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Lucien Petit-Breton

Francoise Faber, Octave Lapize, Lucien Petit-Breton, Tour de France winners, who lost their life in the First World War

Tour de France winners died in the First World War

As in almost every part of European life, also in the world of cycling races World War I was a significant watershed. Not only the naivity of some athletes ((who thought previously, that fighting on the battlefield would be the same like competing at the Olympics  – read more about it in Graham Healy:The Shattered Peloton: The Devastating Impact of World War I on the Tour de France)) has disappeared immediately, when they found themselves in the trenches, but among the millions of young men lost their life during the conflict, there were also several cyclists, even some famous ones. There were three former Tour de France winners, who have lost their lives in the… Read More »Tour de France winners died in the First World War

Lucien Petit-Breton famous cyclist from the heyday of Tour de Frwnce

9 August 1908 Lucien Petit-Breton wins his second Tour de France

Lucien Petit-Breton was the winner of Tour de France 1907. Therefore his victory in 1908 ment that he was the first rider to win the Tour de Framce twice. Important note: Although Maurice Garin, the winner of the first Tour de France won also the edition of 1904, he later was disqualified.

montage picture of the five cyclist who won the first editions of the five monuments

The first monument winners

Of course, they weren’t called “monuments” those days, but here are some interesting stuff about the winners of the first editions of the five most important one-day races. Léon Houa, Liége -Bastogne-Liége (1892) Belgian cyclist Léon Houa (1867-1918) actually won the first three editions of La Doyenne. The first two of them were amateur events. Considering the first Bordeaux-Paris (1891) as important milestone in the history of road cycling races, it’s  quite remarkable, how early the organizers of Liége-Bastogne-Liége (Spa-Bastogne-Spa, according to their original plans) had the idea to create a road cycling race. It’s also remarkable, that Liége-Bastogne-Liége is still on. (Several popular races from the end of the 19th century did not survive… Read More »The first monument winners

The first Milano-Sanremo (1907)

Like in the case of many of the great, historical cycling races, creating Milano-Sanremo was closely linked to a newspaper, namely, the La Gazzetta dello Sport. First of all, the finish town, Sanremo was certain. The wealthy members of the local sport club wanted to have a race and contacted Eugenio Costamagna, the owner of the La Gazzetta dello Sport, who already created the successful Giro di Lombardia in 1905. But Costamagna was concerned about the possible success of a bike race around the town, because he already tried to organize a race for cars to Sanremo, and it was a disaster. The most problematic part of the plan was the Turchino Pass. The owner… Read More »The first Milano-Sanremo (1907)

Firmin Lambot, the winner of the Tour de France 1919

The slowest Tour de France ever

The slowest Tour de France in history was the 13th edition between 29th June and 27 July in 1919. The race included 5560 km, divided into 15 stages. This was the second longest Tour de France in history. Due to the recent war times (World War I between 1914 and 1918) most of the riders had not enough possibilities to train. This is one of the reason why mostly the older riders with more racing routine dominated the competition. On the other hand, the international elite peloton suffered some important losses: three of the former Tour de France winners, Lucien Petit-Breton (winner of 1907 and 1908), Francois Faber (1909) and Octave Lapize (1910) died during… Read More »The slowest Tour de France ever