Faces from the peloton: Victor Fontan (1892-1982)

A cyclist running while carrying his bike on his shoulder. Surely, you've seen this vintage cycling image several times. Now it's time to learn a bit more about the protagonist of the picture. Victor Fontan (1892-1982) in the Faces from the peloton series of PelotonTales blog.

A local rider

World War I, like World War II later, interrupted the careers of many cyclists, including Victor Fontan. Born in 1892, Fontan had just turned pro in 1913, only to have his momentum halted when war broke out a year later. He served in the military, sustaining two gunshot wounds to the leg.

After the war, Fontan resumed racing, but he mostly competed in local events near his hometown of Pau in the Pyrenees. This limited his visibility to sponsors, making it challenging for him to secure support. Unsurprisingly, he entered the 1924 Tour de France as an individual rider—a disadvantage both because of his age and because he lacked the resources of a team. It was his first attempt at the Tour, but he was unable to finish

Fontan achieved far greater success in the 1928 Tour de France. Racing as part of a small team sponsored by the local bike company Elvish, he finished seventh in the general classification and won the grueling 387 km long 9th stage through the Pyrenees, which included the legendary climbs of the Aubisque and Tourmalet. This year, teams were essential because the opening stages were organized as team time trials, where collective strength was crucial.

This was the era, when Alcyon dominated the Tour de France. Defending champion Nicolas Frantz led the general classification since the first stage, and was able to keep his position until the end of the race, despite some unlucky moments.

On the 9th stage, Fontan, who was almost two hours behind the yellow jersey man in the GC, was allowed to escape, and finished the stage 7 minutes ahead of Nicolas Frantz, who arrived second.

Knocking on strangers' doors

In 1929, Fontan rode as individual rider again. In the 7th stage he gained the yellow jersey. But not alone. This stage was that extraordinary unique situation, when three riders (Victor Fontan, André Leducq and Nicolas Frantz) had the exact same time in the general classification, therefore all of them were awarded with the yellow jersey. The wonder of the three yellow jersey men in the peloton lasted only one day. On the next day Gaston Rebry came and took the sole overall lead.

Nevertheless, the 10th stage found Fontain in the yellow again. But he broke the fork of his bicycle only after a few km. He had to find a replacement bike. In a village, he went from door to door asking the locals for a bike. He finally got one, so he continued his ride, while carrying his original bike on his back

It was still early morning when he gave up the race, sat at the fountain in a village and sobbed.

He participated the Tour de France one more time in 1930, the first year, when national (and some local) teams competed the race. But he did not finish it.