tours without once crossing the top of a mountain in the lead. His lack of offensive spirit made Géminiani mad with rage on countless occasions but he was always so incredibly stylish, absolute perfection.


    His inherent shyness can never fully explain his apparent cold indifference. His roots in the Normandy countryside may explain his love of the land but could not excuse his inability to even make a generous gesture. The hard life that his father had experienced could never pardon the economy of effort with which Jacques was obsessed. In the second half of his career he never made an effort which did not pay off 100 per cent. He reduced a race to a few simple calculations, a few danger men and a few places where it was necessary to make an effort. He spent most of the time at the back of the bunch and did not even know the name of most of the riders.


    The Tour visited Rouen on the 10th anniversary of Anquetil's death. There to remember his first victory in the race were his team-mates, Gilbert Bauvin, Louis Bergard, Albert Bouvet
    Albert Bouvet
    Albert Bouvet at Mellé, Ille-et-Vilaine near Fougères in Brittany is a former French professional bicycle racer on road and track. He won Paris–Tours in 1956 and remained the last Frenchman to win until Jacky Durand won in 1998...

    , André Darrigade
    André Darrigade
    André Darrigade was a French professional road bicycle racer between 1951 and 1966. Darrigade, a road sprinter won the 1959 World Championship and 22 stages of the Tour de France. Five of those were on the first day. The record has never been equalled.-Origins:André Darrigade was born at Narosse,...

    , Jean Forestier, André Mahé
    André Mahé
    André Mahé was a French road bicycle racer. He was born in Paris, France. He was a professional rider from 1945 until 1954. He jointly won the 1949 classic cycle race Paris–Roubaix with Serse Coppi in controversial fashion...

    , René Privat and Jean Stablinski
    Jean Stablinski
    Jean Stablewski, known as Jean Stablinski was a French professional cyclist from a family of Polish immigrants. He rode from 1952 to 1968, winning 105 races as a professional...

    . There, too, was the team car from Anquetil's first Tour, driven by the man behind the wheel that year, William Odin.

    Quotes

    • When I was small, he was for me the champion cyclist. But above all he was a gentleman for his personal qualities as much as his sporting achievements. I have always been irritated by the game of comparing champions from different times but to be compared to him was an honour.Bernard Hinault
      Bernard Hinault
      Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985...


    • Jacques simply tries harder than anyone I have met. In a time trial you can hear him catching you, you don't have to look round, there is this hoarse sound of breath being drawn in gulps, and then he's past you. Then it's like being in a thunderstorm, with the sweat simply pouring off him as he goes by.Tom Simpson
      Tom Simpson
      Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...


    • On a bicycle Anquetil was the finest athlete. He also had an extraordinary strength of character as the end of his life confirmed. He was even more dignified in front of life's difficulties.Jacques Goddet
      Jacques Goddet
      Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986....

      , director of the Tour de France

    • Like all French people, I admired the sports abilities of Jacques Anquetil. I admired his spirit, his friendship and his warmth.François Mitterrand
      François Mitterrand
      François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...

      , President of France

    • Jacques was 'bizarrely calm'. Quite often, I had to say to him, 'If you don't get going, you'll lose the Tour. André Darrigade
      André Darrigade
      André Darrigade was a French professional road bicycle racer between 1951 and 1966. Darrigade, a road sprinter won the 1959 World Championship and 22 stages of the Tour de France. Five of those were on the first day. The record has never been equalled.-Origins:André Darrigade was born at Narosse,...

       team-mate.

    Major achievements

    Tour de France
    1957
    1957 Tour de France
    The 1957 Tour de France was the 44th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 20, 1957. It was composed of 22 stages over 4665 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.250 km/h....

     - 1st overall; 4 stage wins; 16 days in maillot jaune
    1959
    1959 Tour de France
    The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 18 July 1959. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over 4,391 km, and the winner had an average speed of 35.474 km/h....

     - 3rd overall
    1961
    1961 Tour de France
    The 1961 Tour de France was the 48th running of the Tour de France. It meandered through France from 25 June to 16 July 1961. It consisted of 21 stages, a total of , which was ridden at an average speed of . Out of the 132 riders who started the tour, 72 managed to complete the tour's tough course...

