- Peugeot (cycling team)
Peugeot team was a French professional
cycling team that promoted and rode Peugeot racing bikes. It is listed as the most successful cycling team of all time on www.cyclingranking.com with a large margin on the number two, Alcyon.History
Peugeot cycles started producing bicycles in 1882 and from then on it was involved in sponsoring cyclists. At the beginning of the century a Peugeot cycling team existed. [cite web|url=http://www.dewielersite.net/db2/wielersite/ploegfiche.php?id=12658|title=Peugeot 1901|publisher=de wielersite|accessdate=2007-09-12] Hippolyte Aucouturier rode Peugeot cycles when he won
Paris-Roubaix andBordeaux-Paris in 1903 and when he was disqualified from the1904 Tour de France in which he had finished 4th overall for the illegal use of trains and cars. But the Peugeot team obtained success for the following four years in theTour de France withLouis Trousselier ,René Pottier andLucien Petit-Breton . The Peugeot team finished second overall the 1912Giro d'Italia . [cite web|url=http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=906|title=Peugeot team|publisher=Cycling hall of fame|accessdate=2007-09-12] The team would obtain two further victories in theTour de France with BelgianPhilippe Thys before the outbreak of theFirst World War . Directly after the war, Peugeot cycles was one of the companies that made a consortium that pooled their resources into a collectivecycling team called La Sportive. The objective of forming such a consortium was to keep the sport alive in the poor post-war economic situation. After three years of the La Sportive consortium, Peugeot re-established its separate cycling team and with BelgianFirmin Lambot won the1922 Tour de France . During this time the team was known as the Peugeot team or sometimes the name of a co-sponsor was added which occasionally was Wolber, Alcyon, Dunlop, Tedeschi, Bianchi-Pirelli. From 1936 until 1955 the team was the Peugeot-Dunlop team. Yves Petit-Breton, son of the two time Tour de France winnerLucien Petit-Breton would be adirecteur sportif of the team in 1956. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/ploegfiche.php?id=3277|title=Peugoet Dunlop 1956|publisher=de wielersite.nl|accessdate=2007-09-12]From 1948 [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/ploegfiche.php?id=2588|title=Elve Peugeot 1948|publisher=de wielersite.nl|accessdate=2007-09-12] to 1959 [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/ploegfiche.php?id=3777|title=Elve Peugeot 1959|publisher=de wielersite.nl|accessdate=2007-09-12] there was a Belgian
cycling team which was also sponsored by Peugeot called Elvé-Peugeot.In 1958, Gaston Plaud became the
directeur sportif of Peugeot-BP where he would stay until the mid seventies. He would direct big names to success such asCharly Gaul , Pino Cerami, Ferdinand Bracke,Walter Godefroot ,Tom Simpson , Jean-Pierre Danguillaume and the early career ofEddy Merckx . In 1963 Team Peugeot adopted black and white checkerboard designcite web|url=http://www.classicrendezvous.com/France/bicycles/Peugeot/PX10_history.htm|title=Peugeot cycles history|publisher=Classic Rendezvous|accessdate=2007-09-12] that would be on their white jersey until the team retired from the sport in 1986.During this time the team achieved many successes such as
Tom Simpson winningBordeaux-Paris in 1963,Milan-Sanremo in 1964 and then in 1965 becoming world champion with the team and winning theGiro di Lombardia .Eddy Merckx rode his first two seasons with the team and wonMilan-Sanremo twice,Ghent-Wevelgem ,La Flèche Wallonne , a stage in the1967 Giro d'Italia and the world championships road race with the team in 1966. In 1967, theTour de France was disputed by national teams and one of Peugeot's riders,Roger Pingeon won the race. He would win the 1969Vuelta a España for the team. The team won theVuelta a España again withFerdinand Bracke in 1971.The name of the team changed in 1965 to Peugeot-BP Michelin which it stayed until 1976 when Esso took the place of the second sponsor. In 1982 Shell became the second sponsor and until its finish the team was Peugeot-Shell-Michelin.
