[Echoes]

A tribute to all those greats of our sport who withstood at least 90 years.

In bold are those still alive on 8 August 2017

Robert Marchand (26/11/1911) - Hour record holder for 100+ year old (24.1km in 2012; 26.927km in 2014) and 100km record holder for 100+ year old (4h 17'27"), Hour record holder for 105+ year old (22.547km in 2017) winner of a junior race in 1925 but considered to small to turn pro.
  Émile Brichard (20/12/1899-08/07/2004) - Participant at the 1926 Tour of France, was the last surviving Belgian WWI soldier
  Alfred Timothy Goullet (05/04/1891-11/03/1995) - 15 Six-Days winner
Attilio Pavesi (01/10/1910-02/08/2011) - Olympic Champion 1932 in-race and 100km TTT
  Fred Oliveri (??/??/1905-??/??/??) - Former technical director of the French national team. Was 100 years old but the year of his death unknown to me
Pierre Cogan (10/01/1914-05/01/2013) - Winner of the GP des Nations 1937 - dual stage winner at the 1936 Paris-Nice
( ?) Guerrino Camellini (31/10/1918) - 2nd at the 1948 Nice-Puget-Théniers-Nice, Fermo's brother. I can see no report that he passed away.
  Ferdi Kübler (24/07/1919-30/12/2016) -  World Champion 1951, Tour of France winner 1950, Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner 1951 & 1952, Walloon Arrow winner 1951 & 1952, Bordeaux-Paris winner 1953
  Gottfried Weilenmann (29/03/1920) - Winner of the Tour of Switzerland 1949, 2nd at the 1952 Worlds
  Émile Idée (19/07/1920) - Winner of the Grand Prix des Nations (occupied zone version) 1942, Paris-Reims 1942, 2nd at the 1948 Paris-Roubaix
  Giovanni Corrieri (07/02/1920-22/01/2017) - Winner of Sassari-Cagliari 1952, 7 stages at the Tour of Italy and 3 of them at the Tour of France
Albert Bourlon (23/11/1916-16/10/2013) - Stage winner at the 1947 Tour of France after 253km solo breakaway, prisoner of War in Germany, escaping three times, the third one successfully, landed in Romania where he won the Romanian classic Bucarest-Ploesti-Bucarest and several cyclocrosses there in 1944 (source Jean Bobet in "Le vélo à l'heure allemande)
  Sylvain Marcaillou (11/02/1911-28/09/2007) - Winner of Trouville-Paris 1936, 2nd at the 1937 Paris-Nice, 5th at the Tour of France 1937 & 1939
  Cesare Del Cancia (06/05/1915-25/04/2011) - Winner of the 1937 Milan-Sanremo
Fermo Camellini (07/12/1914-27/08/2010) - Winner of the 1948 Walloon Arrow and the 1946 Paris-Nice
  Vito Ortelli (05/07/1921-24/02/2017) - winner of Milan-Turin 1945 & 1946, 2nd of the 1949 Milan-Sanremo
  Émile Masson jr (01/09/1915-02/01/2011) - Winner of the 1939 Paris-Roubaix and winner of the 1946 Bordeaux-Paris after 5 years of captivity in a Nazi camp
Ambrogio Morelli (04/12/1905-10/10/2000) - Winner of the Tour of Piedmont in 1930, 2 stages at the 1935 Tour of France which he finished 2nd, 4th at the 1930 Tour of Italy
  Lomme Driessens (04/05/1912-15/06/2006) - 3rd at a kermess in Vilvoorde 1932, advisor and famous team director of Faema, Flandria, etc.
