Joël Pelier (born 23 March 1962, in

Valentigney Valentigney () is a Communes of France, commune in the Doubs Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eastern France. Valentigney is best known as the place where Peugeot began operations; se ...

) is a French former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

. After the final climb of stage 17 in the 1986 Tour de France, Pelier collapsed from exhaustion and fell into a 7-hour coma. In the

1989 Tour de France The 1989 Tour de France was the 76th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race consisted of 21 stages and a prologue, over . It started on 1 July 1989 in Luxembourg before taking an anti-clockwise route through Franc ...

, then 27-year-old

domestique In road bicycle racing, a domestique is a rider who works for the benefit of their cycling team, team and leader, rather than trying to win the race. In French, ''domestique'' translates as "servant".However, in French, the term used is ''équip ...

had never been watched in his pro career by his parents who were dedicated to caring for Pelier's severely disabled sibling who needed constant attention. His parents made arrangements to watch stage 6 from near the finish line to which he responded with an attempted lone breakaway, and held out to win the stage by 1 minute and 34 seconds. He rode on his own for 4 and a 1/2 hours through wind and rain for 102 of the stage's 161 miles."Frenchman Wins Stage; LeMond Leads" Los Angeles Times, 8 Jul 1989
/ref> It was the then second longest breakaway in Tour de France history after Albert Bourlon in 1947 and since surpassed by

Thierry Marie Thierry Marie (born 25 June 1963) is a French former cyclist. Marie often performed well in prologue stages: he won the Tour de France prologue three times in his career, and because of that he wore the yellow jersey in those three years, for ...

."1989 Tour de France stage six: Pelier's long break" Cycling Weekly 13 Jul 2009
/ref> On the podium for the day's presentations a tear drenched Pelier was seen on television saying, "Mon per, mon per"."Tour de France" Channel 4 tv, 7 Jul 1989. and "This win is so special to me because today is the first time that my mother and father have seen me in the Tour de France".

Major results

;1985 : 1st Stage 4a

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...

: 3rd Overall Tour d'Armorique : 10th Overall

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

;1986 : 2nd Overall Tour Méditerranéen : 10th Overall

Grand Prix du Midi Libre The Grand Prix du Midi Libre (referred to as just Midi Libre) was a multiple-stage road cycling course in the south of France. The race, named after the newspaper that organized it, was first organized in 1949 and was an important preparation co ...

;1987 : 1st Stage 1 Tour de la Communauté Européenne : 3rd Overall Tour d'Armorique : 4th Overall Nissan Classic ::1st Stage 2 : 5th GP Ouest–France : 7th Overall Tour Midi-Pyrénées ::1st Stage 4 ;1988 : 1st Stage 1a ( ITT)

: 6th Overall Tour d'Armorique : 6th Trophée des Grimpeurs : 7th Tour du Haut Var ;1989 : 1st Stage 6

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

: 7th Overall

: 10th Overall Tour Méditerranéen ;1990 : 1st Stage 5 Tour de la Communauté Européenne

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Joël Pelier
1962 births Living people People from Valentigney French male cyclists French Tour de France stage winners Cyclists from Doubs 20th-century French sportsmen {{France-cycling-bio-1960s-stub