Pierre Beuffeuil

Pierre Beuffeuil
Personal information
Full name Pierre Beuffeuil
Born (1934-10-30) October 30, 1934
L'Eguillé, France
Team information
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Professional team(s)
1956-1964 Mercier-BP
1965 Ford-Gitane
1966 Kamomé-Dilecta
1967 Tigra-Grammont
1968-1969 Independent[1] Gitane-Dunlop
Major wins
2 stages Tour de France
Infobox last updated on
July 9, 2008

Pierre Beuffeuil (L'Eguillé, France, 30 October 1934[2]) is a former French professional road bicycle racer. He won a stage of the Tour de France after the rest of the field had stopped to greet Charles de Gaulle, the president.[3]

Tour de France

Pierre Beuffeuil was riding the Tour de France in 1960 for the regional Centre-Midi team[4] when news came that Charles de Gaulle, the president, would be by the route at Colombey-les-deux-Églises, where he lived. The organisers, Jacques Goddet and Félix Lévitan asked the national champion, Henry Anglade, if the riders would be willing to stop. Anglade agreed and the news was spread through the race.

Beuffeuil, however, had stopped to repair a tyre[5] and knew nothing of the plan. He was three minutes behind the race. He reached Colombey convinced he would still be behind the race when it finished in Troyes, then found the race halted in front of him. He pressed on alone, now leading rather than following, and won the stage alone on the boulevard Jules-Guesde by 49 seconds.[6][7]

"I voted for de Gaulle", he said.[8]

Beuffeuil won the stage from Montluçon to Orléans in 1966[9] after a break of 204 km.[10] He came third in the Four Days of Dunkirk in 1961 and again in 1966.[11]

Major results

1956
Circuit d'Aquitaine
Ontron
Vergt
1959
Auzances
Périgueux
1960
Bourcefranc
Peyrelevade
Tour de France:
Winner stage 20
1961
Quilan
1962
Circuit des genêts verts
Guéret
Maël-Pestivien
1965
Chaniers
Saint-Just
1966
Saint-Tropez
Tour de France:
Winner stage 21
1967
Querrien
Valence-sur-Baise

References

  1. ↑ Semi-professional
  2. ↑ http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/CyclismeFicheCoureur2441.html
  3. ↑ http://www.humanite.fr/2001-07-16_Sports_1960-Pierre-Beuffeuil-remercia-le-general
  4. ↑ http://www.ledicodutour.com/equipes/equipes_regionales/centre_midi.htm
  5. ↑ Some sources say he had stopped to be sick.
  6. ↑ http://www.humanite.fr/2001-07-16_Sports_1960-Pierre-Beuffeuil-remercia-le-general
  7. ↑ http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1947_1977/tdf1960.php
  8. ↑ http://archives.tdg.ch/TG/TG/-/article-2003-07-898/100-ans-du-touron-sait-que-la-naissance-du-tour-est-une-consequence-directe-de-l-une-des-plus
  9. ↑ http://www.letour.com/HISTO/TDF/riders/fr/3396.html
  10. ↑ http://www.loiret.com/cgloiret/index.php?page=display&class=sport&object=r58_tourdefrance&method=i_display_full
  11. ↑ http://www.velo-club.net/article.php?sid=14890
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.