  Victor Cosson (11/10/1915-18/06/2009) - 3rd at the 1938 Tour of France
  Alfredo Martini (18/02/1921-25/08/2014) - In 1950 Tour of Piedmont winner and 3rd at the Tour of Italy. Team director of several teams until 1974 and then national coach for Italy until 1997
Antonin Rolland (03/09/1924) - 2 stages at the Tour of France (1952 & 1955) and one at the Tour of Italy (1957)
  Bernard Gauthier (22/09/1924) - 4-time winner of Bordeaux-Paris (1951, 1954, 1956, 1957), 4th at the 1955 Tour of Flanders
Jean-Marie Goasmat (28/03/1913-21/01/2006) - GP Nations (Free Zone) in 1942 and stage winner at the 1936 the Tour of France
Reginald Arnold (09/10/1924-23/07/2017) - 16 Six-Days wins, European Champion Madison 1957
  Fermin Trueba (26/08/1914-01/05/2007) - National champion in-line race 1938, Winner of the Mountain classification of the Tour of Spain 1941
   Pino Cerami (28/03/1922-20/09/2014) - Winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Walloon Arrow 1960, Paris-Brussels 1961
  Raphaël Geminiani (12/06/1925) - Winner of the Mountain classification at the Tour of France 1951 and at the Tour of Italy 1952 & 1957, famous Directeur sportif for Ford, Bic, Fiat, among others
Jean Bogaerts (09/02/1925-18/02/2017) - Winner of the first ever Omloop (now called Het Nieuwsblad) 1945 & 1951
  Fiorenzo Magni (07/12/1920-19/10/2012) - Winner of the Tour of Flanders (1949 to 1951) and of the Tour of Italy (1948, 1951, 1955)
  Giordano Cottur (24/05/1914-08/03/2006) - 3rd at the Tour of Italy (1940, 1948 & 1949) winning three stages overall
  Sir Hubert Opperman (29/05/1904-18/04/1996) - Winner of Paris-Brest-Paris 1931 and the Bol d'Or 1928
  Antonio Negrini (28/01/1903-25/09/1994) - Winner of the Tour of Lombardy 1932
  Emilio Croci Torti (06/04/1922-02/07/2013) - Stage winner at the Tour of Switzerland 1952, winner of the Tour of Lake Geneva 1947, loyal teammate to Ferdi Kübler, became a painter after cycling career
  Theofiel "Theo" Middelkamp (23/02/1914-02/05/2005) -  World Champion 1947
  André Dufraisse (30/06/1926) -  Five-time Cyclocross World Champion (1954 to 1958)
Eberardo Pavesi (02/11/1883-11/11/1974) - Winner of the Tour of Emily 1909, 2nd at the Tour of Italy 1910 & 1913 winning 2 stages in each of these editions, famous DS at Legnano from 1921 to 1966
André Mahé (18/11/1919-19/10/2010 - Winner of Paris-Roubaix 1949 and Paris-Tours 1950
  Mario Ricci (13/08/1914-22/02/2005) - Winner of the Tour of Lombardy 1941 & 1945
  Frans Bonduel (26/09/1907-23/02/1998) - Winner of the Tour of Flanders 1930, Paris-Brussels 1934 & 1939, Paris-Tours 1939
  Philémon De Meersman (15/11/1914-02/04/2005) - Winner of the first ever Walloon Arrow in 1936
Roger Decock (20/04/1927) - Winner of the Tour of Flanders 1952 and Paris-Nice 1951
  Cyriel Van Hauwaert (16/12/1883-15/02/1974) - Winner of Paris-Roubaix & Milan-Sanremo 1908 and of Bordeaux-Paris (1907 & 1909)