     - 1st overall; 2 stage wins; 21 days in maillot jaune
    1962
    1962 Tour de France
    The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 15, 1962. It was composed of 22 stages over 4274 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.306 km/h. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams...

     - 1st overall; 2 stage wins; 3 days in maillot jaune
    1963
    1963 Tour de France
    The 1963 Tour de France was the 50th Tour de France, taking place June 23 to July 14, 1963. The total race distance was 21 stages over 4137 km, with riders averaging 37.092 km/h...

     - 1st overall; 4 stage wins; 5 days in maillot jaune
    1964
    1964 Tour de France
    The 1964 Tour de France was the 51st Tour de France, taking place June 22 to July 14, 1964. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4504 km, with riders averaging 35.419 km/h. Stages 3, 10 and 22 were all two part stages with one the first half being a regular stage and the second half...

     - 1st overall; 4 stage wins; 5 days in maillot jaune


    Giro d'Italia
    1959
    1959 Giro d'Italia
    The 1959 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 16 May to 7 June 1959, consisting of 22 stages. This 42nd edition was won by Charly Gaul.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...

     - 2nd overall; Stage 2 ITT win; Stage 19 ITT win; 7 days in maglia rosa
    Maglia rosa
    The pink jersey is awarded to the leader of the General Classification at the Giro d'Italia. The leader of the GC is the rider who has the fastest time when all the stage results are added together, taking into account time bonuses for high finishes and intermediate sprints...

    1960
    1960 Giro d'Italia
    The 1960 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 19 May to 9 June 1960, consisting of 21 stages. This 43rd edition was won by the French Jacques Anquetil.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...

     - 1st overall; Stage 9b ITT win; Stage 14 ITT win; 11 days in maglia rosa
    1961
    1961 Giro d'Italia
    The 1961 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 20 May to 11 June 1961, consisting of 21 stages. This 44th edition was won by Arnaldo Pambianco.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...

     - 2nd overall; Stage 9 ITT win; 4 days in maglia rosa
    1964
    1964 Giro d'Italia
    The 1964 Giro d'Italia of cycling, 47th edition of the Corsa Rosa, was held from 16 May to 7 June 1964. It consisted of 22 stages and was won by Jacques Anquetil.- Final placings:- Maglia rosa holders:...

     - 1st overall; Stage 5 ITT win; 17 days in maglia rosa
    1966
    1966 Giro d'Italia
    The 1966 Giro d'Italia of cycling, 49th edition of the Corsa Rosa, was held from 18 May to 8 June 1966. It consisted of 22 stages and was won by Gianni Motta.The points classification was introduced in this edition.- Final classment:...

     - 3rd overall
    1967
    1967 Giro d'Italia
    The 1967 Giro d'Italia of cycling, 50th edition of the Corsa Rosa, was held from 20 May to 11 June 1967. It consisted of 22 stages and was won by Felice Gimondi.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:- Other jerseys:...

     - 3rd overall


    Vuelta a España
    1963
    1963 Vuelta a España
    The 18th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from May 1 to May 15, 1963. It consisted of 15 stages covering a total of , and was won by Jacques Anquetil of the St. Raphael-Gitane cycling team...

     - 1st overall; 1 stage win; 16 days in jersey de oro


    Other one-day classics and stage races
    Super Prestige Pernod International
    Super Prestige Pernod International
    The Super Prestige Pernod International was a season-long competition in road bicycle racing between 1958 and 1988.Disagreements between the organisers of the similar Challenge Desgrange-Colombo led to its demise and a gap in season-long competitions. In 1958, the publicity division of Pernod...

     (1961, 1963, 1965, 1966)
    Grand Prix des Nations
    Grand Prix des Nations
    The Grand Prix des Nations was an individual time trial for professional racing cyclists. Held annually in France, it was instituted in 1932 and often regarded as the unofficial time trial championship of the world and as a Classic cycle race. The race was the idea of a Parisian newspaper editor...

