Maurice Garin

Personal information
Full name	Maurice-François Garin
Nickname	Le petit ramoneur The Little Chimney-sweep
Date of birth	March 3, 1871(1871-03-03)
Date of death	February 19, 1957 (aged 85)
Country	Italy 1871–1892  France 1892–1957
Height	1m 62
Weight	60kg
Team information
Discipline	Road and track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Distance rider
Amateur team(s)1
1892	Maubeuge cycling club
Professional team(s)1
1893–1904 1911	La Française La Française
Major wins
1893 — Dinant-Namur-Dinant 1893 — 800km in Paris 1894 — 24 hours of Liege 1894 — Paris-Saint-Malo 1895 — Hour record, 'Paced' 1895 — World record 500km, 'Paced' 1895 — 24hr Arts libéraux de Paris 1895 — Guingamp-Morlaix-Guingamp 1896 — Paris-Le Mans 1896 — Paris-Mons 1896 — Liège-Thuin 1897 — Paris-Roubaix 1897 — Paris-Royan 1897 — Paris-Cabourg 1897 — Tourcoing-Béthune-Tourcoing 1898 — Paris-Roubaix 1898 — Tourcoing-Béthune-Tourcoing 1898 — Valenciennes-Nouvion-Valenciennes 1898 — Douai-Doullens-Douai 1898 — 50km Ostend (vélodrome) 1901 — Paris-Brest-Paris 1902 — Bordeaux-Paris 1903 — Tour de France 1904 — (Tour de France — Finished 1st — but subsequently disqualified)
Infobox last updated on:
December, 2008 1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Maurice-Francois Garin^[1] (Arvier, Aosta Valley, Italy, 3 March 1871, died Lens (or Haute-Savoie^[2]), France, 19 February 1957^[3]) was a road bicycle racer best known for winning the 1903 Tour de France — the first running of the event. He was stripped of his victory in the second Tour in 1904 because, amongst myriad stories of cheating, he and 8 others were believed to have, ridden in or been pulled by cars, and used the railways.^[4][5][6]

[edit] Origins

Arvier, in Italy, the birthplace of Maurice Garin

Garin was born the son of Maurice Clément Garin and Maria Teresa Ozello in the Aosta Valley in north-west Italy, close to the French border. The name Garin was the most common in the village, which was French-speaking,^[7] belonging to five of the seven families.^[8] They married in 1864 when he was a 36-year-old labourer and she a 19-year-old employee of the town's hotel.^[9] They had four daughters and five sons, of whom two were twins. Maurice was the first son. The cottage in which he was born, now a ruin, still exists.^[8]

In 1885 the family left Arvier to work on the other side of the Alps. The wish for a better life is a likely explanation but does not suggest why they travelled so far, almost to the Belgian border.^{[n 1]} Speculation surrounds the move, possibly because it was in secret. To emigrate needed authority and mayors had been told by the sub-prefect of Aoste to refuse or at least make permission difficult.^[9] If the family travelled separately, it would explain the legend that Maurice, then 14, was exchanged for a round of cheese:^[8] it could have been payment to a guide to lead him clandestinely over the mountains or payment in return for custody of the son.

Garin worked as a chimney sweep, which again fits having been led individually across the mountains. Among the sub-prefect's reasons for stopping emigration was concern about "avid speculators who, claiming to teach a trade to young children, especially that of chimney sweep, set out to seduce their parents with promises and false hopes [to] get their children... to get a large profit from them by exploiting their fatigue, their misery and sometimes even their life.".^[9]

Garin moved to France. By 15 he was living in Reims as a chimney sweep^[8][9] He moved to Charleroi in Belgium but by 1889 he was back in France, at Maubeuge. If the family had travelled together, it had by then dispersed. The second son, Joseph-Isidore, died 100 km north-east of Paris in 1889. The father had returned to Arvier, where he died shortly afterwards. His brothers François and César seemed to have stayed in northern France because, with Maurice, they opened a cycle shop in the lower end of the boulevard de Paris^[7] in Roubaix in 1895.

Garin moved to Lens in 1902 and lived there the rest of his life.^[8][9] He bought his first bicycle for 405 francs (approx €1,400 at 2008 values^[10]), twice what a forge worker would earn in a week of 12-hour days, in 1889.^[9] Racing did not interest him but he did ride round the town fast enough to be called a madman — le fou.^[9]

[edit] Amateur racing

Garin took French nationality when he was 21, in 1892.^[3][8] He began racing in northern France in the same year when the secretary of the cycling club at Maubeuge persuaded him to enter a regional race, Maubeuge-Hirson-Maubeuge, over 200 km. Garin finished fifth despite suffering from the sun^[9] and decided to ride more.