[Echoes]

Sorry to bump this old thread about old men but today is Émile Idée's 99th birthday (19 July), which should be celebrated. Hopefully he'll hold on for one more year. 

In the OP I mentioned that Émile won the GP des Nations during WWII in the occupied zone (Northern France) in 1942. That must be his greatest victory. He won Paris-Reims in that same year, which was back then a placeholder for Paris-Roubaix, which could not take place because of the "circumstances.

His 2nd place to Rik Van Steenbergen at the 1948 Paris-Roubaix is the achievement that made me discover him. He broke away from a 6-man group on the outskirts of Roubaix but Rik 1 countered. It still is the 5th fastest Paris-Roubaix ever. Some say he could've won but was not incisive enough in his attacks to drop Van Steenbergen. https://pelotonmagazine.com/racing/paris%C2%AD-roubaix-the-fastest-ever/

Émile probably also should have won Paris-Tours in 1947. At a time when finish photos did not exist he was declared 2nd to Brik Schotte while claiming he crossed the line first. It's hard to tell on this picture (Émile Idée on the right and Brik Schotte on the left of the photograph).



He was twice French champion in 1942 and 1947. The second title has a funny story. Actually the winner was Paul Neri, who was an Italian migrant and who had not yet obtained French citizenship. So the race had to be raced again. Émile Idée was probably the best French rider in the 1940's but of course, the war shortened in his career. Pierre Chany compared him to Octave Lapize or Henri Pélissier. He was an amazing puncher, nicknamed "Le Roi de Chevreuse" (as he shone on the hills of the Vallée de Chevreuse between Paris and Versailles).

Then he also got demoralised when he saw good friend Camille Danguillaume fatally crashing.



Émile Idée in 2012 (aged almost 92):



I realise that I forgot about several riders in the OP like Sergio Maggini, former Baracchi Trophy winner who is also aged 99 since Valentine's Day. Several other riders have joined the club as well like Federico Bahamontes, André Darrigade or one I really like a lot Jacques Dupont. 

[Echoes]

Now that's it. On this Valentine's Day, Sergio Maggini hits the three digit. He's 100. I can see now report that he's passed away, so would like to wish a happy birthday to this "young" man. 

Herbie Sykes tweeted this picture four years ago on which he's congratulated by Fiorenzo Magni (191 years between themselves) !!



"Magni with Sergio Maggini. Three top-ten finishes at Milan-Sanremo, alive and well aged 96."

https://twitter.com/herbiesykes/status/700679979281977344

Sergio Maggini also won the Baracchi Trophy in 1947 when it was still an ITT but with an all Italian field, Milan-Turin in 1948, the Tour of Piedmont in 1946 and a stage at the Tour of Italy in 1949.

His younger brother Luciano who passed away in 2012 had a broader palmares winning 5 stages at the Tour of Italy, Milan-Turin, Tour of Emily, etc and finishing at a best place of 5th at Tour of Italy GC.

Hopefully next July, Émile Idée will join Sergio Maggini at the three digit club. 

[Echoes]

Now that's it ! Émile Idée is 100 !!!

https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/vienne/poitiers-emile-idee-a-100-ans-ce-dimanche-en-1942-il-courrait-dans-la-vienne

Émile Idée is 100 This Sunday. In 1942 He Raced in the Vienne Département

Raphaël Geminiani considered himself the last surviving rider from the 1948 Tour of France. That was inaccurate. They are four survivor : Raphaël Geminiani, Émile Idée, Jacques Marinelli (born on 15 December 1925) and Willy Kemp (born on 28 December 1925).


Earlier this year, journalist Léandre Martin of La Nouvelle République was investigating about the 1942 "Circuit of France" (28 sept to 4 oct.), a kind of small scale Tour of France, in war years, which crossed the demarcation line. Jean Bobet wrote about it in "Le vélo à l'heure allemande". This year's Tour of France comes to Poitiers and starts the next day from Chauvigny. During the 1942 Circuit of France, you had a stage Le Mans - Poitiers (won by the great Frans Bonduel) and next Chauvigny - Limoges. Émile came 2nd in that stage which crossed the demarcation line, won by a certain Georges Guillier. In the general classification, Émile finished 9th. The race was won by François Neuville, Walloon rider (my grandfather remembers him very well !!). 

When Léandre Martin realised that Émile Idée was possibly still alive he was looking up the directory for his phone number and much to his surprise, he found him ! There was an Émile Idée in Marolles-en-Brie, in the Val-de-Marne, Paris. That was the Émile Idée who raced that Circuit of France, 78 years before !

Émile Idée did not wish to race that Circuit of France but he was forced to. Actually he was French champion in Lyon earlier that year and his participation was indispensable. So he participated but ... wearing his Alcyon team jersey. He had just spent one month in jail for crossing the demarcation line (one week at the Prison of Fresnes, three of them at the Prison de la Santé).

It was not a nice memory. It was cold and I was not in great shape. I have a book in which you can see my teammate Jules Rossi and I. We were frozen.

Émile Idée made a great career with a victory in the 13th stage of the 1949 Tour of France. He denied being a great climber but he could do well on the hills of the Chevreuse Valley, hence his nickname "King of the Chevreuse" after he won five times the "Critérium national" (it wasn't until 1981 that it became "international" and was raced in some other places).

