Roger Lapebie was born on the 16th of January 1911 in Bayonne (France).
He made his Tour de France debut with a stage win (Stage 12) in 1932. He was part of the French national team again in the two subsequent years. In 1934 he won five stages and finished third in the general classification.
Roger Lapebie was infamous for his conflict with Henri Desgrange, the founding father of the Tour de France. Due to this feud, the cyclist, despite his promising performance, wasn’t selected into the national team, and he rode as an independent rider. He skipped the race next year.
No wonder, that his biggest success, the winning of the Tour de France happened in 1937, the first year after Desgrange’s retirement from the race director position. Nevertheless, this edition happened to be one of the most scandalous editions in the history of the famous race. (Read more here>>>)
Roger Lapébie died on the 12th of October in 1996.
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