His first win was in 1893, in Namur-Dinant-Givet in Belgium. He had sold his first bike and bought a lighter one — still 16 kg but with pneumatic tyres — for 850 old French francs (approx €3,000 at 2008 values)^[10] The race was over 102 km. He was leading by Dinant when he punctured. Spotting a soigneur waiting with a spare bike for a rival, Garin rested his own against the wall of a bridge, grabbed the soigneur's spare bike and rode off. At the finish, winning with 10 minutes over the field, he gave back the bike and recovered his own next day where he had left it.

[edit] Professional racing

Garin became a professional by chance. He planned to ride a race at Avesnes-sur-Helpes, 25 km from where he lived. He arrived to find it was only for professionals. Not allowed to compete, he waited until the riders had left, raced after them and passed them all. He fell off twice but finished ahead of the racers. The crowd was enthusiastic but the organisers less so. They refused to pay him the 150 francs (approx €525 at 2008 values)^[10] due to the real winner, so spectators raised 300 francs (approx €1,050 at 2008 values)^[10] among themselves. Garin became a professional.

His first true professional win was in a 24-hour race in Paris in 1893^{[n 2]} It was held on the Champ de Mars, site of the Eiffel Tower. The riders competed, as was the custom, behind a succession of pacers. The event took place in February and the cold drove out riders one after the other. Garin rode 701 km in 24 hours, beating the only other rider to finish by 49 km. Garin said he had survived on ^[9]

In 1894 he won a 24-hour race in Liège, Belgium, and the following year set an hour record for cycling behind pacers.

1901 Advertisement with Paris-Brest-Paris winner Maurice Garin for "La Française"

The first Paris-Roubaix was in 1896; Garin came third, 15 minutes behind Josef Fischer. He would have come second had he not been knocked over by a crash between two tandems, one of them ridden by his pacers. Garin "finished exhausted and Dr Butrille was obliged to attend the man who had been run over by two machines," said the race historian, Pascal Sergent.^[11]

In 1897 he won Paris-Roubaix, beating the Dutchman Mathieu Cordang in the last two kilometres of the velodrome at Roubaix.^{[n 3]} Sergent said:

As the two champions appeared they were greeted by a frenzy of excitement and everyone was on their feet to acclaim the two heroes. It was difficult to recognise them. Garin was first, followed by the mud-soaked figure of Cordang. Suddenly, to the stupefaction of everyone, Cordang slipped and fell on the velodrome's cement surface. Garin could not believe his luck. By the time Cordang was back on his bike, he had lost 100 metres. There remained six laps to cover. Two miserable kilometres in which to catch Garin. The crowd held its breath as they watched the incredible pursuit match. The bell rang out. One lap, there remained one lap. 333 metres for Garin, who had a lead of 30 metres on the Batave.

A classic victory was within his grasp but he could almost feel his adversary's breath on his neck. Somehow Garin held on to his lead of two metres, two little metres for a legendary victory. The stands exploded and the ovation united the two men. Garin exulted under the cheers of the crowd. Cordang cried bitter tears of disappointment.^[11]

In 1898 he won Paris-Roubaix again, this time by 20 minutes, and in 1901 he won the second edition of Paris-Brest-Paris, finishing almost two hours ahead of Gaston Rivierre after covering 1,208 km in 52h 11m 1s.^[12] He started by chasing another Frenchman, Lucien Lesna, who rode the first 600 km at 28kmh and had two hours' lead at Brest. At Rennes he stopped for a bath to recover from the tiredness, filth and heat, then found he could not get racing again into the headwind. Garin passed him at Mayenne and Lesna gave up shortly afterwards with 200 km to go. Garin finished 19h 11m better than Charles Terront ten years earlier.^[13]

In 1902 Garin won Bordeaux-Paris, a race of 500 km from south-west France.

[edit] Tour de France

[edit] 1903 Tour de France

Garin with his masseur and son (and cigarette) in 1903.

The Tour de France began to promote a new daily sports newspaper, L'Auto ahead of the largest paper in France, Le Vélo^[14], which sold 80,000 copies a day.^[15] Some of Le Vélo 's advertisers had disagreed with the paper's support for Alfred Dreyfus, a soldier found guilty of selling secrets to the Germans but eventually acquitted after being sent to Devil's Island.^[16] The Tour was to promote their new rival paper, L'Auto.

