Roger Walkowiak
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Roger Walkowiak (; 2 March 1927 – 6 February 2017) was a French road bicycle racer who won the
1956 Tour de France The 1956 Tour de France was the 43rd edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 5 to 28 July. It consisted of 22 stages over . There was no previous Tour winner competing for the 1956 Tour, which had only previously happened in 1903 and 19 ...
. He was a professional rider from 1950 until 1960. He died on 6 February 2017 at the age of 89.


The 1956 Tour de France

From 1930 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 ...
had been contested by national and regional teams. Roger Walkowiak was recruited for the French regional ''Nord-Est-Centre'' team, representing the North-east and Centre of France, despite coming from Montluçon in the South-West. He was the only rider available at late notice to replace an original team member, Gilbert Bauvin, who had been promoted to France's main team. Walkowiak escaped on the 7th stage from
Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...
to
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 ...
in a group of 31 riders that won that day by over 18 minutes. The advantage was enough to give him the
yellow jersey The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey (french: maillot jaune ). History Th ...
of the overall race lead. At this stage the race's stars did not consider this 'insignificant' rider to be a risk. Walkowiak lost the jersey to
Gerrit Voorting Gerardus "Gerrit" Petrus Voorting (18 January 1923 – 30 January 2015) was a Dutch road cyclist who was active between 1947 and 1960. As an amateur he won the silver medal in the individual road race at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. In h ...
at the end of stage 10 which took some of the pressure off his shoulders. In the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
Belgium's Jan Adriaensens took the lead. At Aix-en-Provence (stage 15) Dutchman Wout Wagtmans took the jersey, but Walkowiak was still well placed. On the Alpine stage 18 (
Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
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- ...
), the climbing specialist Charly Gaul (
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
), who had lost a lot of time in the flat stages, attacked to try and win the King of the Mountains competition (which he eventually did, beating
Federico Bahamontes Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...
). Gaul's attack split the field; Wagtmans lost 16 minutes and Walkowiak took back the yellow jersey after losing only 8 minutes to Gaul on the day. For the last four stages, Walkowiak defended his lead, reaching the finish at the Parc des Princes on 28 July just over a minute ahead of Gilbert Bauvin. The race was won in a then record speed of 36.268 km/h. Walkowiak's win was poorly received by the professional peloton and the public. "The applause sounded like a lamentation", the organiser,
Jacques Goddet Jacques Goddet (21 June 1905 – 15 December 2000) was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France road cycling race from 1936 to 1986. Goddet was born and died in Paris. His father, Victor Goddet, was co-founder and finance di ...
, wrote in ''
L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor w ...
''. The crowd was disappointed that the race had been won by an unknown and not by the rising star
Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the ye ...
, who had decided against riding. Walkowiak became the second rider to win the Tour without winning on any of the individual day's stages that make up the race. Nevertheless, Jacques Goddet always considered Walkowiak his favourite winner, calling him an all-rounder who had used his legs to win and his head to secure his winning position. France, however, remained unimpressed and for many years, Walkowiak's name passed into the language, so that do something "à la Walko" meant to succeed unexpectedly or without panache. That reaction depressed Walkowiak. He rode the Tour the following year, but slipped from top of the field to almost the bottom. He rode the Tour of Spain, the
Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...
, in 1957 and won a stage, raced a further two years and then retired to run a bar in the area from which he had left, as an unknown, to win the Tour de France. When even his customers teased him about winning the Tour, he lost confidence still more and went back to working on a lathe in the car factory in Montluçon that had employed him as a young man. It took many years to persuade Walkowiak that there was merit in what he had done and, though he lived quietly in south-west France, he did talk about the day he became the unknown who won the world's greatest cycling race. After the death of
Ferdi Kübler Ferdi may refer to: * Ferdi Elmas (born 1985), Turkish footballer * Ferdi Hardal (born 1996), is a Turkish weightlifter * Ferdi Özbeğen (1941-2013), Turkish-Armenian singer and pianist * Ferdi Sabit Soyer (born 1952), former de facto Prime Minist ...
on 29 December 2016, Walkowiak was for a short while the oldest Tour de France winner still alive. Following Walkowiak's death in February 2017, the oldest living Tour winner is
Federico Bahamontes Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...
, who won the Tour in 1959.http://www.ouest-france.fr/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-roger-walkowiak-vainqueur-en-1956-est-decede-4785940 "Tour de France. Roger Walkowiak, vainqueur en 1956, est décédé", 7 February 2017.


Career achievements


Major results

;1951 :3rd Tour de Dordogne ;1952 :2nd Tour de l'Ouest :3rd G.P de Vals-les-Bains ;1953 :2nd Paris-Côte d'Azur ;1954 :3rd Tour de l'Ouest ;1955 :2nd Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ;1956 :1st Overall
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 ...
:1st Stage 13
Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...
:3rd Circuit du Cher ;1957 :1st Stage 8
Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...
;1958 :2nd Boucles du Bas-Limousin :3rd Tour du Sud-Est ;1960 :3rd Tour de l'Aude :3rd Circuit d'Auvergne


Grand Tour results timeline


Tour de France

*1951 – 57th *1953 – 47th *1956 – 1st *1958 – 75th


Bibliography

* Woodland, L., ''Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour De France'', Yellow Jersey Press, London 2003 * ''The Tour De France: The Official Centennial 1903 – 2003'', Weidenfeld Nicolson, London 2004


References


External links


Palmares at memoire-du-cyclisme.net
*
The story of the 1956 tour and the epilogue at pezcyclingnews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walkowiak, Roger 1927 births 2017 deaths French male cyclists Tour de France winners French people of Polish descent People from Montluçon French Vuelta a España stage winners Sportspeople from Allier Cyclists from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes