Maurice Brocco

Maurice Brocco (28 January 1883 – 26 June 1965) was a French professional road bicycle racer between 1906 and 1927. He was born into a family of Swiss-Italian immigrants. In 1911 he won a stage in the Tour de France. He participated six times in the Tour de France, but finished the race only once. In his later career he was successful in six-day races.

In the 1911 Tour de France, Brocco was disqualified because he helped François Faber, which was not allowed. Brocco appealed, he was allowed to start the next stage. Brocco won that stage, and his disqualification was completed after the stage.

Racing career Brocco first became prominent as a rider in 1907 when he won the Paris-Dieppe race as an amateur. He turned professional the following year (1908) and rode the Tour de France for the first time, abandoning the race on the ninth stage. 1910 saw Brocco take his best win of his road racing career when he triumphed in Paris–Brussels. Brocco initially finished the race in fourth place but the first three riders, including Octave Lapize who had crossed the line first, were disqualified for not observing a mid race neutralised section, leaving Brocco to be declared the winner. Throughout his career Brocco had a good record in the French National road cycling championships, he never won the race but finished 2nd on two occasions (1910 & 1913) and third on four occasions (1908, 1914, 1919 & 1920). The Giro di Lombardia was another race in which Brocco excelled, finishing 5th in 1911, 3rd in 1912 and 2nd in 1913. Brocco lost some of his best years as a rider to World War I but he did return to racing in 1919 as a 34-year-old and found some success in Six-day racing winning the Six Days Of New York on three occasions, in 1920 with Willy Coburn, in 1921 with Alfred Goullet and in 1924 with Marcel Buysse. He also won the Six Days Of Chicago in 1923 partnered by Oscar Egg.

Origin of 'domestique' A domestique in cycling is a rider employed to sacrifice his own chances for those of his leader. That is an accepted role today but was against the rules in the first decades of the Tour de France, when riders had to ride for themselves and not help or be helped by others. The word was first used in cycling as an insult for Brocco, in 1911.

Brocco's chances ended when he lost time on the day to Chamonix. Unable to win, he next day offered his services to other riders, for which he had a reputation

"He deserves his punishment," Desgrange wrote. "Immediate disqualification." Domestiques had long been accepted in other races. Desgrange believed the Tour should be a race of individuals and fought repeatedly with the sponsors, bicycle factories, who saw it otherwise. Desgrange got rid of the factories' influence only by reorganising the Tour for national teams in 1930, with the effect that he thereby acknowledged teamwork and therefore domestiques.

Major results

1908 Hervé - Tienen - Hervé Rennes - Brest 1910 Paris–Brussels 1911 Tour de France: Winner stage 10 1914 Paris-Nancy 1920 Six days of New York 1921 Six days of New York 1923 Six days of Chicago 1924 Six days of New York