Roger Rivière

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Roger Rivière (23 February 1936, Saint-Etienne - 1 April 1976, Saint-Galmier) was a French track and road bicycle racer.

An outstanding time trialist and superb all-around talent on the road, and a three-time world pursuit champion on the track, Rivière is often spoken of as the greatest Tour de France rider to lose his career to injury. He was well-positioned to take over the lead in the 1960 Tour de France, but crashed on the Perjuret descent of Mont Aigoual in the Massif Central while chasing overall leader Gastone Nencini, whom Rivière trailed by 1'38". Rivière hit a guard-block on the edge of the road on the downhill, flipping over into a ravine and falling more than 10 meters. He landed in some brush, breaking his fall somewhat: enough to save his life, but not his racing career, as he fractured two vertebrae, had to be evacuated to hospital by helicopter, and never regained full use of his limbs.

After this he was almost completely disabled, and so he opened a restaurant in Saint-Etienne called 'Le Vigorelli' (after the Velodromo Vigorelli track in Milan where he twice set the world hour record, his greatest achievement as a professional), then a garage, and finally a holiday camp in the Rhone Valley.

Originally, Rivière blamed his crash on his brakes, insisting that there had been oil on his rims. But he later sold the story of his drug use to the newspapers, admitting that he had taken Palfium, a painkiller that could easily have affected his reflexes and/or judgment, during the climb of the Perjuret. He also admitted to having taken "amphetamines and solucamphor" during his hour record of 1958 -- including taking tablets during the attempt.^[1]

Riviere died of laryngeal cancer at the young age of 40.

Professional: 1957-60

[edit] Major road victories

[edit] Major track victories and records

[edit] References

Records
Preceded by Ercole Baldini	UCI hour record (46.923 km) 18 September 1957-23 September 1959	Succeeded by himself
Preceded by himself	UCI hour record (47.347 km) 23 September 1959-30 October 1967	Succeeded by Ferdi Bracke