Marianne Martin (born November 1, 1957 in

Fenton, Michigan Fenton is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan that lies mostly in Genesee County, with small portions in neighboring Oakland County and Livingston County. It is part of the Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn, is included in ...

) is an American

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

. She won the

Tour de France Féminin Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

for women in 1984, covering the course in 29 hours, 39 minutes, and 2 seconds. The race was held in July and had 18 stages. The women's tour ran the same time as the men's and finished 2–3 hours before the men each day. The year she won the Tour de France Martin suffered from

anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

earlier in that year and had been riding poorly. After recovering, Martin was added to the United States team by National Team Coach

Eddie Borysewicz Edward Borysewicz (March 18, 1939 – November 16, 2020), sometimes known as "Eddie B", was a cycling coach who brought the United States to world prominence, even though at first he barely spoke English. The US team, under his direction, won ni ...

. Martin earned the

King of the Mountains The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest po ...

polka-dot jersey in the 12th stage that went over two passes in the Alps and finished in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. She took the yellow jersey (''maillot jaune'') of the overall lead in the general classification (GC) in stage 14. She held on to the yellow jersey all the way through the 18th and final stage into

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 ...

, finishing three minutes and 17 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, and leading the United States to a first place finish in the team competition ahead of the Netherlands and France. The streets were said to contain more two million spectators watching the race. Martin, along with runners up

Heleen Hage Heleen Hage (born 13 October 1958) is a Dutch former road racing cyclist who was active from 1983 to 1989. In her career, she achieved second place overall 1984 Grande Boucle (women's Tour de France), winning stages 4, 13 and 15. In 1986 she bec ...

(Dutch) and Deborah Shumway (American), stood on the podium with male champions

Laurent Fignon Laurent Patrick Fignon (; 12 August 1960 – 31 August 2010) was a French professional road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and the Giro d'Italia in 1989. He is former FICP World No. 1 in 1989. He nearly captured t ...

Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault (; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional road cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five times the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. In his career, Hinault ...

and

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

. Fignon's prizes were valued at over $225,000 (adjusted to 2016). Martin was awarded a trophy and $1,000. Martin was inducted into the 2012 Boulder (Colorado) Sports Hall of Fame. She was a 2020 inductee to the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.

References

1957 births Living people People from Fenton, Michigan Sportspeople from Metro Detroit American female cyclists 21st-century American women {{US-cycling-bio-stub