Louis Caput (23 January 1921 - 1 January 1985) was a French professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is Competition, competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing ...

and then team manager. He was born in Saint-Maur-des-Fosses, and won

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...

in 1948, and two stages of the

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 ...

. He was national champion in 1946.

Career

Caput rode as a professional from 1942 to 1957.

René de Latour René de Latour (born New York, United States, 30 September 1906, died Quiberon, France, 4 September 1986) was a Franco-American sports journalist, race director of the Tour de l'Avenir cycle race, and correspondent of the British magazine, ''Sp ...

said: :Everybody liked Louis Caput, who became known to the crowds as ''P'tit Louis''. And not only was Caput a likeable rider, he was a clever one who knew his job perfectly and I don't think I have ever seen him make a serious mistake on the road. Whenever he got into a break, he was the boss, the ruler of it. Little Louis was a great general of the

peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

s, shouting encouragement, picking the right length for the relays and giving orders to his companions of the breakaway. He rode the Tour de France nine times between 1947 and 1956, failing to finish six times but coming 45th in 1951, 54th in 1955, and 56th in 1956. He won stages in 1949 and 1955. He came third in the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

of 1950.

Retirement

Caput stopped racing in 1957 and went into the

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

business in

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, an eastern suburb of

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 ...

. In 1966 he became

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' ( French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...

of a new team, Kamomé-Dilecta, sponsored by a maker of Japanese washing machines and a French bicycle company that had last had a team in the 1930s. The team soon ran into trouble and riders were no longer paid. "We were paid ''à la musette'', which means only if we won. Kamomé was in financial difficulties," said one of the riders, Raymond Lebreton. The French businessman,

Jean de Gribaldy Jean de Gribaldy (18 July 1922 – 2 January 1987) was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif. He rode in the Tour de France in 1947 and 1948. Biography Born in Besançon, Doubs ''département'', Gribaldi was a professional racing cyc ...

, took over sponsorship the following year with Frimatic, another maker of washing machines, as main backer. Caput went with him to run the team but, said, Lebreton, his organisation was chaotic. "The de Gribaldy team was badly organised. We were told we were to ride raced only a few hours before they started. It was a bazaar, and I wanted to leave." Caput ran the team from 1968 to 1969. The following year

Antonin Magne Antonin Magne (; 15 February 1904 – 8 September 1983) was a French cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1931 and 1934. He raced as a professional from 1927 to 1939 and then became a team manager. The French rider and then journalist, Jean Bo ...

retired from running the

Mercier Mercier is French for ''notions dealer'' or ''haberdasher'', and may refer to: People * Agnès Mercier, French curler and coach *Annick Mercier (born 1964), French curler *Amanda H. Mercier (born 1975), American Judge * Armand Mercier, (1933–20 ...

team, which had lost BP as secondary sponsor. Fagor, a Spanish maker of refrigerators and other household goods, took over. An incidental effect of Caput's arrival as manager is that

Raymond Poulidor Raymond Poulidor (; 15 April 1936 – 13 November 2019), nicknamed "Pou-Pou" (), was a French professional racing cyclist, who rode for his entire career. His distinguished career coincided with two other outstanding riders – Jacques Anquet ...

and the other riders were allowed zips at the necks of their jerseys, something Magne had always thought unhealthy.

Death and memorial

Louis Caput died in Paris on the first day of 1985 and is buried at Ivry Cemetery, Ivry-sur-Seine. A cycling event is organised annually in his honour.

Major results

;1942 :Circuit d'Auray ;1946 : national road race championship :Paris-Reims ;1948 :

;1949 :Ain-Temouchent :GP de l'Echo d'Oran :

: ::Winner stage 9 ;1952 :GP de la Bicicleta Eibarresa ;1955 :Paris - Limoges :Arras :

: ::Winner stage 14 ;1956 :Montluçon :Circuit des Deux Ponts

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Louis Caput
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caput, Louis French male cyclists 1921 births 1985 deaths French Tour de France stage winners Sportspeople from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Burials at Ivry Cemetery Cyclists from Île-de-France