- Gustave Garrigou
Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Gustave Garrigou
fullname = Cyprien Gustave Garrigou
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date|1884|09|24
dateofdeath = death date and age|1963|01|28|1884|09|24
country = FRA
height =
weight =
currentteam =
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype = All-rounder
amateurteams =
amateuryears =
proyears = 1907–1908 1909–1912 1913–1914
proteams = Peugeot Alcyon Peugeot
majorwins = 1911 Tour de France Paris-Brussels Milan-Sanremo
updated =July 1 ,2008 Cyprien Gustave Garrigou (b. 24 September 1884, Vabres, France, d. 23 January 1963, Paris) was one of the best professional racing cyclists of his era. He rode the
Tour de France eight times and won once. Of 117 stages, he won eight, came in the top ten 96 times and finished 65 times in the first five.Career
Garrigou was a thin Parisian who gained from his lightness in the mountains but had the strength to ride hard on flat stages. He had remarkable powers of recovery. As an amateur he won Paris-Amiens and Paris-Dieppe. He turned professional in 1907 and that year won the national championship, the
Tour of Lombardy ,Paris-Brussels and came second in the Tour de France.He won the Tour in 1911 after surviving not only the race but death threats. Fans of another French rider,
Paul Duboc , believed Garrigou to be behind an incident in which Duboc collapsed in thePyrenees and lay in agony for an hour after drinking from a poisoned bottle. The culprit was eventually found to be a helper with a rival team but Duboc's supporters suspected Garrigou, as the man most likely to profit from stopping Duboc.Feelings came to their height in
Rouen , where Duboc lived and in which notices had been posted in his name pointing out that he would have been leading the Tour had he not been poisoned and inciting the crowd to take revenge. Duboc had nothing to do with the notices and was alarmed as the race organizer,Henri Desgrange . Three cars provided a barrier between Garrigou and the crowd until the race had cleared the city.Garrigou won the Tour with a generous number of points over Duboc. In some early years, the Tour was decided not on elapsed time but on in which position riders finished stages.
Garrigou was an all-rounder, also winning Paris-Brussels (1907),
Milan-San Remo (1911) and the Tour of Lombardy. He was national champion in 1907 and 1908. His career ended with the outbreak of war in 1914.Retirement
Garrigou retired to Esbly, Paris, and went into business.
Achievements
;1907: Tour de France - 2nd Overall, Stage 10 and 12 wins:
Giro di Lombardia - 1st Overall:Paris-Brussels - 1st Place;1908: Tour de France - 4th Overall;1909: Tour de France - 2nd Overall, 1 Stage win;1910: Tour de France - 3rd Overall, 1 stage win;1911: - 1st Overall"', 2 stage wins:Milan-Sanremo , 1st Place;1912: Tour de France - 3rd Overall:Paris-Roubaix - 2nd Place;1913: Tour de France - 2nd Overall, 1 stage win;1914: Tour de France - Stage 14 winReferences
* [http://www.dewielersite.net/db2/wielersite/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=2983 Profile]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