     (1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1965, 1966)
    Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1966)
    Gent–Wevelgem (1964)
    Bordeaux–Paris (1965)
    Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1963 - 1st overall; 1 stage win; 1965 - 1st overall, 3 stage wins)
    Paris–Nice
    1957 - 1st overall; 1 stage win - Time Trial Stage
    1961 - 1st overall; 1 stage win
    1963 - 1st overall; 1 stage win
    1965 - 1st overall; 1 stage win
    1966 - 1st overall; 1 stage win
    Vuelta al País Vasco (1969)
    Four Days of Dunkirk
    Four Days of Dunkirk
    The Four Days of Dunkirk is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Confusingly, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has usually been held over a 5 or 6 day period. Since 2005, the race is organised as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe...

     (1958, 1959)
    Trofeo Baracchi
    Trofeo Baracchi
    The Trofeo Baracchi was a major Italian cycling race that ran for 50 years. It was created by Mino Baracchi, in memory of his father Angelo who was a great cycle racing fan. Originally an amateur individual time trial, from 1944 it was open to professionals and became a major event on the...

     (1962 with Rudi Altig
    Rudi Altig
    Rudi Altig is a former professional track and road racing cyclist who won the 1962 Vuelta a España and the world championship in 1966. He is now a television commentator.-Amateur career:...

    , 1965 with Jean Stablinski
    Jean Stablinski
    Jean Stablewski, known as Jean Stablinski was a French professional cyclist from a family of Polish immigrants. He rode from 1952 to 1968, winning 105 races as a professional...

    , 1968 with Felice Gimondi
    Felice Gimondi
    Felice Gimondi is an Italian former professional racing cyclist.With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the second cyclist to win all three Grand Tours of road cycling: Tour de France , Giro...

    )


    Hour record
    Hour record
    The hour record for bicycles is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle. There are several records. The most famous is for upright bicycles meeting the requirements of the Union Cycliste Internationale . It is one of the most prestigious in cycling...

     in 1956 - 46.159 km

    Grand Tour results timeline

    1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
    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 2 1 2 DNE DNE 1 DNE 3 3
    Stages won 2 1 1 1 0 0
    Mountains classification NR NR NR NR NR NR
    Points classification N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A NR NR
    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...

    1
    1957 Tour de France
    The 1957 Tour de France was the 44th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 20, 1957. It was composed of 22 stages over 4665 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.250 km/h....

    DNF-21
    1958 Tour de France
    The 1958 Tour de France was the 45th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 19, 1958. The total race distance was 24 stages over 4,319 km, at an average speed of 36.919 km/h....

    2
    1959 Tour de France
    The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 18 July 1959. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over 4,391 km, and the winner had an average speed of 35.474 km/h....

    DNE 1
    1961 Tour de France
    The 1961 Tour de France was the 48th running of the Tour de France. It meandered through France from 25 June to 16 July 1961. It consisted of 21 stages, a total of , which was ridden at an average speed of . Out of the 132 riders who started the tour, 72 managed to complete the tour's tough course...

    1
    1962 Tour de France
    The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 15, 1962. It was composed of 22 stages over 4274 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.306 km/h. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams...

    1
    1963 Tour de France
    The 1963 Tour de France was the 50th Tour de France, taking place June 23 to July 14, 1963. The total race distance was 21 stages over 4137 km, with riders averaging 37.092 km/h...

    1
    1964 Tour de France
    The 1964 Tour de France was the 51st Tour de France, taking place June 22 to July 14, 1964. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4504 km, with riders averaging 35.419 km/h. Stages 3, 10 and 22 were all two part stages with one the first half being a regular stage and the second half...

    DNE DNF-17
    1966 Tour de France
    The 1966 Tour de France was the 53rd Tour de France, taking place June 21 to July 14, 1966. It consisted of 22 stages over 4303 km, ridden at an average speed of 36.760 km/h....

    DNE
    Stages won 4 0 2 2 4 4 0
    Mountains classification 5 NR 7 9 5 6 NR
    Points classification 4 3 4 6 2 6 NR
    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...

    DNE DNE DNE DNE DNE DNF 1 DNE DNE DNE DNE
    Stages won 0 1
    Mountains classification NR NR
    Points classification NR NR


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