Hippolyte Aucouturier

Hippolyte Aucouturier (17 October 1876 – 22 April 1944) whom the Tour organiser, Henri Desgrange, referred to in L'Auto as Le Terrible. tested the group repeatedly before Doullens. He entered the velodrome at Roubaix alongside Claude Chapperon, 50 metres ahead of the others.

Tradition had it that riders changed bikes at the entrance to the stadium, taking specialist track bikes to ride the three laps of the velodrome to the finish. Bikes waited for all the remaining riders and Chapperon mistakenly took Trousselier's machine. In the time it took him to realise his error and change to his own bicycle, Aucouturier passed him and took a 100m lead to win. The paper published their picture and that of the German, Joseph Fischer on its front page on 1 July 1903.

The historian Pierre Chany, wrote: The big athlete in his blue and red jersey collapsed on a chair. He was crying and tears ran down the pink creases in his dusty face.

"I've never felt like this before. My will is strong [La tête est bonne], my legs are good, but I'm not making progress. My stomach is in a bad state."

"Your stomach?", asked Géo Lefèvre.

"Yes. It's finished, finished", Aucouturier replied.

"Allons! Allons! Eat and you'll feel better", Géo Lefèvre said.

He ate, he stood up, clenched his hands and slowly took hold of his machine. Poor beaten champion. The robust Hippolyte brought to ground by stomach pain, abandoned at La Palisse, 135km from the finish.

Géo Lefèvre insisted the cause was food poisoning.

La Palisse, 2 July. Aucouturier has abandoned the race at La Palisse, telling me he could no longer continue the battle, that he had abominable stomach cramp caused by bad food. I followed Garin and Pagie from Nevers station to La Palisse, in other words all through the night... I saw Aucouturier demoralised at Moulins and he dropped out at La Palisse and he is now, it seems, in bed in his hotel, in a feverish sleep. The poor man has been beaten by his stomach... Lack of care has killed him. I'd foreseen Aucouturier's weakening [effondrement], but I thought it would have happened a lot further on. Brave Aucouturier! Your dream of glory has flown. Prepare your revenge!

The rules allowed a rider who dropped out to start again next morning, but to compete for daily victories and not for the overall result. Aucouturier won the second stage, 374 km from Lyon to Marseille in 14h 28m, and the following stage from Marseille to Toulouse, 423 km in 13h 19m. He left the race for good the following day, racing to Bordeaux, when he crashed in Moissac.

Aucouturier reached Paris, but not by bike. Lefèvre met him there: His crash... while not serious, troubles him a lot. He has one leg wrapped in a thick bandage and the poor boy limps markedly. His unhappiness at not having been able to ride the race right to the end, to have abandoned it on the first stage, is without limit. A victory in the first Tour de France wouldn't have crowned his sporting career, because he still has long years in front of him, but it would have been his greatest glory. Console yourself, brave Aucouturier. Perhaps you will win the second Tour de France?

1904 Paris–Roubaix The Paris–Roubaix of 1904 was the first to be run without pacers. Until then, riders had been sheltered by tandems of two and three riders. Lepoutre, Chapperon, Wattelier, Pagie and Pothier. The nine riders came into town and the moment they saw the Café Potard, a sprint broke out. Machines were thrown to the ground. Everyone rushed to be first to sign the register and to get away quickly. Tussles broke out over the pen-holder which sometimes disappeared, more or less intentionally, during the torment.

1905 Tour de France In 1905 he won the stage from Nancy to Besançon (299 km in 10h 11m), from Grenoble to Toulon (348 km in 13h 19m), and Bordeaux to La Rochelle (247 km in 8h 25m). He came second overall.

Major results

1901 1st, Brussels–Roubaix 2nd, Bordeaux–Paris 3rd, Paris–Brest–Paris 1903 1st, Paris–Roubaix 1st, Bordeaux–Paris Tour de France 1st, Stage 2, Marseille 1st, Stage 3, Toulouse 2nd, Paris–Valenciennes 1904 1st, Paris–Roubaix 1905 1st, Bordeaux–Paris 2nd, Overall, Tour de France 1st, Stage 2, Besançon 1st, Stage 4, Toulon 1st, Stage 8, La Rochelle 3rd, Stage 11, Paris