Bobet's Bobet Bicycle - 1955 Tour de France

The cover of "Vous Fait Revivre: Le Tour (1955) has a nice image of Bobet and Gaul. It is probably "colorized", but they were pretty good at getting the correct colors in the right places (fans were probably just as picky then as they are today). Bobet's bike is yellow with blue seattube panel, and World Champion stripes in several places.

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Another image (b&w) shows a three-quarter shot from the drive side. Note his mechanic is still mounting the rear qr lever on the drive side. Not a perfect print, but I'll leave it large for details - you can even make-out the lacing pattern on his shoe!. Note the head lugs and fork crown details. Someone will have to remind me who built Bobet's personal bikes.

Click pics for larger images.
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Winter Training with the Pélissier Brothers, 1931

Charles, Henri, and Francis Pélissier out for a bit of winter-weather training, March of 1931. Plus-fours for Charles and Francis on the bicycles, breeches for Henri on the moto. Note the single brake and lack of forward fender section on Francis' bike, splash guards to protect Henri's legs.

Charles "l'Elegant" (b.1903) raced from 1922 until 1939, and won a mixed-bag of races, from the French Cyclocross Natioinals to the Critérium des As.

Henri (b.1889) raced from 1910 through 1928, and was a multiple stage winner and one of the starts of the Tour de France in the 1920s.

Francis (b.1894) raced from 1919 to 1932, winning a number of French National titles on road and cyclocross.

From "Match l'Intran" No.235, 10 March 1931.

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1922 Concours de Cyclo-Tourisme du Circuit d'Auvergne

Images from an article about the 1922 Concours de Cyclo-Tourisme du Circuit d'Auvergne.

image 1 - Matheven on the Pas de Peyrol.

image 2 - On the final climb of the col d'Eylac.

image 3 - Lacolle on the climb of the Peyrol.

image 4 - Hubert and Grange go quietly on their way.

image 5 - The start: on the right, Miss Garnier; on the left, Desvages.

image 6 - Machine mounted with derailleur.

image 7 - Front suspension system.

image 8 - Machine of the "Moyeu" type.

Victor Linart, Stayer, 1928

Victor Linart at speed behind a moto, 1928. Between 1913 and 1931 Linart won 15 consecutive Belgian National Professional Stayer Championships (interrupted by WWI from 1915 to 1918), along with four World Championships (1921, 1924, 1926, 1927).

Born 26th May, 1889 in Floreffe, Belgium, Linart became a French citizen in 1937, and died 23rd October, 1977 in Verneuil-sur-Avré, France.

Good view of the roller and its construction, and the complex fork assembly on the moto. Odd placement of the fuel tank places it in an interesting position. Must have left a few folks giggling.

From Match l'Intran No.102, 21 August 1928

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Comparison of Zamboni's bikes

Where's Ivo?

An aerial view of the 1935 World Cycling Road Championships, from Floreffe to Namur, Belgium. A few spectators are distracted by the low-flying airplane of l'Intran. Italian amateur Ivo Mancini and Belgian professional Jean Aerts won their respective races. Mancini would turn pro in 1936, racing as an independent for most of his career through 1947. From "Match l'Intan" No.475, 20 August 1935.

Click big for much larger image.

Critérium des Aiglons 1932

Stage 1, Critérium des Aiglons 1932. Negotiation a closed level crossing required a bit of acrobatics. Note the variation in styles of race numbers on the bikes. Looks like a mixture of crudely hand-painted, stenciled, and neatly applied. Some are dark numbers on light background, and some are the reverse. From "Match l'Intran" No.310, 16 August 1932.

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Sunday Racers, 1931

An assortment of French cycling clubs.

Henri Esders was the wealthy owner of a chain of Paris clothing stores. Besides sponsoring a cycling club, he provided cash prizes for the Critérium des Porteurs.

From "Match l'Intran" No.257, 11 August 1931.

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Benoît Fauré on the Tourmalet

Stage 9, 1930 Tour de France, from Pau to Luchon. Benoît Fauré en danseuse on the rugged road to the top of the Tourmalet. The petite climber Fauré, one of the "touristes routiers" in that year's Tour, was first to the top of the Aubisque and Tourmalet climbs, and finished the stage in Luchon in 5th place (1st tour.-rout.), 8'12" behind stage winner Alfredo Binda.

Note the single bottle and cage, unusual for the time, and angled with the top to the rear (I couldn't find a single picture showing another rider using a single cage on that stage).

From "Le Miroir des Sports" No.548, 12 July 1930.

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Two More Views of Bulla's 1931 Bike

Here's a blow-up of the rear brake area shown in the first picture, and a picture of the front of the same bike for comparison. The front view helps show the line of the side-pull brake calipers. I'm posting these two pics without any touch-up in hopes it will help ID the mystery part.

Mystery Part on Bulla's Bike

Austria's Max Bulla was the revelation of the 1931 Tour de France, winning three stages and finishing 1st among the Touristes-Routiers, and 15th overall. One of three riders in a breakaway on Stage 2, Bulla won the sprint into Dinan and took the Yellow Jersey by 1'47". On Stage 3 he was caught off the back with a group of unhelpful Independents, and lost 26 minutes and the Yellow Jersey. Bulla won again on stage 12 from breakaway companion Catalini, finishing 2'07" ahead of the next rider and over 20 minutes ahead of the yellow jersey group of Antonin Magne. Bulla's third win came on the mountainous Stage 17, from Grenoble to Aix-les-Bains, over the Lautaret and Galibier climbs.

Of the 40 Independents who started that year, only 7 made it to Paris.

Seen here on Stage 4, from Brest to Vannes, Bulla has flatted his rear tire just before the finish, and burst into tears. Sympathetic spectators watch from the convertible. Note the Oscar Egg jersey, long arms on the rear brake caliper, large single-arm wing nuts on the rear wheel, and high handlebar position. What is the oval item between the seat stays, above the rear brake?


From "Match l'Intran" No.257, 11 August 1931. Click on pic for larger image.

Two Top Touriste-Routier at the 1933 Tour de France

These two "touriste-routiers", Giuseppe Martano (Italy) and Vicente Trueba (Spain), had a big influence on the 1933 Tour de France. Martano (left) was a danger-man in the Alps, threatening the yellow jersey of Georges Speicher, while petite climber Trueba (right) became the first "King of the Mountians". In Paris, Speicher retained his overall victory, Martano was on the podium in third place, and Trueba a.k.a. "The Flea of Torrelavega" finshed 6th.

Note Martano's beautiful Frejus jersey, slices of rubber innertubes securing the water bottles, and what looks like hundreds of feet of cloth tape padding his drops, wrapping his brake lever hoods, and adding some grip to his brake levers.

From "Match l'Intran" No.361, 8 August 1933.

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