The editor, Henri Desgrange, planned a five-week race from 31 May to 5 July. This proved too daunting and only 15 entered. Desgrange cut the length to 19 days and offered a daily allowance

The race began at the Au Reveil Matin café at a crossroads in Montgeron, south of Paris, and ended in Ville-d'Avray, another suburb, having circuited France in six days of racing over 2,428 km. One stage, between Nantes and Paris, was 471 km. Sixty riders started at an entry fee of 10 francs — €87.50 today with inflation ^[17] — and 21 finished. Garin won 3,000 francs^[18] (approx €10,500 at 2008 values)^[10] for finishing first in 94h 33m 14s, or 6,125 francs (approx €21,500 at 2008 values)^[10] in all with his other prizes.^[19] Lucien Pothier was second at 2h 49m 21s, Fernand Augereau third at 4h 29m 24s.

Pierre Chany wrote:

In the town which adopted Maurice Garin, at Lens, an immense procession was organised with the participation of all the notables of the region. Before leaving Paris on Monday evening, the day after the race finished, the winner paid a visit, out of politeness, to Henri Desgrange and, in a gesture without precedent, pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. It was an article 'in order to simplify the interview', he explained! There he gave his feelings during the race, gave his opinion on the formula by which the race was run, gave a word of congratulation to his rivals.^[20]

Garin's written note said:

[edit] 1904 Tour de France

Garin also won the 1904 Tour de France, by a small margin over Lucien Pothier, but was subsequently stripped of the title which was awarded to Henri Cornet. The race aroused a passion among spectators, who felled trees to hold back rivals and beat up others at night outside St-Étienne.^[6] Garin was one of the mob's victims. Pierre Chany wrote:

In the climb of the col de la République, leaving St-Étienne, supporters of the regional rider, Faure, assault the Italian, Gerbi. He is thrown to the ground, beaten like plaster. He escapes with a broken finger...^[6]

... 'A bunch of fanatics wielded sticks and shouted insults, setting on the other riders: Maurice and César Garin got a succession of blows, the older brother [Maurice] was hit in the face with a stone. Soon there was general mayhem: "Up with Faure! Down with Garin! Kill them!" they were shouting. Finally cars arrived and the riders could get going thanks to pistol shots. The aggressors disappeared into the night.'^[6]

Garin said:

Misbehaviour was rife too between riders and nine were thrown out during the race for, among other things, riding in or being pulled by cars.^[5] There were claims, too, that the organisers had allowed Garin to break rules — at one stage being given food where it was not permitted by its chief official — because his sponsor, La Française, had a financial stake in the race.^[24]

The French cycling union, the Union Vélocipédique Française, heard from dozens of competitors and witnesses and in December disqualified all the stage winners and the first four finishers: Garin, Pothier, César Garin, and Hippolyte Aucouturier.^[25] The UVF did not say precisely what had happened^[26] and the details were lost when Tour archives were transported south in 1940 to avoid the German invasion and never seen again. Stories spread of riders spreading tacks on the road to delay rivals with punctures, of riders being poisoned by each other or by rival fans. Lucien Petit-Breton said he complained to an official that he had seen a rival hanging on to a motorcycle, only to have the cheating rider pull out a revolver.^[27]

Tales were also said to include 'Garin taking a train', a claim confirmed by a cemetery attendant looking after his grave who, as a boy, heard Garin tell his stories as an old man.^[4] In December 1904 Garin was stripped of his title and banned for two years.^[4]

[edit] Retirement

Garin retired from cycling and ran his garage in Lens until his death. The garage is still there, although wholly changed from Garin's era. An unnamed writer recalled:

I remember Maurice Garin well. I met him and talked to him almost every day because we lived in the same area, 200m from each other, at Lens. Le Père Garin, as my father and grandfather called him^{[n 5]} used to bring out a chair in fine weather and sit in the doorway of the little office of the service station he owned at 116 rue de Lille in Lens, under the sign for Antar fuel and oil. My barber was in the neighbouring house and I used to go there once a month to have a crew cut, [couper en brosse] which was the fashion in those days. My friends and I were aged seven to ten and on our one-speed bikes we used to pin numbers on our back... and we never missed riding past Maurice Garin in a tight group so that he would see. It's strange that nobody thought to take a picture of me, the little kid, alongside the first great champion of the biggest race in the world. But life's like that.^[28]

Maurice Garin was far from an adulated hero, even less a rich champion (he spent his retirement running the service station), and I don't remember any special celebration in his honour. Television crews didn't come from home and abroad to interview him. [They showed no interest] until he died in 1957. And the rue de Lille, where he lived, still hasn't been renamed the rue Maurice Garin.^[28]

Garin kept his interest in cycling. He returned just once to his birthplace, in 1949, to see the Tour pass through. He began a professional team under his name after the second world war. The Dutchman Piet van Est won Bordeaux-Paris in 1950 and 1952 in the team's red and white jersey. On the Tour's 50th anniversary in 1953, Garin was among several old stars waiting at the finish as part of a celebration.

