Eugène Christophe

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**Eugène Christophe**
Personal information
Full name	Eugène Christophe
Nickname	'Cri-cri' and 'Le vieux Gaulois'
Date of birth	January 22, 1885
Date of death	February 1, 1970
Country	France
Team information
Discipline	Road and cyclo-cross
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
1904-1905 1906 1907-1911 1912 1913-1914 1914-1921 1922 1923-1924 1925 1926	no information Labor Alcyon 3 teams Peugeot-Wolber No information Automoto-Wolber-Russell Christophe-Hutchinson JB Louvet Christophe-Hutchinson / Peugeot-Dunlop
Major wins
Milan - Sanremo (1910) 3 stages, Tour de France (1912) Paris-Tours (1920) Bordeaux-Paris (1920) Bordeaux-Paris (1921)

Infobox last updated on:
March 22, 2007

Eugène Christophe (born January 22, 1885 in Paris, France, died February 1, 1970 in Paris) was a French road bicycle racer and pioneer of cyclo-cross. He was a professional cyclist from 1904 until 1926. In 1919 he became the first rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France when it was introduced to indicate the rider in the overall lead at the end of the previous day. Although he was a successful rider, Christophe's reputation is based on a series of misfortunes that led to him never winning the Tour de France.

[edit] Major results

1909

French cyclo-cross champion

1910

1st Milan-Sanremo
3rd Paris-Roubaix
French cyclo-cross champion

1911

2nd Tour of Belgium
French cyclo-cross champion

1912

3 stage wins and 2nd overall Tour de France
French cyclo-cross champion

1913

French cyclo-cross champion

1914

French cyclo-cross champion

1917

3rd Paris-Tours

1919

3rd Tour de France

1920

1921

1st Bordeaux-Paris
French cyclo-cross champion
2nd Paris-Brest-Paris
3rd Paris-Tours

[edit] Tour de France

1906 was Christophe's first Tour. He finished 9th overall.

In the 1912 race 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 Belgian riders rode together to win the sprints so unnecessary to amass maximal points. Only when Christophe could drop the peleton did he finish ahead of eventual winner Odiel Defraye. He won three stages using this method (including the Tour's longest ever successful solo break of 315 km to Grenoble). Had the race been decided on time, the result would have been much closer - Christophe would have lead the race until the final stage (when he sat up in disgust allowing a group to ride away). As a result of these tactics the 1913 race reverted to a time-based general classification.

In 1913 Christophe was well placed to win the tour when a mechanical failure cost him the race. The incident happened on stage 6, Bayonne to Luchon in the Pyrenees. The overnight leader was the 1912 champion, Odile Defraye but he had dropped behind on the climb of the Col du Tourmalet. At the top of the Tourmalet, Christophe was the leader on the road, leading by five minutes from a group containing most of his main rivals for the race. On the descent, however, he crashed after his forks snapped. He ran several miles to a forge in the village of Ste. Marie de Campan. Once there he lit the fire and repaired his bicycle observed by race organiser Henri Desgrange. The rules of the race forbade outside help, so when Christophe asked a small boy to work the bellows, Desgrange fined him 10 minutes (Christophe had already lost about four hours). He evetually finished seventh overall in Paris. The forge now has a plaque on the wall commemorating the episode.

In 1919 Christophe became the first man to wear the yellow jersey of race leader, though he was destined not to win the race overall. By the start of the penultimate stage 14 (Metz to Dunkerque) he was in the lead by about 30 minutes. Unfortunately his forks broke again and he lost more than 2.5 hours and the race lead while he made repairs. On the final stage he suffered a record number of punctures and dropped from 2nd to 3rd overall. His story captured the public imagination and he was awarded the same prize money as winner Fermin Lambot at the finish.

1925 was Christophe's last Tour de France. He finished 18th overall, 19 years after first riding the race.

Christophe never won the Tour, but his stories have become part of the race's mythology. Christophe (like René Vietto and Raymond Poulidor after him) is celebrated as an eternal second, more famous for his near-misses than many of his more successful rivals.