Apo Lazaridès (16 October 1925 – 30 October 1998) was a French champion cyclist. Born Jean-Apôtre Lazaridès in

Marles-les-Mines Marles-les-Mines () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography As the name suggests, an ex-coalmining town, which now relies on light industry and farming. It is situated some southwest of ...

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

of Greek ancestry (he became French in 1929). During the German occupation of France, Lazaridès used his cycling to transport supplies to the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. Apo had an older brother,

Lucien Lazaridès Lucien Lazaridès (Athens, Greece, 30 December 1922 — Cannes, 19 July 2005) was a French professional road bicycle racer. Lazaridès was born with Greek nationality but became French in 1929. Lucien Lazaridès was an older brother of cyclist A ...

, also a cyclist. Nicknamed "Apo", a short version of his middle name, he competed in races throughout France during the war. In 1946 Lazaridès finished fifth in the "''Ronde de France''", then won the most important competition of the year, the "'' La Course du Tour de France''", a 1316 km race from

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. This was organised by the group who took charge of organisation of the Tour de France. In the 1947 Tour, Lazaridès finished tenth but captured second overall in the mountain class. In 1948, he finished ninth and went on to take second place in the world championship. He retired in 1955 and moved to

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

, where he was president of the Étoile Sportive de Cannes." Lazaridès died in Cannes in 1998 and was buried there in the

Cimetière du Grand Jas The Cimetière du Grand Jas (Grand Jas Cemetery) is located at 205 avenue de Grasse in Cannes on the French Riviera. The nine hectare terraced cemetery began operations in 1866 and is known for its landscaped architecture with rich floral decora ...

Major results

;1943 :Boucles de Sospel ;1946 :Marseille-Nice : La Course du Tour de France ;1947 :

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

: ::10th place overall classification ;1948 :Silver medal World Championships ;1949 : Polymultipliée :

: ::9th place overall classification

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Apo Lazarides
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarides, Apo 1925 births 1998 deaths French male cyclists French people of Greek descent Burials at the Cimetière du Grand Jas Sportspeople from Pas-de-Calais Cyclists from Hauts-de-France