Philippe Tesnière was a professional cyclist between 1978 and 1981, finishing in last place in the

1978 Tour de France The 1978 Tour de France was the 65th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 29 June and 23 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of . The 1978 Tour had a high-profile doping case when Michel Pollent ...

Biography

Tesnière became a professional cyclist in 1978 for the Fiat team, and started in the

. He finished in last place, and this gave him enough publicity to be invited for several post-Tour

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

s after the Tour. In 1979, Tesnière rode 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 ...

, and after the 20th stage he occupied the last place in the general classification. Tesnière was also leading the intermediate sprints classification, and wanted to profit from the publicity of winning the intermediate sprints classification while finishing last in the general classification. However, he was worried that Gerhard Schönbacher, second-to-last in the general classification, would take over the last place. The 21st stage was run as an

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

, and Tesnière rode extra slow to secure his last place. The winner of the time trial,

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 ...

, took 1 hour, 8 minutes and 53 seconds to cover the 48.8 km, while Tesniere rode it in 1 hour, 23 minutes and 32 seconds; slower than all other cyclists. Tesnière's time was more than 20% slower than Hinault's, which meant that he had missed the time cut, and was taken out of the race. The Fiat team folded at the end of 1979, and Tesnière started 1980 without a contract, but he was given the chance to ride the

for the team "les amis du Tour", a team especially made for cyclists without a sponsor. For the Tour, this team was combined with the Boston team, and the team leader from Boston told Tesnière that he could sign a contract if he would show something special in the Tour. Tesnière escaped in the first stage, and although he did not stay away until the finish, he collected enough points for the

mountains classification 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 A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...

to become the leader for two stages, which gave his team publicity. Tesnière collided in the third stage with a spectator and had to leave the race, but still he was given a contract for Boston. In 1981, Tesnière rode the

for Boston. He finished the race in the penultimate 120th position. At the end of the season, the team folded, and Tesnière's professional career ended. Tesnière rode for four more years as an amateur, until 1985. Tesnière was diagnosed with cancer in 1987, and died six months later.

Major results

;1981 :Tour d'Indre et Loire: Stage 2 ;1983 :Tour de la Manche ;1985 :Prix Gilbert Bousquet

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesniere, Philippe 1955 births 1987 deaths French male cyclists People from Ernée Sportspeople from Mayenne Cyclists from Pays de la Loire