Jacques Anquetil

Memorial at Châteaufort

Jacques Anquetil (pronounced /ʒak ɑ̃k.til/; Mont-Saint -Aignan, Seine-Maritime, January 8, 1934 – Rouen, November 18, 1987) was a French cyclist who won eight Grand Tours, all of them between 1957 and 1964.

Known by the nicknames Maître Jacques, Monsieur Crono and L'Enfant Roi, he was the first cyclist to win five times the Tour. He also achieved two Giros and one Vuelta, being in turn the first to win in the three Grand Tours, in which he achieved a total of 23 stage victories (16 stages in the Tour, six stages in the Giro and one stage in the Return).

As a specialist in time trial stages, he broke the world hour record in 1956, and won the Nations Grand Prix nine times.

Biography

The son of a bricklayer and a housewife, Anquetil gave up his trade as a turner to dedicate himself entirely to cycling in 1952, the year in which he won the Normandy and French Championships in the amateur category, as well as the bronze medal in the team road event at the Helsinki Olympic Games. In 1953 he became a semi-professional cyclist, winning the Grand Prix of Nations, a title he won nine times, from 1953 to 1958, and in 1961, 1965 and 1966.

In 1956 he broke the hourly record with a mark of 46,159 km. He took it from Fausto Coppi who had held the record for 14 years. In that same year he was champion of France in the pursuit and came 2nd in the Track Cycling World Championships.

In 1957, at age 23, he won his first Tour de France in what was his racing debut. In said edition he obtained a 15-minute lead and won four stages. His skill in time trial stages earned him the nickname Monsieur Chrono.

After three years without victories in the Tour, he won it again in 1961 and without interruption until 1964. He was the first cyclist to win it five times and four consecutive times. By winning the Vuelta a España in 1963 he became the first rider to win all three major rounds.

He failed to win the Road Cycling World Championships, although he did finish in the top ten six times. Second place in 1966 was the closest he came to winning the rainbow jersey.

After leaving competition in 1969, he continued to be associated with cycling as a race organizer and radio and television commentator. He was also manager of the French national team.

In 1986 he participated in the Paris-Dakar rally with a Mercedes although he did not manage to finish and in January 1987 he participated again in the Rally with a Land Rover, managing to finish in 38th place.

He died in 1987 as a result of stomach cancer that had been diagnosed five months earlier.

Tour Dominator

Château Anquetil

Anquetil and Poulidor at the Tour of 1964

Anquetil, like other great cyclists with five victories in the French round, became the great dominator of the race, extending his supremacy between 1957 and 1964. Taking over from Louison Bobet (winner in 1953, 1954 and 1955), he maintained fierce competition with rivals such as Bahamontes, the Luxembourger Charly Gaul (another great climber like Bahamontes), and above all, with Raymond Poulidor, his honorable compatriot whom Anquetil's dominance relegated to the category of " eternal runner-up". As in the case of Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi, whose rivalry divided Italian society ten years before between supporters of one and the other, Anquetil (the clever self-made businessman) and Pou -Pou (the courageous runner linked to rural France) staged fierce duels on the French roads that, conveniently highlighted by the sports press, divided the country among their followers.

In this sense, the contrast between the two cyclists (both on and off the road) could not be more stark. Faced with Poulidor's sober image, Anquetil was a true bon vivant, fond of wine from his vineyards, especially beer, and above all good food (including delicacies such as oysters)., pleasures that he did not deprive himself of even during the weeks in which he was competing. He also enjoyed playing cards until late at night with his teammates, and implicitly recognized a common practice within the international squad in those years, such as the consumption of amphetamines. His personal life was no less atypical: he resided in a luxurious historic chateau he had purchased in his native Normandy; he maintained a relationship with her partner Jeanine hers and with her daughter, Annie (with whom he fathered a girl, Sophie); and in turn he also had a son (Christophe) with the wife of his stepson Alain.

Acknowledgments

• Decorated in 1965 with the Legion of Honor.
• He was recognized as one of the most outstanding cyclists of all time when he was elected in 2002 to be part of the Inaugural Session of the ICU Hall of Fame.

Honours of Prizes

Road

Hint

1955

• French Persecution Championship

1956

• 2.o at the World Championship in Pista (individual persecution)
• French Persecution Championship

1957

• French Persecution Championship
• Six days from Paris (with André Darrigade and Ferdinando Terruzzi)

1958

• Six days from Paris (with André Darrigade and Ferdinando Terruzzi)

Results

Anarchyl with the pink jersey of the Giro de Italia in 1967.

During his racing career he achieved the following places in Grand Tours, minor tours and one-day races:

Grand Tours

Minor turns

Classics, Championships and JJ. oh.

Race		1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	42.	X	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Milan-San Remo	-	-	-	-	12.	17.	10.	-	23.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ghent-Wevelgem		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3.o	-	-	-	-	1.o	-	23.	50.o	59.o	-
	Tour de Flandes	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	14.o	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Paris-Roubaix	-	-	53.	15.	31.o	25.	14.o	24.	8.	60.o	31.o	-	-	16.	-	-	-	-
Flecha Valona		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6.o	-	-	-	-	13.	29.o	-	-
	Liège-Bastoña-Lieja	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.o	-	4.o	-
Paris-Tours		-	-	11.	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	43.	25.	-	-	-
	Giro de Lombardy	-	-	-	-	-	23.	12.	21.	34.	17.	-	-	-	8.	4.o	-	-	-
JJ.OO. (Ruta)		12.	No disputing			-	No disputing			-	No disputing			-	No disputing			-	ND
World on Route		-	-	5.o	6.o	-	6.o	Ab.	9.	9.	13.	15.	14.o	7.	Ab.	2.	-	11.	40.
France on Route		-	-	-	5.o	-	-	8.	13.	8.	4.o	12.	3.o	13.	3.o	17.	-	Ab.	7.

—: Does not participate
Ab.: Abandon
X: Uncelebrated editions