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.
Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Firmin Lambot
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 … Read more
Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Antonin Magne
Antonin Magne, the two-time winner of the Tour de France was born on the 15th of February 1904 in Ytrac, France. He attended the Tour de France first in 1927. In 1931 André Leducq, the defending champion was the team leader of the French squad, but he was out of shape, so Magne became the … Read more
Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Philippe Thys
The first 3-time winner of the Tour de France, Philippe Thys was born in Anderlecht on the 8th of October 1889. He won the first Belgian cyclo-cross championship (1910) and some road stage races before he turned professional. Also, he was the best independent rider at the Tour de France in 1911. Philippe Thys won … Read more
Cycling Who’s Who: Serse Coppi
Serse Coppi, the younger brother of the big Fausto was born on the 19th of March in 1923 in Castellania, Italy.
Mini-Cycling Who’s Who: Sylvère Maes
Two-time Tour de France winner Sylvère Maes was born on the 27th August 1909 in Zevekote, Belgium.
Cycling Who’s Who: Ali Neffati
Ali Neffati, the first African participant of the Tour de France, was born on 22th January 1895 in Tunis. Neffati started his career with being a track cyclist in Tunisia. His talent was discovered by Henri Desgrange, thus he got an invitation to the Tour de France in 1913. He also rode the next year’s … Read more
Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Pino Cerami
Born in Misterbianco, Sicily (Italy) on 28th April 1922, Giuseppe Pino Cerami grew up in Belgium. His family left Italy when he was 5. They wanted to go to the USA, but settled down in Belgium, near to Charleroi. Cerami was officially naturalised as a Belgian in 1956. His career started in 1947 and ended … Read more
Cycling Who’s Who: Jacques Marinelli
Jacques Marinelli was born on the 15th December of 1925 in Blanc-Mesnil, France. He was a professional rider between 1948 and 1955. He rode the Tour de France six times between 1948 and 1954, his most successful year was 1949 when he was wearing the yellow jersey for six days. That Tour de France was … Read more
Mini Cycling Who’s Who: Gösta Petterson
Gösta Petterson was born on the 23th November 1940 in Alingsås Municipality, Sweden. He is best known for his Giro d’Italia overall victory in 1971.
Cycling Who’s Who: Miguel Poblet
Poblet was born in Montcada i Reixac, in the northern suburbs of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain on 18 March 1928. He was encouraged by his father (a bicycle shop owner) to take up racing seriously and turned professional in 1944 at the age of 16. The late forties, early fifties were a difficult time to race … Read more