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Roger Walkowiak (; 2 March 1927 – 6 February 2017) was a French
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 common ...
who won the 1956 Tour de France
The 1956 Tour de France was the 43rd edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 5 to 28 July. It consisted of 22 stages over .
There was no previous Tour winner competing for the 1956 Tour, which had only previously happened in 1903 and ...
. He was a professional rider from 1950 until 1960. He died on 6 February 2017 at the age of 89.
The 1956 Tour de France
From 1930 the Tour de France had been contested by national and regional teams. Roger Walkowiak was recruited for the French regional ''Nord-Est-Centre'' team, representing the North-east and Centre of France, despite coming from Montluçon in the South-West. He was the only rider available at late notice to replace an original team member, Gilbert Bauvin, who had been promoted to France's main team. Walkowiak escaped on the 7th stage from Lorient to Angers in a group of 31 riders that won that day by over 18 minutes. The advantage was enough to give him the yellow jersey of the overall race lead. At this stage the race's stars did not consider this 'insignificant' rider to be a risk. Walkowiak lost the jersey to Gerrit Voorting at the end of stage 10 which took some of the pressure off his shoulders. In the Pyrenees Belgium'sJan Adriaensens
Jan (Cesar Jan) Adriaensens (born 6 June 1932 in Willebroek) was a Belgian road bicycle racer. He finished twice on the podium of the Tour de France, with a third place in 1956 and in 1960. In both these years, he wore the yellow jersey as th ...
took the lead. At Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
(stage 15) Dutchman Wout Wagtmans took the jersey, but Walkowiak was still well placed.
On the Alpine stage 18 ( Torino– Grenoble), the climbing specialist Charly Gaul
Charly Gaul Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting (8 December 1932 – 6 December 2005)Luxembourg), who had lost a lot of time in the flat stages, attacked to try and win the King of the Mountains competition (which he eventually did, beating Federico Bahamontes). Gaul's attack split the field; Wagtmans lost 16 minutes and Walkowiak took back the yellow jersey after losing only 8 minutes to Gaul on the day.
For the last four stages, Walkowiak defended his lead, reaching the finish at the 
Walkowiak's win was poorly received by the professional peloton and the public. "The applause sounded like a lamentation", the organiser, Jacques Goddet, wrote in '' L'Équipe''. The crowd was disappointed that the race had been won by an unknown and not by the rising star Jacques Anquetil, who had decided against riding. Walkowiak became the second rider to win the Tour without winning on any of the individual day's stages that make up the race.
Nevertheless, Jacques Goddet always considered Walkowiak his favourite winner, calling him an all-rounder who had used his legs to win and his head to secure his winning position. France, however, remained unimpressed and for many years, Walkowiak's name passed into the language, so that do something "à la Walko" meant to succeed unexpectedly or without panache.
That reaction depressed Walkowiak. He rode the Tour the following year, but slipped from top of the field to almost the bottom. He rode the Tour of Spain, the Vuelta a España, in 1957 and won a stage, raced a further two years and then retired to run a bar in the area from which he had left, as an unknown, to win the Tour de France. When even his customers teased him about winning the Tour, he lost confidence still more and went back to working on a lathe in the car factory in Montluçon that had employed him as a young man.
It took many years to persuade Walkowiak that there was merit in what he had done and, though he lived quietly in south-west France, he did talk about the day he became the unknown who won the world's greatest cycling race. After the death of
Overall Tour de France
:1st Stage 13 Vuelta a España
:3rd Circuit du Cher
;1957
:1st Stage 8 Vuelta a España
;1958
:2nd Boucles du Bas-Limousin
:3rd Tour du Sud-Est
;1960
:3rd Tour de l'Aude
:3rd Circuit d'Auvergne
Palmares at memoire-du-cyclisme.net
*
The story of the 1956 tour and the epilogue at pezcyclingnews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walkowiak, Roger 1927 births 2017 deaths French male cyclists Tour de France winners French people of Polish descent People from Montluçon French Vuelta a España stage winners Sportspeople from Allier Cyclists from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Parc des Princes
Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...
on 28 July just over a minute ahead of Gilbert Bauvin. The race was won in a then record speed of 36.268 km/h.
Walkowiak's win was poorly received by the professional peloton and the public. "The applause sounded like a lamentation", the organiser, Jacques Goddet, wrote in '' L'Équipe''. The crowd was disappointed that the race had been won by an unknown and not by the rising star Jacques Anquetil, who had decided against riding. Walkowiak became the second rider to win the Tour without winning on any of the individual day's stages that make up the race.
Nevertheless, Jacques Goddet always considered Walkowiak his favourite winner, calling him an all-rounder who had used his legs to win and his head to secure his winning position. France, however, remained unimpressed and for many years, Walkowiak's name passed into the language, so that do something "à la Walko" meant to succeed unexpectedly or without panache.
That reaction depressed Walkowiak. He rode the Tour the following year, but slipped from top of the field to almost the bottom. He rode the Tour of Spain, the Vuelta a España, in 1957 and won a stage, raced a further two years and then retired to run a bar in the area from which he had left, as an unknown, to win the Tour de France. When even his customers teased him about winning the Tour, he lost confidence still more and went back to working on a lathe in the car factory in Montluçon that had employed him as a young man.
It took many years to persuade Walkowiak that there was merit in what he had done and, though he lived quietly in south-west France, he did talk about the day he became the unknown who won the world's greatest cycling race. After the death of Ferdi Kübler Ferdi may refer to:
* Ferdi Elmas (born 1985), Turkish footballer
* Ferdi Hardal (born 1996), is a Turkish weightlifter
* Ferdi Özbeğen (1941-2013), Turkish-Armenian singer and pianist
* Ferdi Sabit Soyer (born 1952), former de facto Prime Minist ...
on 29 December 2016, Walkowiak was for a short while the oldest Tour de France winner still alive. Following Walkowiak's death in February 2017, the oldest living Tour winner is Federico Bahamontes, who won the Tour in 1959.http://www.ouest-france.fr/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-roger-walkowiak-vainqueur-en-1956-est-decede-4785940 "Tour de France. Roger Walkowiak, vainqueur en 1956, est décédé", 7 February 2017.
Career achievements
Major results
;1951 :3rd Tour de Dordogne ;1952 :2nd Tour de l'Ouest :3rd G.P de Vals-les-Bains ;1953 :2nd Paris-Côte d'Azur ;1954 :3rd Tour de l'Ouest ;1955 :2nd Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ;1956 :1st Overall Tour de France
:1st Stage 13 Vuelta a España
:3rd Circuit du Cher
;1957
:1st Stage 8 Vuelta a España
;1958
:2nd Boucles du Bas-Limousin
:3rd Tour du Sud-Est
;1960
:3rd Tour de l'Aude
:3rd Circuit d'Auvergne
Grand Tour results timeline
Tour de France
*1951 – 57th *1953 – 47th *1956 – 1st *1958 – 75thBibliography
* Woodland, L., ''Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour De France'', Yellow Jersey Press, London 2003 * ''The Tour De France: The Official Centennial 1903 – 2003'', Weidenfeld Nicolson, London 2004References
External links
Palmares at memoire-du-cyclisme.net
*
The story of the 1956 tour and the epilogue at pezcyclingnews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walkowiak, Roger 1927 births 2017 deaths French male cyclists Tour de France winners French people of Polish descent People from Montluçon French Vuelta a España stage winners Sportspeople from Allier Cyclists from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes