Marianne Martin is an American road racing cyclist. She won the first Tour de France for women in 1984 (now called the Grande Boucle

Grande Boucle

The Grande Boucle, formerly known as the Tour Cycliste Féminin, or simply Tour Féminin, is one of the Grand Tours of women's cycle races. Grande Boucle means "great loop" and describes the individual stages which form a circuit around France....

), covering the 616-mile course in 29 hours, 39 minutes, and 2 seconds. The race was held in July and had 18 stages. The women's tour ran the same time as the men's during the last two weeks of the men's edition.

Martin suffered from Anemia

Anemia

Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...

 earlier in the year and had been riding poorly, but she took the lead in the 14th stage when they encountered the climbs. Martin was a good climber and never gave up the lead after that into 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...

. The streets were said to contain more two million spectators watching the race.

Martin, along with runners up Mieke Havik (Dutch) and Deborah Shumway (American), stood on the podium that had been erected on the Champs Elysees for Laurent Fignon

Laurent Fignon

Laurent Patrick Fignon was a French professional road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de France in 1983 and in 1984. He missed winning it a third time, in 1989, by 8 seconds, the closest margin ever to decide the tour. He also won the Giro d'Italia in 1989, after having been the runner-up in 1984,...

, 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 Greg LeMond

Greg LeMond

Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....

.