1896 Paris–Roubaix

The 1896 Paris–Roubaix, the 1st edition of the monument classic Paris–Roubaix cycling race took place on 19 April 1896. The winner was Josef Fischer from Germany who was given 1000 francs for the win, a considerable sum of money at the time.^[1][2] The race, as all editions to 1909, was motorpaced.^[3]

Organisation

The race was organised by Théo Vienne and Maurice Perez, textile manufacturers, who had built a velodrome in Roubaix and wished to promote the track. It was first presented to the sponsor, Le Vélo, as a training race for the then well established, now defunct, Bordeaux–Paris.^[1][4] Roubaix at the time was a small provincial town, a professional bike race finishing there would be very good for business.

Paul Rousseau, the director of Le Vélo, agreed to start the race outside the paper's offices in Paris. He devised a route and sent out Victor Breyer, the man who stood at the top of the Tourmalet in 1910 and was called a 'murderer' by a rider, to test the route. Breyer drove to Amiens, and then continued by bike the following day. When he reached Roubaix, he was cold and covered in mud. He was miserable enough to suggest the race be called off, a shower and a good meal changed his mind.^[5]

The race

As many as half the riders who were supposed to ride stayed in bed, including Henri Desgrange, who later organised the first Tour de France. Notably, the winner of that first Tour de France, Maurice Garin, did ride and came third and went on to win the following two editions.^[4][6]

The race was full of incident, Welshman Arthur Linton, who came 4th, crashed six times, once hitting a dog. The winner, Josef Fischer, had a lead of 23 minutes until he was almost knocked off by a horse and then halted by cows. When Fischer entered the velodrome in Roubaix he was covered in filth and blood. Only three other riders finished within an hour, all in similar conditions.^[5]

Results

References