Alcyon (cycling team)

Alcyon is a former French professional cycling team that was active from 1906 to 1955.

History

The team won the Tour de France four times before World War I with François Faber in 1909, Octave Lapize in 1910, Gustave Garrigou in 1911 and Odile Defraye in 1912. Alcyon won the team prize at the Tour de France from 1909 to 1912 and then from 1927 to 1929. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/tour08/?id=history|title=95th Tour de France Past Winners ; Winning Teams|publisher=cyclingnews.com|accessdate=2007-11-12] .

Immediately after the First World War, Alcyon like many other bicycle companies joined a Consortium that employed many riders under the La Sportive name. This consortium would win the Tour de France from 1919 to 1921. The Consortium stopped in 1922 and the member companies which included Automoto, Peugeot and Alcyon re-started up their separate cycling teams. Alcyon grew into a very strong team that dominated the Tour de France with three wins in with Nicolas Frantz in 1927 and in 1928 and Maurice De Waele in 1929.

Alcyon dominated the Tour de France during the 1920’s. In the 1929 edition, Maurice Dewaele won the race despite the fact that he was sick when the race went through the Alps. This was due to the fact that no one attacked the Alcyon rider there. [cite web|url= http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=3498|title= La tentation des équipes nationales|publisher=Cyclismag.com|accessdate=2007-11-04] The organisers of the Tour de France decided in 1930 that the race would be disputed by national teams. It has been said that this was done to break the domination of some of the commercial teams, most notably Alcyon [cite web|url=http://histoire.maillots.free.fr/cyclisme/france.html|title=Equipe de France|accessdate=2007-11-04] As a result, Alcyon was unable to continue to dominate the race. However Alycon-Dunlop riders riding for the French national team were able to dominate the race, such as André Leducq, an Alycon-Dunlop rider who won the very first Tour that was disputed by national teams. [cite web|url=http://www.velo-club.net/article.php?sid=4570|title=Palmares:André Leducq|publisher=Velo-Club|accessdate=2007-11-11] Leducq would win the Tour again in 1932, while another Alycon rider, Georges Speicher won the Tour again in 1933. [cite web|url=http://www.velo-club.net/article.php?sid=11393|title=Palmares:Coureurs Français Georges Speicher|publisher=Velo-Club|accessdate=2007-11-11] Belgians Romain Maes and Sylvère Maes were riders of the team when they won the Tour de France in 1935, 1936 and 1939.

After World War II, the team name changed to Alcyon-BP (1946-1949), which was followed by Alcyon-Dunlop (1950-1954). The team appears to have stopped sponsoring after 1958 [cite web|url= http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/ploegfiche.php?id=3671|title=Alcyon-Dunlop 1958|publisher=cycling website.net|accessdate=2007-11-12] , although it appears that a team existed for 1961 with was managered by former rider Georges Speicher and Paul Wiegant. [cite web|url= http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/ploegfiche.php?id=3943|title=Alcyon Leroux 1971|publisher=cycling website.net|accessdate=2007-11-12]

Famous riders

*Marcel Cadolle
*Cyrolle Van Hauwaert
*Eugène Christophe
*François Faber
*Octave Lapize
*Odile Defraye
*Gustave Garrigou
*Louis Mottiat
*Henri Pelissier
*Sylvere Maes
*Nicolas Frantz
*Jean Aerts
*André Leducq
*Marcel Buysse
*René Vermandel
*Georges Speicher
*Albert Beckaert
*Eloi Meulenberg
*Edward Van Dijck
*Alberic Schotte

Important Victories

*Bordeaux-Paris 1906, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1923, 1926, 1939, 1946
*Milan-Sanremo 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1955
*Paris-Roubaix 1908, 1910, 1925, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1944, 1945, 1953
*flagiconUCI World Road Race Championship 1933, 1935, 1937, 1948
*BEL Road Race Championship 1908, 1909, 1919, 1922, 1926, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1942, 1946, 1947
*BEL Cyclo Cross Championship 1953
*FRA Road Race Championship 1909, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1943, 1944
*FRA Cyclo-Cross Championship 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912,
*LUX Cyclo Cross Championship 1924, 1940
*LUX Road Race Championship 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1937, 1938
*GER Road Race Championship 1937
*Paris-Brussels 1909, 1914, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1936, 1937, 1946, 1947
*Paris-Tours 1909, 1910, 1912, 1924, 1929, 1934, 1935, 1936 , 1938, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1947
*General Classification Tour de France 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1927, 1928
*Giro di Lombardia 1913
*Ronde van Vlaanderen 1914, 1934, 1939, 1948
*Liège-Bastogne-Liège 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1936, 1937, 1945, 1953
*Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen 1924, 1934, 1952, 1955
*Paris-Nice 1934
*GP des Nations 1941, 1942
*Omloop Het Volk 1945, 1946
*Gent Wevelgem 1946, 1947, 1950, 1955
*Flèche Wallonne 1947
*General Classification Vuelta a España 1947
*Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 1949, 1955

References