Émile Idée was a great rival to Fausto Coppi, twice a runner-up to him at the Grand Prix des Nations in 1946 & 1947.

He was the greatest but I beat him behind derny at the Longchamp criterium. I didn't fear many riders on the track.

Émile Idée is still informed with cycling news on ... the Internet !!

A couple of years ago I still cycled a bit. I have a home trainer but I'm not very courageous.

What he misses most is not seeing the old friends anymore such as Jacques Marinelli.



Picture from the 1942 Tour of France. Émile Idée is on the left along with Louis Thiétard. What do these two have in common? They were second to Rik Vansteenbergen in major classics (Thiétard at the 1946 Tour of Flanders and Idée at the 1948 Paris-Roubaix).



And according to this article from L'Équipe, Émile Idée did not like the Tour of France. 

https://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Article/Emile-idee-le-doyen-des-cyclistes-francais-fete-ses-100-ans/1153570

------------------------------------

On another note, Jean Brankart is now aged 90. He was born on 12 July 1930. He has his birthday on the same day as me. He was 2nd to Louison Bobet at the 1955 Tour of France, winning two stages (one in the Pyrenees and the last time trial) and 2nd to Ercole Baldini at the 1958 Tour of Italy, winning the mountain classification. Unfortunately, he had to stop his career at age 30 with heart problems. Probably, that was a good decision though, if you think he's still alive 60 years later !!!




 

[Echoes]

Happy birthday to Jean Forestier. Aged 90 today. Since Roger Decock passed away, he's the oldest Tour of Flanders winner (1956) still alive and he's the old Paris-Roubaix winner still alive.

His Paris-Roubaix win :



He capitalised on the rivalry between Louison Bobet and Fausto Coppi to escape.

Here at the Tour of Flanders



Last year he met up with Raphaël Geminiani (then 94) and Antonin Rolland (then 95)
https://www.lamontagne.fr/perignat-sur-allier-63800/sports/quand-geminiani-et-deux-anciens-compagnons-de-route-ouvrent-la-boite-a-souvenirs_13673927/



Gem would say :

Jean has a palmares. Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders. In those days, Belgians were untouchables. Beating them was a thundering achievement.

No time to translate all of that article but basically he says that Paris-Roubaix was his greatest victory. Initially he was in the 4th echelon but then the peloton was packed together and he took the opportunity to get clear of the rest. That he got a job as a mechanic in 1965 and so he immediately stopped his career. He loved racing but at that time, his job was the most important thing and that's why he did everything to be forgotten. Being an "old legend" is not something that he thought woudl suit him.

Forestier is from Lyon, just like his friend Henry Anglade. His Paris-Roubaix victory was announced on the Gerland football stadium in Lyon during a match against Reims.

He had weakness in the mountains, especially above 2000m.

At the Tour of Flanders, he said he could've dropped 100 times and was the only one of his team ahead. Fortunately, he didn't puncture.

At the time of the interview, 2013, he was still following modern cycling but didn't recognise himself in it anymore. Doping affairs tired him as much as the stereotypical race development. Especially what bores him is the way attackers are always turning back after an attack :

You can snif it when they are behind you

Hopefully, seven years after that article, he can enjoy racing a bit better.

[Echoes]

Robert Marchand is celebrating his 109th birthday but is not doing so well anymore. The lockdown meant that he could no longer go shopping. He was delivered his food at home but eventually no longer enjoyed it. He weakened and fell several times in his own flat. That's how his relatives decided to place him in a retirement home. He's still healthy though and still has a pretty nice sense of humour.

He was born in Amiens on 26 Novembre 1911, shortly before Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole, shortly before Sun Yah Tsen became the first President of Chinese Republic. Titanic sank in April 1912. He was not yet 3 when World War I broke out. German troops occupied Amiens on 31th August. Robert was separated from his parents and sent to a guest family in a farm in Bourbon-L'Archambault, that is the centre of France, the closest town being Montluçon. Marchand claimed that he was already "locked down" in Bourbon-L'Archambault, when the "Spanish flu" broke out. Marchand fondly remembers the Armistice day on 11 November 1918. He was in the field with the cows and all church bells in Bourbon-L'Archambault were ringing. Only in 1919 he could get back to his family.

