Bobet at the 1951 Tour de France
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Louis Bobet | ||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Louison, Zonzon | ||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Saint-Méen-le-Grand, Ille-et-Vilaine, France |
12 March 1925||||||||||||||||||
Died | 13 March 1983 | (aged 58)||||||||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||||||
Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||
Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Louis "Louison" Bobet (pronounced: [lwi.zɔ̃ bɔ.be]; 12 March 1925 - 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955. His career included the national road championship (1950 and 1951), Milan–San Remo (1951), Giro di Lombardia (1951), Critérium International (1951 & 52), Paris–Nice (1952), Grand Prix des Nations (1952), world road championship (1954), Tour of Flanders (1955), Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1955), Tour de Luxembourg (1955), Paris–Roubaix (1956) and Bordeaux–Paris (1959).
Louis Bobet was born one of three children above his father's baker's shop in the rue de Montfort, Saint-Méen-le-Grand, near Rennes. His father gave him a bicycle when he was two and after six months he could ride it 6 km. Bobet's father was also called Louis and the son was called Louison - little Louis - to avoid confusion The ending -on is a diminutive in French but outside Brittany Louison refers more usually to a girl. He was known as Louis in his early years as a rider, even as a professional, until the diminutive Louison gained in popularity.