Honoré Barthélémy (25 September 1891 – 12 May 1964) was a French

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 com ...

who took part and finished fifth overall and won four stages in the 1919 Tour de France. He was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. In 1920, says the ''Yellow Jersey Guide to the Tour de France'', he crashed on the stage to

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

and only slowly got back on his bike, dazed and bloody. He could not bend his back and had to turn his handlebars upside down to be able to continue. As his dizziness lessened, he realised that what he thought was concussion was blindness. A flint had gone into an eye. Despite that, he finished not only that day but the Tour, coming eighth despite half-blindness, a broken shoulder and a dislocated wrist. He was carried in triumph at the finish. Nor did he stop racing when he was fitted with a glass eye. Dusty roads made it uncomfortable and he often took it out. The socket would then become infected and he would plug it with cotton. "It makes no difference to my sight but it's more comfortable," he said. The glass eye often fell out and in 1924 he had to get down on his knees on the finish line to see where it had gone. He grumbled that he spent more on replacement eyes than he earned in prizes. At the 1921 Tour de France, he finished third overall and won stage 12. He last rode the Tour de France in 1927, abandoning on stage 9. He twice won the marathon Bol d'Or track race in 1925 and 1927.

Major results

;1919 : 3rd, Paris–Roubaix : 5th, Overall,

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

:: 1st, Stage 6 :: 1st, Stage 9 :: 1st, Stage 10 :: 1st, Stage 11 ;1920 : 2nd,

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 ...

: 8th, Overall,

;1921 : 1st Paris-St Etienne : 1st, Stage 2 : 3rd, Overall,

:: 1st, Stage 12 ;1924 : 2 stage wins Tour du Sud-Est ;1925 : 1st Bol d'Or ;1927 : 1st Bol d'Or

External links

Barthélémy at memoire-du-cyclisme.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barthelemy, Honore French male cyclists 1891 births 1964 deaths French Tour de France stage winners Cyclists from Paris 20th-century French sportsmen