Eugène Christophe
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Eugène Christophe |
| Nickname | 'Cri-cri' and 'Le vieux Gaulois' |
| Born |
22 January 1885 Malakoff, Paris, France |
| Died | 1 February 1970 (aged 85) Paris, France |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road and cyclo-cross |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1904-1905 | no information |
| 1906 | Labor |
| 1907-1911 | Alcyon |
| 1912 | 3 teams |
| 1913-1914 | Peugeot-Wolber |
| 1914-1918 | No information |
| 1919-1921 | La Sportive |
| 1922 | Automoto-Wolber-Russell |
| 1923-1924 | Christophe-Hutchinson |
| 1925 | JB Louvet |
| 1926 | Christophe-Hutchinson / Peugeot-Dunlop |
| Major wins | |
| Milan–San Remo (1910) 3 stages, Tour de France (1912) Paris–Tours (1920) Bordeaux–Paris (1920, 1921) |
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Eugène Christophe (born Malakoff, Paris, France, 22 January 1885, died in Paris, 1 February 1970) was a French road bicycle racer and pioneer of cyclo-cross. He was a professional from 1904 until 1926. In 1919 he became the first rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France .
Eugène Christophe rode 11 Tours de France and finished eight. He never won but he became famous for having to weld together his bicycle while leading. It was one of a series of events that coloured his racing career.
Eugène Christophe rode his first race when he was 18 and his last when he was 41 in 1926. He worked as a locksmith until racing took over his life.
The 1906 Tour de France was Christophe's first. He finished in ninth place behind Rene Pottier.
In the 1912 Tour de France Christophe was denied victory by the system of awarding victory to the winner on points. Throughout the race he was the strongest rider, but the Belgians rode together to win sprints to amass points. Only when Christophe could drop the peloton did he finish ahead of eventual winner Odile Defraye.
Christophe won three consecutive stages using this method (including the Tour's longest successful solo break of 315 km to Grenoble). Had the race been decided on time, the result would have been closer - Christophe would have led until the final stage, when he sat up in disgust allowing a group to ride away. As a result, the 1913 race reverted to a time-based classification.
In 1913 Christophe was well placed to win when a mechanical failure cost him the race. He rode the first part, from Paris to Cherbourg and then down the coast to the Pyrenees cautiously. He was in second place when the race stopped in Bayonne on the night before the first day in the mountains, when the course featured a succession of cols: the Oschquis, Aubisque, Soulor, Gourette, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde. The field set off at 3am with Christophe 4m 5s behind Odile Defraye, of Belgium.
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