Pierre Barbotin (29 September 1926 – 19 February 2009) was a French
racing cyclist
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...
, riding professionally from about 1948 to 1961. He was born in
Nantes
Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
and died in the same city.
Barbotin become known in 1951 when he finished second to
Louison Bobet
Louis "Louison" Bobet (; 12 March 1925 – 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 195 ...
in the
Milan–San Remo
Milan–Sanremo (in italian language, Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance ...
cycle race between Milan and Sanremo. This race marked the beginning of the so-called "B-B" duo - that is, a Bobet-Barbotin partnership where Barbotin became one of the principal teammates of Bobet, especially as part of the
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 ...
. Barbotin rode for various teams, including Stella Dunlop (1948–50), Bottechia (1951–52), Stella Wolber Dunlop (1953), Royal-Codrix (1954), Saint Raphael (1955–57), Margnat-Coupry (1959), and Bobet BP Hutchinson (1958, 1960). Barbotin won 13 victories in his career.
Racing career
During his first season as a professional, Barbotin won third place in the Dijon-Lyon race in 1948. The following year he won the team grand prize (Grand Prix de l'Équipe) with André Mahé and Marcel Dussault, and he placed second in the French bike race
Manche-Ocean behind
Joseph Morvan
Joseph Morvan (Moustoir-Ac, 3 December 1924 – Colpo, 26 July 1999) was a French professional road bicycle racer. Morvan had his most successful year in 1956, when he won Paris–Bourges and stage in the Tour de France.
Major results
;1949
:Ma ...
. In 1950, Barbotin enjoyed one of his greatest victories by winning the
Critérium National de la Route, a two-day bicycle stage race held in France every spring. The same year, he finished second in the race for the Grand Prize of Switzerland. In the
1951 Tour de France
The 1951 Tour de France was the 38th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 4 to 29 July. It consisted of 24 stages over . The race started outside Île-de-France for the first time since 1926; a change that Grand Départ, remained perm ...
, Barbotin placed sixth in the final general classification.
Victories
Below is a list of Barbotin's racing victories between 1949 and 1957:
1949
*Grand Prix de l'Equipe (team award with
André Mahé
André Mahé (18 November 1919 – 19 October 2010) was a French road bicycle racer. He was born in Paris, France. He was a professional rider from 1945 until 1954. He jointly won the 1949 classic cycle race Paris–Roubaix with Serse Coppi in co ...
et
Marcel Dussault)
1950
*
Critérium International
The Critérium International was a two-day Stage (bicycle race), bicycle stage race held in France every spring from 1932 until 2016, typically the last weekend of March. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in ...
*Premier Elan Parisien
*Grand Prix des cycles Robert
*Hennebont
1951
*
Circuit de l'Indre
*Paris-Côte d'Azur, stage 3
1954
*Tour du Sud-Est, stage 6
1955
*L'Etoile du Léon (referred to as "critérium du Léon" in 1955 and taking place at
Cléder
Cléder (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.
Population
Inhabitants of Cléder are called in French ''Clédérois''.
Breton language
In 2008, 25.9% of primary-school children attended bilingual ...
)
*Pontivy
1956
*
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, stage 7(a)
1957
*Châteaugiron
*Grand Prix de Nantes in 1960
Other important results
Below are some other important results from Barbotin's cycling career, even though they may not have been first-place finishes:
1948
*2nd place: Grand Prix du Libre-Poitou
*3rd place: Dijon-Lyon
*6th place: Grand Prix des Nations
1949
*2nd place:
Manche-Océan
*3rd place: Grand Prix de Redon
*5th place: Grand Prix des Nations
*5th place: Grand Prix de Suisse
1950
*2nd place: Grand Prix de Suisse
*2nd place: Grand Prix du Pneumatique
*3rd place: Saint-Méen le Grand
1951
*2nd place: Championnat de France
*2nd place: Milan–San Remo
*2nd place: Critérium National
*5th place: Paris-Côte d'Azur
*6th place: Tour de France (2nd and 3rd stages)
1952
*7th place: Paris-Côte d'Azur
1953
*4th place: La Haye-Pesnel
1954
*3rd place: Paris-Valenciennes
1956
*2nd place: Critérium de Quillan
*2nd place: Paris-Nice (2è d'étape)
*2nd place: Felletin
*7th place: Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
*8th place: Critérium National
1957
*3rd place: Tour de l'Ouest
*3rd place: Tour de Normandie
*3rd place: Saint-Claud
*4th place: Manche-Océan
1958
*3rd place: Clohars-Carnoet
*7th place: Manche-Océan
1959
*3rd place: Bannalec
*10th place: Boucles de la Seine in 1959
Teams
Barbotin participated on the following teams:
*1948: Stella - Dunlop (France)
*1949: Stella - Dunlop (France)
*1950: Stella - Dunlop (France)
*1951: Bottecchia-Ursus (Italie)
*1951: Stella - Dunlop (France)
*1952: Stella - Huret (France)
*1952: Bottecchia (Italie)
*1953: Stella - Wolber - Dunlop (France)
*1954: Royal Codrix (France)
*1954: Stella - Wolber - Dunlop (France)
*1955: Saint-Raphael - R. Geminiani (France)
*1956: Saint-Raphael - R. Geminiani (France)
*1957: Saint-Raphael - R. Geminiani (France)
*1957: Velo Club Bustese (Italie) du 18-05 au 09-06
*1958: L. Bobet - BP - Hutchinson (France)
*1959: Urago - d'Alessandro (France)
*1959: Bobet - BP - Hutchinson (France)
*1960: L. Bobet - BP - Hutchinson (France)
Later life
After finishing his career as a professional cyclist in 1961, Barbotin became a sales director of the regional newspaper
Presse-Océan.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbotin, Pierre
1926 births
2009 deaths
French male cyclists
Cyclists from Nantes
20th-century French sportsmen