Marchand has seen two World Wars, three major pandemics (Spanish Flu 1918-1920, Hong Kong Flu 1968 and Covid-19 (since 2019), has seen the first flight over the Atlantic by Charles Lindbergh when aged 15, has seen Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summitting Mount Everest when aged 41 and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the Moon when aged 56. He's survived some major financial crashes like the 1929 and the 2007 crashes, he's seen totalitarian regimes form birth to dissolution: Soviet Union (1917-1991), Fascist Italy (1922-1945), Nazi Germany (1933-1945) . He's a communist himself.

He's seen Henri Pélissier winning the 1919 Paris-Roubaix edition through devastating lands which owed the race its nickname "Hell of the North". He's seen Alfredo Binda becoming the first ever World Champion road race. He was alive when Gino Bartali was born and saw him pass away. Same for Fausto Coppi.

He's seen the first ever live broadcast on television by John Logie Baird in 1926, he's seen Sir Alexander Fleming discovering penicillin in 1928, the first personal computer by Pier Giorgio Perotto in 1964, the first cell phone invented by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper in 1973, the start of World Wide Web in 1990, the first iphone in 2007, the start of Whatsapp in 2009.


Robert Marchand was an accomplished gymnast and French champion human pyramid in 1924. Then he bought his first bike in 1925 at age 13 and won his first race in Claye-Souilly.

In 1929, Marchand raced for ES Drancy and was spotted by the Levallois Cycling Club manager who said he raced like an idiot and was too short anyway (152 cm). Marchand was so upset that he got rid of his equipment and bike.

Between 1932 and 1936 Marchand was a firefighter in Paris but was force to leave the fire department for insubordination.

In 1937, he resumed cycling a little bit.

In 1938, he was again mobilised as a firefighter as a preparation for the war that was soon to come. He was demobilised in 1943.

Marchand was married in 1939 but his wife passed away in 1943. 

Marchand claimed he tried to emigrate to Australia after the war but all ports were still closed as Japan was still a threat. That's how he went to Venezuela where he worked in a sugar cane plantation, among other jobs. He saw a military coup in 1950, when Delgado Chalbaud was assassinated and Perez Jimenez became a new dictator. Communist Marchand is sure that the US backed Perez Jimenez.

Marchand was back to France in 1953 before leaving to Canada in 1957 where he worked as a lumberman but he found it too hard and was back to France in 1960, works as a wine trader and a market gardener.

Marchand bought a new bike in 1978 and seriously resumed cycling, training hard (aged 66). His mother passed away in 1979.
In 1985, at age 73, he raced Bordeaux-Paris as a cyclotourist for the first time. In 1988, the year of the last pro edition of the race, he covered Bordeaux-Paris in 34h42'. All in all he rode 8 Bordeaux-Paris, 4 Paris-Roubaix, 3 Marmotte (race in the Alpes over the Galibier and Alpe d'Huez). In 1992, he rode from Paris to Moscow at age 80.

In 1999, he did his first Ardéchoise, a cyclosporting stage race. He would race it 11 times. In 2011, he crashed on the race with the organiser Gérard Mistler, trying to avoid a lorry that was going backward. He's slightly injured. For his 100th birthday, a climb is renamed after him the Col Robert Marchand (6,8 km at 5,7% av.gr. and 9,2 km at 4,1%) which he climbed at the Ardéchoise.



In 2000, Marchand retires from active alive at age 88.

On 17th February 2012, Robert Marchand set the first 100+ hour record : 24.1 km. He's backed by his two coaches Robert Mistler and Magali Humbert, former pro rider.

On 28th September 2012, he set the first 100 km record in Lyon for 100+ : 4h 17'27" (23 kmh).

On 31st January 2014, he broke his own Hour record in Saint-Quentin-en Yveline : 26.927 km.

Véronique Billat is a physiologist who also accompanied Robert Marchand. She claims that even Eddy Merckx - 33 years younger - can no longeer keep his wheel. She claims he's got the capacities of a 50-year-old man.

On 26th November 2014, he climbed the climb that is named after him (the 9km side) in 56 minutes.

