Louis Trousselier

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Louis Trousselier
Personal information

Full name	Louis Trousselier
Nickname	Trou-trou
Born	(1881-01-29)January 29, 1881 or (1881-06-29)June 29, 1881 Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Died	April 24, 1939(1939-04-24) (aged 57 or 58) Paris, France
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France General Classification (1905) 13 Stages One-day races and Classics Paris–Roubaix (1905) Bordeaux-Paris (1908)
Infobox last updated on May 23, 2008

Louis Trousselier (French pronunciation: [lwi tʁu.sɛlje]; 1881 – April 24, 1939) was a French racing cyclist.

He was born in Levallois-Perret, Hauts de Seine in 1881; some sources say on January 29, others June 29. He died in Paris on April 24, 1939.

He is most famous for his 1905 victory in the 1905 Tour de France. His other major wins were Paris–Roubaix, also in 1905, and the 1908 Bordeaux–Paris. He came third in the 1906 Tour de France and won 13 stages of the Tour de France over his career. He also competed in the men's 25 kilometres event at the 1900 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Trousselier, known as Trou-Trou, came from a rich family which had a flower business in central Paris. For that reason, when Henri Desgrange, the first organiser of the Tour, sought to popularise competitors by giving them nicknames, he referred to Trousselier as "the florist".

Trousselier's brothers Léopold and André were also racers but they never had the success of Louis, who was only 18 when he won Paris–Roubaix-Antwerp against the stars of the day. He rode his first Tour de France in 1905, taking a few days' official leave from his service as a soldier and depending on doing well to save himself from too strong a penalty - potentially as a deserter - when he got back much later. He dominated the race winning five stages, completing the 3,021 km in 110 hours 26 minutes and 58 second at an average speed of 27.48 km. He won win 35 points ahead of Hippolyte Aucouturier (61 pts) and Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq(64pts). Victory brought him all his prizes, contracts to ride all over France and a bonus from his sponsor. But that night, in a trackside cabin in Paris, he lost the whole lot playing dice with friends.

"There's always another Tour to win it back again", he is reputed to have said, although he never rode as well again. The one bet that he did win was that the army would forgive him for overstaying his leave.

He rode the Tour well again in 1906 but never to the level of the previous year, nevertheless winning stages and finishing third. He became a specialist in long-distance racing, in 1908 winning Bordeaux–Paris 26 minutes ahead of the next rider, Cyrille van Hauwaert. He twice came second in the race and once third. He came second in the 1906 Bol d'Or 24-hour race at the Vélodrome Buffalo in Paris. He rode a six-day event on the track, although he decided against specialising in what could have been a profitable career.

He stopped racing just before World War I and took over the family business.

Trousselier had an entertaining personality and a taste for practical jokes. He was known for training with friends and stopping with them at the most expensive restaurant they could find. Towards the end of the meal, they would start a mock argument in which their raised voices attracted the attention of the restaurateur. When he went to intervene, he was told the argument was over who among them was the best rider. The only way to settle it was a race and the restaurateur was invited to set a local landmark several kilometres distant to which the riders would race and then turn and race back to the restaurant. Whoever came in last would pay the bill.

The restaurateur would then set his diners off on their race... only for them never to return.

Major achievements

1905: Tour de France – 1st overall and 5 stage wins; Paris–Roubaix; Paris–Valenciennes; Brussels–Roubaix
1906 Tour de France: 3rd overall and 4 stage wins
1907 Tour de France: 2 stages (one tied with Emile Georget)
1908: Bordeaux–Paris
1909 Tour de France: 1 stage win
1910 Tour de France: 1 stage win

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914
Giro	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE
Tour	1	3	DNF-10	DNF-2	8	DNF-14	DNF-3	DNE	11	38
Vuelta	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Legend
1	Winner
2–3	Top three-finish
4–10	Top ten-finish
11–	Other finish
DNE	Did Not Enter
DNF-x	Did Not Finish (retired on stage x)
DSQ	Disqualified
N/A	Race/classification not held
NR	Not Ranked in this classification

References

↑ "Louis Trousselier Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2013-05-02.

External links

v t e Tour de France winners of the General classification

1903–1919	1903 Maurice Garin 1904 Henri Cornet 1905 Louis Trousselier 1906 René Pottier 1907–08 Lucien Petit-Breton 1909 François Faber 1910 Octave Lapize 1911 Gustave Garrigou 1912 Odile Defraye 1913–14 Philippe Thys 1915–18 World War I 1919 Firmin Lambot

1920–1939	1920 Philippe Thys 1921 Léon Scieur 1922 Firmin Lambot 1923 Henri Pélissier 1924–25 Ottavio Bottecchia 1926 Lucien Buysse 1927–28 Nicolas Frantz 1929 Maurice De Waele 1930 André Leducq 1931 Antonin Magne 1932 André Leducq 1933 Georges Speicher 1934 Antonin Magne 1935 Romain Maes 1936 Sylvère Maes 1937 Roger Lapébie 1938 Gino Bartali 1939 Sylvère Maes

1940–1959	1940–46 World War II 1947 Jean Robic 1948 Gino Bartali 1949 Fausto Coppi 1950 Ferdinand Kübler 1951 Hugo Koblet 1952 Fausto Coppi 1953–55 Louison Bobet 1956 Roger Walkowiak 1957 Jacques Anquetil 1958 Charly Gaul 1959 Federico Bahamontes

1960–1979	1960 Gastone Nencini 1961–64 Jacques Anquetil 1965 Felice Gimondi 1966 Lucien Aimar 1967 Roger Pingeon 1968 Jan Janssen 1969–72 Eddy Merckx 1973 Luis Ocaña 1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bernard Thévenet 1976 Lucien Van Impe 1977 Bernard Thévenet 1978–79 Bernard Hinault

1980–1998	1980 Joop Zoetemelk 1981–82 Bernard Hinault 1983–84 Laurent Fignon 1985 Bernard Hinault 1986 Greg LeMond 1987 Stephen Roche 1988 Pedro Delgado 1989–90 Greg LeMond 1991–95 Miguel Indurain 1996 Bjarne Riis 1997 Jan Ullrich 1998 Marco Pantani

2006–present	1999–2005 results vacated because of doping 2006 Óscar Pereiro 2007 Alberto Contador 2008 Carlos Sastre 2009 Alberto Contador 2010 Andy Schleck 2011 Cadel Evans 2012 Bradley Wiggins 2013 Chris Froome

Persondata
Name	Trousselier, Louis
Alternative names
Short description	French racing cyclist
Date of birth	1881
Place of birth	Levallois-Perret, France
Date of death	April 24, 1939
Place of death	Paris, France

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