Henri Cornet
 |
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Henri Cornet |
| Nickname | Le rigolo |
| Born |
4 August 1884 Desvres, France |
| Died | 18 March 1941 (aged 56) Prunay-le-Gillon, France |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1904–1905 | Cycles JC |
| 1906 | Unknown |
| 1907 | Griffon |
| 1908 | Peugeot - Wolber |
| 1909 | Nil - Supra |
| 1910–1912 | Le Globe - Dunlop |
| Major wins | |
|
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Henri Cornet (born Henri David, Desvres, France, 4 August 1884, died Prunay-le-Gillon, 18 March 1941) was a French cyclist who won the 1904 Tour de France. He is its youngest winner, just short of his 20th birthday.
Cornet was born in the Pas-de-Calais region of north-west France and been registered at birth under his mother's name. Then, he is recognized by his stepfather which given his name Jardry. It's not really known why he changed his name from Henri Jardry to Henri Cornet. He was a talented amateur - he won Paris-Honfleur in 1903 - but little known beyond northern France and in Belgium when he entered the second Tour de France in 1904. It was his first year as a professional. The organiser, Henri Desgrange, promoted his unknown competitors to readers of L'Auto, the newspaper he edited, by giving them nicknames. He called Cornet Le Rigolo, or "the joker", for his sense of fun. He is described as cheerful, with wide-spaced eyes, a nose described as trumpet-like, and a generous mouth that spread easily into a smile.
The Tour de France had proved a success when the first race was run in 1903 and both the competition between riders and the passion of the fans who supported them rose to sometimes dangerous proportions. Riders took trains and lifts in cars or had themselves towed by drivers; a rider called Pierre Chevalier was repeatedly left exhausted in the darkness of night only to reappear in the race; the 1903 winner, Maurice Garin received food from the race director, Géo Lefèvre when others were denied. Fans beat up riders on the col de la République outside St-Étienne and dispersed only when Garin fired his gun.
Other spectators threw nails on the road on the last day and Cornet rode the last 40 km on flat tires. After many complaints about widespread cheating, the top four finishers were disqualified by the French cycling union. It declared Cornet the winner although he had taken three hours more than Garin, the winner and receiving an official warning that suggests his own conduct was less than pristine. Desgrange said he would never run the race again.
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Wikipedia