Riding The Tour De France
The first Tour de France started at Montgeron, south of Paris. By Toulouse he was one of 30 left in the race. With them he left the city in the night and led the race as it passed through his village. Lefèvre reported: "The whole of Grisolles is by the side of the road. They're here to see Dargassies, the champion of the region. When he rode by, every voice shouted in encouragement, in a long avenue of people all the way to Montauban."
Dargassies was three minutes behind the leaders as he came through Montauban and his front fork had broken. As a blacksmith, he had no trouble finding a colleague to make a repair. In Paris he finished 11th, 13 hours behind the winner, Maurice Garin. His prize: 145 francs. When he got home to Grisolles he sent a telegram to Lefèvre: "Got back home today. All my compatriots are crazy, crazier than me. Everybody at the station, music, flowers, speech. Fame! Fame!" He rode the Tour again in 1904 and finished fourth, lifted from 10th by disqualifications of the best riders for cheating. This time he won 1,000 francs.
Read more about this topic: Jean Dargassies
Famous quotes containing the words riding, tour and/or france:
“Eunuchs ran through Hell and met
On every crowded street to stare
Upon great Juan riding by:
Even like these to rail and sweat
Staring upon his sinewy thigh.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Left Washington, September 6, on a tour through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.... Absent nineteen days. Received every where heartily. The country is again one and united! I am very happy to be able to feel that the course taken has turned out so well.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“America was too big to have been discovered all at one time. It would have been better for the graces if it had been discovered in pieces of about the size of France or Germany at a time.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)