The first Belgian Tour de France winner, who meant to be the first Belgian Tour de France winner. Odiel Defraeye was born on 14th July 1888, his professional career started in 1909. He was the protégé of the Belgian star cyclist Cyrille van Hauwaert, who was hoping Defraeye would be the first Belgian Tour de … Read more
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
René Pottier was probably the finest climber of the early years of Tour de France. He was born in 1879 in Moret-sur-Loing, Seine-et-Marne. In 1903 he won Bordeaux-Paris and had also several other podium results (f. e. at Paris-Roubaix). Pottier attended the Tour de France only 2 times, in 1905 and 1906. The first time … Read more