On 4th January 2017, he covered 22,547 km in an hour, setting the record in the 105+ category. Still in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

On 9th January 2018, his doctor advise him to retire from cycling but he still resumes every now and then. On 11 February 2018, he again covers 4,000 km still in Saint-Quentin-en-Yveline. On 26 October 2018, Marchand came back once again to Saint-Quentin for a one-hour tour on the velodrome, but this performance was not a record to set and is not sanctioned by the UCI.

On his 107th birthday, Marchand covers 20 km in the Ardèche between Privas and Le Pouzin.

He lived in a small studio appartment (must be 30 sq meters or something) until recently when brought to a retirement home because of the pandemic. He's only got a 900€/month retirement pension.

[Cordi]

Echoes, I'm amazed in every thread of yours that I read, that you're like a pot full of cycling wisdom. Classy name too, love that Pink Floyd track!

[Mellow Velo]

 I was at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome in 2016 when, during the European Championships, he made an appearance, getting an award and cycling a few laps of the track.

[Echoes]

Gilbert Desmet celebrated his 90th birthday, last Tuesday (3 February).

He's been the older Paris-Tours winner (1958) since Jacques Dupont passed away in 2019 and the oldest winner of the Walloon Arrow 1964 since Ferdi Kübler passed away (2016). Henri De Wolf won the race two years earlier and is still alive but he's a bit younger (born in 1936). He won 100 races.

He ought not to be confused with Gilbert De Smet (1936-1987) who was racing at the same period as him but whose name is slightly different. Sometimes they were referred to as Gilbert Desmet I and Gilbert Desmet II just like the Lothar Meister I (who has just turned 90 as well  ) and Lothar Meister II (who passed away in 2019 at age 91).




He's been made a citizen of honour in his hometown of Lichtervelde (situated in West Flanders between Roeselaere and Bruges), on this birthday. Still looking fit! (it seems he's still swimming !) But the celebration was held in small circle due to the pandemic. The sport centre of Lichtervelde is now also renamed after him. 

The day before his Arrow win, Gilbert Desmet only ate a sandwich with jam as breakfast and as lunch and diner, buttermilk pudding. His wife had prepared pink salmon for him but he refused. He knew his body very well and knew that he raced better on an empty stomach. He then went on drop Jan Janssen and Peter Post in the final climb.
https://kw.be/sport/wielrennen/west-vlaamse-glorien-schreven-mee-aan-de-geschiedenis-van-het-wielrennen/

Gilbert Desmet was also in the midst of a controversy at the 1963 Worlds as he was one of the riders who disputed Van Looy's leadership in the Belgian team. Desmet was one of Van Looy's leadout men but deliberately cut his effort earlier than planned, leaving Rik Van Looy in the wind too early, which benefitted Benoni Beheyt. Beheyt and Desmet both raced for Wiel's Groene Leeuw and Beheyt married Desmet's cousin.

Gilbert Desmet married Maria Devos in 1954 and five years later, they raised a café called "Parijs-Tours" after the classic that he had just won and till then his greatest win. Maria was then the head of it as Gilbert was still an active rider. He kept it open until 1991. Gilbert and Maria will hopefully celebrate their 67 wedding anniversary this year.



That's for speakers of Dutch, no time for a whole translation but it's very funny. 

Just wanted to share with you the wishes from Victor Campenaerts at 12.30 and Jonas Ryckaert at 12.55 :

Yo Gilbert ! I am Victor Campenaerts. Hour record holder ! I'm sending you a message for your 90th birthday. That's very rare. Just like your impressive palmares. Everybody would sign for it straight. Enjoy your birthday ! Cheers, bye bye.

Hello Gilbert. First and foremost a happy birthday. Judging from your age, cycling is a very healthy sport. We have two things in common : the love for the sport of cycling and Lichtervelde, since my girlfriend was born and raised there. With the love for the sport and for Lichtervelde, I hope that I can also reach age 90 myself. Enjoy your birthday and be healthy !

Then Jelle Wallays also shared his wishes but I did not understand anything.  Also Tim Declercq and Yves Lampaert !

Former riders like José De Cauwer, Willy Van Neste, Freddy Maertens, Patrick Lefevere, Jean-Baptiste Claes, Yvo Molenaers. Claes hopes that he becomes 100.  Molenaers is confident that they will survive the pandemic.