Léopold-Marie "Paul" Dangla (

Laroque-Timbaut Laroque-Timbaut (; oc, La Ròca Timbaud) is a Communes of France, commune in the Lot-et-Garonne Departments of France, department in south-western France. The composer and organist Louis Raffy was born in Laroque-Timbaut. Laroque-Timbaut station ...

, Aquitaine, 16 January 1878Birth certificate
/ref> –

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

, 18 or 25 June 1904) was a French

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

road bicycle racer 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 ...

. Paul Dangla was born to Marie Pelegrin and Ferdinand Dangla. Ferdinand, a former

gendarme Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "Man-at-arms, men-at-arms" ...

, worked as a ''

garde champêtre A ''garde champêtre'' (french: lit. rural guard) is the combination of a forest ranger, game warden and Code Enforcement, code enforcement officer in certain rural communes in France. Organization Their job is to report to the local mayor. Man ...

'' (rural guard) in his birthplace, Le Passage. A brother had died a year before Dangla's birth at the age of nine months. From 1896 Dangla gained a reputation in his home region as a good

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

and tandem races. Dangla Thé 1903 04

In 1899 Paul Dangla, actually a trained

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

, went to

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 ...

to start as a professional in motor-paced racing and became a popular local hero. He competed in non-medal

cycling events Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, a ...

at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

in Paris and placed second in the sprint event at the 1901 Grand Prix d'Angers. After Dangla had beaten all the world records of the German Thaddäus Robl on 16 August 1903, he became a "national hero". On 18 October, he again set an hour record behind pacemakers over at the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

, as the August record had now been beaten by Tommy Hall of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1903 Dangla placed second in the motor-paced event at both the European Championship and French Championship. In April 1904, he was injured in a fall and unable to race for a month. On 12 June 1904, Dangla crashed at a speed of nearly while racing in Magdeburg, shortly after winning the "Goldenen Rad von Magdeburg" (Golden Wheel of Magdeburg). He died two weeks later. In

Agen The communes of France, commune of Agen (, ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. ...

, a school was named after Dangla, "Collège Paul Dangla". the school still bore this name. For many years, the

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

Dangla was riding when he had his fatal accident stood on his grave in the cemetery of

Dolmayrac Dolmayrac (; oc, Domairac) is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Lot-et-Garonne department The following is a list of the 319 communes of the French department of Lot-et-Garonne. T ...

; on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, it was to be placed in a glass display case. After this was announced in the press, the bike was stolen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dangla, Paul 19th-century births 1878 births 1904 deaths Cyclists who died while racing French male cyclists French track cyclists Olympic cyclists for France Sport deaths in Germany Sportspeople from Lot-et-Garonne Cyclists from Nouvelle-Aquitaine