The oldest Tour de France winner ever, Firmin Lambot was born in Florennes (Belgium) in 1886. Like many of his contemporaries, Lambot used his bicycle to ride to work since his age of 17. When he won his first bike race, he bought a racing bicycle from the prize.He turned professional in 1908 and attended the Tour de France several times already before World War I broke out. He also won a few stages of the race.
The first Tour de France after the war was held in 1919, Eugene Christophe was the dominant rider, but he had bad luck (the fork of his bicycle has broken on the 13th stage, he lost more than two hours with repairing it) Lambot was second in the General Classification since the 7th stage, he became the overall winner of the race.
As he signed to the Peugeot team after his first Tour de France victory, allegedly, he was allowed to ride only the Tour de France (however he gained a 5th place at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 1920 and attended the Tour de Belgium every year). He finished the Tour de France 3rd in 1920 and 9th in 1921. The 5th stage in 1920 was a very special one, it was the longest Tour de France stage ever. The route between Le Sables d’Olonne and Bayonne was 482 long. Lambot crossed the finish line first on that day.
He had a little bit of luck (although saying that his victories were undeserved is nonsense) also in 1922. Hector Heughem, the actual leader of the General Classification was given an hour penality for swapping his bike after its frame was broken. Lambot became the first Tour de France winner without winning a stage. And with the age of 36 years, he is the oldest Tour de France winner ever.
At the time of his retirement (1926) Firmin Lambot was one of the best paid professional riders.
He passed away on the 19th of January 1964.