Maurice de Muer became directeur sportif with the team in 1975 and directed
Bernard Thevenet to beatEddy Merckx in the1975 Tour de France . He directed the team until 1982. The last time the team would win theTour de France would be withBernard Thevenet in 1977. In the late seventies and early eighties, the team signed many Anglophone riders. Many of these came from a Parisian Amateur clubAthletic Club de Boulogne Billencourt that acted as a feeder club for top amateurs to turn professional.Phil Anderson ,Robert Millar ,Stephen Roche andSean Yates all started their careers with the Peugeot team. The last time that the team had theyellow jersey of the Tour was the1983 Tour de France whenPascal Simon wore the jersey but had to abandon the Tour due to a brokencollarbone . The team had its last chance at aGrand Tour win in the 1985 edition of theVuelta a España withRobert Millar . Millar was wearing the leader's yellow jersey on the penultimate day whenPedro Delgado attacked him to take the stage and the leader's jersey. [cite web|url=http://www.ileach.co.uk/post/bob/vuelta.html|title=The stolen Vuelta|publisher=ileach.co.uk|accessdate=2007-09-25] In its final year of existence, 1986, the team was managed byRoger Legeay , who would continue the team under the name of Z-Peugeot. This team would change name again to GAN in 1994 and then to the Crédit Agricole team which is still in existence.Other directeur sportifs of the team during its existence included Leon Van der Hulst, Roland Berland, Robert Naeye, Roger Moreau, Jean Lecocq, Camille Narcy, Serge Beucherie and Jean-François Guiborel
Famous cyclists from the team
*Hippolyte Aucouturier
*Louis Trousselier
*René Pottier
*Lucien Petit-Breton
*Philippe Thys
*Eugène Christophe
*Firmin Lambot
*Stan Ockers
*Roger Walkowiak
*Rik Van Steenbergen
*Charly Gaul
*Jean de Gribaldy
*Ferdi Kübler
*Pino Cerami
*Tom Simpson
*Roger Pingeon
*Eddy Merckx
*Walter Godefroot
*Ferdinand Bracke
*Bernard Thevenet
*Hennie Kuiper
*Pascal Simon
*Phil Anderson
*Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
*Robert Millar
*Stephen Roche
*Allan Peiper
*Sean Yates
*Ronan Pensec Important victories
*
Tour de France General Classification 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1913, 1914, 1922, 1968, 1975, 1977
*Vuelta a España General Classification 1948, 1969, 1971
*flagiconUCI World Road Race Championship 1957, 1965, 1967
*flagiconUCI World Cyclo-Cross Championship 1961, 1963
*FRA Road Race Championship 1907, 1908, 1920, 1962, 1973, 1975, 1976
*FRA Cyclo-Cross Championship 1913, 1914, 1960
*ITA Road Race Championship 1908, 1909, 1910
*GER Road Race Championship 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1978
*GER Cyclo-Cross Championship 1961, 1963
*BEL Road Race Championship 1957, 1972
*LUX Road Race Championship 1936
*LUX Cyclo-Cross Championship 1964, 1967, 1968
*SUI Road Race Championship 1914, 1924, 1948, 1949
*AUS Road Race Championship 1984
*ESP Road Race Championship 1948
*NOR Road Race Championship 1984
*Milan-Sanremo 1907, 1914, 1918, 1964, 1966, 1967
*Paris-Roubaix 1904, 1905, 1907, 1913, 1963
*Amstel Gold Race 1983
*Liège-Bastogne-Liège 1949, 1957, 1967
*Grand Prix des Nations 1949, 1962
*Paris-Tours 1906, 1907, 1914, 1917, 1951, 1970
*Giro di Lombardia 1907, 1908, 1917, 1951, 1970References
ee also
Cycles Peugeot
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