He is buried in a family grave with his wife Desirée. The inscription on the headstone says — Familles Brot, Garin et Darnet. Desirée Maille (1890-1952), — Épouse de Maurice Garin (1871–1957) Mme Vve Marie Brot, (1863–1948) Henri Darnet (1905–1970) Denise Darnet (1904–1982) —'Cimetière Est' (section F3), Sallaumines, near Lens. [4]

[edit] Death and commemoration

In 1933 the "Stade Vélodrome Maurice Garin" was built in Lens, and named in his honour.^{[2][n 6]}

In 1938 Garin was awarded the gold medal of Physical Education by the Minister of Sport for France, Leo Lagrange.^[1]

Garin is remembered as a short, determined man, even authoritarian. As an old man he became confused. His biographer, Franco Cuaz, said:

... He [Garin] wandered through Lens asking "Where is the control? Where is the control?" as his mind brought back images of the hotels where riders signed check sheets in the first Tours.^[9][21]

... He regularly ended up at the town's police station, from where he was escorted back home. Often he was far from home, without knowing where he was or where he was going.^[8][21]

In 2003 a street was named after him in Maubeuge on the 100th anniversary of his 1903 win in the Tour de France.

In 2004 Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix placed a cobblestone on his grave, a traditional trophy for winners of the Paris-Roubaix race.^[7]

In Arvier, the village in Italy where he was born, there is a monument in his honour. His biographer, Franco Cuaz, said:

[edit] Palmarès

[edit] Grand Tour General Classfication results timeline

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• lepays.net Garin biography (French)
• Maurice Garin profile at the Cycling Website

v • d • e Winners of the general classification in the Tour de France 1903 Maurice Garin • 1904 Henri Cornet • 1905 Louis Trousselier • 1906 René Pottier • 1907-1908 Lucien Petit-Breton • 1909 François Faber • 1910 Octave Lapize • 1911 Gustave Garrigou • 1912 Odile Defraye • 1913–14 Philippe Thys • 1915–18 World War I • 1919 Firmin Lambot • 1920 Philippe Thys • 1921 Léon Scieur • 1922 Firmin Lambot • 1923 Henri Pélissier • 1924–25 Ottavio Bottecchia • 1926 Lucien Buysse • 1927–28 Nicolas Frantz • 1929 Maurice De Waele • 1930 André Leducq • 1931 Antonin Magne • 1932 André Leducq • 1933 Georges Speicher • 1934 Antonin Magne • 1935 Romain Maes • 1936 Sylvère Maes • 1937 Roger Lapébie • 1938 Gino Bartali • 1939 Sylvère Maes • 1940–46 World War II • 1947 Jean Robic • 1948 Gino Bartali • 1949 Fausto Coppi • 1950 Ferdinand Kübler • 1951 Hugo Koblet • 1952 Fausto Coppi • 1953–55 Louison Bobet • 1956 Roger Walkowiak • 1957 Jacques Anquetil • 1958 Charly Gaul • 1959 Federico Bahamontes • 1960 Gastone Nencini • 1961–64 Jacques Anquetil • 1965 Felice Gimondi • 1966 Lucien Aimar • 1967 Roger Pingeon • 1968 Jan Janssen • 1969–72 Eddy Merckx • 1973 Luis Ocaña • 1974 Eddy Merckx • 1975 Bernard Thévenet • 1976 Lucien Van Impe • 1977 Bernard Thévenet • 1978–79 Bernard Hinault • 1980 Joop Zoetemelk • 1981–82 Bernard Hinault • 1983–84 Laurent Fignon • 1985 Bernard Hinault • 1986 Greg LeMond • 1987 Stephen Roche • 1988 Pedro Delgado • 1989–90 Greg LeMond • 1991–95 Miguel Indurain • 1996 Bjarne Riis • 1997 Jan Ullrich • 1998 Marco Pantani • 1999–2005 Lance Armstrong • 2006 Óscar Pereiro • 2007 Alberto Contador • 2008 Carlos Sastre • 2009 Alberto Contador