Lucien Petit-Breton

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Lucien Petit-Breton

Personal information
Full name	Lucien Georges Mazan
Nickname	Lucien Petit-Breton
Date of birth	October 18, 1882(1882-10-18)
Date of death	December 20, 1917 (aged 35)
Country	France
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)1
1905 1906-1908 1909 1910 1911 1911 1912 1913-1914 1914	JC Cycles Peugeot Legnano Alcyon Fiat La Française Peugeot Automata Atala
Major wins
1907 Tour de France 1908 Tour de France Milan-Sanremo Paris-Brussels
Infobox last updated on:
May 23, 2008 1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Lucien Georges Mazan (October 18, 1882 Plessé, Loire-Atlantique – December 20, 1917) was a french racing cyclist (pseudonym: Lucien Petit-Breton). He was born in Loire-Atlantique in France, a part of Brittany, now part of Pays de la Loire. When he was six he moved with his parents to Buenos Aires. He took Argentinian nationality. His cycling career started when he won a bike in a lottery. His father rather wanted him to do a 'real' job, therefore he adapted the nickname Lucien Breton for races, to deceive his father. Later he changed it to Petit-Breton, because there already was another cyclist called Lucien Breton.

His first notable victory was the track cycling championship of Argentina. In 1902 he was drafted in the French Army, so he moved back to France. Two years later in 1904 he won the Bol d'Or track event. In 1905 he broke the world hour record on the Buffalo cycling track in Paris with 41.110km. The same year he started road racing. He came second in the Tour de France.

He won the Tour in 1907 and 1908, the first to win the Tour twice. In 1907 Petit-Breton won the first edition of Milan-Sanremo and in 1908 he won Paris-Brussels. That was his last great victory. First World War ended his career. He joined the French army and died in 1917 when he crashed into an oncoming car at the front near Troyes.

[edit] In Popular Culture

The French TV series Les Brigades du Tigre was a popular crime drama focusing on an elite squad of police detectives in the early 20th century. In an episode broadcast in 1978 they are appointed to watch over the competitors of the 1908 Tour de France, two of whom have been killed by a man who opposes cycling on the claim that his son was killed in a riding accident. Jacques Giraud appears as Petit Breton who is determined to continue the event come what may and persuades the other hesitant cyclists to also continue on the grounds that they should not let him win without a fight. He himself is later assaulted by the man but defiantly continues the stage to the admiration of those present.

[edit] Palmarès

[edit] External links

• Lucien Petit-Breton profile at the Cycling Website

Sporting positions
Preceded by René Pottier	Winner of the Tour de France 1907-08	Succeeded by François Faber
Records
Preceded by Willie Hamilton	UCI hour record (41.110 km) 24 August 1905-20 June 1907	Succeeded by Marcel Berthet

v • d • e Tour de France Yellow jersey winners 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

Persondata
NAME	Petit-Berton, Lucien
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH	18-10-1882
PLACE OF BIRTH	Loire-Atlantique
DATE OF DEATH	20-12-1917
PLACE OF DEATH	Troyes