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Henri Desgrange

Tour de France 1929

Three riders in yellow jersey in the peloton at once

I really wish there was somewhere a coloured picture of three cyclists wearing yellow jersey at the same time. A unique situation that would deserve a visual representation. But unfortunatelly, there are only few pictures about Tour de France 1929 out there. Nevertheless, this particular edition of Tour de France was notable also for another reason. The 23rd Tour de France was held between 30 June and 28 July 1929. It’s probably most memorable from the famous quote of Henri Desgrange: “My race has been won by a corpse.” – because Maurice De Waele,  despite being very ill on the last few stages, won the race thanks to the effective teamwork. Working through the hard… Read More »Three riders in yellow jersey in the peloton at once

Roger Lapêbie, winner of the Tour de France 1937

25 July 1937 Roger Lapébie wins the Tour de France

The 31st Tour de France (held between 30th June and 25th July 1937) was the first race for the new director Jacques Goddet.  Since the beginning in 1903, Henri Desgrange, the “founding father of Tour de France” was the race director, now he has retired. He still visited the race frequently untill his death in 1940. The Tour de France in 1937 has not the best reputation. Actually,  it was marred by scandals.  The rules were changed, while the race was underway and they favoured the French team. No wonder, that the Belgian team, including the defending champion and the current man in the yellow, Sylvére Maes left the race. The 31th Tour de France… Read More »25 July 1937 Roger Lapébie wins the Tour de France

Portraits of the cyclists Oscar Egg and Marcel Berthet

Duel between Marcel Berthet and Oscar Egg for the hour record

The hour record, riding the longest distance as possible during exactly 60 minutes was a populare challenge since the birt of the bicycle. Actually there were several “first” records during the 19th century: James Moore, a British cyclist set the record of 23,3 km in 1873, but most likely it wasn’t an accurataly measured distance, only approximated. The American Frank Dodds managed to ride 16,508 km on a penny farthing bicycle in 1876. This was the universally accepted record till Henri Desgrange came and set the first official record in 1893. His result was 35,325 km. A great rivalry evolved between the French Marcel Berthet (1887-1953) and the Swiss cyclist Oscar Egg (1890-1961) during the… Read More »Duel between Marcel Berthet and Oscar Egg for the hour record

How good was Henri Desgrange as a rider himself?

Henri Desgrange, the cyclist

The founding father of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange (1865-1940)  was a cyclist in his younger days. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 km (1893) Apparently, Desgrange saw a bicycle race for a very first time while visiting the finish of Bordeaux-Paris in 1891. First he raced on the track, but it turned out very soon, the endurace races suited him more. His performance on 11 May 1893 was the first “recognised hour record in the history of cycling races. He also established records at 50 and 100 km and 100 miles. He won even the tricycle championship in that successful year of 1893. [su_box title=”Read more… Read More »Henri Desgrange, the cyclist