Joseph Jiel-Laval, real name: ''Joseph Marie François Laval''
or ''Pierre-Joseph Laval'',
(26 November 1855 – 26 February 1917) was a French cyclist.
Life
Jiel-Laval grew up in
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
. His rode his first race in 1876 on a
Penny-farthing for the Véloce-Club d'Angers. The following year he settled in Bordeaux and opened a bicycle shop, initially called Vélocipèdes Jiel-Laval, later Cycles Jiel-Laval. The nickname Jiel originated from the initials of his name Joseph Laval. In Bordeaux he founded the Veloce Club Bordelais and was one of the founders of the Ligue française d'éducation physique. In France, he was one of the most prominent cyclists.
[Christopher D. Green: ''Psychology Gets in the Game.'' U of Nebraska Press, 2009, , S. 52 ().]
In May 1891, Jiel-Laval finished fifth at the first edition of
Bordeaux-Paris. On 6 September of the same year he started on a Clément bicycle at the first edition of the 1200-kilometer race
Paris-Brest-Paris. First, he led an hour ahead of Charles Terront, but could not hold this because he had to take a break due to exhaustion. Terront's manager
H.O. Duncan, however, instructed his rider to drive around the hotel where Jiel-Laval was sleeping in order not to be seen by his companions. When Jiel-Laval woke up, he learned that Terront was two hours ahead of him.
[J A Mangan: ''Reformers, Sport, Modernizers.'' Routledge, 2013, , S. 95 ().] Charles Terront ended up winning in 71 hours and 37 minutes, Jiel-Laval finishing second in 80 hours four minutes.
Jiel-Laval died in 1917 at the age of 61. The funeral speech at the funeral was held by well-known journalist Maurice Martin. A year later, his widow left the bike on which her husband lost Paris-Brest-Paris to the
Musée des Arts et Métiers
The Musée des Arts et Métiers () (French for Museum of Arts and Crafts) is an industrial design museum in Paris that houses the collection of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the pr ...
in Paris. The city of Bordeaux named the ''Rue Jiel Laval'' after him.
Publications
* ''Une course à bicyclette''. In: Philippe Tissié: ''Guide de Vélocipediste pour l’Entrainement''. Bordeaux 1892. S. 227.
Literature
* Didier Rapaud: ''Le temps de la vélocipédie (1876–1892) ou l'inoubliable Jiel Laval''. 2015
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jiel-Laval, Joseph
1855 births
1917 deaths
French male cyclists
Ultra-distance cyclists
Sportspeople from Bordeaux
Sportspeople from Angers
Cyclists from Pays de la Loire
Cyclists from Nouvelle-Aquitaine